cognitive

• Cognitive development


  Looks at how the way we think about things changes as we grow
• Most cognitive development occurs during childhood so is directly linked to the education system
• Schema


  Mental structures that an individual uses to organise knowledge and guide cognitive processes and behaviour
• Disequilibrium


  When a child is in a state of cognitive imbalance e.g. encountering information that requires a new schema or to modify a schema
• Assimilation


  Using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation
• Accommodation


  When the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation. A 'new' schema is devised
• Equilibrium


  Child will seek to quickly return to an equilibrium state and will devote their mental energy to develop a new schema
• Object permanence


  Understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be observed
• Egocentrism


  Child's inability to see a situation from another person's point of view
• Decentration


  Ability to pay attention to multiple attributes of an object or situation rather than being locked into attending to only a single attribute
• Conservation


  Understanding that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development


  • Cognitive development is a systematic, structured process that happens in stages
  • Each stage acts as a building block for the next
  • In each stage, the child would develop new ways of thinking which had developed out of what went before
• Piaget's four stages of cognitive development


  • Sensory Motor Stage (0-18 months)
  • Pre-Operational Stage (18 months-7 years)
  • Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 years)
  • Formal Operational Stage (12 years +)
• Sensory Motor Stage


  • Child explores the world using senses and movement
  • Child lacks object permanence – they 'forget' any object exists when it is out of sight
  • Children show centration or are 'egocentric'
  • Children cannot conserve
• Pre-Operational Stage


  • Child starts to think logically and begins to decentre
  • Child can conserve but needs concrete examples
• Concrete Operational Stage


  • Child can manipulate ideas and solve mental/logic problems
  • Can conserve without the need for concrete examples
• Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development


  • Importance of social interaction and language in a guided learning environment
  • Children have a zone of proximal development (ZPD), which is the area of cognitive skills a child can reach with the help of a more-knowledgeable other
• Piaget's theory


  Universal stages, the role of a more knowledgeable other is not considered, language comes second to thinking
• Vygotsky's theory


  Culture bound, the role of the more knowledgeable other is crucial to development, language is a precursor for learning and thinking
• In a study by Freund (1990) it was found that children made the greatest improvements when working with their mother when given a dolls house and furniture, they were asked to put the furniture in the correct place. Children who completed this independently (discovery learning) made more errors.
• Discovery learning


  Children should actively learn through finding things out for themselves
• Scaffolding


  The teacher gives instruction/direction that the child can do with some support
• Collaborative learning


  Children could work in pairs/small groups (where one child is more knowledgeable/able) to answer some questions/complete an activity
• There were no significant differences in overall number of 'acts' (e.g. assembling/disassembling blocks) between age groups
• The youngest children were much worse than the older children when it came to constructing appropriate assemblies, but they were just as good at recognising an appropriate one when they encountered it
• The 3 year olds usually ignored the tutor's suggestions whereas the older children didn't
• 'Showing' is more successful than 'telling' across all ages groups, although 'telling' still has some success
• Regardless of their age, children of all age groups still benefitted from some tutoring, suggesting that skills of cognitive development can be better learned with appropriate support
• Younger children need to be 'shown' more often than older children
• When working with younger children, the 'experts' will need to begin by getting the child on board with the tutoring process, as younger children will often reject/ignore a tutor's suggestions
• Peer support mentoring


  Students to work in a pair/small group, where one student has already mastered/almost mastered the skill being learnt
• Context Dependent Memory


  Students to revise in the same context that they will be tested in
• Grant et al's study provided evidence that context dependent memory works – memories are easier to recall if the context matches that at encoding (i.e. when the info was learned)
• Schema


  A mental representation or framework that organizes and interprets information
• Disequilibrium


  A state of imbalance or uncertainty that motivates a person to learn and adapt
• Assimilation


  The process of incorporating new information into existing schemas or mental frameworks
• Accommodation


  The process of modifying existing schemas or mental frameworks to incorporate new information
• Equilibration


  The process of achieving a balance between assimilation and accommodation, leading to cognitive development
• Object permanence


  The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen or heard
• Egocentrism


  The tendency of young children to view the world only from their own perspective