(Review of) Cognitive Development Perspectives of development Piaget and intellectual development Vygotsky and sociocultural theory Information processing Cognitive development and the Web

Perspectives Origins of development o Nature-nurture? Sequence of development o Continuous-discontinuous? Similarity of development o Normative-individual differences? Universality of development o Universal-context/cultural effects?

Piagetian theory Biological theory of intellectual development o Intelligence is ability of organism to adapt to its environment Description of stages of development o Sensorymotor o Preoperational o Concrete operational o Formal operational Methods of inquiry o Observation o Clinical interview

Theory of Development Accommodation Equilibrium Assimilation Through the process of adaptation, behavioral/cognitive schema get (re)organized.

Stages of Development Sensorimotor (0-2 years of age) o Coordination of sensory and motor systems o Transition from reflexive to reflective behaviour Preoperational (2-7 years of age) o Development of representation o Development of symbolic thought o Preconceptual substage (2-4) precausal egocentric appearance/ reality

Stages of Development Preoperational continued… o Intuitive substage (4-7) Centered on one perceptual property or another Leads to conservation failures irreversible thought inability to categorize hierarchically

Stages of Development Concrete Operational (7-11 years of age) o Concrete operations allow child to think logically about real objects/events Focus on multiple properties Reversible thought Categorization Concrete

Stages of Development Formal Operational (11-15 years of age) o Hypothetico-deductive reasoning allows adolescent to think rationally and systematically about abstract concepts Abstract representation Abstract reasoning Adolescent egocentrism (imaginary audience)

Piagetian Theory and the Web What can 6-9 year olds do/not do on the Web? preop - con op What can year olds do/not do on the Web? con op - formal op What can year olds do/not do on the Web? formal op

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Perspective Learning and development are interrelated Biological maturation Learning in a sociocultural context Development lags behind learning Zone of proximal development Scaffolding

Vygotsky and the Web What can 6-9 year olds do/not do on the Web? context scaffolding What can year olds do/not do on the Web? context scaffolding What can year olds do/not do on the Web? context scaffolding

Information Processing Emphasis on the cognitive system: o What develops? o What does the system look like at different points in time?

Sensory Memory Large Capacity Holds info s Short Term (Working) Memory Limited capacity ( chunks) Holds info s Long Term Memory Unlimited capacity Unlimited duration Attention Sensory input Elaborative Rehearsal Retrieval Maintenance rehearsal

What develops? Attention Maintenance rehearsal Chunking Elaborative rehearsal Contents of LTM Retrieval

Information Processing and the Web What can 6-9 year olds do/not do on the Web? What can year olds do/not do on the Web? What can year olds do/not do on the Web?