MODULE 16: COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT OF THE
PRESCHOOLERS
PRESCHOOLERS' SYMBOLIC AND INTUITIVE THINKING

PIAGET'S TWO SUBSTAGES OF PREOPERATIONAL

THOUGHT

1. Symbolic Substage
2. Intuitive Substage
PIAGET'S TWO SUBSTAGES OF PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT

1. The Symbolic Substage - In this stage, preschool

children show progress in their cognitive abilities.

2. The Intuitive Substage - During this stage,

preschool children begin to use primitive reasoning
and ask a litany of questions.
"Someone switched on the thunder" a child remarked.
"The tree pushed the leaf off and it fell down."

The remarks indicate that the preschool children believe

that inanimate objects have "lifelike" and are capable
of action. Animism (Santrock, 2002)- preschool children
who use animism fail to distinguish the appropriate
occasions for using human and nonhuman
perspectives.
"Child silently nods on the telephone as to answer his father who is on
the other side of the phone inquiring if mom is around.”

This is another limitation in preschool children's symbolic thought.

Piaget calls this EGOCENTRISM.
Egocentrism - according to Santrock 2002, it is the inability to
distinguish between one's own perspective.

LIMITATION IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S PREOPERATIONAL

THOUGHT

Centration - focusing or the centering of one's attention on one

characteristic to the exclusion of others (Santrock, 2002)
This is also referred to us unidimensional thought that is also an evidence
of preschool's lack of CONSERVATION.

CONSERVATION - the awareness that the basic property of an object or a

substance is conserved (is not changed or altered) even if its
appearance is changed. (Santrock, 2002).

IRREVERSIBILITY – Piaget’s term for a preoperational child’s failure to

understand that an operation can go in two or more directions.

TRANSDUCTIVE REASONING – preschool children do not use deductive

or inductive reasoning; instead they jump from one particular to another
and see cause where none exists.
 BRAIN CONNECTIONS IN THE PRESCHOOL YEARS

Neurons– numerous cells in our brain. They are the “information

messengers.”
Synapses – cell connections. It is also sometimes referred to as SYNAPTIC
CONNECTIONS.
Brain research has also pointed out the crucial role of the environment.
Experts shown specific areas of brain activity that respond to the
environmental stimulation. Therefore, the brain forms specific
connections (synapses) that are different for each person. The quality of
these connections depends on the quality of stimulation and exposure
provided by the environment.
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Throughout the preschool years, children’s language development becomes

increasingly complex in the four main areas;
• PHONOLOGY (speech sounds),
• SEMANTICS (word meaning),
• SYNTAX (sentence construction), and
• PRAGMATICS (conversation or social uses of language).

As they advance in age and as they continuously interact with people,

preschool children expand rapidly in their vocabulary through fast mapping.

FAST MAPPING – the process by which the children absorb the meaning of a
new word after hearing it once or twice in conversation.
 LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

Vygotsky believed that young children use language both to

communicate socially and to plan, guide, and monitor their behavior in a
self-regulatory fashion – called inner speech or private speech (Santrock,
2002).

Piaget – for him, private speech is egocentric and immature.

Vygotsky – for him, it is an important tool of thought during early
childhood.
Santrock 2002 – children must use language to communicate with others
before they can focus on their own thoughts.
Vygotsky asserted that preschool children are unable
to achieve their highest cognitive development
(language development included) on their own and
that they can improve their cognitive development
through use of scaffolding from more-skilled children
and adults. He introduced the term ZONE OF
PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (ZPD) to refer tasks that is too
difficult for a child to master alone, but can be
mastered with the guidance and assistance of adults
or more skilled children (Santrock, 2002).
ZPD – captures the preschool children’s cognitive skills that are in the
process of maturing.
- It has a two limit; the lower limit and the upper limit.
❑ Lower Limit – is the ‘”level of cognitive development reached by the
preschool child independently.
❑ Upper Limit – is the level of additional responsibility the child can
accept with assistance of an able instructor.” (Santrock, 2002)

SCAFFOLDING – a term that refers to the “changing support over the

course of a teaching session, with the more skilled person adjusting
guidance to fit the child’s current performance level.” (Santrock, 2002)

MKO (More Knowledgeable Other) – they are the more skilled person.
INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY-ATTENTION AND
MEMORY

Information Processing Model – is the another way of examining and understanding

how children develop cognitively.

Preschool children recognize previously encountered information, recall old

information, and reconstruct it in the present. Among the interesting questions about
memory in the preschool years are those involving short-term memory.

SHORT-TERM MEMORY (STM) – the information retain for up to 15-30 seconds.

(Santrock, 2002)

Differences in memory span occur across the ages due to:

a.) Rehearsal
b.) Speed and efficiency of processing information.
AGES 2-5 – between these ages, the long-term memory begins to
form.
- children also start to recognize that there are often multiple
ways to solve a problem and can brainstorm different (though
sometimes primitive) solutions.

LONG-TERM MEMORY – it involves storing information about the

sequence of events during familiar situations as “scripts.”

SCRIPTS – help children understand, interpret, and predict what will

happen in future scenarios.
AGES 5-7 – between these ages, children learn how to focus and use
their cognitive abilities for specific purposes. During this age,
children's knowledge base also continues to grow and become
better organized.

REHEARSAL AND ORAGANIZING INFORMATION – are deliberate

mental activities that can be employed to improve the processing of
information. Young children typically, however, do not use these two.
 THE YOUNG CHILDREN’S THEORY OF MIND

Theory of Mind – refers to individual’s thoughts about how mental

processes work ( Santrock, 2002

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE

Standards 1 – The child is able to understand both verbal and

non-verbal forms of communication.

31-36 months (3-4 years old)

• Speaks in simple sentences
• Talks about an event and is understood
37-48 months
• Uses newly learned words appropriately in a
sentence
• Uses newly learned words appropriately when in
group conversation

49-60 months
• Draws and tells story about his drawing
 PRE-READING AND PRE-MATH (MATCHING)

Standards 1.1 – The child is able to match identical objects,

colors, shapes, and symbols.

31-36 months 2 ½ to 3 years old

• Matches identical objects with 2 attributes
• Matches identical upper and lower case letters

37-48 months 3-4 years old

• Copies simple patterns
• Recognizes familiar logos, and signs
• Matches 2-4 letter words
PRE-READING AND PRE-MATH (COPYING LETTERS AND
NUMBERS

STANDARDS 1.2 – The child is able to recite the alphabet

and numbers in sequence

37-48 months: 3-4 years old

• Prints upper case letters with a model with some reversals.

49-60 months: 4-5 years old

• Prints complete name without model.

61-71 months: 5-6 years old

• Prints upper and lower case and a number 1-5 without a model.
HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES
Cause and effect - is the relationship between two things or events where
one event caused another event, or several events, to happen.
HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES Cognitive development is a field of
study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's
development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources,
perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed
adult brain and cognitive psychology.

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES

5 Aspects Of Cognitive Development
1.Information Processing
2.Intelligence
3.Reasoning
4.Language Development
5.Memory
THE ROLE OF CAREGIVERS

•The Four Year Old - Understand the concept of counting

and may know some numbers.

• The Five Year Old Can count ten or more objects.-

Correctly names at least four colors.-Better understands the
concept of time.-Knows about things used every day in the
home (money, food, appliances)