Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

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Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Maria Gonzalez

Adolescent Psychology

Professor

October, 2024

Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Abstract

The cognitive development during infancy and toddlerhood is one of the stage of development that brings about drastic changes in mental development of man. This paper shall discuss major theorist’s cognitive development that includes but not limited to Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and information processing theory. This paper starts by introducing and comparing and contrasting Jean Piaget theory with the other major theorist of child development, Vygotsky. This has been expounded by the information-processing theory which also gives details on how children manage, store and retrieve information (Chaparro et al., 2020). These theoretical developments can be said to assist in the identification of the fact that certain early stages of development occur at a very fast pace and they in a very significant way define the entire ability of the child to appreciate and interrelate with this entire world. The essay also discusses real life usages including early childhood education programs and what caregivers have to do in order to enhance cognitive development. Realizing the development processes of the cognitive development allow the educators and parents to support the child in the proper manner during the said developmental period.

Introduction

Psychological growth that occurs in the first age of childhood, known as the development stage between two and seven years, is one of the prominent parts of people’s lives. At this age, children experience marvelous changes in terms of mental capacity as well as in acquiring capability that would be utilized in their learning processes and their dealing with the environment. Issues of theory that will be discussed in this essay include; Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, Vygotsky sociocultural theory, and the information processing theory (Newman, 2021). By analyzing these views this essay aims to gain insight on how children perceive how they reason and develop intellectually during the early ages of their development.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget, a widely known personality of Switzerland, brought major innovations in the assessment of children’s cognitive development. According to Piaget, children go through four stages of cognitive development: Sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete/ operation stage, and the formal operational stage. When it comes to early childhood, prolong has differentiated sub-stages for this age: Preoperational that ranges between the ages of two to seven (Crain, 2024).

Whilst during the second stage known as the preoperational all children embark on symbolic play, memory and imagination. Still they fail in rigorous, abstract thinking and a kind of thinking, which involves understanding the viewpoints of the others, a thinking error called egocentrism. For example, under this stage child may have a sort of thinking that everybody else will see the things in the same way that they do; this makes it very difficult for them to consider the other perspective. Piaget also said this was a stage where children are not able to do conservations; such as conservations of amount, where they are unable to understand the idea of the lots of water existing no matter the vessels’ shape (Crain, 2024).

Piaget’s theory has been widely used in education as many educators focused on the concept of young children learning through activities in their environment, and interventions through caregiving and modeling (Newman, 2021).

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Another view, known as the Socio-Cultural development, was postulated by a Russian Born Psychologist named Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky stated high apprenticeship where the Learner interacts with a more capable partner, which may be a parent, teacher or fellow learner. The process by which a child builds on one’s own abilities and physical tasks which the child cannot independently score is referred to as scaffolding (Chaparro et al., 2020).

According to Vygotsky the ZPD is an integral part of his socio – historical theory of development. The ZPD is a range of tasks that a child can accomplish alongside manipulation with aid from a more competent partner person but they cannot do them independently. Vygotsky proceeding its theory stated that learning takes place in this zone as children are being under some sort of pressure to do more than their current competence level with help from others (Gajdamaschko, 2021). As such, worrying to Vygotsky’s theory is a direct acknowledgement of the sociocultural aspect of cognitive development, mainly because children are always learning from what is going on in their interactional worlds.

This approach has had great influences to practices in early childhood education especially. Grandma’s teach to socially interact with young children and customize their approach according to the development of the child, guiding and scaffolding as the child self-directs.

Information-Processing Approach

The information processing perspective provides another way of looking at cognitive development that involves how information is put in to the child’s memory, stored, and then reconstructed. This theory compares human mind with computer where cognitive development is defined as the gradual improvement of the procedure of high technology (Shepherd & Griffiths, 2021).

In the developmental phase of early childhood there is a very significant enhancement in memory, attention and in aspects of problem solving. It is observed that young children are able to mobilize better rehearsal strategies as well as organization. They also become more skilled in ability to focus on cues related with the task and filter all other stimuli. These advancements in cognitive processing help children to be able to do more complex things and solve more difficult problems (Shepherd & Griffiths, 2021).

Another advantage of the information-processing theory is the recognition of the gradual elaboration of SMA skills. Unlike the stage theory which portrays the cognitive development of an individual as progressing through stages with fixed outcomes, the improvement in these mental processes proposed here is gradual. This approach has been used in learning environment where teachers employ factors that increase children’s focus and their ability to remember, these include visuals and sequencing of teaching activities where children are required to solve problems.

Role of Early Childhood Education

Through cognitive development theories of Piaget, Vygotsky and Information-processing theory vary early childhood education programs in the emphasis on different aspects of cognitive learning and growth. According to Piaget, learning is best achieved actively which means ideas develop through the child’s experience while interacting with activities in his environ According to Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, hold cognitive development takes place in social context through mediational means of acquiring knowledge and skills by learning form others (Tzuriel, 2022). The information-processing approach is centered on how a child’s information is processed, stored and retrieved with special regard to storage and retrieval systems i.e. memory and the problem-solving ability (Odom, 2023).

Theoretical knowledge such as that used in Montessori and Reggio Emilia practices include these programs. Pre-school Montessori education involves children active participation hence in line with Piaget’s notion of exploration. Reggio Emilia focuses on a child’s interactions and learning which is the basis for Vygotsky’s idea. In particular, both programs share the goals of satisfying individual’s needs and encouragement of independence and thinking critically (Tzuriel, 2022).

Some studies, for example, demonstrate that poor quality early education for disadvantaged kids provides short term learning gains but has positive lasting effects on the child’s cognitive development. Appendix 2 shows that early learning environments that promote exploration, social interactions as well as cognitive ones, acquaint children with future academic success and critical thinking environment (Newman, 2021). That is why early childhood education plays a crucial role in launching educational performance and decreasing development inequalities.

Conclusion

Cognitive development in early childhood draws its processes from the biological, social as well as the environmental aspects in development. Cognitive development can be described according to Jean Piaget’s stages, the preoperational stage (2-7) where children use symbols and speech to come into the world but are still egocentric. Piaget also argued that children construct knowledge deliberately and accordant experiences to the knowledge they are constructing are hands-on experiences.

Lev Vygotsky and his associative development emphasized more of social relations to learning. He also came up with the idea of the zone of in closest development the idea is that cognitive development takes place as a result of engagement and with the help of tutors. The main concepts and ideas of his theory are related to social interaction and cultural instruments, which encompasses, for one, language.

Information-processing approach deals with the way children receive, store, and utilize information and thus it has implications on memory, attention and problem solving. This model compares the brain to a PC, in which development is considered as experiential changes in those cognitive processes.

Taken together these theories offer balanced view of cognitive development in early childhood. Therefore, by the usage of Piaget’s stages, Vygotsky’s social learning and Information processing model, educators’ parents can create therapeutic environment that can enhance the children capabilities of learning during this developmental stage.

References

Chaparro, J., Sojourner, A., & Wiswall, M. (2020). Early childhood care and cognitive development.  https://doi.org/10.3386/w26813

Crain, W. (2024). Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory. Theories of Development, 92-123.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003315483-7

Gajdamaschko, N. (2021). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 329-334.  https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-097086-8.23203-0

Newman, S. (2021). Vygotsky, Wittgenstein, and sociocultural theory. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 48(3), 350-368.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12174

Odom, S. L. (2023). The role of theory in early childhood special education and early intervention. Handbook of Early Childhood Special Education, 21-36.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28492-7_2

Shepherd, E., & Griffiths, A. (2021). Processing information. Investigative Interviewing, 125-184.  https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192843692.003.0004

Tzuriel, D. (2022). Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory and applications for assessment. Dynamic Assessment of Young Children, 11-21.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1255-4_2

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