1. Cognitive and Language Development
C H A P T E R 2
Cognitive and Language Development

2. Learning Goals
Define development and explain the main processes, periods, and issues in development as well as links between development and education.
Discuss the development of the brain and compare the cognitive developmental theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.
Identify the key features of language, biological and environmental influences on language, and the typical growth of a child’s language.

3. Cognitive and Language Development
An Overview of
Child
Development
Development and Education
Exploring What Development Is
Processes
and Periods
Developmental
Issues

4. An Overview of Child Development
Development: The pattern of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes that begins at conception and continues through the life span.

5. Developmental Processes
Biological processes and genetic inheritance
Development of the brain
Gains in height and weight
Changes in motor skills
Puberty’s hormonal changes
Cognitive processes
Changes in the child’s thinking
Intelligence
Language acquisition

6. Developmental Processes
Socioemotional processes
Changes in the child’s relationships with other people
Changes in personality

7. Developmental Issues Nature-Nurture Issue
Continuity-Discontinuity Issue
Early-Later Experience Issue

8. Development and Education
Developmentally appropriate teaching practices
Splintered development

9. Cognitive and Language Development
The Brain
Vygotsky’s Theory
Piaget’s Theory

10. Synaptic Density in the Human Brain

11. Myelination
Myelination increases the speed at which information travels through the nervous system.

12. in the right hemisphere.
Brain Lateralization
…the specialization of functions in each hemisphere of the brain.
Verbal
Processing
In most individuals,
speech and grammar
are localized
in the left hemisphere.
Nonverbal
Processing
Spatial perception,
visual recognition,
and emotion
are localized
in the right hemisphere.

13. Brain and Children’s Education
Role of early and later experiences
Dramatic changes in synaptic connections
Prefrontal cortex development into adolescence
Cognitive control challenges in adolescence
Brain functioning along specific pathways and integrated

14. Piaget’s Cognitive Processes
Actions or mental representations that organize knowledge
Incorporating new information into existing schemas
Adjusting existing schemas to fit new information and experiences
Grouping isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order system
A shift, a resolution of conflict to reach a balance
Schemas
Assimilation
Accommodation
Organization
Equilibration

15. Piaget’s Four Stages Cognition unfolds in a sequence of four stages.
Each stage is age-related and distinctive.
Each stage is discontinuous from and more advanced than the previous.

16. Piaget’s Four Stages

17. Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
Coordination of sensory experiences with motor actions.
Object permanence involves the realization that objects continue to exist over time.

18. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage Symbolic Function Substage
Symbolic Thought: Ability to represent mentally an object that is not present.
Limitations:
Egocentrism: The inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s perspective.
Animism: The belief that inanimate objects have “lifelike” qualities and are capable of action.

19. The Three Mountain Tasks

20. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage Intuitive Thought Substage
Intuitive Thought rather than logical thinking
Centration: Focuses on one characteristic to the exclusion of others.
Lack of Conservation
Classification: Ability to classify objects according to only one characteristic at a time.

21. Conservation of Liquid

22. Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
Logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning, but only in concrete situations.
Conservation The idea that some characteristics of an object stay the same even though the object might change in appearance.
Classification Coordinate several characteristics rather than focus on a single property of an object.
Seriation Order stimuli along some quantitative dimension.
Transitivity Combine relations to understand certain conclusions.
If A>B, and B>C, then A>C.

23. Hierarchical Classification
When shown a
family tree of four
generations, the
concrete operational
child can classify
the members
vertically,
horizontally,
and obliquely.

24. Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
Abstract reasoning: Think in abstract, idealistic, and logical ways.
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning: Ability to develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems and systematically reach a conclusion.
Adolescent egocentrism: Heightened self-consciousness and a sense of personal uniqueness.

25. Piaget’s Theory Teaching Strategies
Preoperational
Thinkers
Manipulate groups of objects
Reduce egocentrism
Draw conclusions and explain
why
Concrete
Operations
Encourage children to discover
concepts and principles
Assign operational tasks
Propose problems and encourage
hypothesis formation
Suggest alternative approaches to
problems
Develop projects and investigations
Formal
Operations

26. Enter the Debate
Should teachers allow preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade students to play for the bulk of their day?
YES NO
During a slideshow, text may be written on the slides in the yes/no boxes, and then saved for later reference.

27. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice
Jennifer, James, and several of their classmates are playing hide-and-go-seek during indoor recess one rainy day. Jennifer carefully conceals her entire body behind Mrs. Johnson’s long smock. In contrast, James hides only his upper body behind a jacket hanging on a hook. He giggles, sure that his classmates will never see him.
A: Pre-operational. He is suffering from pre-operational egocentrism. He believes that if he cannot see his classmates, they cannot see him either.
Q: Based on the information given above, at which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development is James most likely operating? Explain.

28. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice
Mr. Jackson has a sand table in his kindergarten classroom. He provides his students with many containers of different sizes and shapes to play with in the sand. He watches as his students carefully pour sand from one container to another. One little girl, Michelle, seems amazed when she pours sand back and forth between two containers. The sand always fills up one container and only half-fills the other, yet the containers are the same height.
A: Conservation. She is learning that height and width of the container both contribute to how full the container becomes with the same amount of sand.
Q: Based on the information given above, what skill is Michelle most likely developing? Explain.

29. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice
Mr. Welby teaches high school English. He always asks his students to find the symbolism in the great works of literature he assigns. Some students do this with relative ease. For others it is a real struggle. Many are only able to parrot back what he has told them in class.
A1: Formal operational. They can understand the symbolism in literature due to their ability to think abstractly.
A2: Concrete operational. They are able to remember what Mr. Welby tells them, but cannot think abstractly enough to understand the symbolism.
Q.1: At which of Piaget’s stages are those who understand the symbolism in literature likely operating?
Q.2: At which of Piaget’s stages are those who cannot understand the symbolism in literature likely operating?

30. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice
Marsha refuses to go to school one morning because she is having a “bad hair day” and is certain that everyone will stare at her all day. Her mother assures her that she looks just fine. However, Marsha races back to the bathroom to attempt to fix her “awful hair.”
A: Marsha is suffering from adolescent egocentrism. She is very self-conscious and believes that others will be just as interested in, and hence as critical of, her hair as she is.
Q: What would Elkind say is happening here?

31. Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory
Estimates of children’s competence
Stages
Training children to reason at a higher level
Culture and education

32. Crack the Case The Case of the Book Report
Drawing on Piaget’s theory, explain why Cindy understood the book.
Based on Piaget’s theory, explain why Lucy did not understand the book.
What could Mr. Johnson do to help Lucy understand?
This case is on page 67 of the text.
cont’d

33. Crack the Case The Case of the Book Report
How could Mr. Johnson have presented this assignment differently so that Lucy did not need to rush through a book?
At which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development is Cindy operating?
At which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development is Lucy operating?
This case is on page 67 of the text.

34. Vygotsky’s Theory Zone of Proximal Development
Scaffolding: Teacher adjusts the level of support as performance rises.
Language and Thought:
Develop independently of each other, then merge.
Have external or social origins
Self-talk

35. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Tasks too difficult for child to master even with assistance
Tasks child can master alone

36. Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism Theory into Practice
Peter is having difficulty with his math assignment. His teacher, Ms. Jacobs helps him work through the first problem step-by-step. Peter begins to understand the concepts and begins the other problems. Suzanne also struggles with the assignment. However, even when Ms. Jacobs works through the first problem with her, she still cannot grasp how to do the remaining problems. Meanwhile, Clarice has breezed through the assignment with no difficulty at all.
A1: The assignment is within Peter’s ZPD. He can do it with Ms. Jacob’s assistance.
A2: The assignment is beyond Suzanne’s ZPD. Even with assistance she cannot complete the assignment.
Q.1: What would Vygotsky say about the assignment for Peter?
Q.2: What would Vygotsky say about the assignment for Suzanne?

37. Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism Theory into Practice
Peter is having difficulty with his math assignment. His teacher, Ms. Jacobs helps him work through the first problem step-by-step. Peter begins to understand the concepts and begins the other problems. Suzanne also struggles with the assignment. However, even when Ms. Jacobs works through the first problem with her, she still cannot grasp how to do the remaining problems. Meanwhile, Clarice has breezed through the assignment with no difficulty at all.
A3: The assignment is below Clarice’s ZPD. She can easily complete the assignment with no assistance because she has already mastered the concepts.
Q4: Vygotsky’s term for this assistance is scaffolding.
Q.3: What would Vygotsky say about the assignment for Clarice?
Q.4: What would Vygotsky call the assistance Ms. Jacobs gives Peter and Suzanne? Explain.

38. Reflection & Observation
Identify an experience in which a
more competent person helped you
learn something you were unable to
do alone.
How did this person scaffold your
learning?
This slide accompanies the video segment, Kindergarten Learning Centers, on the McGraw-Hill DVD Teaching Stories: A Video Collection for Educational Psychology.

39. Cognitive and Language Development
What Is
Language?
How Language
Develops
Biological and
Environmental
Influences

40. Language is … Phonology Sound system of a language
…a form of communication, spoken, written, or signed, that is based on a system of symbols.
Phonology Sound system of a language
Morphology Units of meaning involved in word formation
Syntax Rules for combining words into phrases/sentences
Semantics Meaning of words and sentences
Pragmatics Appropriate use of language in different contexts

41. Biological and Environmental Influences
Children are neither exclusively
biological linguists
nor
social architects of language.
Interactionists emphasize the contribution of both.

42. How Language Develops Infancy
Babbling
One  two words

43. How Language Develops Early Childhood
Phonology
Sensitive to sounds, rhymes
Morphology
Overgeneralize rules
Syntax
Complex rules for ordering words
Semantics
6-year-old: 8,000 to 14,000-word vocabulary
Pragmatics
Talk in different ways to different people

44. How Language Develops Middle & Late Childhood
Phonology
Alphabetic principle: letter-sound correspondence
Morphology
Appropriate application of rules
Syntax
Complex grammar; metalinguistic awareness
Semantics
12-year-old: 50,000-word vocabulary
Pragmatics
Culturally appropriate language use

45. How Language Develops Adolescence
Increased sophistication in use of words
Greater understanding of metaphors, satire, and complex literary works
Better writers
Dialect includes jargon and slang

46. Supporting Vocabulary Development Through Technology
Computers
Relate the new to the known
Promote active, in-depth processing
Encourage reading
Audio Books
Educational Television
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