5. distinction of cognitive & metacognitive learning strategies 6. establishi...
1. how children think and learn charlon aleson b. bautista
1. Chapter V.
Developmental Dimensions of Learning.
Charlon Aleson B. Bautista
Educ 3A Sched 4.
1 . How children Think and Learn
Piaget’s contributions to our understanding of the learning process are as important as his
contributions to our understanding of stages of development.
Children are a bundle of ideas and thoughts. If you ever lookn at a child you will see that
these thought patterns are much different than that of an adult and can certainly be expressed in
many different ways. Cognitive growth of children is even more dramatic. For example , pupils
move from barely dealing with the printed word in the primary grades to possessing well
developed reading and writing skills at the end of sixth grade.
Sensorimotor Stage
Lasting from birth to approximately 24 months, in this stage the child learns about the
world primarily through sednsory experiences and movement. However the infant’s and
toddler’s intelligence, For example, and show us this through intentional behavior. The child
learns to experience environment. The child touches things, holds, listens, tastes, feels, bangs,
and shake everything in sight. For them, the sense of time is now and the sense of space is here.
When the child learns motor skills such as creeping and walking, his/her environment expands
by leaps and bounds. The child begins to explore his environment with both senses and the
ability to get there.
Preoperationals Stage
From 2 to approximately 5 or 6 years of age, the child develops the important skill of
using symbols but is not yet capable of mentally manipulating them in logical order. The symbol
systems children develop include using pictures and spoken words to represent objects and ideas,
using letters to represent sounds, and then moving a step further and using the written word to
represent meaning. This is the time when a child learns by asking questions.
2. Concrete Operational stage
During this stage, from approximately 6 to 11 or 12 years of age, childrenbecome capable
of what Piagets refers to as mental operations and of applying logical thought to concrete
situations. However, at this stage, Children’s use of mental operations and their ability to apply
logic is affective only if they have concrete, tangible objects to which they can refer. This is a
wonderful age as this is when children begin to manipulate data mentally. They take the
information at hand, begin to define, compare, and contrast it. They, however still think
concretely.