Intellectual development Flashcards
What is Piaget’s stage theory?
That a childs mind is not a miniature version of an adults mind the process of development is not continuous and is split into 4 stages the stages are broken down to substages. age is a guide but not prescriptive. development must follow the same order which is universal
up to two years (Sensorimotor)
- babies experience the world through their senses - before age 2, they cannot “think” - they live in the moment with no abstract concepts but, babies can exhibit intelligent behaviour
Pre-operational 2-7 years
language is symbolic, so acquiring language brings a fundamental change to intellectual development
capacity to imagine things (symbolic) - reflected in play lack concept of conservation [demo] (for example stick as a sword)
egocentric - unable to take another person’s point of view - e.g. hide-and-seek
Concrete operational 7-12yrs
can manipulate (operate) real (concrete) objects
first concrete operations deal with numbers
- children begin to understand reversibility
- 2+4=6 and 6-2=4*
children can also begin to classify things
logical thinking develops
Formal operation 12+
become able to reason not just on the basis of physical objects, but on the basis of hypotheses or propositions
at this age, children can consider possibilities
Summary of Piagets stage model (FOR REVIEW)
Vygotsky’s theory of social development
development does follow Piaget’s order
- but progression is more gradual
- children may be in different stages at the same time
basic principles of Vygotsky’s theory:
- cognitive development is limited at any given age
- full cognitive development requires social interaction
children learn best through problem-solving shared with someone else (e.g. adult, peer)
zone of proximal development
the distance between child’s independent problem solving capacity, and potential capacity under guidance or collaboration
with appropriate help from adults or peers, children can perform tasks they are incapable of completing on their own (Scaffolding)
what is scaffolding?
Helps children to build on existing skills and knowledge helps to instil confidence and skills.
At what stage is a person egocentric and what does it mean?
young children are egocentric - not able to understand/take perspective of others
What is metacognition and when can you begin to do it?
children heading toward adolescence also begin to be able to think about thinking = metacognition
- their own thoughts and others’
one aspect of metacognition is the development of a naïve “theory of mind”
= understanding that different people have different
thoughts, emotions, and perceptions
