EXAMPLE – COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Unit 3.9 Facilitate the cognitive development of children.

1.1 Describe sensory development in the first year of life.

Age Developmental milestones Possible implications

If milestones not achieved
0-6  Recognizes scent of  May have difficulty with breast
month mother’s breast milk feeding
s  Hearing is mature  May have difficulties setting to
 Tracks objects with eyes sleep
 Look at own hands  May cry often
 Responds to sounds and
voice
 Reaches for nearby objects
 Actively coordinates suck,
swallow, breath sequence,
tongue is cupped, forward
rhythmical movements of
the tongue, and jaw
consistently moves up and
down in a coordinated
pattern
 Sleeps 4-10 hour intervals
 Cries to communicate
hunger, fear, discomfort
6-12  Plays 2-3 minutes with a  May have difficulty tolerating
month single toy different textured foods
s  Imitates gestures  May have difficulties settling
 Uses tongue to move food and may wake often during
around mouth the night
 Opens mouth to be fed  May have difficulties
 Sleeps 10-12 hours with socializing with parents and
only 1 awakening joint attention
 Tolerates a range of  May struggle to copy and
different textured foods learn from others due to poor
 Drink from a cup understanding and attention

1.2 Identify stages of cognitive development in children from birth to 7 years.

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Cognitive development

0-3 The baby’s face, abdomen, hands and the soles of his or her
months feet are also very sensitive to touch.
The baby often stops crying and listens to a human voice by
two weeks of age.
The baby likes sweet taste, e.g. breast milk.
The baby turns to the smell of the breast milk.
The baby is sensitive to light.
The baby likes to look at human faces- eye contact.
The baby recognizes differing speech sounds.
By three months the baby can even imitate low-or high-pitched
sounds.
3-6 By four months the baby links objects they know with the
months sound, e.g. mother’s voice and her face.
By four months the baby reaches for objects, which suggests
they recognize and judge the distance in relation to the size of
the object
The baby prefers complicated things to look at from five to six
months and enjoys bright colours.
The baby can coordinate more, e.g. see a rattle, grasp the
rattle, put the rattle, put the rattle in his or her mouth(they
coordinate tracking, reaching, grasping and sucking).
The baby can develop favourite tastes infood and recognize
differences by five months.
6-12 The baby understands signs, e.g. the bib means that food is
months coming.
From eight to nine months the baby shows that he or she
knows objects exists when they have gone out of sight, even
under test conditions. This is called the concept of object
constancy, or the object permanence test (Piaget). The baby is
also fascinated by the way objects move.
The baby is beginning to develop images. Memory develops
and the baby can remember the past.
The baby can anticipate the future. This gives the baby some
understanding of routine daily sequences, e.g. after a feed,
changing and sleep with teddy.
The baby imitates actions, sounds, gestures and moods after
an event is finished, e.g. imitate a temper tantrum he or she
saw a friend have the previous day, wave bye-bye
remembering Grandma has gone to the shop.
12-18 The child understands the names of objects and can follow
months simple instructions.
The child learns about things through trial and error.
The child uses toys or objects to represent things in real life
(e.g. using a doll as a baby, or a large cardboard box as a car
or a garage).

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18-24 The child begins to scribble on paper.

months The child often ‘talks’ to him or herself while playing.

2-3 The child has improved memory skills, which help his or her
years understanding of concepts (e.g. the child can often name and
match two or three colours-usually yellow and red.
The child can hold a crayon and move it up and down.
He child understands cause and effect (e.g. if something is
dropped, he or she understands it might break).
The child talks.
The child pretend play- often talking to him-or herself while
playing he child takes part in simple non-competitive games.
The child represents events in drawings, models, etc.
The child becomes fascinated by cause and effect; the child is
continually trying to explain what goes on in the world.
3-5 At about age four, the child usually knows to count- up to 20.
years The child also understands ideas such as ’more’ and ‘fewer’,
and ‘big’ and ‘small’.
The child will recognize his or her own name when it is written
down and can usually write it.
The child can think back and think forward much more easily
than before.
The child can also think about things from somebody else’s
point of view, but only fleetingly.
The child often enjoys music and playing sturdy instruments,
and joins in groups singing and dancing.
5-6 Communication through body language, facial gestures and
years language is well established, and opens the way into literacy
(talking, listening, writing and reading).
The child includes more detail in their drawings-e.g. a house
may have not only windows and roof, but also curtains and a
chimney.
The child will recognize his or her own name when it is written
down and can usually write it him or herself.
6-7 Thinking becomes increasingly coordinated as the child is able
years to hold in mind more than one point of view at a time.
Concepts-of matter, length, measurement, distance, area, time,
volume, capacity and weight-develops steadily.
The child enjoys chanting and counting (begging to understand
number). The child can use his or her voice in different ways to
play different character in pretend play. The child develops play
6-7 narrative (stories), which he or she returns to over time. The
years child helps younger children into the play.
The child is beginning to establish differences between what is
real and unreal/fantasy. This is not yet always stable, so the
child can easily be frightened by supernatural characters.

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1.3 Summarise current scientific research relating to neurological and brain

development in early years.

1.4 Explain how current scientific research relating to neurogical and brain
development in early years influences practice in early years settings.

Turning into two years olds-improving outcomes for two year olds
Harrow council (London) 4 children state
“Amazing facts about the growing brain.
• A baby is born with all of the brain cells they will need for their life time (100
billion).
• A baby’s brain processes information about 16 times slower than the adult
brain.
• A baby’s brain doubles in weight and size in the first year
• At times in the first 2 years of life the brain is making a million connections
every second.
• In the first 3 years the brain is growing more rapidly than it ever will again.
• ‘Resting periods’, when the brain is less involved with external tasks but is
nonetheless very active, are important in development.
• ‘We can therefore conceive sleep, not just as a rest period, but also as a
cognitive process in which activity in certain brain regions play a critical role in
learning and memory throughout a lifetime.
• Connections between brain cells continue to develop through the life time.”

Resarch into Practice-Brain Development and Early Childhood Education

States “The human brain is a complex and intricate structure that is composed
of different regions. It is now believed that the different regions perform
specific functions. For example, the cortex, the uppermost structure in the
brain, sometimes called the ‘thinking brain’ is associated with ‘higher level’
functions, such as the ability to make decisions and judgment, plan and
organize, reason, process emotions, make sense of experience, and reflect
on one’s own learning”

This suggests to me that the cortex also called the thinking brain is the part of
the brain in charge of decisions making, emotion’s, judgment, and making
sense of the world and their own learning.

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In order to support & develop children’s cortex I plan activities where children
will need to make decisions and judgment, I do this by giving children different
options to chose from such as Lego, puzzles, painting etc. with these different
options children will have different kind of activities to chose from and during
the activities will have to use their cortex (thinking brain).

Research into Practice-Brain Development and Early Childhood Education

States “The limbic system, the “emotional brain” situated beneath the cortex,
is linked with emotional responding and aspects of attention and memory. The
lower part of the brain consists of the brainstem and cerebellum which control
automatic functions, such as heart rate, breathing, coordination and balance.
All brain areas are connected to each other through a complicated inter-
communication system of brain cells, called neurons”.

In order to support & develop children’s limbic system I help children

remembering past facts. E.g. a book we have read previously I will ask them
questions about the book and try to make them remember what the story was
about and how the story goes and what happens at the end. This kind of
activities makes the children use their limbic system.

Research into Practice-Brain Development and Early Childhood Education

States “The ‘interactive’ nature of brain development assumes the need for a
responsive environment. Early childhood educators have long-established
that the environment plays a crucial role in growth and development.
However, creating responsive environments does not mean adopting a “one-
size fits-all” paradigm, or that an abundance of multi colored toys and
materials are sufficient to stimulate thinking and learning. Rather, it is the
kinds of interactions children’s minds have with these materials and our ability
to be attuned to and respond to the particular needs, curiosities, and
inclinations of the unique group of children we care for that fosters learning”.

This suggests to me that we must plan activities for children to support them
through their brain development but most importantly our interaction with them
and teaching them how to the activities themselves is as important if not more
as providing them with materials for them to do their activities. Interaction with
the children is essential to support them through their development.

2.1 Describe theoretical perspectives in relation to cognitive development.

2.2 Analyse how theoretical perspectives in relation to cognitive development

impact on current practice.

Jean Piaget. Pond, L (2006)

“Piaget saw the child as constantly constructing and re-constructing reality-
achieving increased understanding by integrating simple concepts into more
complex ones at each stage of development”.

This suggests to me that according to Piaget the child had to be at a particular

stage of development to be able to learn new concepts.

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Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development from birth to adulthood.

 Sensorimotor stage (0-2)
Knowledge and understanding are chiefly drawn from physical action and
their senses. (Sight, sound, taste, touch and smell).

This suggests to me that babies and toddler’s became aware of their

surrounding by using their senses.

 Preoperational stage (2-7)

Children learn to manipulate the environment and to represent objects by
words, which supports play with ideas.

This suggests to me that children by experimenting materials and

experimenting things of the real world they develop their thoughts.

 Concrete operational stages (7-11)

Logical thought develops with the child emphasizing classification or
categorization by similarity and difference.

This suggests to me that at this stage children start to use their logic skills.

 Formal operations stage (12 to adulthood)

Children can manipulate abstract ideas, make hypotheses and see the
implications of their thinking and that of others.

This suggests to me that at this stage children are able to form their own
opinions and be able to take into account the views of others.

I put this into practice by planning activities where children have the
opportunity to explore different materials/objects and their properties suitable
for their age/stage of development to enhance their cognitive development.

Jerome Bruner. L. Pound (2006)

“Bruner considers the full range o Jean Piaget. Pond, L (2006)
f human capacities that are involve in teaching and leaving-perception,
thought, language, other symbol systems, creativity, intuition, personality and
motivation”.

This suggest to me that Bruner sates that teaching and learning perception
thought to be through creativity, motivation and personality and language
development.

“He has developed a model for understanding the way in which children
represent experiences and turn them into knowledge. His model identifies
three stages or modes: the enactive mode, which involves physical action; the
iconic in which one thing stands for another, as when a child uses a banana to

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represent a telephone; and the symbolic mode which suggests that children
represent experience through a range of symbolic systems”.

This suggests to me that when children use different objects to represent real
life objects e.g. a banana to represent a telephone; symbolic mode which
suggest that children represent experiences through a range of symbolic
system.

“With things which are new to us we are more likely to choose enactive
modes of representation or thinking, gradually moving towards symbolic
modes as we become more experienced. Each level or mode has four stages
(4), which relate to how children decide on the use of rules in representing
ideas in a variety of media”.

This suggests to me that with things that are new to children, we are most
likely to enactive which is physically or thinking, gradually then moving
towards symbolic modes.

“The child is an active learner and problem-solver, struggling to make sense

of the world”.

“Intellectual activity is anywhere and everywhere-children are always

learning”.

These suggest that children are continuously learning, problem solving and
trying to make sense of every day life.
It also suggests that there are opportunities for learning, everywhere as
children learn on the go, through everything they do.

In my setting I put this into practice by being aware of the different stages of
children’s model of development and plan accordingly for each age group.

References

Turning into two years olds-improving outcomes for two year olds
Harrow council (London) 4 children state

Jean Piaget. Pond, L (2006)

Jerome Bruner. L. Pound (2006)

Early Years Educator

Carolyn Meggitt & Tina Bruce
Publisher: Hodder Education (2014)

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Bibliography

Children & Young People’s Workforce Early Learning & Childcare

Penny Tassoni, Kate Beith, Kath Bulman & Sue Griffin
Publisher: Heinemann (2010)