cognitive development and education (cognitive) Flashcards
how does cognition develop during childhood?
- influence of genetics AND enviro from birth to death
- maturation (age determines development)
- inherent tendencies e.g., to crawl before walk
Who are the three background psychologists?
1- Piaget
2- Bruner
3- Vygotsky
What are key elements of Piaget’s view of cognitive development?
- schemas
- nature and maturation
- conservation
- stages
- cognitive equilibrium
what are Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development?
1- sensorimotor (0-2) e.g., object permanence
2- pre-operational (2-7) e.g, egosim, animism and centration
3- concrete operational (7-11) e.g., logical thinking and decentration
4- formal operational (11+) e.g., abstract thinking
what are the common criticisms of Piaget?
- oversimplification
- sometimes younger than stages suggest
- not fixed
How is Piaget reflected in the UK curriculum?
- science not studied until gained ability to conserve
- maths and algebra requires to be in formal operational stage
- spiral curriculum aligns with accommodation and assimilation schemas
which background researcher pioneered the spiral curriculum?
Bruner
What does Bruner believe?
- nurture
- scaffolding
- stages (x3) - enactive, iconic, and symbolic
What does Vygotsky believe?
- importance of tutor
- interaction with environment (nurture)
- zone of proximal development
- scaffolding
- not in stages but language (acknowledge cultural differences)
what are the aspects of Bruner’s stages?
1- enactive = representation of knowledge through actions e.g., touch = birth - 1
2- iconic = visual summarisation of objects = 1-6
3- symbolic = representation through words, language, and symbols = 11+
what does Vygotsky believe?
- nurture - not in stages but through language
- zone of proximal development
- scaffolding
what is a zone of proximal development?
the space between what a learner can do without assistance vs with guidance - typically through a more knowledgable other e.g., a peer rather than an expert
what is scaffolding?
guidance from a teacher on how to achieve full potential e.g, writing structures, prompts, essay plans, PREEL
(gradually removed)
what is readiness?
particular concepts that are acknowledged at certain ages (Piaget)
what is discovery learning?
learning through actively doing something (Piaget)
What is a spiral curriculum?
starting with simplest point and then building up
