COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY JEAN PIAGET, LEV VYGOTSKY AND MORE. MAY IT HELP FOR YOUR STUDIES.

1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
TOPIC 1

2. The word ‘cognition’
• When we are thinking, evaluating and trying to make
sense of the world, we are engaging in cognitive
activity
• When you think, or when you are learning, you are
actually making use of your cognitive skills

3. • Cognitive development in a child basically means his
or her growth in the ability to think, learn and solve
problems
• Examples include, a baby learning to explore the
environment with hands and eyes, or a four-year old
child learning to count.

4. • Cognitive influence can be seen in the child’s
understanding of concepts in science, mathematics
and language.
• The creativity of a child also depends on his cognitive
skills.
• Even the child’s understanding and appreciation of
religious, moral and aesthetic values is a result of his
cognitive development.

5. The cognitive side of a child is
reflected in his ability to:
• Classify (colours, shape, animals, plants)
• Understand the concept of space (in, in front of,
under, on, between)
• Understand the concept of numbers (basic maths
concept)
• Understand the concept of science (food web, gravity,
living things – non living things)
• Solve problems

6. • Cognitive progress can be developed when the child
interacts, or plays, with the things that are easily
available around him.
• As the child plays with such materials he readies
himself for later, real life experiences.

7. As laid out by the Malaysia Preschool
Curriculum (2003), the cognitive
development component enables the child
to:
• Enhance his thinking skills and acquire skills involved
in the learning of science;
• Think logically in mathematics by manipulating
concrete objects;
• Develop curiosity and adventure; and
• Develop problem solving skills in their daily lives

8. DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
• Theories on child development forwarded by:
Jean Piaget
Jerome Bruner
Lev Semenovich
Vygotsky

9. Jean Piaget
• Piaget was the scientist responsible for introducing
the concept of cognition.
• According to him, the first level of rigorous
development in a child, in terms of thinking,
evaluating and understanding the world, begins at the
age of two.
• This development is referred to as the cognitive
development and occurs as the child interacts with his
surroundings.

10. Jean Piaget
• Cognitive development is reflected in a child’s
physical movement
• Between 0 to 2 years old, the child is physically
active examining, watching, grasping and sucking.
• However, as the child grows, his cognitive
development will become more complex such as
recalling and visualizing images.

11. Jean Piaget
• Cognition is the experience and recollection of
something that has happened in the past and this
becomes the basis for further development.
• It is due to this earlier experience that enables the
child to perform various activities such as piling blocks
and separating objects according to colours and sizes

12. Jean Piaget
• Piaget believed that cognitive development is a
crucial process in a child’s life.
• This is because the child learns to adapt to his
surroundings and this helps him with his intellectual
development and he thus learns to survive in the
world.

13. According to Piaget,
• There are logical structures or schemes that we
have developed since childhood.
• This logical structure explains how children organize
objects and events that occur in their daily lives.
• Their behaviour and the way they think are
determined by this logical structure.
• Their use of this logical structure determines how
they solve problem.

14. According to Piaget,
• The logical structure can be measured.
• When the child is 0 to 2 years old, the child is
involved in activities such as sucking, observing and
reaching out.
• When he grows older the logical structure is more
advanced.
• The child now engages itself in intellectually inclined
activities, such as recalling, imagining or arranging
words

15. According to Piaget,
• Based on previous experiences and recollection, a
child who is advanced in age is thus able to perform
activities such as differentiating objects that are
made from plastic and wood and classifying living
objects and non-living objects.

16. According to Piaget,
• Children are active human beings and so they will
develop cognitively as they experience new things.
• A child develops gradually, going from one stage to
the next.
• At every stage the child experiences new things.
• These experiences will be stored as information and
will be used as a basis for the child to progress to
more advanced stages.
• Cognitive development is said to differ from one child
to another.

17. Two important elements in the
cognitive development
• Assimilation
• Accommodation

18. Assimilation
• Assimilation occurs when the child integrates new
information into existing thinking and behaviour.
• For example, an infant holds an object and then puts
it into his mouth.
• This indicates that the child wants to know what is the
shape and texture of the object he is holding.
• Next, the infant will try to store the information he just
received so that he could use it later on.

19. Accommodation
• Accommodation occurs when the infant
accommodates the existing logical structure to
accept the information he has just learnt.
• For example, the infant learns that not every object he
places in his mouth has a pleasant taste.
• He places a piece of biscuit in his mouth and then
assimilates it.
• The infant then learns that the biscuit is a form of a
structure for food

20. Accommodation
• But again, a piece of bread that he places in his
mouth for the first time will go through the process of
assimilation where he will try to relate the piece of
bread with the existing structure of food that he has
learned earlier.
• He then realizes that the texture of the bread differs
from the structure of food he has created earlier and
thus the process of accommodation occurs to accept
the piece of bread as a new structure for food.

21. Jerome Bruner
• Language has a lot to do with the cognitive
development of a child.
• He believes that thinking will not happen if there is no
language.
• Therefore, for there to be cognitive development, a
child has to interact with others.

22. Jerome Bruner
• In order to understand this cognitive developmental
process, Bruner (1966) identified three themes to
show how it is developed:

23. • The first theme is related to the way we manage and
display our experiences.
• Bruner explains that a child goes through three stages
that is,
• the enactive, iconic and symbolic.
• Each of these stages display a child’s unique way of
handling his experience

26. • The second theme is associated with the cultural
influence on the child’s development.
• Bruner believes that the cognitive development in a
child develops not merely due to external influences
into the child but also internal influences within the
child to the outside world.

27. • The third theme is related to historical human
development.
• Bruner believes that we can adapt ourselves
according to the environment we find ourselves in.

28. Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
• Vygotsky (1988) stressed on cognitive aspects such
as observation, memory and awareness that evolves
from human social interaction.
• His theories refer to:

29. Instrument Stimulation:
• According to Vygotsky, we adapt ourselves according
to the stimulation we receive and use it to control our
behaviour.
• This theory sees the individual as an agent that
shapes the learning and development of the individual

30. Cultural:
• Vygotsky sees language as a culture tool in managing
the way an individual thinks

31. Genetics:
• Interaction with others will increase the individual’s
ability to think from lower to higher level.
• This is seen in the child’s development where it is
comprised of the stable, crisis and transformation
stages.
• The individual’s development may be hindered or
reduced due to these stages

32. Vygotsky divides the child’s
development into various stages

33. • At every level the child experiences the stable stage
at the beginning and ends with the crisis stage.
• When the infant is 12 months old, he begins to feel
the crisis or transformation stage which is associated
with three new developments that are: walking, talking
and emotional reaction.

34. Language development
• According to Vygotsky, language development is an
important process and stressed that the speaking skill
reflects the intellectual and thinking competency.
• It is at this stage that the child is constantly asking
questions and this will enhance the child’s vocabulary.

35. • According to Vygotsky learning occurs due to social
influence of the individual.
• The individual learns to interact with those around
him.
• Vygotsky believes that progress in a child’s
development can be advanced further if the child
interacts with adults rather than working alone

36. Proximate zone method to study
how children learn.
• Wood et al., (1978) studied those children who learn
together with their mothers.
• In the study, mothers were asked to teach their four to
five year-old children.

37. Mothers were asked to follow five instructions
that were set:
• Encourage the child to speak in public;
• Give the child specific verbal instruction;
• Provide assistance in choosing materials for a given
task;
• Provide materials to be compiled in a given task; and
• Demonstrate to the child

38. Proximate zone method to study
how children learn.
• A mother who used such a pattern would suggest to
the child to select one block.
• The mother will help in case the child finds difficulty in
understanding.
• If the child follows the mother’s instructions, then the
mother will allow the child to take over and perform
the following task on his own.

39. Proximate zone method to study
how children learn.
• The mother will not leave the child on his own if she
finds that the child faces difficulty in performing the
task.
• On the other hand, mothers will allow the child to
perform further tasks when she finds that the child is
competent enough.