Cognitive Development of Primary Schoolers

Learning outcomes
at the end of this report, you should be able to:
• describe the characteristics of children in the concrete operational stage

• explain the importance of information-processing skills and how they

affect the child's cognitive development

• State the different cognitive milestone in primary schoolers

Jean Piaget is the foremost theorist
of cognitive development.

Everything that a person experiences is a

continuous process of assimilations
and accommodations.

He described four main periods in cognitive

development.
Jean Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage

Concrete operational is the third stage in piaget’s theory.

It spans from age 7 to approximately 11 years old.

Children begin to think logically about concrete events, particularly their

own experiences, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical
concept.
 Logic
Inductive logic
- Involves thinking from a specific experience to a general principle.

Deductive logic
- Beginning with a general principle leading to specific event.
 Reversibility
One of the most important developments
in this stage is an
understanding of reversibility, or
awareness that actions can be reversed.
Example: 3 + 4 =7 and 7 - 4 =3
 Cognitive Milestone
Piaget calls this process DECENTRATION.
The skills they learn are in a sequential manner, meaning they need to understand
numbers before they can perform a mathematical equation.
Up until age 8, a child learns new skills at a rapid pace.
During play, they practice using the words and language they learn in school.
They enjoy rhymes, riddles, and jokes.
Their attention span is longer.
 Information-Processing Skills
Several theorists argue that like the computer, the human mind is a system that
can process information through the application of logical rules and strategies .

They also believe that the mind receives information, performs operations to
change its form and content, stores and locates it and generates responses from
it.
 Implications to Child Care, Education and Parenting
 helping children draw on their strengths and promote growth in their
weaknesses;
 planning lessons that cater multiple intelligence based on instructional
objectives,
 encouraging children to read more everyday to increase their vocabulary;
 bringing children to museums, art exhibits and historical landmarks to widen
their perspective about the world and people; and
 lessening children’s screen time and increasing their personal and face-to-face
interaction.