Task 1: Theories Of Cognitive Development

FHT4 Task 1 Cognitive development is the methods in which a person learns and how they develop from a child to an adult. There are many theories about cognitive development but in each of those theories there are some things that stay the same such as that there are stages and/or periods of development. Also, all people have to go through certain stages of learning and that there is a foundation that has to be met in order for that leaning to occur. Second, is constructivism which is where cognitive development happens when you add to what a person already knows. Lastly, the influence of a society will limit the growth of cognitive development. The cognitive theory focuses on the way a child develops by processing information in different
Piaget felt that it was important to look at the construction of intelligence and how it changes with time as a child grows. Vygotsky on the other hand believes that intelligence is the ability to learn from instruction which revolves around the social system. The theorists views on the stages of development from birth to adolescence is explained next. Vygotsky believed that there were six major stages: affiliation, play, learning, peer, work and theorizing. Whereas Piaget only has four major stages: sensor motor, preoperational, concrete-operational and formal operational. There are also some similarities in the way Vygotsky and Piaget view intelligence. For example they both believe that a child creates knowledge or intelligence of the world through their social interactions. Also, that a child will get their intelligence from their culture and the history of their
Vygotsky sees that all new knowledge that is taught are influenced by the students culture and family setting. All work given to the child must be at his/her level. Anything too easy will leave the child unmotivated and anything too hard the child will never learn and hold onto in the future. Vygotsky talks about scaffolding which is engaging the child, breaking a task into smaller tasks, keeping the child on task and not allowing them to become frustrated. He also says that children learn from imitating what the teacher is modeling for them. Another thing Vygotsky mentions is that it is good to mix your groups with low and high learners. This way your high learners can help the lower learners. Piaget 's theories in the classroom may be different than Vygotskys. Piaget believed that students should not sit through lectures. Teachers should teach in a way where the students can be active by using hands on leaning activities. Piaget also believed that you should have your students learn from their peers. This way they learn to listen to other views. Also, allow the student to make mistakes because this will allow the students to learn through trial and error. Be sure to be patient with the student when these mistakes are made. A teacher may need to change a lesson plan based on the students in his/her classroom. Children