Module 7 Blog Post 1

This module talks about Piaget’s theory of development and learning. Piaget believes there are four stages of development: sensory motor (birth-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (11 and up). A child moves through these stages the more he interacts with the environment and the more experiences he creates. In the sensory motor period, infants begin developing the ability to coordinate their sensory input with their motor actions. A key feature in this stage is object permanence or the idea that objects continue to exist even when they are no long visible. In the preoperational stage, children do not have a sense of conservation, or the awareness that physical quantities remain the same in spite of changes in their shape or appearance. The child also is egocentric and believes that there are no other points of view besides his. In the next stage, concrete operational, conservation is mastered and the child begins to engage in two-way thinking. Finally, in the formal operational stage, a child can think abstractly and move on to higher level thinking. Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development is different from what a neuroscientist would say about development because a neuroscientist believes that children develop the way they do based off of genetic factors and certain environmental causes. A cognitive scientist like Piaget would say that a child’s experiences are the reasons why and how he develops, thus moving across the stages.

The chapter talked about the role of language in cognitive development. Would a child who is exposed to multiple languages at a younger age develop quicker than a child who only learns one language? How could being multi-lingual affect development? 

I think I would apply more of Vygotsky’s theory in my future classroom. I agree with the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development, which pretty much assesses what a child can learn or perform with or without help. I think that by exposing students to adults or older children who have excelled and succeeded in certain areas, they can see these adults as role models and as guides to aspire to become. I also believe that young children look up to older children, and by having an older child teach a simple task to a young child, that experience becomes a lot more important for the learner, thus helping the child learn better.