ECE133: Growth & Development of Children

Topic 6: Theories on Cognitive Development

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What is Cognitive Development?

• Cognition is simply thinking—the mental processes behind perception, knowledge, memory, emotions, problem solving, decision making, language, and remembering.
• The word comes from Latin cognoscere, meaning “to know,” “recognize,” or “conceptualize.”
• Cognitive scientists study how the brain integrates, organizes, and uses information.
• Cognition develops in stages of increasing complexity, called cognitive development—a child’s growing ability to learn, understand the world, think about it, and remember what happens around them. (Kahneman, 2011)

Piaget Explains How Children Learn

• Piaget introduced two main processes namely, Organisation and Adaptation.
• Organisation is the internal characteristic of an organism that enables it to take action to arrange the environment which is an external process.
• Adaptation is the ability to fit with the environment which is an external process.

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Piaget Explains How Children Learn

• Piaget (1985) suggested that learning is iterative, in which new information is shaped to fit with the learner's existing knowledge, and existing knowledge itself is modified to accommodate new information.

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• His learning theory is based on four basic concepts: schema, assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium.

1. SCHEMA

• Piaget believed that the mind is made up of schema just like the body has a stomach that is responsible for digestions or the kidney that is responsible for removing waste from the blood.
• Schemas are mental or cognitive structures which enables a person to adapt and to organise the environment.
• They are like a cabinet with many files and each file representing a schema.
• When a child is born, it has few general schemas and as the child grows, he or she has gains more schemas and the schemas become more refined.

Piaget:

• 2. Assimilation — fitting new things into an existing idea
• The toddler sees a cat for the first time.
• Furry, four legs → "Doggy!"
• They assimilate the cat into their existing "dog" schema. No change to their thinking yet — they just stuff the new animal into the category they already have.
• 3. Accommodation — changing your idea to fit new information
• A parent says, "No, that's a cat. Cats say meow."
• The toddler adjusts: creates a new schema for "cat" (meows, different shape) and tweaks the "dog" schema (barks).
• They accommodate — they change their thinking to match reality.
• 4. Equilibrium — when it all balances again
• After sorting out dog vs. cat, the toddler feels settled. Their schemas now match what they see in the world.
• "Okay, now everything makes sense again."

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Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

STAGE 1: Sensorimotor Stage (0 – 2 years)

Object Permanence

• In older infants, when a toy is covered or blocked the child will actively search for the object, realising that the object continues to exist.
• He may push the cardboard blocking his view.
• Object permanence is one of an infant's most important accomplishments, as without this concept, objects would have no separate, permanent existence.

STAGE 2: Preoperational Stage (2 – 6 years)

• The preoperational stage occurs between ages two and six.
• Language development is one of the hallmarks of this period. Piaget noted that children in this stage do not yet understand concrete logic.
• What does this mean?
• They cannot mentally manipulate information and are unable to take the point of view of other people and are therefore egocentric.
• They have a “'self-centred' view of the world” meaning that they have difficulty understanding that other people may see things differently, and hence hold a differing point of view.

Egocentric

• Invariably, children almost always choose the scene showing their own view of the mountain scene.

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• According to Piaget, children experience this difficulty because they are unable to take on another person's perspective.

Conservation

• Conservation is the ability to keep in mind what stays the same and what changes in an object after some changes have been made to the object A conservation task test, assesses s a child’s ability to see that some properties are conserved (or preserved) or does not change after the object undergoes a physical transformation.

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• For example, a lump of clay is rolled into a snake and the child is asked which has more clay in it; the lump or the snake.

• Children are then asked which cup holds the most liquid.
• Despite seeing that the liquid amounts were equal, children almost always choose the cup that appears fuller.
• Piaget conducted a number of similar experiments on conservation of number, length, mass, weight, volume, and quantity.
• Piaget found that few children showed any understanding of conservation prior to the age of five.

STAGE 3: Concrete Stage (6-11 years of age)

• Accommodation increases. Children begin reasoning logically and organizing thoughts coherently, but only about concrete, observable, physical phenomena—not abstract or hypothetical ideas.
• Less egocentric: They can understand others’ perspectives better and master most conservation tasks—realizing quantity stays the same despite changes in shape or arrangement.
• Key new abilities:
• Reversibility: mentally tracing steps backward.
• Classification: grouping objects hierarchically, including class inclusion (e.g., brown beads vs. wooden beads).
• Seriation: ordering objects by a common property, such as height.
• Numeration: combining seriation and classification to understand numbers, sets, subsets, and mathematical operations.
• Concrete problem-solving: coordinating two dimensions at once and using categorical labels like “number” or “animal.”
• Logic: They are good at inductive logic (specific experience → general principle) but struggle with deductive logic (general principle → specific outcome).
• Qualitative shift: These abilities are not just gradual improvements; they are new cognitive skills that overcome preoperational limits. Children can now justify their answers and reflect on their own problem-solving.

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STAGE 4: Characteristics of the Formal Operational Stage (12 years onwards)

• Begins around age 12 and continues into adulthood.
• People develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, not just concrete, here-and-now ideas.
• Key skills emerge: logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning.
• Logic: Abstract Thinker
• Concrete thinkers are limited to what is directly in front of them.
• Abstract thinkers can see multiple meanings, recognize patterns beyond the obvious, and solve complex problems.

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STAGE 4: Characteristics of the Formal Operational Stage (12 years onwards)

• Deductive Logic
• Using a general principle to determine a specific outcome.
• Important in science and math; involves hypothetical situations.
• Example: If hitting a glass with a hammer breaks it, and Zak hits a glass with a hammer, then the glass broke. Adolescents at this stage reach this conclusion through logic, not experience.
• Abstract Thought
• Children begin considering possible outcomes and consequences of actions, rather than relying only on past experience.
• This supports long-term planning.
• Problem-Solving
• Earlier stages rely on trial-and-error.
• Formal operational thinkers can solve problems systematically, logically, and methodically, often planning an organized approach quickly. (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958)

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Piaget’s Theory in the Classroom

• Piaget viewed intelligence as having three components:
• Content – observable behaviors reflecting intellectual activity (e.g., solving problems, writing essays); varies by age and child.
• Function – the processes of assimilation and accommodation.
• Structure – the brain’s organizational properties, or schemas.
• In short, intelligence can be defined through assimilation and accommodation.
• Although Piaget did not focus on education directly, his theory has clear teaching implications. Learning environments—especially in kindergarten and primary school—should be action-based, letting children acquire knowledge by acting on and physically experiencing the environment (e.g., real trees, grass, cats, chickens). Just showing pictures or reading about them is not enough.

Piaget’s Theory in the Classroom

• The learning environment should be discovery-oriented where children are encouraged to initiate and complete their own activities.
• Use teaching strategies that make children aware of conflicts and inconsistencies in their thinking: i.e. children must experience disequilibrium, or an imbalance between their current schemas and new information to be assimilated in order for them to towards equilibrium and new levels of intellectual growth.
• Use problems to confront or challenge student's prior knowledge or schemas. Sometimes children do not realise that they have the relevant schema and quick to reply that they do not know.

Piaget’s Theory in the Classroom

• Use appropriate questioning techniques to help learners to bring out their misconceptions and faulty reasoning.
• Diagnose what children already know and how they think. Content is not introduced until the child is cognitively ready to understand it or has the relevant schema to assimilate or accommodate the new information.
• Children's interactions with their peers are an important source of intellectual development: peer interactions are essential in helping children develop intellectually.
• The learning environment should encourage active self-discovery: play effectively represents all of the requisite characteristics of Piagetian-inspired instruction.

Contribution of Piaget to Child Development

• Piaget showed why cognitive processes; i.e. the way a child thinks are central to development.
• Most importantly, he offered several methods that could be used by anyone to study these processes.

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• Piaget presents a new view of children. He emphasised constructivism, the view that children are active participants in their own development.
• Children construct more sophisticated understandings of their worlds as they get older.
• However, some scientists have criticised his theory because he did not place importance of the sociocultural environment [which was stressed by Vygotsky as significant – discussed later].
• For example, as the child begins to understand his or her world, interaction with family members, peer and teachers play an important role.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

• Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that interacting with people plays a central role in the process of learning and "making meaning."
• Vygotsky argued that learning is essential for developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological functions.
• Children are products of their culture, and cognitive development occurs through social interaction and cultural context—not through a single principle like Piaget’s equilibration. Individual development can only be understood within its social and cultural setting, and higher mental processes originate in social processes.

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Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

• Vygotsky emphasized that culture shapes cognitive development, especially through language.
• While children are curious and active in their own learning, he placed greater emphasis on social contributions.
• Much important learning happens through interaction with a skilful tutor—often a parent or teacher—who models behavior and/or gives verbal instructions.
• This is called cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child internalizes the tutor’s guidance and uses it to regulate their own performance.

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Evidence for Vygotsky and the ZPD

• Freund (1990) conducted a study in which children had to decide which items of furniture should be placed in particular houses of a dolls house.
• Some children were allowed to play with their mother in a similar situation before they attempted it alone (zone of proximal development) whilst others were allowed to work on this by themselves (Piaget's discovery learning).
• Freund found that those who had previously worked with their mother (ZPD) showed greatest improvement compared with their first attempt at the task.
• The conclusion being that guided learning within the ZPD led to greater understanding/performance than working alone (discovery learning).

Vygotsky and Language

• Vygotsky placed a great deal of importance on the role of language in cognitive development.
• He argued that language is the means by which adults transmit knowledge and information to children.
• Through language thinking and understanding the cognitive development of children is enhanced and this is developed from social interactions.
• It is only through interaction with others that communication takes place leading to enhanced thought.