1. Child and Adolescent Development: Cognitive development
Week 2-1

2. Overview: Basic theoretical issues
Cognitive-Developmental theory (Piaget)
Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky)

3. 1.Basic theoretical issues
Definition of development
Certain changes that occur in human beings between conception and death
Temporary change caused by a brief ill or drugs is not considered part of development
Can be divided into many different aspects,including physical development,personal development,social development, and cognitive development.

4. General principles of development
People develop at different rates
Development is relatively orderly
Development takes place gradually
Development is affected by both heredity and environment

5. 2.Piaget’s Cognitive Theory
Born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on August 9, 1896. 
In 1918, received his Doctorate in Science from the University of Neuchâtel. 
In 1952, he became a professor at the Sorbonne

6. Background of Cognitive Theory
Student of biology and zoology
Learned that survival requires adaptation
Any individual organism, as well as an entire species, must adapt to constant changes in the environment
Viewed development of human cognition/intelligence as the continual struggle of a very complex organism to adapt to complex environment

7. Piaget’s Cognitive Theory:
Human development described in terms of functions and structures
Functions: inborn biological mechanisms that are the same for everyone, remain unchanged during lifetime; help construct internal cognitive structures
Structures: change repeatedly during development
Schemes = cognitive structures

8. Schemes Fundamental aspect of theory
Not something that a child has, is what a child does
Relationships between two elements, an object in the environment and the child’s reaction to the object
E.g., Ball - can push it, throw it, mouth it
Psychological structure, reflects child’s underlying knowledge that guides interactions with the world.

9. Schemes
It is the nature and organization of schemes that define a child’s intelligence at a given time.
Schemes are flexible, typically have a broad scope, change over time

10. Example 3.5 years child reading the map of China Shandong to Shanghai
Shandong to Beijing
How will we go from shanghai to beijing to call on someone?
Conclusion: The child merges two schemes into a unit

11. Functions Two major functions:
1) Organization: Cognitive structures are related and fitted into the existing system.
Involves integration, not just adding on.
2) Adaptation: Tendency of the child to fit with its environment in ways that promote survival. (Sub-processes are assimilation and accommodation.)

12. Piaget’s Cognitive Theory: Constructivism
Children’s knowledge of events in the environment are not an exact reproduction of those events. Not like a photograph.
Children shape what they learn from their environments and shape it to fit with existing schemes.

13. Stages (periods) of development
Sensorimotor (0-24 months)
Preoperational period (Ages 2 to 6 years)
Concrete operational period ( years)
Formal operations period (11 years - adulthood)

14. Sensorimotor stage (0 to 24 months):
Six substages
Reflexes graduate to more flexible action patterns
Show increasing levels of intentional and goal directed behavior
Begin to understand object permanence
Mental representation develops
Deferred imitation, make-believe play

15. Preoperational stage (24 months to 7 years)
Make-believe play becomes more complex, evolves to socio-dramatic play
Dual representation develops (realize that photos represent things in the world)
Helps preschoolers understand others’ perspectives
Still quite egocentric
Animistic thinking
Conservation and hierarchical classification still difficult

16. Teaching preoperational child
Use concrete and visual aids
Short instruction with actions and words
Pay attention to the inconsistent perspectives
More hands-on practice
When learning concepts and language,provide a wide range of experiences

17. Concrete Operational stage (7 to 11 years)
Thought becomes more logical and organized
Conservation develops: Shows that kids can de-centre and reverse their thinking
Seriation and inference develops
Cognitive maps develop
Cultural practices and education have a profound effect at this stage

18. Teaching the concrete-operational students
Use concrete props and visual aids
Give students chances to manipulate and test objects
Presentation and readings should be brief and well-organized
Use familiar examples to explain complex ideals
Give opportunities to classify and group objects and ideals on increasingly complex levels
Present questions the need logical,analytical thinking

19. Formal Operational stage (11 years +):
Abstract thinking appears
Deductive reasoning emerges
Even many university students only think in abstract ways on topics with which they have extensive experience.

20. Teaching formal operational students
Continue to use concrete-operational teaching strategies and materials
Give students the opportunity to explore many hypothetical questions
Give students opportunities to solve problems and reason scientifically
If possible, teach broad concepts, not just facts,using materials relevant to the real life

21. Educational implications
Children is not “small adults”
Understanding students’ thinking
Teaching based on the developmental levels of students’ thinking
Learning is a constructive process

22. Limitations of Piaget’s Theory
The trouble with stages(lack of consistency in children’s thinking)
Underestimating children’s abilities
Children’s trouble with Piagetian tasks can be explained by information processing theory
(neo-Piagetian theories )
Can’t explain youth’s thinking(post-formal operation)
Overlooking the effects of culture and social group

23. 3.Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory
Born on November 5, 1896 in Byelorussia (Soviet Union)
He was first educated as lawyer and a philologist
He began his career as a psychologist in1917 and only pursued this career for 17 years before his death from tuberculosis in 1934.

24. Basic viewpoints
Emphasized the way that values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a culture/social group influence children
Focused on dialogues between children and more experienced members of society
Language leads to self-talk and the development of cognition, and later metacognition
(errors in text p44)

25. Vygotsky’s theories Cultural tools theory Private/self speech theory
Theory of zone of proximal development

26. Cultural tools theory
Social interaction is the origin of individual thinking
Cultural tools,including real tools and symbolic tools play very important roles in cognitive development
Higher-order metal processes are mediated by psychological tools

27. Private speech theory Children speak to themselves for self-guidance
Start doing this openly, then to self (you may see their lips move)
Language forms the foundation for all higher cognitive processes
Children with learning difficulties show more private speech over a longer period

28. Private speech and self-regulation
First, behavior is regulated by others
Next, using the same language to regulated others’ behavior
Third , using private speech to regulate ones own behavior
Finally, regulated his/her behavior by silent inner speech

29. Theory of zone of proximal development
A: The area where child can solve a problem alone
B: Problems beyond the children’s capabilities
C: Zone of proximal development: the area where the child can’t solve a problem alone,but can be successful under adult guidance or in collaboration with a more advanced peer
Instruction should be given in the ZPD

30. Implications of Vygotsgy’s theory for teachers
Assisted learning
Scaffolding
From heteronomous to autonomous
The zone of proximal development
Assessment of learning potential
Guide students by explanations,demonstrations,and with other students

31. Differences between Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories
Background
Course of Development
Agents of Development
Implications

32. Pause and Discussion
What makes the differences between Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories?

33. Application and Generation
Analyse the reasons why your English study are relatively ineffective.
Design a suitable project for enhancing your English performance.

34. The End