COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

A. Let’s Speak!
Q: What do you know about cognitive?
A: ________________________________________________________
Q: What are other terms used for cognitive?
A: ________________________________________________________

B. Observe the pictures below. Identify the physical and intellectual characteristics of
each picture based on what you know.

C. Let’s Read!
Read about one of the most popular theories about cognitive development then do
the task below.

Children grow and develop rapidly in their first five years across the four main areas of
development. These areas are motor (physical), language and communication, cognitive
and social/emotional. Although all the areas are important, cognitive development
becomes one of the most learned subjects in psychology and counselling. Cognitive
development means how children think, explore and figure things out. It is the
development of knowledge, skills, problem solving and dispositions, which help children to
think about and understand the world around them.

There are many theorists about cognitive development and one of them is Jean Piaget.
Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests that children go through four
different stages of learning. His theory doesn’t only focus on how children acquire
knowledge but also on understanding the nature of intelligence. The stages are,
sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2, Preoperational stage: Ages 2 to 7, Concrete operational
stage: Ages 7 to 11 and Formal Operational stage: Ages 12 and up.

In the Sensorimotor Stage, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through physical
sensations and basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking and listening. Other major
characteristics and developmental changes during this stage are self-recognition, and object
permanence. At about 8 months the infant will understand the permanence of objects and
that they will still exist even if they can’t see them and the infant will search for them when
they disappear. During the sensorimotor stage, children go through a period of dramatic
growth and learning. As kids interact with their environment, they continually make new
discoveries about how the world works.

In the Preoperational Stage a child cannot conserve which means that the child does
not understand that quantity remains the same even if the appearance changes. During this
stage, young children can think about things symbolically. This is the ability to connect one
thing with a word. Furthermore, the child is egocentric; he assumes that other people see
the world as he does. Infants at this stage also demonstrate animism. This is the tendency
for the child to think that non-living objects (such as toys) have life and feelings like a
person’s.

In the Concrete Operational Stage children are still very concrete and literal in their
thinking at this point in development, they become much more adept at using logic. ,
children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think
and feel .They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in
a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example. The stage is called
concrete because children can think logically much more successfully if they can manipulate
real (concrete) materials or pictures of them.

At last, in the Formal Operational Stage, they have the ability to use deductive
reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas. At this point, adolescents and young
adults become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more
scientifically about the world around them. They will also have the ability to systematically
plan for the future. Therefore, parents can foster their children’s cognitive development is
by allowing them to explore different ways of solving problems. While you may want to
provide some gentle guidance and encouragement, allow your child some time to figure out
things, like a new puzzle. This may require some patience on your part, but it will ultimately
help him/her to learn.

Source: https://helpmegrowmn.org/HMG/HelpfulRes/Articles/WhatCognitiveDev/index.html, https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

D. Classifying Task
Instruction. Fill in the table with the information from the previous text.

Stage …. … Formal
Sensorimotor
Operational
Age Range 7 – 11 y/o

Unable to
conserve
Major
Characteristics
E. Grammar Point
Find the use of Simple Present Tense in paragraph 3-6. Write down the subject and the verb
only.