WEEK 3 Reading Response by Lexa Weisse

What is Cognitive Development Theory?

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 01:47:14 UTC

Piaget described Cognitive Development Theory as the way a child constructs a mental model of the world through biological maturation and interaction with the world around them.

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 02:07:31 UTC

Schemas are the building blocks of intelligent behavior

As children grow and take in more information they build on those schemas and they become more complex.
A pattern of schemas is called a script.
Example of a simple schema: A baby sucking on a bottle. It is an innate reflex.
Example of complex schema: Getting in the car and putting on your seatbelt. A learned pattern from having a familiar repetitive experience driving in a car.

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 20:39:16 UTC

Sensorimotor: Birth to Age 2

Develop object permanence (knowing an object exists even if it's not in front of them.

Pre-operational Stage: 2 to Age 7

Mainly egocentric thinking, it is hard for children in this stage to see other peoples perspective.
Words and objects have meaning to them.

Concrete Operational Stage: 7 to Age 11

Logical and operational thought begin to develop.
Children become better problem solvers and can rationalize things in their head.
Children are able to have meaningful conversations.

Formal Operational Stage: 11 to Adolescence

At this stage people are able to think about abstract concepts and test their ideas.

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 20:42:49 UTC

Piaget's theory can be applied to teaching and learning because it gives educators a better idea of how to best serve each child at each stage of their development.

His theory states that learning happens through maturation and experience. Which directly supports the idea of

Discovery Learning - The idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring.

This idea helped shape educational policy, greatly in early education.

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 20:52:03 UTC

Sociocultural theory supports and explores the idea of how participation in social interactions and culturally organized activities affect psychological development.

Vygotsky's theory supports the belief that social interaction essential for beneficial cognitive development.

Children learn most effectively with guidance from the community around them.

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 20:59:48 UTC

Individual development and higher mental functions begin developing from social interaction. By working together people learn about the world around them through strategizing, and sharing knowledge.
Human action is mediated through semiotics- tools and signs used to communicate. This way people can co-construct knowledge.
The first two themes are best measured by examining development. Using the appropriate Zone of Proximal Development, can reveal how much knowledge someone is taking in.

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 21:02:30 UTC

The actual levels of development: accomplishments a child can display.

Potential levels of development: what children can do with assistance.
ZPD the difference between the two.

lweisse0024 — 2024-09-18 21:07:07 UTC

Guided participation highlights that cognitive development occurs in a social context. It happens when children are guided by companions or role models who stretch their understanding by using tools of the culture.

Teachers use guided participation everyday by engaging with their students through play, proposing thought provoking questions and providing them with an environment/tools that reflects their interests.