Sarah Self
Pikes Peak Community College
Psychology 235
June 23, 2013
Instructor Routh
Cognitive – Development Theory Childhood is an interesting time in a child’s life. It is a time for children to grow, learn, and mature so they are set up for success in adulthood. A child’s brain develops through multiple aspects in their lives such as the television, picture books, and games. Television is a way for children to develop in their age range, because the shows are aimed to help them at the stage their brain is at in development. Piaget concluded that there were four different stages in the cognitive development of children (Edward, Hopgood, Rosenberg, & Rush). It brings to question how do children develop intellectually as they travel from age three into elementary school (Belsky, 2010)? Exploring Piaget’s four stages will bring insight into at what age children go through the different steps and what exactly they are developing while they go through it. Being able to research information from someone that did not just come up with an idea he actually tested it and made valid points to his theories. Piaget studied his own children to discover the origins of knowledge, how children acquire knowledge, and the forms that knowledge takes at different ages (Hansen & Zambo, 2005). Take a dive in to learning how to help a child during the crucial times in their development. The sensory motor stage is from the time a child is born to around age two. Piaget 's ideas surrounding the Sensory Motor Stage are centered on the basis of a 'schema '. Schemas are mental representations or ideas about what things are and how we deal with them (Edward, Hopgood, Rosenberg, & Rush). Piaget was trying to explain the way babies learn their movements. This stage babies cannot comprehend other people’s feelings or thoughts so in that case you cannot expect them to do much in the aspect of comforting or consoling. Children at this age
Cited: Belsky, J. (2010). Experiencing the Lifespan. New York: Worth Publishers. Edward, L., Hopgood, J., Rosenberg, K., & Rush, K. (n.d.). Piaget 's Stages of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from Stages of Development: http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2000/Piaget/stages.htm Hansen, C. C., & Zambo, D. (2005). Piaget, Meet Lilly: Undestanding Child Development through Picture Book Characters. Earl Childhood Education Journal.