Appendix B

What Is Cognitive Development and Why Is It Important?

Introduction

Cognitive development is the process of learning to think and to reason. Children naturally develop cognitive skills as they explore and investigate everything in their environment. A baby crawling in the grass is likely to become fascinated with the smallest of caterpillars-something we, as adults, might not notice. For her, it is not enough to see the caterpillar; she has to touch it, pick it up, examine it closely, even smell or try to taste it. By using all of her senses, the infant develops a concrete understanding of caterpillars. When she is older and hears the word caterpillar, she will learn a label for this object. On another day, when she sees a worm, this child might say, Look at the caterpillar! Although technically she is incorrect, she sees that a worm and a caterpillar have characteristics in common. She is developing cognitive skills.

Children continue to develop and refine their cognitive skills as they grow. With experience, they add new information in an orderly way to what they have learned. While a toddler may believe that all things that crawl in the grass are caterpillars, an older child can observe the differences between worms, caterpillars, and snakes.

Piaget

Much of what we know about cognitive development comes from the work of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, who carefully studied young children to find out how they think. From his observations, he concluded that children progress through distinct stages in which they think in certain characteristic ways. Through careful observations, experiments, and years of questioning and listening to young children, including his own, Piaget documented that young children think in ways that are different from the ways adults think. Whereas adults use logic and reasoning, young children are not capable of this higher level of thinking. They learn by doing: manipulating concrete, real things to develop an understanding of concepts. For example, they learn about counting when they make two equal rows that contain the same number of beads. Counting out loud is not enough. Young children must have real things to handle. Many early childhood professionals have observed these processes in their work with young children.
 
Pattern of Learning

Learning is acquired in steps. Just as an infant crawls before learning to walk, so too does a child move gradually from concrete to abstract thinking. Piaget outlined four stages of cognitive development; the first two take place during the early childhood years.

Sensorimotor period: The first stage of development extends from birth to approximately age two. Babies build intelligence by reacting physically to what they sense. They use all their senses to learn basic skills and concepts. Babies follow the mobiles above their heads with their eyes; they turn their heads toward the sounds coming from a music box; they sniff at the mashed bananas on their spoons; they put play dough in their mouths to learn from their taste buds what it is like; and they crumple aluminum foil to feel its texture.

As infants use their senses to explore the world around them, they develop thinking skills. For example:

Preoperational period: The second stage of development begins at about age two and lasts through the preschool years. The thinking of children in this stage is remarkably advanced from that of the infant who sees the world as a series of objects. For the preoperational child, these objects begin to take on qualities and properties that make them distinct and exciting. Toddlers and preschoolers consider the color, size, shape, and texture of things. They sort objects with a shape cube (categorizing), stack plastic donuts on a peg according to (seriation), and match colors on a lotto game (making comparisons).

Children begin to use concept terms such as big and small (size), square and round (shape), light and heavy (weight), late and early (time), long and short (height), smooth and rough (texture), and so on. These literacy and numerical skills prepare children for academic learning that takes place in elementary school.

Just as toddlers and preschoolers use words to symbolize meaning, during dramatic play, they use items to symbolize other real objects-blocks can become musical instruments, a pot a hat, and sand a cup of tea. At this age, children also have excellent memories.

Preoperational children express their thoughts in seemingly magical ways-Thunder is the sound of angels bowling! If we use adult standards to look at these thought patterns, they seem rather inflexible and illogical. Essentially, the children are relying on appearances rather than ideas. They can focus on only one aspect of an object at a time-a person can be their teacher, but this same person cannot be somebody else's wife. Children see things primarily from one point of view: their own. That is why trees and marbles have feelings, just like they do. Assigning human feelings and characteristics to objects is called animism. Impossibilities such as talking animals or superpowers are taken at face value. Since children at this stage of development do not really understand where their knowledge comes from, inconsistencies in logic are not a problem,

The final two stages of cognitive development, concrete operations and formal operations involve children beyond the ages of children in Head Start.

Concrete operations stage involves children from about the ages of six-and-a-half to eleven. These children use logic and make multiple classifications. For instance, an animal can be a dog and a collie; and someone can be both a home visitor and a mother.

 Formal operations, the last stage, typically begins at about age eleven. These children think as adults do. They can logically solve problems, imagine things that are contrary to fact, and think in metaphors.

New Definitions for Thinking

Recent research, including that conducted by Howard Gardner, on how humans learn to think has led to new ways of defining intelligence. Gardner describes intelligence as more than just verbal and math skills. Each child has unique abilities that are described in terms of potential for achievement in seven areas.

Gardner lists these seven areas of multiple intelligences as:

Logical-analysis and mathematical reasoning. Children with strong potential in this area might easily solve problems such as comparing the volume of different containers at the water table.

Linguistic-appreciating the rhythms and meanings of words and using language well. Children with strong potential in this area might enjoy listening to poems and stories or develop large vocabularies.

Musical-appreciating different forms of music and producing and appreciating rhythm, pitch, and timbre. Children with strong potential in this area might enjoy hearing different kinds of music or using rhythm instruments.

Spatial-accurately seeing the physical world and being able to understand and make changes in it, as in the visual arts. Children with strong potential in this area might build complex structures or easily put together puzzles.

Bodily Kinesthetic-using the whole body, including both fine and gross motor skills, to solve problems and create products. Children with strong potential in this area might get very involved in movement activities or use tools to take apart a clock or radio.

Interpersonal-understanding and responding appropriately to the moods, temperaments, motivations, and desires of other people. Children with strong potential in this area might be the leaders in dramatic play or show a younger child how to do something.

Intrapersonal-knowing one's strengths, weaknesses, desires, and intelligences, and using the knowledge productively. Children who have strong potential in this area might teach themselves to read or write or work on a long-term project.

Self-Esteem
 
A very important factor in children's cognitive development is that children have the self-confidence and motivation to explore, to try out ideas, to solve problems, and to take on new challenges. Helping children develop and use their cognitive skills is a crucial part of what we do at Head Start. If you can help children begin to see themselves as good learners, you will prepare them for school and for life. Adults can encourage and support cognitive development in the following ways:

Appendix A | Appendix C | Index