CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY

Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

MODULE 2
Cognitive
Development
Leila M Collantes
Faculty, College of Education
Cognitive Development Theories
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
• Jean Piaget, a child psychologist, laid emphasis on how
learners interact with their environment and develop
complex reasoning and knowledge.

• Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory states that

children, quite simply, think differently than adults.

• This theory divided the child's life into four separate

categories, or stages, each of which carries its own
important qualities and vulnerabilities. The key terms here
used are assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Schemas
These are actions or
mental representations
that organize knowledge.

These are actions or

mental representations
that organize knowledge.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Assimilation
Piagetian concept of
the incorporation of
new information into
their existing
knowledge or
schemas.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Accommodation
Piagetian concept of
adjusting schemas to
fit new information
and experiences.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Organization Equilibration
Piagetian concept of grouping A mechanism that Piaget
isolated behavior into a higher- proposed to explain how
order more smoothly children shift from one stage of
functioning cognitive system thought to the next.
the grouping of items into
The shift occurs as children
categories.
experience cognitive conflict or
disequilibrium in trying to
understand the world.
Sensorimotor Stage
• This is the stage when a child who is initially reflexive in
grasping, sucking, and reaching becomes more organized
in his movement and activity.
• The term sensorimotor focuses on the prominence of the
senses and muscle movement through which the infant
comes to learn about himself and the world.

• In working with children in the sensorimotor stage,

teachers should aim to provide a rich and stimulating
environment with appropriate objects to play.
Object permanence
This is the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even when
out of sight. This ability is attained in the sensorimotor stage.
Pre - Operational Stage
• Preschool Years. Intelligence at this stage is intuitive in
nature.
• At this stage, the child can now make mental
representations and is able to pretend, the child is now
ever closer to the use of symbols.

• Partially logical thinking or thought begins during these

years. Preoperational thinking can and usually is illogical.
Pre - Operational stage is highlighted by the following:
Symbolic Function. This is the ability to represent objects and events. A symbol is a thing that
represents something else. A drawing, a written word, or a spoken word comes to be understood
as representing a real object

Egocentrism. This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to assume that
everyone also has his same point of view. The child cannot take the perspective of others.

Centration. This refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one aspect of a thing or event
and exclude other aspects.

Irreversibility. Pre-operational children has the inability to reverse their thinking. They can
understand that 2 +3 is 5, but cannot understand that 5-3 is 2.
Animism. This is the tendency of children to attribute human like traits or characteristics to
inanimate object.

Transductive reasoning. This refers to the pre-operational child’s type of reasoning that is
neither inductive nor deductive. Reasoning appears to be from particular to particular i.e. if A
causes B, then B causes A.
Concrete Operational Stage

This stage is characterized by

the ability of the child to think
logically but only in terms of
concrete objects.

This covers approximately the

ages between 8-11 years or
the elementary school years.
Concrete Operational stage is marked by the following:
Decentering. This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different features of
objects and situations. No longer is the child focused or limited to one aspect or
dimension. This allows the child to be more logical when dealing with concrete objects
and situations.

Reversibility. During the stage of concrete operations, the child can now follow the
certain operations can be done in reverse.

Conservation. This is the ability to know that certain properties of objects like number,
mass, volume, or area do not change even if there is a change in appearance. The
children progress to attain conservation abilities gradually being a pre-conserver, a
transitional thinker and then a conserver.

Seriation. This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in a series based on one
dimension such as weight, volume or size.
Formal Operational Stage

Thinking becomes more

logical.

They can now solve

abstract problems and
can hypothesize.
Formal Operational stage is characterized by the following:
Hypothetical Reasoning. This is the ability to come up with different hypothesis
about a problem and to gather and weight data in order to make a final decision or
judgment. This can be done in the absence of concrete objects. The individuals can
now deal with “What if” questions.

Analogical Reasoning. This is the ability to perceive the relationship in one instance
and then use that relationship to narrow down possible answers in another similar
situation or problem. Through reflective thought and even in the absence of concrete
objects, the individual can now understand relationships and do analogical reasoning.

Deductive Reasoning. This is the ability to think logically by applying a general rule
to a particular instance or situation.
Vygotsky’s Theory
In Vygotsky’s theory children’s cognitive development is shaped by the cultural
context and that social interaction plays a very important role.
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Vygotsky’s belief in the importance of social influences, especially instruction,

on children’s cognitive development is reflected in his concept of the zone of
proximal development.

Zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a term for the range of tasks that are too
difficult for the child to master alone but that can be learned with guidance and
assistance from adults or more-skilled children.

The ZPD capture the child’s cognitive skills that are in the process of maturing and
can be accomplished only with the assistance of a more skilled person.
Scaffolding
It means changing the level of
support.
A more skilled person (a teacher or
more advanced peer) adjust the
amount of guidance to fit the child’s
current performance (Wikinson and
Gaffney, 2016).
When the student is learning a new
task, the skilled person may use
direct instruction. As the student’s
competence increases, less
guidance is given.

Scaffolding is often used to help

students attain the upper limits of
their zone of proximal development.
Language and Thought

Children use speech not only for social

communication, but also to help them
solve task.

Vygotsky (1962) further argued that

young children use language to plan,
guide and monitor their behavior.

This use of language for self-

regulation is called private speech.
Piaget vs Vygotsky
CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija