CHAPTER IV

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
LEARNING PACKET

Introduction
This chapter will present to you various topics related to the Cognitive
Development of human beings specifically in relation to learning. We will tackle five (5)
lessons to include: cognitive development theories by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky;
theories on Intelligence and Individual Differences; factors affecting cognitive
development; language development; and factors affecting language development. The
relevant researches and pedagogical applications were integrated in each concept.

Learning Objectives:
1. Distinguish among the various stages of Piaget’s cognitive development.
2. Expound the applications of Piaget’s theory in teaching learners from various
levels.
3. Apply Piaget’s cognitive development principles in planning a learning task.
4. Elucidate the key concepts in Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory.
5. Develop and implement a plan to teach a skill applying the concept of Vygotsky
on scaffolding.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Activate Prior Knowledge
Watch a movie for general patronage that features a family with kids in various
ages such as “The Pacifier” starring Vin Diesel. Observe the differences in the
characters’ thoughts, reactions and attitude and try to reflect on the reasons why they
act/think as they do.

Acquire New Knowledge

Study the following stages and key concepts in Piaget’s Cognitive Development
theory. Take note of the indicators defining the differences of each of the stages.

The Swiss cognitive theorist Jean Piaget (pronounced as Jshan Piajay) is one of
the most influential figures in the study of child development. He developed his
cognitive-developmental theory based on the idea that children actively construct
knowledge as they explore and manipulate the world around them. Piaget was
interested in the development of “thinking” and how it relates to development throughout
childhood. His theory of four stages of cognitive development, first presented in the mid-
20th century, is one of the most famous and widely-accepted theories in child cognitive
development to this day.
      Piaget believed that our present knowledge has evolved over time. The desire to
learn and know is built in from infancy. The basic concepts within our knowledge in
whatever matter have been constructed over generations. Each succeeding generation
uses the basic concepts of the preceding generations, combining and altering them so
new concepts emerge (Almy & Genishi, 1979). Piaget's theory provides a description of
the processes of human developments that are involved from infancy to adulthood.
Adults do not grasp a new set of ideas all at once. Piaget believes that we learn new
information slowly by attaching the new information with meanings from prior
experiences (Almy & Genishi, 1979).

Process of Cognitive Development (Huitt &Hummel, 1998)

As a biologist, Piaget was interested in how an organism adapts to its
environment (Piaget described as intelligence.) Behavior (adaptation to the
environment) is controlled through mental organizations called schemes/schema
(mental maps) that the individual uses to represent the world and designate action. This
adaptation is driven by a biological need to obtain balance between schemes and the
environment (equilibration).
Piaget hypothesized that infants are born with schemata (plural form of
schema/schemes) operating at birth that he called "reflexes” (automatic or unlearned
behavior upon birth like sucking, blinking of eyes, sneezing). In other animals, these
reflexes control behavior throughout life. However, in human beings as the infant uses
these reflexes to adapt to the environment, some of these reflexes are quickly replaced
with constructed schemes.
        The concept of cognitive structure in humans is central to Piaget's theory.
Cognitive structures are patterns of physical or mental action that underlie specific
acts of intelligence. These patterns correspond with stages of child development. Piaget
based his theory on two biological tendencies: organization and adaptation. Humans
are designed to organize their experiences into logical sets of meanings. Organization
defines how we relate our experiences to each other. The organization of information
and experiences makes the human thinking process more efficient. Adaptation or
adjustment is the tendency to adjust to the environment. It is the process by which
humans match the original experience and the new experience and this may not fit
together.
According to Piaget there are two processes at work in cognitive development:
assimilation and accommodation. Cognitive improvement is the result of the constant
interweaving of assimilation and accommodation.
Piaget defined assimilation as a cognitive process in which we take new
information and experiences and incorporate them into our pre-existing ideas or world
view; or in other words, the ways that people absorb new knowledge. It also involves
keeping the new information or experience and added to what already exists in our
minds.
Accommodation is a cognitive process in which new information replaces old
beliefs; this happens when we restructure of modify what we already know (schema)
because an earlier schema is in a state of disequilibrium. We accommodate so that new
information can fit in better. This results from problems posed by the environment and
when our perceptions do not fit in with what we know or think earlier.
Assimilation is more common, especially as we learn more and more, as
information is usually processed about our existing belief system. When you learn new
information, you assimilate that information into your schema or belief system. For
example, you may believe that your classmate is a very honest person. One day, you
catch her cheating in an exam, if you assimilate this information, you are adding the
incident to your knowledge without changing your basic opinion of her but you are
confused, thus creating cognitive disequilibrium. If you changed your opinion about her,
that would be an example of the accommodation.
Piaget stated that our cognitive abilities develop through four specific stages:
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages.

Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget believed that as children grow and their brains develop, they move
through four distinct stages that are characterized by differences in thought processing.
In his research, he carefully observed children and presented them with problems to
solve that were related to object permanence, reversibility, deductive reasoning,
transitivity, and assimilation (described below). Each stage builds upon knowledge
learned in the previous stage.
First: Sensorimotor Stage
The sensorimotor stage occurs from birth to age 2. It is characterized by the
idea that infants “think” by manipulating the world around them. This is done by using all
five senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. Children figure out ways to
elicit responses by “doing”, such as pulling a lever on a music box to hear a sound,
placing a block in a bucket and pulling it back out, or throwing an object to see what
happens. Between 5 and 8 months old, the child develops object permanence, which
is the understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists (Bogartz,
Shinskey, & Schilling, 2000). For example, a child learns that even though his mother
leaves the room, she has not ceased to exist; similarly, a ball does not disappear
because a bucket is placed over it.
By the end of this stage, children are able to engage in what Piaget termed as
deferred imitation. This involves the ability to reproduce or repeat a previously
witnessed action later on; rather than copying it right away, the child is able to produce
a mental representation of it and repeat the behavior later on. By 24 months, infants are
able to imitate behaviors after a delay of up to three months.

Second: Preoperational Stage

The preoperational stage occurs from age 2 to age 7. During this stage, children
can use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, which is why children in this
stage engage in pretend play. A child’s arms might become airplane wings as she
zooms around the room, or a child with a stick might become a brave knight with a
sword. Language development and make-believe play begin during this stage. Logical
thinking is still not present, so children cannot rationalize or understand more complex
ideas. Children at this stage are very egocentric, meaning they focus on themselves
and how actions will impact them, rather than others. They are not able to take on the
perspective of others, and they think that everyone sees, thinks, and feels just like they
do.

Third: Concrete Operational Stage

The concrete operational stage occurs from age 7 to age 11. It is characterized
by the idea that children’s reasoning becomes focused and logical. Children
demonstrate a logical understanding of conservation principles, the ability to
recognize that key properties of a substance do not change even as their physical
appearance may be altered. For example, a child who understands the principles of
conservation will recognize that identical quantities of liquid will remain the same
despite the size of the container in which they are poured. Children who do not yet
grasp conservation and logical thinking will believe that the taller or larger glass must
contain more liquid.
Children begin to organize objects by classes and subclasses, and they can
perform mathematical operations and understand transformations, such as addition is
the opposite of subtraction and multiplication is the opposite of division. They still think
in very linear ways and can only conceptualize ideas that can be observed directly.
They have not yet mastered abstract thinking (described below).
By the end of this stage, children will develop true mental operations and master
the following concepts: 
1. Reversibility is the idea that something can be changed back to its original state
after it has been altered (for example, pouring water back and forth between two
differently shaped glasses and still having the same amount of water). 
2. Transitivity is the concept of relation. For example, if A is related to B and B is
related to C, then A must also be related to C.
3. Inductive reasoning, which involves drawing inferences from observations in
order to make a generalization. In contrast, children at this stage struggle
with deductive reasoning, which involves using a generalized principle in order
to try to predict the outcome of an event.

Fourth: Formal Operational

The formal operational stage occurs from age 11 to adulthood. It is
characterized by the idea that children develop the ability to think in abstract ways.
This enables children to engage in the problem-solving method of developing a
hypothesis and reasoning their way to plausible solutions. Children can think of abstract
concepts and have the ability to combine various ideas to create new ones. By the end
of this stage, children have developed logical and systematic thinking, are capable of
deductive reasoning, and can create hypothetical ideas to explain various concepts.

Beyond Formal Operational Thought

As with other major contributors of theories of development, several of Piaget’s
ideas have been challenged by later research. For example, several contemporary
studies support a model of development that is more continuous than Piaget’s discrete
stages (Courage & Howe, 2002; Siegler, 2005, 2006). Many others suggest that
children reach cognitive milestones earlier than Piaget describes (Baillargeon, 2004; de
Hevia & Spelke, 2010).
Many developmental psychologists suggest a fifth stage of cognitive
development, known as the postformal stage (Basseches, 1984; Commons &
Bresette, 2006; Sinnott, 1998). In postformal thinking, decisions are made based on
situations and circumstances, and logic is integrated with emotion as adults develop
principles that depend on contexts. One way that we can see the difference between an
adult in postformal thought and an adolescent in formal operations is in terms of how
they handle emotionally charged issues.
It seems that once we reach adulthood, our problem-solving abilities change: as
we attempt to solve problems, we tend to think more deeply about many areas of our
lives, such as relationships, work, and politics (Labouvie-Vief & Diehl, 1999). Because
of this, postformal thinkers are able to draw on past experiences to help them solve new
problems. Problem-solving strategies using postformal thought vary depending on the
situation. Adults can recognize, for example, that what seems to be an ideal solution to
a disagreement with a coworker may not be the best solution for a disagreement with a
romantic partner.

Application Activity
Read the matrices below showing the application of Piaget’s principles in teaching.
Make a simple Piagetian-based Learning Activity Plan. Choose the age-level you want
to work with, and the topic you want to explore. Pick five (5) applications from the table
and describe the specific activity you plan to do. Write or encode your output and submit
through the Learning Management System or learning platform being used in your
class.

Example:
Application Specific Activity
Provide timeline for history lesson Ask students to make a timeline

Application of Piaget’s Principles in Teaching

Teaching the Preoperational Child
(Toddler and Early Childhood)
Principle Application
Use concrete props and visual aids to illustrate Use physical illustrations.
lessons and help children understand what is Use drawings and illustrations.
being presented.
Make instructions relatively short, using actions After giving instructions, ask a
as well as words, to lessen likelihood that the student to demonstrate them as a
students will get confused. model for the rest of the class.
Explain a game by acting out the
part of a participant.
Do not expect the students to find it easy to see Avoid lessons about worlds too
the world from someone else's perspective far removed from the child's
since they are likely to be very egocentric at this experience.
point. Discuss sharing from the child's
own experience.
Give children a great deal of physical practice Use cut-out letters to build words.
with the facts and skills that will serve as Avoid overuse of workbooks and
building blocks for later development. other paper-and-pencil tasks.
Encourage the manipulation of physical objects Provide opportunities to play with
that can change in shape while retaining a clay, water, or sand.
constant mass, giving the students a chance to Engage students in
move toward the understanding of conservation conversations about the changes
and two-way logic needed in the next stage.
Provide many opportunities to experience the
world in order to build a foundation for concept
learning and language.
the students are experiencing
when manipulating objects.
Take field trips.
Use and teach words to describe
what they are seeing, doing,
touching, tasting, etc.
Discuss what they are seeing on
TV.

Teaching the Concrete Operational Child

(Middle Childhood)
Principle Application
Continue to use concrete props and visual 1. Provide time-lines for history
aids, especially when dealing with lessons.
sophisticated material. 2. Provide three-dimensional models
in science.
Continue to give students a chance to  Demonstrate simple scientific
manipulate objects and test out their ideas. experiments in which the students
can participate.
 Show craftwork to illustrate daily
occupations of people of an earlier
period.
Make sure that lectures and readings are brief
 Use materials that present a
and well organized. progression of ideas from step to
step.
 Have students read short stories or
books with short, logical chapters,
moving to longer reading
assignments only when the
students are ready.
Ask students to deal with no more than three  Require readings with a limited
or four variables at a time. number of characters.
 Demonstrate experiments with a
limited number of steps.
Use familiar examples to help explain more 1. Compare students' own lives with
complex ideas so students will have a those of the characters in a story.
beginning point for assimilating new 2. Use story problems in mathematics.
information.
Give opportunities to classify and group  Give students separate sentences
objects and ideas on increasingly complex on slips of paper to be grouped into
levels. paragraphs.

Present problems which require logical,
analytical thinking to solve.
Teaching Students Beginning to Use Formal Operations
(Adolescence)
Principle
Continue to use many of the teaching
strategies and materials appropriate for
students at the concrete operational stage.
Give students an opportunity to explore many
hypothetical questions.
Encourage students to explain how they solve
problems.
 Use outlines, hierarchies, and
analogies to show the relationship
of unknown new material to already
acquired knowledge.
 Provide materials such as Mind
Twisters, Brain Teasers, and
riddles.
 Focus discussions on open-ended
questions which stimulate thinking
(e.g., are the mind and the brain the
same thing?)
Application
Use visual aids such as charts
and illustrations, as well a simple
but somewhat more sophisticated
graphs and diagrams.
Use well-organized materials that
offer step by step explanations.
Provide students opportunities to
discuss social issues.
Provide consideration of
hypothetical "other worlds."
Ask students to work in pairs with
one student acting as the problem
solver, thinking aloud while
tackling a problem, with the other
student acting as the listener,
checking to see that all steps are
mentioned and that everything
seems logical.
Make sure that at least some of
the tests you give ask for more
than rote memory or one final
answer; essay questions, for
example, might ask students to
justify two different positions on an
issue.
 Whenever possible, teach broad concepts, not While discussing a topic such as
just facts, using materials and ideas relevant to the Civil War, consider what other
the students. issues have divided the country
since then.
Use lyrics from popular music to
teach poetic devices, to reflect on
social problems, and so on.
Huitt, W. (1997). Cognitive development: Applications. Educational Psychology Interactive.

References:
Huitt, W. (1997). Cognitive development: Applications. Educational Psychology
Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date],
from www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piagtuse.html
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/theories-of-human-
development/
https://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwpapajl/evolution/assign2/DD/
theory.html#:~:text=Assimilation%20occurs%20when%20we%20modify,information
%20can%20fit%20in%20better.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/theories-of-human-
development/

Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

Activate Prior Knowledge
Recall a time in your childhood when you were trying to learn a skill and
eventually learned it with the assistance of another person. After studying the concepts
of Vygotsky about development, try to reflect whether those concepts such as
scaffolding was applied by the person who taught you the skill.

Acquire New Knowledge

Study the following concepts in Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Development theory.
Try to recall experiences you have had in the past which you can relate to his concepts
of development. At the same time, try to foresee how you may apply these concepts in
the future as a teacher or “More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)” as referred to by
Vygotsky.

The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of much research
and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what
has become known as Social Development Theory. His theories stress the fundamental
role of social interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he
believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making
meaning." Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must necessarily precede
their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the
process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function"
(1978, p. 90).  In other words, social learning tends to precede development. Vygotsky
has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He developed his
theories at around the same time as Jean Piaget was starting to develop his ideas
(1920's and 30's), but he died at the age of 38, and so his theories are incomplete -
although some of his writings are still being translated from Russian. No single principle
(such as Piaget's equilibration) can account for development. Individual development
cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural context within which it
is embedded. Higher mental processes in the individual have their origin in social
processes.

Vygostky’s theory differs from that of Piaget in a number of important ways:

Lev Vygotsky Jean Piaget
Vygotsky places more emphasis on Piaget states cognitive development is
culture affecting cognitive development. mostly universal across cultures.
He did not give stages of development.
He assumes cognitive development
varies across cultures.
Vygotsky placed considerably more According to Piaget, language depends
emphasis on social factors contributing to on thought for its development (i.e.,
cognitive development especially putting thought comes before language).
emphasis on the role of language. For
him, the environment (and its culture) in
which children grow up will influence how
they think and what they think about. He
emphasized that adults are an important
source of cognitive development ( from
the quality and quantity of interaction or
stimulation from adults)

Thought and language are initially

separate systems from the beginning of
life, merging at around three years of age,
producing verbal thought (inner speech).
Cognitive development results from an Piaget emphasizes the importance of
internalization of language. Adults peers as peer interaction promotes social
transmit their culture's tools of intellectual perspective taking.
adaptation that children internalize.

The Role of Language in Cognitive Development

Vygotsky believed that language develops from social interactions, for
communication purposes. He viewed language as man’s greatest tool, a means for
communicating with the outside world. According to Vygotsky (1962) language plays
two critical roles in cognitive development:
a. It is the main means by which adults transmit information to children.
b. Language itself becomes a very powerful tool of intellectual adaptation.
Vygotsky (1987) differentiates between three forms of language:
a. social speech which is external communication used to talk to others (typical
from the age of two);
b. private speech (typical from the age of three) which is directed to the self and
serves an intellectual function; and finally private speech goes underground,
c. diminishing in audibility as it takes on a self-regulating function and is
transformed into silent inner speech (typical from the age of seven).
For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the
beginning of life, merging at around three years of age. At this point speech and thought
become interdependent: thought becomes verbal; speech becomes representation of
thoughts. When this happens, children's monologues (talking to one’s self) are
internalized to become inner speech. The internalization of language is important as it
drives cognitive development.
'Inner speech is not the interior aspect of external speech - it is a function in
itself. It still remains speech, i.e., thought connected with words. But while in external
speech thought is embodied in words, in inner speech words die as they bring forth
thought. Inner speech is to a large extent thinking in pure meanings.' (Vygotsky, 1962:
p. 149)
Thus private speech, in Vygotsky's view, was the earliest manifestation of inner
speech. Indeed, private speech is more similar (in its form and function) to inner speech
than social speech. Private speech is 'typically defined, in contrast to social speech, as
speech addressed to the self (not to others) for the purpose of self-regulation (rather
than communication).' (Diaz, 1992, p.62)
Through private speech, children begin to collaborate with themselves in the
same way a more knowledgeable other (e.g., adults) collaborate with them in the
achievement of a given function. Vygotsky sees "private speech" as a means for
children to plan activities and strategies and therefore aid their development. Private
speech is the use of language for self-regulation of behavior. Language is, therefore, an
accelerator to thinking/understanding. Vygotsky believed that children who engaged in
large amounts of private speech are more socially competent than children who do not
use it extensively.
Vygotsky (1987) notes that private speech does not merely accompany a child’s
activity but acts as a tool used by the developing child to facilitate cognitive processes,
such as overcoming task obstacles, enhancing imagination, thinking, and conscious
awareness. Children use private speech most often during intermediate difficulty tasks
because they are attempting to self-regulate by verbally planning and organizing their
thoughts (Winsler et al., 2007).
 For example, tasks related to executive function (Fernyhough & Fradley, 2005),
problem-solving tasks (Behrend et al., 1992), schoolwork in both language (Berk &
Landau, 1993), and mathematics (Ostad & Sorensen, 2007). In this way, recall that
when students have difficulty in a learning activity, say Math problem-solving, they
would read the problem aloud.
Berk (1986) provided empirical support for the notion of private speech. She
found that most private speech exhibited by children serves to describe or guide the
child's actions. Berk also discovered that child engaged in private speech more often
when working alone on challenging tasks and also when their teacher was not
immediately available to help them. Furthermore, Berk also found that private speech
develops similarly in all children regardless of cultural background.
Children raised in cognitively and linguistically stimulating environments
(situations more frequently observed in higher socioeconomic status families) start
using and internalizing private speech faster than children from less privileged
backgrounds. Indeed, children raised in environments characterized by low verbal and
social exchanges exhibit delays in private speech development.
Children’s use of private speech diminishes as they grow older and follows a
curvilinear trend. This is due to changes in ontogenetic development whereby children
are able to internalize language (through inner speech) in order to self-regulate their
behavior (Vygotsky, 1987). For example, research has shown that childrens’ private
speech usually peaks at 3–4 years of age, decreases at 6–7 years of age, and gradually
fades out to be mostly internalized by age 10 (Diaz, 1992).

Effects of Culture: Tools of Intellectual Adaptation

Like Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic
materials/abilities for intellectual development. However, Piaget focused on motor
reflexes and sensory abilities whereas Vygotsky referred to 'elementary mental
functions – attention, sensation, perception and memory. Eventually, through
interaction within the sociocultural environment, these are developed into more
sophisticated and effective mental processes/strategies which he referred to as 'higher
mental functions’ or the tools of intellectual adaptation
With tools of intellectual adaptation, children use them as basic mental functions
and therefore can interact and learn more effectively/adaptively (e.g. memory
mnemonics, mind maps). Vygotsky, therefore, sees cognitive functions, even those
carried out alone, as affected by the beliefs, values, and tools of intellectual adaptation
of the culture in which a person develops and therefore socio-culturally determined. The
tools of intellectual adaptation, therefore, vary from culture to culture.

Social Influences on Cognitive Development

According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs
through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor (parents, playmates, teachers,
members of family, anyone who can teach one about something, like a grandchild
teaching a grandparent how to manipulate a gadget) can model/show behaviors and/or
provide verbal instructions for the learner/child. Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative
or collaborative dialogue. The learner child seeks to understand the actions or
instructions provided by the tutor then internalizes the information, using it to guide or
regulate their own performance.
Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl who is given her first jigsaw.
Alone, she performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with
her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the
corner/edge pieces and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself
and offers encouragement when she does so. As the child becomes more competent,
the father allows the child to work more independently. According to Vygotsky, this type
of social interaction involving cooperative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive
development.
In order to gain an understanding of Vygotsky's theories on cognitive
development, one must understand two of the main principles of Vygotsky's work: the
More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

More Knowledgeable Other

The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to
someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with
respect to a particular task, process, or concept ( like the child teaching the grandparent
on manipulating the gadget). Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an
older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's
children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience. In fact,
the MKO need not be a person at all. Some companies, to support employees in their
learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems. Electronic
tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students
through the learning process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be
programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.

Zone of Proximal Development

The concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is integrally related to the second
important principle of Vygotsky's work, the Zone of Proximal Development. This is an
important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve
independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a
skilled partner. For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example
above) by itself and would have taken a long time to do so (if at all), but was able to
solve it following interaction with the father, and has developed competence at this skill
that will be applied to future jigsaws.
Vygotsky (1978) sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the
most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given, allowing the child to develop
skills they will then use on their own, developing higher mental functions. He also views
interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies.  He
suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent
children develop with help from more skillful peers within the zone of proximal
development.

What is the Theory of Scaffolding?

The ZPD has become synonymous in the literature with the term scaffolding.
However, it is important to note that Vygotsky never used this term in his writing, and it
was introduced by Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976). Scaffolding consists of the activities
provided by the educator, or more competent peer, to support the student as he or she
is led through the zone of proximal development. Support is tapered off (i.e. withdrawn)
as it becomes unnecessary, much as a scaffold is removed from a building during
construction. The student will then be able to complete the task again on his own.

Evidence for Vygotsky and the ZPD

Freund (1990) conducted a study in which children had to decide which items of
furniture should be placed in particular areas of a dolls house. Some children were
allowed to play with their mother in a similar situation before they attempted it alone
(zone of proximal development) while others were allowed to work on this by
themselves (Piaget's discovery learning).  Freund found that those who had previously
worked with their mother (ZPD) showed the greatest improvement compared with their
first attempt at the task.  The conclusion being that guided learning within the ZPD led to
greater understanding/performance than working alone (discovery learning).
Pedagogical Applications
1. A contemporary educational application of Vygotsky's theories is "reciprocal
teaching," used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method,
teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills:
summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the
process is reduced over time.
2. Also, Vygotsky theory of cognitive development on learners is relevant to
instructional concepts such as "scaffolding" and "apprenticeship," in which a
teacher or more advanced peer helps to structure or arrange a task so that a
novice can work on it successfully.
3. Vygotsky's theories also feed into the current interest in collaborative learning,
suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more
advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their ZPD.
4. In relation to Curriculum: Since children learn much through interaction,
curricula should be designed to emphasize interaction between learners and
learning tasks.
5. In relation to Instruction: With appropriate adult help, children can often perform
tasks that they are incapable of completing on their own. With this in mind,
scaffolding–where the adult continually adjusts the level of his or her help in
response to the child’s level of performance–is an effective form of teaching.
Scaffolding not only produces immediate results, but also instills the skills
necessary for independent problem solving in the future.
6. In relation to Assessment: Assessment methods must take into account the
zone of proximal development. What children can do on their own is their level of
actual development and what they can do with help is their level of potential
development. Two children might have the same level of actual development, but
given the appropriate help from an adult, one might be able to solve many more
problems than the other. Assessment methods must target both the level of
actual development and the level of potential development.

Critical Evaluation
Vygotsky's work has not received the same level of intense scrutiny that Piaget's
has, partly due to the time-consuming process of translating Vygotsky's work from
Russian. Also, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective does not provide as many specific
hypotheses to test as did Piaget's theory, making refutation difficult, if not impossible.
Perhaps the main criticism of Vygotsky's work concerns the assumption that it is
relevant to all cultures. Rogoff (1990) dismisses the idea that Vygotsky's ideas are
culturally universal and instead states the concept of scaffolding - which is heavily
dependent on verbal instruction - may not be equally useful in all cultures for all types of
learning. Indeed, in some instances, observation and practice may be more effective
ways of learning certain skills.

ACTIVITY 1

1. Plan and implement a scaffolding exercise to help a household member/board mate

learn a skill. Choose a skill you are good in which you can teach him/her. Make a plan
on how you will teach this using the table format below:

Skill to teach:____________________ Age of person to be taught:__________

Steps to take in teaching Describe the specific Describe how the learning
the skill actions you will do to activity went
scaffold

*add additional rows to the table if needed

2. Encode your output on a letter-sized sheet, landscape lay-out, using Arial 11.
3. Submit according to my instructions.

References:
McLeod, S. A. (2018, August 05). Lev Vygotsky. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/pluginfile.php/5904/mod_resource/content/1/
Vygotskian_principles_on_the_ZPD_and_scaffolding.pdf

Intelligence and Individual Differences

Learning Objectives:
o Distinguish each of the theories of intelligence from the others based on their
key concepts.
 o Elaborate the pedagogical implications of the various concepts of intelligence
to individual differences or student diversity.
o Apply the pedagogical implications of the theories through a learning activity
plan.

Activate Prior Knowledge

Concept Mapping: Based on your previous learning experiences and
understanding, create a concept map of how you understand intelligence. Do this in any
form of your learning log that you are using for this course. When you are done with
Lesson 2, revisit your concept map and integrate what you have learned from the
various concepts and theories about intelligence. You do not need to submit this but you
are encouraged to do it to facilitate learning.

Acquire New Knowledge

In this section, you will learn about the various theories of intelligence. Each has its
own basic assumptions about intelligence that may be similar or different from the other.
However, each theory holds distinct concept/s about intelligence that distinguishes it
from the other theories. These views are not absolute but they are based on researches
and are useful in designing learning experiences to facilitate the learning of students.
Thus, it would be beneficial to a future teacher like you to take note of the pedagogical
implications or contributions of these theories.
The following are among the intelligence theories that you will be studying in the
lesson:
o Concept of intelligence by Alfred Binet
o General Intelligence by Charles Spearman
o Primary Mental Abilities by Louis Leon Thurstone
o Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner
o Triarchic Theory of Intelligence by Robert Sternberg
o Cognitive Information Processing by Atkinson and Shiffrin

What is Intelligence?
It might seem useless to define such a simple word. After all, we have all heard
this word hundreds of times and probably have a general understanding of its meaning.
However, the concept of intelligence has been a widely debated topic among members
of the psychology community for decades. Intelligence has been defined in many ways:
higher level abilities (such as abstract reasoning, mental representation, problem
solving, and decision making), the ability to learn, emotional knowledge, creativity, and
adaptation to meet the demands of the environment effectively. Psychologist Robert
Sternberg defined intelligence as "the mental abilities necessary for adaptation to, as
well as shaping and selection of, any environmental context (1997, p. 1)
 Theories of Intelligence
Some researchers argue that intelligence is a general ability, whereas others
make the assertion that intelligence comprises specific skills and talents. Psychologists
contend that intelligence is genetic, or inherited, and others claim that it is largely
influenced by the surrounding environment. As a result, psychologists have developed
several contrasting theories of intelligence as well as individual tests that attempt to
measure this very concept.

A. Alfred Binet’s Concept of Intelligence

(July 8, 1857- October 18, 1911)
French Psychologist

Education  
 Received his law degree in 1878
 Subsequently studied natural sciences at the Sorbonne
 Self-taught in psychology

Career
 Researcher, neurological clinic, Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris (1883-1889)
 Researcher and Associate Director, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Sorbonne University (1891-
1894)
 Director, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Sorbonne University (1894-1911)
 Member, Commission on the Education of Retarded Children, appointed by the French Ministry of Public
Instruction (1904)

Binet’s Definition of Intelligence

"It seems to us that in intelligence there is a fundamental faculty, the alteration or the
lack of which, is of the utmost importance for practical life. This faculty is judgment,
otherwise called good sense, practical sense, initiative, the faculty of adapting one's self
to circumstances. A person may be a moron or an imbecile if he is lacking in judgment;
but with good judgment he can never be either. Indeed the rest of the intellectual
faculties seem of little importance in comparison with judgment" (Binet & Simon, 1916,
1973, pp.42-43).

Major Contribution: The Binet-Simon Scale

Ideas and Interests

After receiving his law degree in 1878, Alfred Binet began to study science at the
Sorbonne. However, he was not overly interested in his formal schooling, and started
educating himself by reading psychology texts at the National Library in Paris. He soon
became fascinated with the ideas of John Stuart Mill, who believed that that the
operations of intelligence could be explained by the laws of associationism. Binet
eventually realized the limitations of this theory, but Mill's ideas continued to influence
his work. In 1883, Binet began to work in Jean-Martin Charcot's neurological laboratory
at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. At the time of Binet's tenure, Charcot was
experimenting with hypnotism. Binet was strongly influenced by this great man, and
published four articles about his work in this area. Unfortunately, Charcot's conclusions
did not hold up under professional scrutiny, and Binet was forced to make an
embarrassing public admission that he had been wrong in supporting his teacher.
When his intrigue with hypnosis waned as a result of failure to establish
professional acceptance, he turned to the study of development spurred on by the birth
of his two daughters, Madeleine and Alice (born in 1885 and 1887, respectively). In the
21 year period following his shift in career interests, Binet "published more than 200
books, articles, and reviews in what now would be called experimental, developmental,
educational, social, and differential psychology" (Siegler, 1992). Bergin and Cizek
(2001) suggest that this work may have influenced Jean Piaget, who later studied with
Binet's collaborator Theodore Simon in 1920. Binet's research with his daughters
helped him to further refine his developing conception of intelligence, especially the
importance of attention span and suggestibility in intellectual development.
Despite Binet's extensive research interests and wide breadth of publications,
today he is most widely known for his contributions to intelligence. Wolf (1973)
postulates that this is the result of his not being affiliated with a major university.
Because Binet did not have any formal graduate study in psychology, he did not hold a
professorship with a prestigious institution where students and funds would be sure to
perpetuate his work (Siegler, 1992). Additionally, his more progressive theories did not
provide the practical utility that his intelligence scale would evoke.
In 1891, Binet began working at the Sorbonne's Laboratory of Experimental
Psychology and was appointed its Director in 1894. In that same year, he co-
founded L'Annee Psychologique, a major psychology journal. While directing the
Laboratory, Theodore Simon applied to do doctoral research under Binet's supervision.
This was the beginning of their long, fruitful collaboration.
In 1904 a French professional group for child psychology, La Société Libre pour
l'Etude Psychologique de l'Enfant, was called upon by the French government to
appoint a commission on the education of retarded children. The commission was
asked to create a mechanism for identifying students in need of alternative education.
Binet, being an active member of this group, found the impetus for the development of
his mental scale.
Binet and Simon, in creating what historically is known as the Binet-Simon Scale,
comprised a variety of tasks they thought were representative of typical children's
abilities at various ages. This task-selection process was based on their many years of
observing children in natural settings. They then tested their measurement on a sample
of fifty children, ten children per five age groups. The children selected for their study
were identified by their school teachers as being average for their age. The purpose of
this scale of normal functioning, which would later be revised twice using more stringent
standards, was to compare children's mental abilities relative to those of their normal
peers (Siegler, 1992).
The scale consisted of thirty tasks of increasing complexity. The easiest of these
could be accomplished by all children, even those who were severely retarded. Some of
the simplest test items assessed whether or not a child could follow a lighted match with
his eyes or shake hands with the examiner. Slightly harder tasks required children to
point to various named body parts, repeat back a series of 3 digits, repeat simple
sentences, and to define words like house, fork or mama. More difficult test items
required children to state the difference between pairs of things, reproduce drawings
from memory or to construct sentences from three given words such as "Paris, river and
fortune." The hardest test items included asking children to repeat back 7 random digits,
find three rhymes for the French word obéisance and to answer questions such as "My
neighbor has been receiving strange visitors. He has received in turn a doctor, a lawyer,
and then a priest. What is taking place?" (Fancher, 1985).
For the practical use of determining educational placement, the score on the
Binet-Simon scale would reveal the child's mental age. For example, a 6 year-old child
who passed all the tasks usually passed by 6 year-olds--but nothing beyond--would
have a mental age that exactly matched his chronological age, 6.0. (Fancher, 1985).
Binet was upfront about the limitations of his scale. He stressed the remarkable
diversity of intelligence and the subsequent need to study it using qualitative as
opposed to quantitative measures. Binet also stressed that intellectual development
progressed at variable rates, could be impacted by the environment and was therefore
not based solely on genetics, was malleable rather than fixed, and could only be used
on children with comparable backgrounds (Siegler, 1992). Given Binet's stance that
intelligence testing was subject to variability and was not generalizable, it is important to
look at the metamorphosis that mental testing took on as it made its way to the U.S.
While Binet was developing his mental scale, the business, civic, and educational
leaders in the U.S. were facing issues of how to accommodate the needs of a
diversifying population, while continuing to meet the demands of society. There arose
the call to form a society based on meritocracy (Siegler,1992) while continuing to
underline the ideals of the white upper class. In 1908, H.H. Goddard, a champion of the
eugenics movement, found utility in mental testing as a way to evidence the superiority
of the white race. After studying abroad, Goddard brought the Binet-Simon Scale to the
United States and translated it into English.
Following Goddard in the U.S. mental testing movement was Lewis Terman who
took the Simon-Binet Scale and standardized it using a large American sample. The
new Standford-Binet scale, was no longer used solely for advocating education for all
children, as was Binet's objective. A new objective of intelligence testing was illustrated
in the Stanford-Binet manual with testing ultimately resulting in "curtailing the
reproduction of feeble-mindedness and in the elimination of an enormous amount of
crime, pauperism, and industrial inefficiency (p.7)" (White, 2000).
It follows that we should question why Binet did not speak out concerning the
newfound uses of his measure. Siegler (1992) pointed out that Binet was somewhat of
an isolationist in that he never traveled outside of France and he barely participated in
professional organizations. Additionally, his mental scale was not adopted in his own
country during his lifetime and therefore was not subjected to the same fate. Finally,
when Binet did become aware of the "foreign ideas being grafted on his instrument" he
condemned those who with 'brutal pessimism' and 'deplorable verdicts' were promoting
the concept of intelligence as a single, unitary construct (White, 2000).

B. Charles Spearman’s General Intelligence (g)

(1863-1945)
English Psychologist

Education
1. Studied engineering in college
2. University of Leipzig , Ph.D. in experimental psychology (under Wilhelm Wundt) (1906)
Career
1. Published “General Intelligence’ Objectively Determined and Measured” (1904)
2. University College, London, Reader in Experimental Psychology (1907-1911); Grote Professor of
Mind and Logic (successor to William McDougal) (1911-1928); Professor of Psychology (1928-
1932) (Succeeded by Cyril Burt)
3. Numerous honors and awards, including: Fellow of the Royal Society ( Great Britain) and
member of the National Academy of Sciences ( U.S.A.)

Major Contributions
1. “First systematic psychometrician” and father of classical test theory (Jensen,
1994)
2. Pioneer of the statistical technique called factor analysis
3. Discovered a general factor (g) in correlations among mental tests

Definition of Intelligence
“As regards the delicate matter of estimating ‘Intelligence,’ the guiding principle
has been not to make any a priori assumptions as to what kind of mental activity may be
thus termed with greatest propriety. Provisionally, at any rate, the aim was empirically to
examine all the various abilities having any prima facie claims to such title, ascertaining
their relations to one another and to other functions (Spearman, 1904, p. 249-250).”
General intelligence, also known as g factor, refers to a general mental ability
that, according to Spearman, underlies multiple specific skills, including verbal, spatial,
numerical and mechanical. Charles Spearman, an English psychologist, established the
two-factor theory of intelligence back in 1904 (Spearman, 1904). To arrive at this theory,
Spearman used a technique known as factor analysis. Factor analysis is a procedure
through which the correlation of related variables is evaluated to find an underlying
factor that explains this correlation. In the case of intelligence, Spearman noticed that
those who did well in one area of intelligence tests (for example, mathematics), also did
well in other areas (such as distinguishing pitch; Kalat, 2014). In other words, there was
a strong correlation between performing well in math and music, and Spearman then
attributed this relationship to a central factor, that of general intelligence (g).
Spearman concluded that there is a single g-factor which represents an
individual’s general intelligence across multiple abilities, and that a second factor, s,
refers to an individual’s specific ability in one particular area (Spearman, as cited in
Thomson, 1947). Together, these two main factors compose Spearman’s two-factor
theory.
C. Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities
Louis Leon Thurstone (1887-1955)
Psychometrician
Education 
 Cornell University, Master of Engineering (1912) 
 University of Chicago , Ph.D. in Psychology, (1914-1917) 
 Division of Applied Psychology at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, assistantship (1915-
1917) 
Career 
1. Assistant to Thomas A. Edison (1912)
2. Taught descriptive geometry and drafting, College of Engineering, University of Minnesota (1912-
1914)
3. Professor, Carnegie Institute of Technology (1917-1923) 
4. Institute for Government Research, Washington DC (1923)
5. Professor, University of Chicago (1924-1952) 
6. President of American Psychological Association (1932) 
7. First President of the American Psychometric Society (1936)
8. Director, Psychometric Laboratory, University of North Carolina (1952-1955) 
9. Numerous awards, including:  Best Article, American Psychological Association (1949);
Centennial Award, Northwestern University (1951); Honorary Doctorate, University of Göteborg
(1954).

Definition of Intelligence
“Intelligence, considered as a mental trait, is the capacity to make impulses focal at their
early, unfinished stage of formation.  Intelligence is therefore the capacity for
abstraction, which is an inhibitory process (Thurstone, 1924/1973 p. 159).”

Major Contributions 
1. Theory of Primary Mental Abilities
2. Developed the statistical technique of multiple-factor analysis 

Thurstone (1938) challenged the concept of a g-factor. After analyzing data from
56 different tests of mental abilities, he identified a number of primary mental abilities
that comprise intelligence, as opposed to one general factor. The seven primary
mental abilities in Thurstone's model are verbal comprehension, verbal fluency,
number facility, spatial visualization, perceptual speed, memory, and inductive
reasoning (Thurstone, as cited in Sternberg, 2003).
Mental Ability Description

Word Fluency Ability to use words quickly and fluency in performing such tasks as
rhyming, solving anagrams, and doing crossword puzzles.

Verbal Ability to understand the meaning of words, concepts, and ideas.

Comprehension

Numerical Ability Ability to use numbers to quickly computer answers to problems.

Spatial Ability to visualize and manipulate patters and forms in space.

Visualization

Perceptual Speed Ability to grasp perceptual details quickly and accurately and to
determine similarities and differences between stimuli.

Memory Ability to recall information such as lists or words, mathematical

formulas, and definitions.

Inductive Ability to derive general rules and principles from presented

Reasoning information.

Although Thurstone did not reject Spearman’s idea of general intelligence

altogether, he theorized that intelligence consists of both general ability and a number of
specific abilities, paving the way for future research that examined the different forms of
intelligence.

D. Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Following the work of Thurstone, American psychologist Howard Gardner built off
the idea that there are multiple forms of intelligence. Gardner (1983, 1993, 1999)
proposed that there is no single, unified intelligence, but rather a set of relatively
distinct, independent, and modular multiple intelligences. His theory of multiple
intelligences (MI theory) originally proposed seven multiple intelligences: (a)
linguistic, as used in reading a book or writing a poem; (b) logical-mathematical, as
used in deriving a logical proof or solving a mathematical problem; (c) visual-spatial,
as used in fitting suitcases into the trunk of a car; (d) musical, as used in singing a
song or composing a symphony; (e) bodily-kinesthetic, as used in dancing or playing
football; (f) interpersonal, as used in understanding and interacting with other people;
and (g) intrapersonal, as used in understanding oneself.
Recently, Gardner (1999) has proposed an additional intelligence as a confirmed
part of his theory: naturalist intelligence, the kind shown by people who are able to
discern patterns in nature. Charles Darwin would be a notable example. Gardner has
also suggested that there may be two other intelligences: spiritual intelligence and
existential intelligence. Spiritual intelligence involves a concern with cosmic or
existential issues and the recognition of the spiritual as the achievement of a state of
being. Existential intelligence involves a concern with ultimate issues. Gardner believes
that the evidence for these latter two intelligences is less powerful than the evidence for
the other eight intelligences. Whatever the evidence may be for the other eight, we
agree that the evidence for these two new intelligences is speculative at this point.
Most activities will involve some combination of these different intelligences. For
example, dancing might involve both musical and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences.
Reading a mathematical textbook might require both linguistic and logical-mathematical
intelligences. Often it will be hard to separate these intelligences in task performance. In
the past, factor analysis served as the major criterion for identifying abilities. Gardner
(1983, 1999) proposed a new set of criteria, including but not limited to factor analysis,
for identifying the existence of a discrete kind of intelligence: (a) potential isolation by
brain damage, in that the destruction or sparing of a discrete area of the brain may
destroy or spare a particular kind of intelligent behavior; (b) the existence of exceptional
individuals who demonstrate extraordinary ability (or deficit) in a particular kind of
intelligent behavior; (c) an identifiable core operation or set of operations that are
essential to performance of a particular kind of intelligent behavior; (d) a distinctive
developmental history leading from novice to master, along with disparate levels of
expert performance; (e) a distinctive evolutionary history, in which increases in
intelligence may be plausibly associated with enhanced adaptation to the environment;
(f) supportive evidence from cognitive-experimental research; (g) supportive evidence
from psychometric tests; and (h) susceptibility to encoding in a symbol system.
Gardner (1993, 1995, 1997) has suggested that the multiple intelligences can be
understood as bases not only for understanding intelligence, but for understanding other
kinds of constructs as well, such as creativity and leadership. For example, Gardner has
analyzed some of the great creative thinkers of the twentieth century in terms of their
multiple intelligences, arguing that many of them were extraordinarily creative by virtue
of extremely high levels of one of the intelligences. For example, Martha Graham was
very high in bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, T. S. Eliot in linguistic intelligence, and so
forth.

The 9 Multiple Intelligences, Skills and Career Preferences

Intelligence Skills and Career Preferences
Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence  Skills - Listening, speaking, writing,
 Well-developed verbal skills and teaching.
sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and Careers - Poet, journalist, writer, teacher,
rhythms of words lawyer, politician, translator
Mathematical-Logical Skills - Problem solving (logical & math),
Intelligence  Ability to think conceptually performing experiments
and abstractly, and capacity to discern Careers - Scientists, engineers,
logical or numerical patterns accountants, mathematicians
Musical Intelligence Skills - Singing, playing instruments,
Ability to produce and appreciate composing music
rhythm, pitch and timber Careers - Musician, disc jockey, singer,
composer
Visual-Spatial Intelligence Skills - puzzle building, painting,
Capacity to think in images and pictures, constructing, fixing, designing objects
to visualize accurately and abstractly Careers - Sculptor, artist, inventor,
architect, mechanic, engineer
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence Skills - Dancing, sports, hands on
Ability to control one's body movements experiments, acting
and to handle objects skillfully Careers - Athlete, PE teacher, dancer,
actor, firefighter
Interpersonal Intelligence Skills - Seeing from other perspectives,
Capacity to detect and respond empathy, counseling, co-operating
appropriately to the moods, motivations Careers - Counselor, salesperson,
and desires of others politician, business person, minister
Intrapersonal Intelligence Skills - Recognize one’s S/W, reflective,
Capacity to be self-aware and in tune aware of inner feelings
with inner feelings, values, beliefs and Careers - Researchers, theorists,
thinking processes philosophers
Naturalist Intelligence Skills - Recognize one’s connection to
Ability to recognize and categorize nature, apply science theory to life
plants, animals and other objects in Careers – Scientist, naturalist, landscape
nature architect
Existential/Spiritual Intelligence Skills – Reflective and deep thinking,
Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep design abstract theories
questions about human existence, such Careers – Scientist, philosopher,
as the meaning of life, why do we die, theologian
and other aspects of human condition

Teaching Strategies Guided by Multiple Intelligences

(Cornett, 1983 as cited by Lucas & Corpuz 2014)
1. Use questions of all types to stimulate various levels of thinking from recalling
factual information to drawing implications and making value judgments.
 2. Provide a general overview of material to be learned so that students’ previous
experiences will be associated with the new ideas.
3. Allow sufficient time for information to be processed and then integrate using
both the right and left-brain hemispheres.
4. Set clear purposes before any listening, viewing or reading experience.
5. Use multisensory means for both processing and retrieving information (write
directions on the board and give them orally).
6. Use a variety of review and reflection strategies to bring closure to learning (i.e.
writing summaries, creating opinion surveys, etc.)
7. Use descriptive feedback rather than simply praising (i.e. “the example you’ve
provided is an excellent one to point to the concept of…”)
8. In assessment, allow students to explain the material in their own ways using the
different intelligences.
9. Useful assessment methods include student portfolio, independent projects,
students journals among others.

Research on MI as an Educational Intervention

We turn finally to studies of educational settings that have developed methods
based on the core ideas of MI theory. In the most ambitious study to date, Kornhaber,
Fierros, and Veenema (2004) compiled data on the impact of MI across many
educational settings using interview and questionnaire data on educators’ perceived
impact of MI. Featured were interview data from 41 schools, which had been
implementing MI-inspired curricular practices for at least three years. Staff at four fifths
of schools associated improvements in standardized test scores with the
implementation of MI. Additionally, MI was also associated with improvements in
student discipline (54% of schools), parent participation (60% of schools), and
performances of students diagnosed with learning disabilities (78% of schools).
The researchers attributed the success of MI-based practices to six compass
points:
1. attention to the school culture;
2. readiness to use MI;
3. use of MI as a tool for improved work quality;
4. collaborations;
5. opportunities for choice;
6. and a role for the arts.

Investigations of MI in educational settings have taken several forms, including

descriptions of how the theory contributes to education (e.g., Barrington, 2004), how MI
can be applied in the curriculum (e.g., Dias-Ward & Dias, 2004; Nolen, 2003; Ozdemir,
Guneysu, & Tekkaya, 2006; Wallach & Callahan, 1994), and how MI operates within or
across schools (e.g., Campbell & Campbell, 1999; Greenhawk, 1997; Hickey, 2004;
Hoerr, 1992, 1994, 2004; Wagmeister & Shifrin, 2000). MI approaches have been
credited with better performance and retention of knowledge as compared to a
traditional approach (for science instruction for 4thgraders) (Ozdemir et al., 2006) and
with understanding content in more complex ways (Emig, 1997). Similarly, MI
approaches in the curriculum have been credited with giving teachers a framework for
making instructional decisions (Ozdemir et al., 2006). Teele, who has devised one of
the principal MI self-administered instruments, suggests that “intrinsic motivation,
positive self-image, and a sense of responsibility develop when students become
stakeholders in the educational process and accept responsibility for their own actions”
(1996, p. 72).

ACTIVITY 2
1. Using the table format below, do the following:
a. Choose five (2) topics from your field of specialization;
b. Think of two (2) learning activities that are relevant to each topic and appropriate to
Grades 7-10;
c. Indicate the multiple intelligence/s that each activity may address.
Topic Learning Activity Multiple
Intelligence/s
1. 1.
2.
2. 1.
2.

3. Encode your output on a letter-sized sheet, landscape lay-out, using Arial 12.
4. Submit according to my instructions.

E. Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Robert J. Sternberg (1949-)
Cognitive Psychologist
https://www.intelltheory.com/sternberg.shtml

Influences
1. Influenced by: Piaget, Information Processing Psychology
2. Time Period: Current Efforts
Education
1. Yale University, B.A. in psychology (1972) 
2. Stanford University, Ph.D. (1975) 
Career
1. The Psychological Corporation, Research Assistant (1968-1969)
2. Educational Testing Service, Research Assistant (summer, 1970)
3. Yale University, Office of Institutional Research, Research Assistant (1970-1971)
4. Yale University, Department of Psychology, Assistant Professor (1975-1980); Associate
Professor (1980-1983); Professor (1983-1986); IBM Professor of Psychology and Education
(1986-2005)
5. Director, Yale Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies and Expertise ( PACE
Center ) (2000-2005)
6. President of the American Psychological Association (2003)
7. Tufts University, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (2005-2010)
8. Director, Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies and Expertise ( Tufts University )
(2006-2010)
9. Provost, senior vice president, and professor of psychology ( Oklahoma State University ) (2010-
present)
10. Consultant, The Psychological Corporation (1986-1989); Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, School
Department (1989-1993); Harcourt Brace Educational Development Group (1993-1994); Harper
Collins College Division (1994-1996)
11. Numerous awards including: Distinguished Scholar Award, National Association for Gifted
Children (1985); Outstanding Book Award, American Educational Research Association (1987);
Award for Excellence, Mensa Education and Research Foundation (1989); James McKeen Cattell
Award, American Psychological Society (1999); Listed as one of the "Top 100 Psychologists of
the 20th Century" American Psychological Association (APA) Monitor  (2002); E.L. Thorndike
Award for Achievement in Educational Psychology, APA (2003); approximately 5 honorary
doctorates
12. Oklahoma State University, Provost, Senior Vice President, Regents Professor of Psychology
and Education, and George Kaiser Family Foundation Chair of Ethical Leadership (2010-2013)
13. University of Wyoming, President and professor of education and psychology (2013)
14. Cornell University, Professor of Human Development (2014 - Present)

Definition of Intelligence
"I define [intelligence] as your skill in achieving whatever it is you want to attain in your
life within your sociocultural context.by capitalizing on your strengths and compensating
for, or correcting, your weaknesses (personal communication, July 29, 2004)."

Major Contributions
1. Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence 
2. Several influential theories related to creativity, wisdom, thinking styles, love and
hate
3. Author of over 1000 books, book chapters and articles
Interview with Dr. Sternberg (with video clips)
Click here to see the interview transcript and video clips.

Just two years later, in 1985, Robert Sternberg proposed a three-category

theory of intelligence, integrating components that were lacking in Gardner’s theory.
This theory is based on the definition of intelligence as the ability to achieve success
based on your personal standards and your sociocultural context. According to the
triarchic theory, intelligence has three aspects: analytical, creative, and practical
(Sternberg, 1985).
Analytical intelligence, also referred to as componential intelligence,
refers to intelligence that is applied to analyze or evaluate problems and arrive at
solutions. This is what a traditional IQ test measure.
Creative intelligence is the ability to go beyond what is given to create
novel and interesting ideas. This type of intelligence involves imagination,
innovation and problem-solving.
Practical intelligence is the ability that individuals use to solve problems
faced in daily life, when a person finds the best fit between themselves and the
demands of the environment. Adapting to the demands environment involves
either utilizing knowledge gained from experience to purposefully change oneself
to suit the environment (adaptation), changing the environment to suit oneself
(shaping), or finding a new environment in which to work (selection).

Pedagogical Implications of Triarchic Theory

1. Some of the time, teach analytically, helping students learn to analyze, evaluate,
compare and contrast, critique, and judge.
2. Some of the time, teach creatively, helping students learn to create, invent,
imagine, discover, explore, and suppose.
3. Some of the time, teach practically, helping students learn to apply, use, utilize,
contextualize, implement, and put into practice.
4. Some of the time, enable all students to capitalize on their strengths.
5. Most of the time, enable all students to correct or compensate for their
weaknesses.
6. Make sure your assessments match your teaching, calling upon analytical,
creative, and practical as well as memory skills.
7. Value the diverse patterns of abilities in all students.

F. Information Processing
Basic Assumptions
1. information made available by the environment is processed by a series of
processing systems (e.g. attention, perception, short-term memory);
2. these processing systems transform or alter the information in systematic
ways;
3. the aim of research is to specify the processes and structures that underlie
cognitive performance;
4. information processing in humans resembles that in computers.
 There is no single information-processing theory of cognition or cognitive
development. Yet central to all information-processing perspectives is the idea that
people use a variety of cognitive operations, or strategies to process information
through a limited-capacity system. Almost half a century ago, Richard Atkinson and
Richard Shiffrin developed a multistore model of information-processing system, and
this model continues to be a useful guide for understanding how people think. A slightly
updated version of their important and influential model appears below:

Responses

Sensory Long-term memory – a

store Storage relatively permanent
Feeds into Attention
Environmental (logs Short term (“working’) storehouse of knowledge
Input input) memory – holds and information-
information temporarily; processing strategies
executes operations on Retrieval acquired from previous
information experiences

Executive Control Processes- plan and run each phase of

information processing:
Regulate attention
Select appropriate memory processes and problem-solving
strategies
Monitor quality of tentative answers and solutions

Adapted by D.R. Shaffer and K. Kipp (2014) from “Human Memory: A Proposed System and Its Control Processes” by R.C. Atkinson and R.M.
Shiffrin, 1968, in K.W. Spence and J.T. Spence (eds.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory. (Vol.2)
Copyright 1968 by Academic Press, Inc. Adapted by permission from Elsevier

The Multistore Model

As we see in the figure above, several components make up the Multistore Model:
1. Sensory Store (or Sensory Register): This is the system’s “log-in” unit. It holds
raw sensory input as a kind of afterimage (or echo) of what you have sensed.
There are separate sensory registers for each sense modality (vision, hearing,
and so forth), and presumably they can hold large quantities of information, but
only for very brief periods of time (milliseconds in the case of vision). The
contents of the sensory stores are thus very volatile and soon disappear without
further processing.

2. Short-term Store (STS): Should you attend to information in the sensory store, it
will pass into the STS, a processing unit that can store a limited amount of
information (perhaps 5 to 9 pieces) for several seconds. Thus the capacity of the
short term store is sufficient to allow you to retain a phone number for perhaps a
long as it takes you to make the call. But unless this information is rehearsed or
otherwise operated on, it is soon lost. The short term memory store has also
been referred to as working memory, because all conscious intellectual activity is
thought to take place here. So short term, or working, memory has two functions:
(1) to store information temporarily so that (2) we can do something with it.

3. Long-term Store (LTS): New information that is operated on while in the STS
passes into the LTS, a vast and relatively permanent storehouse of information
that includes your knowledge of the world, your impressions of past experiences
and events, and the strategies that you use to process information and solve
problems.

4. Executive Control Processes or Executive Functions: People do not play a

passive role in information processing. They must decide what information to
attend to and which, if any, strategies to execute in order to move information
through the system. So information does not simply flow on its own through the
various stores, or processing units, of the system; instead people actively
channel the input. This is why most information processing models include
control processes, or executive functions. We sometimes refer to such executive
functions as metacognition – knowledge of one’s cognitive abilities and
processes related to thinking.
Our executive functions are thought to be largely under voluntary control
and are what most clearly distinguish human information processors from
computers. Unlike computers, humans must initiate, organize, and monitor our
own cognitive activities. We decide what to attend to; we select our own
strategies for retaining and retrieving this input; we call up our own programs for
solving problems; and we are free to choose the very problems that we attempt
to solve. Cognitive psychologists think that complex thinking is achieved through
the process in which higher level cognition emerges as a result of ‘self-
organization’ in dynamic systems. That is, lower level units (sensations, features
 of a stimulus) interact and as a result, organize into higher order units (a
perception, a concept)

Metacognition
The term “metacognition” was coined by John Flavell. According to Flavell (1979,
1987), metacognition consists of both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive
experiences or regulation. Metacognition, simply put, is “thinking about thinking” or
learning how to learn. It refers to higher order thinking which involves active awareness
and control over the cognitive processes engage in learning. It refers to acquired
knowledge about cognitive processes and knowledge to control them. Flavell divides
metacognitive knowledge into three: knowledge of person variables; task variables; and
strategy variables.

Person Variables – this includes how one views himself as a learner and
thinker. It refers to knowledge about how one learns and process information, as well as
individual knowledge of one’s own learning processes. For example, you may be aware
that you study more effectively if you study very early in the morning than late in the
evening, and that you work better in a quiet library rather than at home where there are
a lot of things that make it hard for you to focus and concentrate.
Task Variables – it includes knowledge about the nature of the task as well as
the type of processing demands that it will place upon the individual. It is about knowing
what exactly needs to be accomplished, gauging its difficulty and knowing the kind of
effort it will demand from you. For example, you may be aware that it will take more time
for you to read and comprehend a book in educational philosophy than it would for you
to comprehend a novel.
Strategy Variables – it involves awareness of the strategy you are using to learn
a topic and evaluating whether this strategy is effective. If you think your strategy is not
working, then you may think of various strategies and try out one to see if it will help you
learn better. Terms like meta-attention and metamemory are related to strategy
variables. Meta-attention is the awareness of specific strategies so that you can keep
your attention focused on the topic or task at hand. Metamemory is your awareness of
memory strategies that work best for you.
These three variables all interact as you learn and apply metacognition. Omrod
include the following in the practice of metacognition:
 Knowing the limits of one’s own learning and memory capacities.
 Knowing what learning tasks one can realistically accomplish within a certain
amount of time.
 Knowing which learning strategies are effective and which are not.
 Planning an approach to a learning task that is likely to be successful.
 Using effective learning strategies to process and learn new material.
 Monitoring one’s own knowledge and comprehension. In other words, knowing
when information has been successfully learned and when it’s not.
  Using effective strategies for retrieval of previously stored information.
 Knowledge is said to be metacognitive if it is keenly used in a purposeful manner
to ensure that a goal is met. For example, a student may use knowledge in planning
how to do homework: “I know that I (person variable) have more difficulty with my
science assignments than language arts and find history easier (task variable), so I
will do my homework in science first, then language arts, then history (strategy
variable).” If one is only aware of one’s cognitive strengths or weaknesses and the
nature of the task but does not use this to guide or oversee his own learning, then no
metacognition has been applied.

Metacognition and Development

Researches such as that of Fang and Cox showed that metacognitive awareness
was evident in preschoolers and in students as young as eight years old. Children
already may have the capacity to be more aware and reflective of their own learning.
However, not many have been taught and encouraged to apply metacognition. The
challenge then to future teachers like you is to integrate more activities that would build
your students’ capacity to reflect on their own characteristics as learners, the tasks they
are to do and the strategies that they can use to learn. Below are some examples of
teaching strategies to develop metacognition:
 Have students monitor their own learning and thinking (example: have student
monitor a peer’s learning/thinking/behaving in dyad)
 Have students learn study strategies (e.g., SQ3R, SQ4R)
 Have students make predictions about information to be presented next based
on what they have read
 Have students relate ideas to existing knowledge structures. (Important to have
relevant knowledge structures well learned)
 Have students develop questions; ask questions of themselves, about what’s
going on around them. (Have you asked a good question today?)
 Help students to know when to ask for help. (must be able to self-monitor;
required students to show how they have attempted to deal with the problem of their
own)
 Show students how to transfer knowledge, attitudes, values, skills to other
situations or tasks.

ACTIVITY 3
1. Make your own learning plan for the coming 7 days following the table format below.
Include all the study activities required by your teachers in all your subjects for the
whole period. Consider your metacognitive knowledge when you do the planning. After
the table, explain the reason why you designed your learning plan the way it is in
relation to your metacognitive knowledge/abilities.
 Study Activities Day Time

Explanation:

________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________

References:

Armstrong, T. (n.d.), Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, 4th Edition.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/118035/chapters/MI-Theory-and-Existential-Intelligence.aspx

Davis, K., J. Christodoulou, S. Seider, and H. Gardner, (n.d.). The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
Cambridge, MA 02138: Larsen 201, Appian Way. Davis-christodoulou-seider-mi-article.pdf

Fogarty, Gerard J., (n.d.) INTELLIGENCE: THEORIES AND ISSUES. Toowoomba, QLD, 4350:
Department of Psychology University of Southern Queensland. intelligencetheoriesandissues.pdf

Hindes Y., Schoenberg M.R., Saklofske D.H. (2011) Intelligence. In: Kreutzer J.S., DeLuca J.,
Caplan B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY.

Lucas, M.R. and Brenda B. Corpuz (2014). Facilitating Learning: A Metacognitive Process. Manila,
Philippines: LORIMAR Publishing Inc. p.65

Medhat, F. (n.d.) educational Implications of Mutltiple Intelligences Theory.

https://www.academia.edu/37425844/Education_implications_of_Multiple_Intelligences, accessed on
September 9, 2020

Shrestha, P. (2018). "General Intelligence," in Psychestudy.

https://www.psychestudy.com/cognitive/intelligence/general, Accessed on September 9, 2020

Ruhl , C. (2020, July 16). Intelligence: definition, theories and testing. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/intelligence.html

Shaffer, D.R. and K. Kipp (2014). Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence. USA:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Lesson 3: Language Development

Learning Objectives:
1. Trace the development of language from the first years of life.
2. Discuss the concept of the Language Acquisition Device by Noam Chomsky.
3. Identify the indicators of language development of infants and toddlers.

From birth, infants seem innately attend to their linguistic environment with the
specific goal of acquiring language. Infants clearly have remarkably acute language
learning abilities even from an early age (Marcus, Vijayan, Bandi Rao and Vishton,
1999; Pinker, 1997, 1999 cited by Sternberg, Robert, 2003)
Within the first years of life, we humans seem to progress through the following
stages in producing language (Sternberg, 2003):
 Cooing, which comprises largely vowel sounds;
 Babbling, which comprises consonant as well as vowel sounds; to most
people’s ears, the babbling of infants growing up among speakers from different
language groups sounds very similar;
 One-word utterances, these utterances are limited in both the vowels and
consonants they utilize (Ingram, 1999 cited by Sternberg, 2003);
 Two-word utterances and telegraphic speech; and then
 Basic adult sentence structure (present by about age 4 years) with continuing
vocabulary acquisition.

The infant utters his/her first word followed by one or two more, and soon after
yet a few more. The infant uses these one-word utterances termed holophrases to
convey intentions, desires and demands. Usually the words are nouns describing
familiar objects that the child observes (e.g. book, ball, baby) or wants (e.g. mama,
dada).
By eighteen (18) months of age, children typically have vocabularies of 3 to 100
words (Siegler, 1986). Because the young child’s vocabulary is very limited at this point
in the development process, the child overextends the meaning of words in his/her
existing lexicon to cover things and ideas for which a new word is lacking. For example,
the general term for any kind of four-legged animal may be “dog”. In linguistics this is
called overextension error. The opposite of this is underextension error. For
example, when referring to a doll, a child only recognizes a doll s/he use to have and
not another doll.
Generally, between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age, children start combining single
words to produce two-word utterance. These two-word or three-word utterances with
rudimentary syntax but with articles and prepositions missing are referred to as
telegraphic speech.
 Vocabulary expands rapidly, more than tripling from about 300 words at about 2
years of age to about 1,000 words at about 3 years of age. At about 4 years, incredibly
children acquire the foundations of adult syntax and language structure (Sternberg,
2003). It is clear that no toddler blossoms all of a sudden into one capable of telegraphic
speech. As the 5 stages above show, the acquisition of language comes in stages
beginning with cooing, then babbling to one-word utterances, to two or three-word
utterances or even more but without articles and prepositions.

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

The Nativist Perspective

Noam Chomsky (1965, 1972), noted linguist, claims that humans have an
innate language acquisition device (LAD). He proposed that humans (and only humans)
are equipped with LAD –an inborn linguistic processor that is activated by verbal input
and contains a universal grammar, or knowledge of rules that are common to all
languages. Regardless of the language/s a child hears s/he will acquire a sufficient
vocabulary, combine words into novel, rule-bound utterances, and understand much of
what he hears.
This means that we, humans seem to be biologically preconfigured to be ready
to acquire language. Indeed, children seem to have a knack for acquiring an implicit
understanding of the many rules of language structure, as well as for applying those
rules to new vocabulary and new contexts. This may partly explain why children are
said to learn language fast.
As children process more and more linguistic input, their theories of language
become increasingly elaborate, until their language eventually approximates adults. For
the nativists, then, language acquisition is natural and almost automatic, as long as
children have linguistic input to process. Below is a model of language acquisition
proposed by nativists.

The Learning or Empiricist Perspective

 Ask most adults how children learn language and they are likely to say that
children imitate what they hear, are reinforced when they use proper grammar, and are
corrected when they say things wrong. Learning theorist emphasize these same
processes –imitation and reinforcement– in their own theories of language learning
(Palmer, 2000; Yang, 2004; Zamuner, 2002).
In 1957, B.F. Skinner argued that children learn to speak appropriately because
they are reinforced for correct speech. He believed that adults shape speech by
reinforcing babbling that most resemble words, thereby increasing the probability that
these sounds will be repeated. Later, adults reinforce the child for combining words and
then for producing sentences. Other learning theorists added that children learn
language by carefully listening to and imitating the language of older companions. So
according to the learning perspective, caregivers “teach” language by modeling and by
reinforcing grammatical speech.

List of Standards for Language Development (based Philippine Early Learning and
Development Standards by Child and Welfare Council)

 Receptive Language
A. 0-6 months: watches primary caregiver intently as she speaks to him/her
B. 7-12 months: understands “no”; points to family member when asked to do so
C. 13-18 months: points to body parts on him/herself when asked to do so; follow
one step instructions without need for gestures
D. 19-24 months: points to 5 named pictured objects when asked to do so
 Expressive Language
Standards 1: The child is able to use words and gestures to express his
thought and feelings.
0-6 months:
 Makes gurgling, cooing, babbling or other vocal sounds
 Uses gestures (e.g. stretching his/her arms, pointing) to indicate what he/she
wants
7-12 months:
 Repeats sounds produced by others
 Says meaningful words like papa, mama, to refer to specific persons
 Uses animal sounds to identify animals (e.g. meow-meow for cat)
 Uses environmental sounds to identify objects/events in the environment (e.g.
boom for thunder)
13-18 months:
 Speaks in single words
 Says “yes” or “no” appropriately
 Uses words accompanied by gestures to indicate what he/she wants
 Responds to simple questions with single words
 19-24 months:
 Uses pronouns
 Uses possessive pronouns
 Says what he/she wants without accompanying these with gestures
 Attempts to converse even if he/she cannot be clearly understood

Lesson 4: Factors that Influence Language and Cognitive

Development

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the factors affecting language and cognitive development.
2. Elaborate how the various factors identified are affecting language and cognitive
development.

The following concepts are research results and implications regarding

cognitive and language development. Study them thoroughly and reflect on how
children in your family or neighborhood are being aided and supported in relation to
their cognitive and language development. Share your reflections to your family/friends
that is/are most accessible to you.

 Factors that Influence Language Development

Johnston, J. (2010). In: Tremblay RE, Boivin M, Peters RDeV, eds. Rvachew S, topic ed. Encyclopedia on Early
Childhood Development [online]. http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/language-development-and-literacy/
according-experts/factors-influence-language-development. Accessed September 11, 2020.

There is considerable agreement that the course of language development

reflects the interplay of factors in at least five domains: social, perceptual, cognitive
processing, conceptual and linguistic. Theorists differ in the emphasis and degree of
determination posited for a given domain, but most would agree that each is relevant.
There is a large body of research supporting the view that language learning is
influenced by many aspects of human experience and capability. Below are two findings
in each area that capture the available evidence.

Social
 Toddlers infer a speaker’s communicative intent  and use that information to guide
their language learning. For example, as early as 24 months, they are able to infer
solely from an adult’s excited tone of voice and from the physical setting that a new
word must refer to an object that has been placed on the table while the adult was
away.
 The verbal environment influences language learning . From ages one to three,
children from highly verbal “professional” families heard nearly three times as many
words per week as children from low verbal “welfare” families. Longitudinal data
 show that aspects of this early parental language predict language scores at age
nine.

Perceptual
 Infant perception sets the stage . Auditory perceptual skills at six or 12 months of
age can predict vocabulary size and syntactic complexity at 23 months of age.
 Perceptibility matters. In English, the forms that are challenging for impaired
learners are forms with reduced perceptual salience, e.g. those that are unstressed
or lie united within a consonant cluster.

Cognitive processes
 Frequency affects rate of learning . Children who hear an unusually high proportion
of examples of a language form learn that form faster than children who receive
ordinary input.
 “Trade-offs” among the different domains of language  can occur when the total
targeted sentence requires more mental resources than the child has available. For
example, children make more errors on small grammatical forms such as verb
endings and prepositions in sentences with complex syntax than in sentences with
simple syntax.

Conceptual
 Relational terms are linked to mental age . Words that express notions of time,
causality, location, size and order are correlated with mental age much more than
words that simply refer to objects and events. Moreover, children learning different
languages learn to talk about spatial locations such as in or next to in much the
same order, regardless of the grammatical devices of their particular language.
 Language skills are affected by world knowledge . Children who have difficulty
recalling a word also know less about the objects to which the word refers.

Linguistic
 Verb endings are cues to verb meaning . If a verb ends in –ing, three-year-olds will
decide that it refers to an activity, such as swim, rather than to a completed change
of state, such as push off.
 Current vocabulary influences new learning . Toddlers usually decide that a new
word refers to the object for which they do not already have a label.

Conclusions
These are just some of the findings that, taken together, speak convincingly of
the interactive nature of development. Children come to the task of language learning
with perceptual mechanisms that function in a certain way and with finite attention and
memory capacities. These cognitive systems will, at the least, influence what is noticed
in the language input, and may well be central to the learning process. Similarly,
children’s prior experience with the material and social world provides the early bases
for interpreting the language they hear. Later, they will also make use of language cues.
The course of language acquisition is not, however, driven exclusively from within. The
structure of the language to be learned, and the frequency with which various forms are
heard, will also have an effect. Despite the theoretical debates, it seems clear that
language skills reflect knowledge and capabilities in virtually every domain and should
not be viewed in an insular fashion.

Educational and Policy Implications

Educators and policy-makers have often ignored preschoolers whose language
seems to be lagging behind development in other areas, arguing that such children are
“just a bit late” in talking. The research evidence suggests instead that language
acquisition should be treated as an important barometer of success in complex
integrative tasks. As we have just seen, whenever language “fails” other domains are
implicated as well – as either causes or consequences. Indeed, major epidemiological
studies have now demonstrated that children diagnosed with specific language
disorders at age four (i.e. delays in language acquisition without sensori-motor
impairment, affective disorder or retardation) are at high risk for academic failure and
mental-health problems well into young adulthood. Fortunately, the research evidence
also indicates that it is possible to accelerate language learning. Even though the child
must be the one to create the abstract patterns from the language data, we can facilitate
this learning (a) by presenting language examples that are in accord with the child’s
perceptual, social and cognitive resources; and (b) by choosing learning goals that
are in harmony with the common course of development.

 Determinants of Early Cognitive Development: Hierarchical

Analysis of a Longitudinal Study
Letícia Marques dos Santos 1 Darci Neves dos Santos 1 Ana Cecília Sousa Bastos 1 Ana Marlúcia Oliveira Assis 2 Matildes Silva
Prado 1 Mauricio L. Barreto 1

Abstract
The study describes the relationship between anthropometric status, socioeconomic conditions, and
quality of home environment and child cognitive development in 320 children from 20 to 42 months of
age, randomly selected from 20,000 households that represent the range of socioeconomic and
environmental conditions in Salvador, Bahia, Northeast Brazil. The inclusion criterion was to be less than
42 months of age between January and July 1999. Child cognitive development was assessed using the
Bayley Scales for Infant Development, and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment
Inventory (HOME) was applied to assess quality of home environment. Anthropometric status was
measured using the indicators weight/age and height/ age ratios (z-scores), and socioeconomic data
were collected through a standard questionnaire. Statistical analysis was conducted through univariate
and hierarchical linear regression. Socioeconomic factors were found to have an indirect impact on early
cognitive development mediated by the child’s proximal environment factors, such as appropriate play
materials and games available and school attendance. No independent association was seen between
nutritional status and early cognitive development.

Results of the study:

 Early cognitive development is multifactorial and is affected by the child’s
social environment, both proximal and distal. Among the aspects present in
the proximal context, the existence of play materials and games (appropriate for
the child’s age) and attendance at preschool were the most important predictors
of cognitive development. In general, play materials are used as mediators of
proximal processes, primarily through adult-child interactions. These interactions
facilitate mental processes responsible for cognitive development, such as
discrimination, perception, and learning. As a result, the absence of stimulating
materials can decrease the effectiveness of proximal processes and limit
competency development.
 The early inclusion of a child in a preschool micro-environment can also be
considered an important stimulator for early cognitive development. At
school, the child can be constantly challenged cognitively with stimuli that are
rarely present in the home environment due to the scarcity of material and
educational resources. Therefore, as the proximal processes in which the child is
involved become more complex, competency development is enhanced.
 An interesting finding in the present study demonstrates that proximal processes
are associated with external environmental factors such as family income and
maternal education. In other words, socioeconomic factors indirectly affect
children’s early cognitive development by means of, in the proximal
environment, the provision of appropriate play materials and games and
school attendance. The lower the maternal schooling and family income, the
poorer the psychosocial stimulation, as children are deprived of play materials
and school stimulation, negatively affecting their cognitive development.
 The study findings corroborate those described in the literature, indicating that
maternal schooling affects children cognitive development by means of
environmental organization, parental expectations and practices, provision of
materials for child’s cognitive stimulation, and variety in daily stimulation.
However, Bronfenbrenner & Ceci claim that socially disenfranchised families
have neither adequate knowledge nor resources to provide a highly stimulating
environment. This is especially significant since parents are regarded as largely
responsible for their children’s immediate environment, as they not only respond
to their children’s initiatives but also engage them in other activities involving
interaction with people and contact with other objects, symbols, and stimuli.
However, it should be emphasized that even though evidence demonstrates that
socioeconomic status is an important predictor for cognitive development, it is
critical to consider that there is significant variability in childhood experiences at
each social level. Each family reacts differently to resource deprivation, and one
should consider the existence of social support nets, family dynamics, and child
resources to overcome adversity.
 Poor quality of home environment stimulation can adversely affect children’s
development, leading to cognitive deficits and subsequently to behavioral
 disorders. However, one should bear in mind that the home inventory, although
widely applied in a variety of cultural backgrounds, may not be perfectly suitable
for measuring the quality of the environment of Brazilian children, especially
those from low-income families. Also, as an external instrument, the HOME
inventory may not be sensitive to specific forms of organization of the
developmental environment in the population studied here.

 Differential effects of factors influencing cognitive development at

the age of 5-to-6 years
Hugo Peyre (M. D., M. P. H.) a,b,∗, Jonathan Y. Bernard (Ph.D.) c, Nicolas Hoertel (M.D., M.P.H.) d,e, Anne Forhanc,
Marie-Aline Charles (M.D., Ph.D.) c, Maria De Agostini (Ph.D.) c, Barbara Heude (Ph.D.) c, Franck Ramus (Ph.D.) a, The
EDEN Mother-Child Cohort Study Group

Abstract: Effects of family stimulation, breastfeeding duration and number of older siblings
were more strongly related to verbal than nonverbal cognitive measure. Our findings provide
robust evidence that some modifiable aspects of the early environment are associated with
children’s cognitive development and may be more strongly associated with their verbal than
nonverbal skills.

Results of the study:

Many factors were found to have similar effects on verbal and nonverbal skills at
5–6 years of age. These include male sex (negative), birth weight (positive), household
income (positive), maternal age (positive), gestational age (positive), and the number of
younger siblings (positive). These associations are consistent with previous studies
except the positive association with the number of younger siblings which had rarely
been examined in previous studies.
 Home cognitive stimulation: We found that home cognitive stimulation was
more strongly associated with verbal than nonverbal skills. Previous studies had
suggested similar results, but these studies had not tested these differential
effects in a statistically rigorous manner (Eriksen et al., 2013; Sommerfelt et al.,
1995). The differential effect found in our study now establishes with much
greater confidence the greater impact of the child’s cognitive environment on
verbal than on nonverbal skills. During the developmental period, language may
be the cognitive function which is the most sensitive to the cognitive stimulation
in the home. Parent’s language complexity (total number of words spoken in the
home, phonological and syntactic skills) is a well-known predictor of children’s
verbal skills (Huttenlocher, Waterfall, Vasilyeva, Vevea, & Hedges, 2010). The
development of non-verbal skills (i.e., nonverbal concept formation, visual
perception and organization, visual-motor coordination) is also influenced by
home cognitive stimulation but to a lesser extended than for verbal skills,
probably because children rely less on their parents to develop their nonverbal
 skills (in activities such as playing with dolls, cars, puzzles) than their verbal
skills.”
 Breastfeeding duration: Some earlier studies reported a significant association
of breastfeeding duration with verbal IQ only (Gustafsson et al., 2004; Horwood
et al., 2001; Oddy et al., 2003). We also found an association between
breastfeeding duration exclusively with verbal skills, and breastfeeding duration
was significantly more associated with verbal than nonverbal skills. The
interpretation of the effects of breastfeeding on cognitive development remains
debated. Interpretations implicate nutritional mechanisms, but also
social/affective mechanisms (Doyle, Rickards, Kelly, Ford, & Callanan, 1992). No
component of human milk known to be involved in the brain’s maturation has
been reported to specifically promote language-related brain areas. Thus, our
finding of a selective effect on verbal skills seems more compatible with a
social/affective mediation of that effect (such as a greater availability of the
mother for his/her child among mothers who breastfed for longer duration;
Murtagh & Moulton, 2011). This issue nevertheless remains to be further
explored, as well as the potential mediating factors.
 Number of older siblings: This study is the first to our knowledge to show that
the number of older siblings is more strongly negatively associated with verbal
than with nonverbal skills. The study of Kristensen et al. (Kristensen & Bjerkedal,
2007) provided evidence that the relation between birth order and IQ scores is
dependent on the actual rank in the family and not on birth order per se. The fact
that older siblings seem to have a negative effect on the younger sibling’s
language development runs against the belief that older siblings increase the
cognitive stimulation of the child. However, the key mechanism may be that, the
greater the number of older siblings, the less undivided attention of the parents
the child receives in the first years. Thus, the cognitive environment provided by
the parents may be again one mediating mechanism of the older sibling effect
The relationships between the number of older siblings and verbal skills as well
as between breastfeeding duration and verbal skills may actually be mediated by
aspects of the child’s cognitive environment that were not otherwise captured by
the proximal variables included in our model (in particular, our measure of
cognitive stimulation) (Walfisch, Sermer, Cressman, & Koren, 2013). This
hypothesis is supported by the fact that the direction of the differential effects (a
greater association with verbal than with nonverbal skills) of breastfeeding
duration and the number of older siblings were similar to the direction of the
differential effects of factors shown to influence the cognitive environment of the
child (i.e., the score for cognitive stimulation). Future studies comparing siblings
brought up in the same family may be useful for controlling for the cognitive
environment of the child and address this issue.
 Parental education: Parental education tended to be more strongly associated
with verbal than nonverbal. These effects are relatively straightforward to
 interpret, parental education being a distal factor influencing a range of proximal
factors, such that the child’s learning environment, which is likely to be
predominantly mediated verbally by parents. The fact that parental education has
a direct effect on cognitive skills that is not captured by the proximal factors
already in the model suggests again that the measure of cognitive stimulation, as
well as other proximal measures in this study, do not exhaust all the relevant
aspects of the cognitive environment.
 Birth weight: Against previous findings by Sommerfelt et al. (1995), we found
that birth weight was not significantly more associated with nonverbal than with
verbal skills, although birth weight was significantly associated to the latent
variable nonverbal skills only.

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