The Theory of Cognitive Development
The cognitive development theory represents a concept that was developed by Jean Piaget to try and understand the retention ability in children (Bjorklund and Causey, 2017). Besides, the theory is mainly based on the fact that children acquire knowledge as they manipulate the biosphere around them. According to Lind (2017), the cognitive development theory does not only pay special attention to the various stages of mental development but pays close consideration to the various methods that children use to acquire knowledge. The various stages in this theory are dependent on each other, and they are very vital to the post awareness in children (Arnett, Chapin, and Brownlow, 2018). The various activities that children encounter in the world that surrounds them shape their cognitive ability. The research paper will extensively explore the cognitive theory elucidating the various stages employed in theory.
Stages of Cognitive Development
When Piaget performed strict researches on his children, he developed a stage theory that represented the various stages of development, and each stage was closely linked to the other. According to Lind (2017), Piaget argues that during the earlier stages of cognitive development, infants obtain knowledge through the various sensory experiences and the various objects that they come across. Remarkably, a child’s entire experiences are mainly determined by the various basic reflexes, senses, and motor responses (Bjorklund, 2017). The cognitive ability of a child mainly advances the more the child grows and the various objects that they encounter in their lives.
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Sensorimotor Stage
According to Boeree (2015), this stage is also referred to as the infancy stage and occurs from conception up to two years. During this era, intelligence in a child is mainly shown through motor activity in the absence of the use of symbols. Ghazi, Ullah, and Jan, (2016)., confers by arguing that in this developmental era, the awareness of the globe is in most times limited, but it is mainly demonstrated through the various physical interactions with the various objects and the experiences they pass through after interacting with the objects. Moreover, the various toddlers obtain object perpetuity at the age of 7 months. Notably, movement in these children countenances them to start evolving new intellectual capabilities. In this stage, symbolic aptitudes are mainly enhanced at the culmination of this stage (Boeree, 2015). In this stage, the infants tend to comprehend the world through some basic actions such as; listening, observing, sucking, and holding the various objects that they encounter.
Consistent with Rayyes, and Steil, (2019), infants learn that the various objects that they find in their daily lives continue to exist even when they remain invisible. Notably, they also learn that they are completely separate beings from the various persons and objects they encounter in their normal activities. Also, as they interact with the various objects, they tend to learn that their immediate needs can make things occur in the world that surrounds them (Ghazi, 2016). Importantly, the various infants not only learn to perform various physical activities such as walking and crawling but they also learn the language of communication from the people surrounding them by watching how their lips move.
Preoperational Stage
According to Srivastava and Menon (2017), the preoperational stage is also regarded as the Toddler or the early childhood stage of development, which occurs within 2-7 years. In this stage, knowledge is mostly illustrated through the symbols, linguistic used by the people around them, comprehension ability, and imagination (Hasan, 2017). Notably, in this stage, comprehension is mainly done in a non-logical way, and the egocentric way of thinking predominates in most of this stage. In this stage, the egocentric view of things enables the various toddlers to start viewing objects from the perspective of others. In line with Bardid, Goodway, and Lenoir, (2017), when the various toddlers get to know how to use language effectively, they learn to think about things in more concrete terms, and they now communicate effectively.
Rendering from Hasan, (2017), the various children in this stage tend to learn through pretend play while thinking in a very concrete way about the experiences that they encounter in life. However, various toddlers tend to struggle with understanding the idea of constancy. Particularly, in this stage, the various toddlers tend only to solve problems that are to a larger extent more concrete.
Concrete Operational Stage
According to Ghazi (2016), this stage mainly occurs in the elementary and the early adolescence stage in children at the age of 7-11 years. The various activities done by a kid in this particular stage seems to be mature. The concrete operational stage in adolescents is mainly demonstrated by several kinds of conservations, which include; volume, area, physique, weight, liquid, and length. Notably, in this stage, intelligence in children is mainly illustrated through their perfect employment of the various signs that are connected to concrete objects. Boeree, (2015), highlights that in this stage, the various individuals adopt the operational thinking method where the mental actions that they develop are irreversible (Saxe, 2015). The egocentric thoughts usually disappear with the attainment of this stage, and the various children start thinking regarding the concrete ideas and objects that they encounter in their social interactions with the other beings using logical thinking.
In this stage, the various children understand the concept of conservation fully. Piaget demonstrated this by proving the thinking in the various children in this stage. According to Ghazi, (2016), he demonstrated by proving that the amount of fluid in a short, large cup is of equal measure to that in a tall, thin glass. For a child to reason in this manner, the child must have the major concept of conservation and reasoning. The reasoning in this stage involves the various individuals thinking in a more logical and organized manner, which ensures concreteness in the activities. Ahmad, Batool, Sittar, and Malik, (2016), also confers that the various individuals become more inductive and they start reasoning from a general perspective. The children at this stage start therefore to struggle with abstract and various hypothetical opinions. Their ideas now start circulating on how the various individuals might feel and think concerning their actions. Their way of thinking in this stage becomes unique to them and starts to believe in their opinions.
According to Van Geert (2017), various children start inductive reasoning and can comprehend the various rules of conservation. Inductive reasoning mainly concerns the ability to make figurative inferences to generalize. However, in this stage, the various children tend to struggle with the deductive way of reasoning. Ahmad et al. (2016) argue that deductive reasoning mainly involves the incorporation of a general principle to make a correct prediction that pertains to the outcome of particular events. In line with Ghazi (2016), two other important processes mainly occur in this stage which are logic and the elimination of egocentrism. According to Hasan (2017), egocentrism refers to the inability to comprehend a given perspective other than one’s own. In this stage, the thought and the morality of a child tend to be self-focused. The various children in this particular stage start considering things using other individual’s perspectives.
The Stage of Formal Operation
Regarding Saxe, (2015), this era is also considered as the adolescence and adulthood stage and occurs from 12 years onwards. In this period, astuteness is mainly proven through the logical application of the various signs connected to non-concrete ideologies. During the early stages of this period, the egocentric view of ideas returns, and the various individuals start reasoning using the egocentric way. Borrowing from Demetriou, Shayer, and Efklides, (2016), only approximately 35% of the various high-school ex-students acquire formal operation stage mainly contributed by the fact that many individuals fail to think formally during their later stages of adulthood.
Concerning Van Geert, (2017), at the onset of this stage, abstract thoughts emerge immediately, and children start behaving more maturely and also start to be open to only the people that they trust. Additionally, various individuals start seeing the multiple possible solutions to the various problems presented to them. The thinking pattern in most individuals becomes more complicated regarding this stage. Moreover, children in this age tend to think about the various theoretical approaches and solve them using applied logic that is already in them (Hasan, 2017). Systematic planning also tends to appear in this stage, where the various individuals tend to be more organized concerning the various tasks that are presented to them daily.
Notably, this theory gets some support and criticism at the same time. In support of the theory, Piaget majoring in qualitative development impacts greatly the educational aspect. Also, the theory provides major strategies that are used by the various educators regarding teaching the various children (Martin, and Santos, 2016). Also, the theory gets a lot of support mainly because it involved a lot of researches that Piaget used while studying the various behaviors in children. According to Ghazi (2016), the theory faces great criticism majorly on the various research methods that he employed when conducting his research. He only conducted the research based on his only three children. The results would have been varied if he majored in his research on a large group of children. The theory is also criticized mainly because under normal circumstances, developmental variations mainly occur and the variations may tend to be varied (Hasan, 2017). Lastly, the theory also underestimated the various abilities that regard children. Notably, various children tend to fall under different categories regarding their cognitive ability. The various children’s behavior may not follow the same course regarding the behaviors that they acquire in life. Also, the various children may tend to develop differently and, therefore, have different capabilities.
Conclusion
In summary, the cognitive development theory represents a concept that was developed by Jean Piaget to try and understand the retention ability in children. Besides, the theory is mainly based on the fact that children acquire knowledge as they manipulate the biosphere around them. The theory mainly involves four main stages that are dependent on each other. In the stage of sensorimotor, cleverness in a child is mainly shown through the motor activity in the absence of the use of symbols. The Pre-operational stage intelligence is mostly demonstrated through the use of signs, linguistics used by the people around them, comprehension ability, and imagination. Additionally, in the concrete operational stage, intelligence in children is mainly demonstrated through their perfect manipulation of the various symbols that are connected to concrete objects. Lastly, the stage of formal operational, cleverness is mainly demonstrated through the logical application of the various signs connected to abstract ideologies.
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