Cognitive development in early childhood

The way adults think isn’t the same as a child would, in their early childhood stage. Why is this so?,
people may ask. The simple answer to this question is that an individual is not born with a conscious
rather it is developed with age which solely depends on the people and things around them in which
they interact.

Circular reaction is a behavioral pattern in which a child discovers a certain characteristic of objects
and the particularity of their own characteristics. This stage is called the sensory-motor stage and it
ranges from 0-2.

When a child interacts with his/her surroundings or environment, they tend to adapt and learn and
acquire numerous new qualities. For example, before a baby learns to walk he would fall and get up
countless times until a correct equilibrium is acquired.

At 10 months the child starts to make sounds which later develops into language and use of symbols,
actions and gestures in order portray desires.

The next stage is the pre-operational where the child learns through daily experiences like playing
with objects e.g. different toys and by realizing activities like clapping hands, singing along, etc. A
child has no fear whatsoever of what he/she does therefore acts carelessly. He/she has no
perception of time nor days, and gives their own explanations of their understanding of things.

This stage however revolves around two sub stages:

1. Stage of pre-conceptual though 2-4 and

2. Stage of intuitive through 4-7

Pre-conceptual thought at this stage, the child has discovered and is developing language, thereby
increasing their skill levels. They tend to enjoy simple stories, songs and nursery rhymes and find
themselves listening to such repetitively.

In the intuitive stage (4-7), the child starts to question choices and decision made by him/her o by
others, seeking logical explanations and answers for such. In this stage he enters into cognitive
development.

To provide maximum cognitive stimulation and development in children, it is very important a

constant interaction of adults with children, for it reflects the scheme and content of cognitive
development. Developing the child’s cognition can be done through playing various forms of
exploration and experiment within a given environment.

When setting up an environment that Is learning inductive ensure that the child is able to move
about physically, danger free and low shelves to facilitate reaching of objects. They should be
brightly coloured and should be objects that cannot cause harm especially small ones that can easily
be swallowed, difficult to destroyed. Toys should be cleaned regularly to prevent spread of diseases
and with an aim of preventing the child from getting sick.

According to Roget, pretend play or play acts should be allowed as it also aids with language and
cognitive development by working on the physical and psychosocial activities.

Concrete operational stage

According to Piaget, the child matures cognitively through each stage of automatic transfer.

The operational stage (Piaget’s operational stage) deals with children in their early years of cognitive
development. Their reasoning and logics affect their academic skills as well as their language
abilities and social behavior.

Skills are developed at the concrete operational level after being in an environment conductive for
the child’s learning. These developments include conservation, which the child learns the ability to
comprehend substances in the same quantity even after it undergoes a change in appearance; The
classification stage where the child understands the functions of objects and is able to put them
together according to its physical properties; the seriation stage which involves the ability of the
child to group objects according to likeness or style, or events of a story in steps o in order of
occurrence; the reversibility stage where the child is able to analyses and rewind actions he/she had
taken prior and decentration where the child develops the ability to focus on multiple parts of a
situation at one time and identify different views on the situation from yours.

However, not all children are able to function the same way as others as they are pressed with
different limitations, such as understanding abstract concept, points in time, mathematical o
scientific ideas just to name a few. As a teacher it is important to understand your pupils and their
capabilities and structure your lessons and environment in such a way that no students gets left
behind. The teacher must be able to use students personal experience and build on that. The should
also be able to manipulate objects around them so that they can better understand how things work
around them. Also they should be able to be more occupied with physical as their attention span
increases, instead of sitting idly with nothing to do, or talking to the students for over long periods of
time.

Cognitive development in adolescence