Cognitive Development Cognitive development refers to the growth and change of a person’s ability to process information, solve problems and gain knowledge cognitive+development+in+infants cognitive+development+in+toddlers cognitive+development+in+preschoolers 1

Fostering infants’ cognitive development cognitive+development+in+infants Provide a stimulating environment Provide experiences to stimulate all the senses Provide opportunities to solve problems play games such as “peek-a-boo” Encourage infants to practice skills Interact with infants, talking about what you are doing Respond promptly and consistently to their cues 2

Fostering infants’ cognitive development cognitive+development+in+infants Maintain routines Ensure routines offer sensory stimulation Provide opportunities to perceive similarities and differences Encourage interactions with others Place infant in a position where they can see what is going on around them Provide experiences for concept development 3

Cognitive Development during Toddlerhood Piaget described toddler’s thinking as “preoperational” where children are: Beginning to think in a more sophisticated manner, (rather than primarily using their senses) Thinking differently to adults, not clearly logically Thinking egocentrically (seeing things from their point of view only) 4

Cognitive Development during Toddlerhood Toddlers: tend to focus on a single aspect of a situation or object at a time and may ignore other aspects – this is known as centration display a limited attention span use recognition and recall memory (displaying deferred imitation in their play) 5

Cognitive Development during Toddlerhood Toddlers: Can think about problems before they do something. For example get a chair to reach a toy on a shelf Begin to have some understanding of a range of concepts: such as size, colour, number, right, wrong, same and different 6

Concept development in Preschoolers Number May rote count up to twenty or higher By three years may understand one-to-one correspondence Understand ordinal numbers such as first, second third. 7

Concept development in Preschoolers Colour Learn to recognise and correctly name colours Develop colour preferences Shape Recognise and correctly label main geometric shapes Can describe objects as being round, flat or long 8

Concept development in Preschoolers Size Understand “big” or “small” and uses “size” words to describe objects Space Gradually understand how much space an object takes up (spatial awareness) 9

Concept development in Preschoolers Weight and mass Start to gain the concept of “heavy” and “light” Relate this to objects which “float” and “sink’ Matching Can tell if two items are the “same” or “different” 10 q=preschoolers+and+matching

Concept development in Preschoolers Classifying or sorting Learn to sort objects initially by one characteristic Time Tend to give meaning to time by linking time to concrete events Often refer to past events as having occurred “yesterday” and things that will happen in the future as occurring “tomorrow” 11

Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood Characteristics of Piaget’s concrete operations stage Children: begin to think more logically still need concrete objects to solve problems are more able to take on the roles of others are able to look at several aspects of a problem have a better concept of time and distance and can estimate 12

Characteristics of Piaget’s concrete operations stage Children: are less egocentric have a longer attention span are able to reflect on events can think before they act have improved memory skills 13 Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

Learning Learning can be defined as the process of acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes. Learning also includes extending and refining concepts and developing an awareness of relationships between concepts. 14

Influences on Learning Development of language Attitudes and actions of adults Children’s cultural background and social context Parenting/teaching styles 15