Cognitive Development and Language

1. Cognitive Development and Language Chapter 2

2. Three Big Questions Nature vs. Nurture Which drives development? Impossible to separate influences; both are critical Continuity vs. Discontinuity Does progress ebb and flow or does it build gradually? Critical Periods ‘Sensitive periods’ better descriptors for points where children are best able to learn

3. Three Guiding Principles Different rates of development Development is orderly Development is gradual

4. Development Orderly, adaptive changes we go through from conception to death What does this mean? Types of development: physical, personal, social, cognitive Maturation (nature rather than nurture) Changes are genetically pre-determined Similar across individuals and cultures

5. Brain Physiology Parts of the brain: Neurons and their components Lobes and cortex (hierarchical functions) Hemispheres and their role in cognition (lateralization) Left associated with language processing and creativity Right associated with visual-spatial organization Less pronounced for left-handed persons and women

6. Neurons Communication mechanisms in the brain Control transmission of chemicals called neurotransmitters Action potentials, or tiny electrical surges, guide communication Neurotransmitters are absorbed by other neurons’ dendritic branches, which continues the communication process.

7. Physiology and Instruction Individual experiences Direct instruction “Types” of learning Direct (vertical, oblique, horizontal) Indirect (situational) Behavioral Emotional Cognitive Others?

8. Instruction Learner cognitive preferences or strengths Some students will learn better with visual tasks, others with auditory tasks, etc. Vary classroom activities to both cultivate a variety of skills and allow individuals opportunities to “shine” in their areas of strength Plasticity and development Young children have extremely plastic minds; they are heavily influenced by extreme events and flourish in rich environments that include diverse but controlled tactile, visual, auditory and other stimuli. Many behavioral and cognitive disorders are neurological

9. Jean Piaget Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who spent thousands of hours observing and writing about children in the early and middle 20th century Piaget’s body of research (research corpus or research programme) focused on ways in which children’s development progresses as they grow older

10. Piaget Piaget is best known for two major ideas that serve as fundamentals of educational psychology: Organizational structure of the mind Stages of childhood development

11. Piaget: Organization Hypothesized learning is an on-going process of taking in and organizing new information The mind is a network of nodes connected by links (much like neurons) that, together, function as frameworks for experiences and expectations. He called these schema (Woolfolk calls them “schemes”).

12. Piaget: Organization Schemata (plural of schema) are like “scripts” for our beliefs about certain situations They are adaptive and help us function both in new and in frequent experiences Piaget theorized that we all have schemata for many situations and develop them at an early age

13. Piaget: Organization Assimilation – fitting new information into existing schema Accommodation – altering schema or creating new schema to fit new material Equilibration – search for balance between existing schemata and new input Disequilibrium – lack of balance between existing schemata and new input Piaget hypothesized disequilibrium motivates us to engage in learning and work to establish equilibrium by means of accommodation.

14. Piaget: Stages Sensorimotor (0-2 years) Imitation, memory and thought develop Recognize object permanence Reflex to goal-directed activity Preoperational (2-7 years) Language acquisition and use Symbolic thinking Logical reasoning (A will lead to B) Egocentric

15. Piaget: Stages Concrete operations (7-11 years) Solve logical problems through manipulation Laws of conservation Understands reversibility Formal operations (11- adult) Abstract thinking Scientific (logico-mathematical) reasoning Social, multi-layered, complex thinking

16. Piaget: Stages Limitations of stage model Value of stage model What comes after formal operations? Other terms of interest … Object identity Compensation (e.g. height for width) Classification (grouping) Seriation (sequential ordering) Reversibility (follow thinking in multiple directions)

17. Neo-Piagetian Views Case (1992/98) suggests children develop stage-wise across discrete domains, so they may advance more quickly in one domain than in another Other ideas or explanations for Piaget’s findings?

18. Piaget: Implications Select materials and activities appropriate to students’ comprehension abilities Challenge students, but provide adequate support in order to ensure they are able to move fluidly from disequilibrium to equilibrium and so on. Knowledge is constructed Children must interact with reality in order to learn. Opportunities to manipulate (e.g. play) and apply classroom material is critical.

19. Lev Vygotsky Russian psychologist (1896-1934), much of whose work was suppressed until the dissolution of the USSR Focused on sociocultural theory, the idea that all development takes place in social settings and is therefore influenced by social forces Developed theories as he worked to improve his own teaching and looked for ideas that might help explain and guide his experiences as an educator

20. Sociocultural Theory Information is passed in two phases: interpsychologically and then intrapsycho-logically Experiences are co-constructed; both the teacher and the learner participate in the process of knowledge acquisition or construction

21. Role of Social Interaction Piaget: Disequilibrium is the key to learning. Vygotsky: Encounters with more experienced people (experts) is key to learning. Piaget: Peer-to-peer interaction is the best source of motivation to learn. Vygotsky: Adult or older person-to-child interactions as ideal sources of learning.

22. Cultural Tools Tools employed in the culture, in frequent social situations (e.g. calculators, blogs, wikis, PDAs, cell phones, etc.) are critical to cognitive development People are best able to represent their thoughts when they are familiar with commonly accepted forms of communication

23. Language Language is central to sociocultural theory because it is the primary means of information transmission between expert and learner Private Speech vs. Egocentric Speech: Piaget viewed egocentric speech as evidence of children’s social immaturity Vygotsky viewed private speech as a tool for simplifying complex tasks Have you ever found yourself talking out loud while trying to solve a difficult problem?

24. Zone of Proximal Development The Zone of Proximal development is known as the ZPD or Zo-Ped (common in Europe)

25. Scaffolding “Scaffolding” is the work required by the expert necessary to bring the learner from that which they are capable of doing alone to that which they are capable of doing with assistance. It is also used to describe the act of assistance itself.

26. Language Language development is a part of the manner in which many of us learn about nuances of our culture and appropriate forms of interaction. Those who have mastered one language are better able to learn others. Thus, young children actually tend to learn foreign languages more slowly than children in middle childhood and adolescence.

27. Language Pronunciation, however, ought to be taught early; adolescents and older people tend to speak languages with an accent if they learned them after about age 12-14. Your book provides an overview of language development stages in early childhood.

28. Cultural Notes Western children seem to progress through development at different paces than non-Western children Cognitive development and language development also seem to develop differently, though many variables must be taken into account

29. Instruction Pronunciation Grammar Vocabulary and meaning Pragmatics (appropriate use of language) Metalinguistic awareness Partnership with families

30. Review Piaget and Vygotsky suggest a paradigm of cognitive development through physical and social stimulation. Cognitive development requires sensory stimulation; high variability in sensory experiences leads to high levels of cognitive development.

31. Review Children should have opportunities to play. Students should not be assisted with that which they are able to do by themselves; they should be assisted to achieve slightly more than they might on their own.