stages of cognitive development

• Schema


  Mental structures or concepts that help people organize and interpret information
• Assimilation


  Applying existing mental patterns (schema) to new situations
• Stages of cognitive development


  • Sensori-motor
  • Pre-operational
  • Concrete Operational
  • Formal Operational
• Sensori-motor (Birth – 2)


  No Object Permanency: understanding that an object exists even if its unable to be touched or seen

  "if I can't see object, it doesn't exist"

  Understanding developed through sensory and motor interactions (begins to integrate them)

  e.g. mouthing, touching, looking. listening

  Invisible Displacement:

  • child witness an object being covered by a container, the container then get swapped around with a second, empty container.
  • if child lifts the cup with the object under it, = able to track the object + have accomplished the advanced version of object permanency
• Pre-operational (2 – 7)


  Symbolic Thinking:

  The use of symbols, such as words/object, to represent alternative concepts.

  e.g. child making a pretend cake with wet sand

  Three Mountains:

  child shown a model of mountain range consisting of mountain topped with snow, one mountain with a hut + third mountain with a cross, encouraged to walk around model + look closely, child is shown 10 pictures of various views + asked to select how doll sees it

  if unable, egocentric
• Concrete Operational (7-11)


  Conservation:

  Able to see that some properties of objects are maintains after physical transformation

  e.g. mass + volume

  • conservation + centration is related
  • child who focuses their full attention on one aspect of situation
  • unable to see that changing the physical properties of an object does not alter its basic properties.

  Think logically + carry out mental operations provided they are working with concrete materials

  • achieve conservation
  • can classify
  • reversibility

  Testing Conservation:

  • number= if spilt number of objects into equal halves & make one pile look bigger.

  If they can tell you, they are the same is conservation

  • liquid= pour the same volume of liquid into different containers, if one 'looks like there's more, there must be more of that object

  If they cannot tell they are the same volume do not have conservation

  • mass= make two plasticine ball and ask if they the same amount, then squish one.

  If the child can tell they are the same = conservation
• Formal Operational (12+)


  Abstract thinking:

  • thinking does require the use of concrete materials to reason about them
  • able to talk about abstract concepts such as 'honest' and 'morality'
  • can discuss possible outcomes without experiencing them

  e.g. can humans live underwater?

  Logical thinking:

  • can work through a problem systematically

  e.g. testing hypotheses etc.

  Two types of formal operational

  Pendulum Problem:

  • task, work out each of the following causes pendulum to swing at different rates:
  • the mass hanging from the string
  • the length of the strength
  • or the height at which the mass is releases yet.
  • when child selects a DV + can use abstract thinking to hypothesize what will occur when alternative IV is systematically tested one at a time, they have used abstract thinking
• Centration: Cognitive characteristics occurs in this stage, where children tend to narrowly focus on one aspect of a problem, object or situation at a time while excluding others.

  e.g. child focusing on number of biscuits she + friend, not the size of biscuits
• cognitive development: Changes in abilities such as thinking and reasoning, memory, attention, imagination and language. 
• Piaget's theory:

  • no object permanency, invisible displacement
  • symbolic thinking, Three Mountains
  • Conservation, Testing Conservation
  • Abstract thinking + Logical Thinking, Pendulum Problem