Stages of Development

Stages of Cognitive Development Children learn through their senses, exploration, & trial & error Sensorimotor stage - Birth to age 2 Preoperational stage – age 2 through age 6 Concrete operational stage – age 7 through 11 Formal operational stage – age 12 through adulthood

Sensorimotor Stage Ages birth to 2 Learning is limited through senses, trying to make sense of their world - Eyes - Sight – looking - Ears - Sound – Listening - Nose - smell - Mouth –Sucking – taste, shape, feel of object - Hands – grasping, touching Babies – hand to mouth - They learn about objects and things through their senses and their mouth is the first body part with which they explore

Preoperational Stage Age 2 to 6 Pre concrete stage K – 1 st grade Experiments Language Development Symbolism i.e. a broom becomes a horse, a stick becomes a sword Playing, Pretending & Role Playing (doctor, mommy) Liquid in a cup Money – which is more? - Children will select nickel over dime when asked which is more, because the nickel is larger in size

Concrete Operational Stage Age 7 to 11 Elementary school age Grade 2 through 5 Hands-on learning is CRITICAL Children see things in concrete ways They do not have abstract thought, thus can’t understand hypothesis and things they cannot see; i.e. inflation, sportsmanship Implications for teaching Demonstrations & Pinpointing are hugely important! Use concrete boundary markers (cones to mark corners, use lines to help children line up, polyspots for personal space, show me with your fingers how many; point to your next station; stand beside your partner, face your partner, etc.) - Line up shoulder to shoulder (be direct & specific) - Teachers must be specific!

Formal Operational Stage Age 12 to adulthood – 6 th grade & up Some never reach this stage, thus important for teachers to use concrete examples frequently Begins to think abstractly Can think hypothetically Can think inside one’s head

Formal Operational Stage Can think about things one can’t see or touch; such as: - Sportsmanship, offense, defense - Inflation, Social Justice, Capitalism, democracy This is when we see children at this stage of thinking getting involved with solving problems (using Styrofoam in cafeterias); volunteerism, etc.

Formal Operational Stage Can generalize i.e. to have good friends I must be a good friend Can begin to use a general principle to solve a specific problem - important for math and science; strategy in game play, can imagine how an offensive play will work… Begins to think about outcomes & consequences – if I do this – that will happen

Formal Operational Stage Can problem solve, likes to think about world issues (poverty, gender roles, democracy) likes puzzles, word problems, etc. Can begin to see gray areas – not just black & white

Deductive Reasoning Strong logic Weak Logic All men are mortal Socrates is a man Therefore, Socrates is mortal All monkeys like bananas Fido is a monkey Therefore, Fido likes bananas All monkeys like bananas I like bananas Therefore, I am a monkey

Inductive Reasoning There are 20 balls in an urn, either black or white. To estimate their respective numbers you draw a sample of 4 balls and find that 3 are black, one is white. A good inductive generalization would be: there are 15 black and 5 white balls in the urn.