COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT
BY VAISHNAVI
 You will be briefed about…

01 Cognitive 03 Concepts and 05 Activities

Development Factors Activities to
Some concepts improve cognitive
Introduction and a
and factors development in
quick go-through
affecting cognitive Preschoolers
development
02 Stages 04 Perceive- 06 Teachers’ Role
Stages of Recognize- Teachers’ role in
Cognitive Categorize- cognitive
Development by Remember development and
Jean Piaget some suggestions
for them
 COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
  Conscious construction of a thought process -
includes problem solving, remembering and decision
making abilities
 Begins at infancy and continues as individual grows
 Because of genetics to some extent and external
stimulation, model and opportunities to a large extent

 Through hypothetical
stages/processes[perception, imagery,
problem solving, remembering and thinking],
sensory input is transformed→ coded→
stored→ retrieved
 Learning – Process by which brain’s neural
networks are developed to respond to
external stimulus
 A new born being helpless, completely dependent and lacking of all
mental activities→ learning to sustain and function by itself
 This is same in case of children too
HOW?
 Everyone depends upon the following three requirements
 Instincts - They tend to use inheritance with behaviours
requiring certainty and precision like sucking, swallowing,
crawling, walking
 Training – Every art, trade and science requires a
fundamental knowledge that should be mentally acquired
- this is simple training which required time and practice
 Intellect – Biological achievement of intellect is making
discoveries using insight(an understanding of what
somebody/something is like) and reflections or inventions
STAGES
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
According to Jean Piaget, cognitive development is about how we use our
minds and organize thinking to understand the world.
Piaget’s stages of Cognitive development are-
Stage 1 – Sensorimotor Stage
 Birth to age 2
 Piaget referred to the children in
this stage as “little scientists”
 During this stage, the child begins to
develop
• Reflexes
• Habits
• Hand-eye coordination
• Object Permanence
Stage 2 – Preoperational Stage
 Age 2 - 7 years
 During this stage, the child begins to develop
• Represent objects with images and words
• Lingual skills
• Imagination
• Learning through imitation
• Playing
• Reason out - mainly intuitive not logical
• Attention paid to only broader outlines and not the whole real
situation
• Cannot understand others’ POVs
• Only one relationship is grasped at a time
• Cannot return to starting point of thought, i.e., not reversibility of
thought
  According to Piaget, the child has not acquired “The Concept of
Conservation”, i.e., they don’t understand that just because some parts
are rearranged, that doesn’t mean that the total quantity changes. They
tend to think that changes in form produces change in amount
Stage 3 – Concrete Operational
 7-11 years
 Child develops logical thought - Operational Thought
 Child acquires “The Concept of Conservation”
 New and reversible thoughts
 Classification of objects according to common properties
 Systematic actions like arrangement of things, etc.
 Concept of “Inverse Relations” is developed.
Eg - 3+5=5+3=8=11-3=6+2=1+7
 Logical and reasoning development but only applied to concrete
objects(objects available to senses)
  Cannot apply abstract reasoning - Ability to think about intangible(unable
to be touched) or unobservable things and ideas
Stage 4 – Formal Operational
 Age 11 - 12 years
 Hypothetical Reasoning
 Ability to deal with verbal expressions of logical
relationships
 Child cannot “Operate with Operation”, i.e., symbolically
 Logical rules are applied, reasoned formally and
abstractly - a good sign of intellectual growth and ability
 Variables or consequences are mentally manipulated
CONCEPTS AND
FACTORS
Concepts
An absolutely fixed and static entity. A changing and growing mental structure
depends upon one’s experience.
Concepts are generally of three types-
 Objects – Concrete(real, physical)
Eg – Table, man, orange, dog, etc.

 Qualities
Eg – Brightness, sincerity, honesty, empathy,
etc.
 Relations – These are generally ideas
Eg – Noun, Verb, an hour, government,
etc.
Factors affecting Cognitive Development
 Sense organs – Proper development helps in receiving correct
stimuli and correct concept formation
 Intelligence – Better cognitive development in intelligent children
has been observed
 Learning opportunities – More the opportunities, more the
cognitive development as there is addition to mental capacities
 Economic Status – Children with better economic status are
exposed to more opportunities and better training
 Heredity – Child’s cognitive development is similar to that of it’s
parents’
 Maturation – More mature child→ More interactions(necessary;
done with the help of mental and motor maturation)→ Good
cognitive development
 Family and Society – Family - providing heredity traits; and Society -
providing learning opportunities→ Maximum environmental stimuli→
Good cognitive development
 Play – Through play activities→ child’s interaction with the
environment→ receiving of stimuli→ response
 PERCEIVE-RECOGNIZE-
CATEGORIZE-REMEMBER
Areas of Intellectual Development
The two main areas of Intellectual Development according to Piaget are-
 Language development – organizing thoughts and
making sense of the world around us
 Cognitive Development – the way we use our minds
and organize thinking to understand the world
around us

They are closely linked

1. Major set of representation of sensory
experiences acquired – sight, smell, taste,
sound, touch
2. Fine discriminations of physically similar
events made; Recognize information
related to already existing knowledge
3. Similarities among objects and events are grouped to form categories
4. Past experiences are remembered for a longer time to make new
learning
1. PERCEIVING 2. RECOGNIZING 3. CATEGORIZING 4. REMEMBERING

Skills of Intelligence – Cognitive skills/ skills of intelligence are

the mental skills or behaviours that help children access
information, solve problems, reason out and draw conclusions.

They are-
 Memory
 Language
ACTIVITIES
Activities to Improve Cognitive Development in
Preschoolers
 Obstacle courses
 Water tables
 Follow the map of the school and reach the
destination
 Feel the tree trunks in the campus
 Identify the food items by their smell
 “Spot the difference” activities
 “Recall the objects” activities
 “Identify the sound” activities
 “Repeat the sound” activities
 Solving activities
 Cause-and-effect: memory games, tic-tac-toe
 Expression of ideas to others
 “Guess who” games
 Properties of objects – folding socks, putting things in their
right place, etc.
 Questioning
 Drawing
 Arranging things
TEACHERS’ ROLE
Teachers’ Role
The following initiatives can be taken by the teacher for a better cognitive
development in the child-
 Improving the learning environment
 Providing more challenging toys and conducting
activities to improve their skills
 Hanging up new shapes or pictures or posters and
making children touch and see these
 Initiating “I spy” games and making children notice new things around
the classroom
 Keeping the classroom clutter-free
for easy movement
 Using open ended questions
promoting multiple answers and
encouraging children to describe
things in their own words and guide
them
Suggestions for teachers
 Allow some clutter in the classroom – results in children
sorting them
 Listen carefully as it motivates them to talk further more
 Follow the students and their activities once something has
been initiated
 Repetitions and recalls at periodic intervals are important
 Curiosity is a must for development of intelligence and is
expressed by- exploration, questioning, experimentation,
reading, listening and allowing these to take place
 Provide children with age-appropriate activities
 Provide him or her with a happy-atmosphere pre-school
experience
THANK YOU!