Cognitivism2

=Website Exemplifying Cognitive Instructional Features = ====[|Jean Piaget: Cognitive Development in the Classroom] ====

  Jean Piaget believed that every interaction in the classroom affected children and their cognitive development. Whether it be a positive impact or a negative impact, everything plays a role in a child’s cognitive development. Cognitive development involves language, mental imagery, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and memory development. Cognitive theory is based on the belief that children can only do what they have learned, so when they are in a learning environment, children are easily impacted.

__Observation and Education__- Piaget did a lot of observation. He observed many behaviors and then analyzed those behaviors to learn more about cognition. These observations led Piaget to discover that children develop in specific stages. Children cannot perform certain tasks unless their maturity level is ready to take on the task.

__Structured Development__- Piaget’s Cognitive theory is very structured. He believed that children progress through four stages of development. These stages are:

-__Sensorimotor Stage__ (0-2 years): Schemes are based on behaviors and perceptions. Children seem to focus on what they are seeing and doing at that specific moment. Unless something is immediately in front of them, they have a hard time focusing on it. At this stage, children begin to imitate their role models and utilize their thoughts.

-__Preoperational Stage__ (2-7 years): Children begin to think and talk about things past their immediate experiences. They can think into their future. Their reasoning skills, however, are not yet fully developed. At this stage, children’s language begins to develop, and they start to recognize symbolic form.

-__Concrete Operational Stage__ (7-11 years): Adult like logic and reasoning skills begin to appear. However, reasoning is concrete and limited to real life situations. At this stage, children are able to logically solve hands on problems.

-__Formal Operational Stage__ (11-15 years): Logical reasoning starts being applied to abstract ideas as well as concrete situations. Advanced reasoning appears for use in logical subjects. At this stage, advanced reasoning allows children to logically solve abstract problems.

__Applying Jean Piaget in the Classroom__- To help develop children’s cognitive development, concrete visuals are essential. Modeling expected actions to accompany directions helps children make meaningful connections. Giving children hands on opportunities helps them build complex skills. It is also important to provide a wide range of experiences so children have a solid foundation to build upon and connect their new knowledge to.