On Cognitive Development

From Educational Psychology by Anita Woolfolk, 10th Edition, 2007, Pearson

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
  Begins to make use of imitation, memory, and thought
  Begins to recognize that objects do not cease to exist when the are hidden
  Moves from reflex actions to goal directed activity
• Preoperational (2-7 years)
  Gradually develops use of langauge and ability to think in symbolic form
  Has difficulties seeing anoher person's pov
• Concrete operational (7-11 years)
  Able to solve concrete (hands on) problems in logical fashion
• Concrete operational (7-11 years)
  Able to solve concrete problems in logical fashion
  Understands laws of conservation and is able to classifiy and seriate
• Formal operational (11-adult)
  Able to solve abstract problems in logical fashion
  Becomes more scientific in thinking
  Develops concerns about social issues, identity

Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

• Knowledge: Remembering or recognizing something without necessarily, understanding, using, or changing it
• Comprehension: Understanding the matieral being communicated without necessarily relating it to anything else.
• Application: Using a general concept to solve a particular problem
• Analysis: Breaking something down into its parts
• Synthesis: Creating something new by combining different ideas
• Evaluation: Judging the value of materials or methods as they might be applied in a particular situation.
  -> Correlation with MBTI and how one relates to stimulus. ie Synthesis is most familiar to P perhaps and Evaluation is most familiar to J perhaps.

Bloom's Taxonomy of the Affective Domain

• Recieving: Being aware of or atending to something in the environment.
• Responding: SHowing some new behavior as a result of experience.
• Valuing: Showing some definite involvement or commitment.
• Organization: Intergrating a new value into one's general set of values, giving it some ranking among one's general priorities.
• Characterization by value: Acting consistently with the new value.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

• Higher mental processes first are co-constructed during shared activities between the child and another person. Then the processes are internalized by the child and become part of the child's cognitive development. Later, the child can regulate his or her behavior using private speech
• Children's cognitive development is fostered by interactions with people who are more capable or advanced in their thinking -- people such as parents and teachers. Of course, students can learn from both adults and peers.
• All higher order mental processes, such as reasoning and prblem solving, ar emediated by (accomplished through and with the help of) psychological tools, such as language, signs, and symbols Adults teach these tool sto children during day-to-day acitivites and the children internalize them. THen the psychological tooks can help students advance their own development.
• The process is something like this: As children engage in activities with adults or more capable peers, they exchange ideas and ways of thinking baout or representing concepts. These co-created ideas are interlaized by children. Thus, children's knowledge, ideas, attitudes, and values develop through appropriating or "taking for themsleves" the way sof acting and thinking provided by both their culture and other members of their group.

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

-> Consider in regards to flow and learning style

• Logical-mathematical: Sensitive to and capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns; ability to handle long chains of reasoning
• Linguistic: Sensitive to sounds, rhythms, and meanings of words; sensitive to the different functions of language
• Musical: Abilities to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch, and timbre; appreciation of the forms of musical expressiveness
• Spatial: Capacities to perceive the visual-spatial world accurately and to perform transformations on one's initial perceptions.
• Bodily-kinesthetic: Abilities to control one's body movements and to handle objects skillfully
• Interpersonal: Capacities to discern and repond appropriately to moods, temperaments, motivations, and desires of others
• Intrapersonal: Access to one's own feelings and the ability to discriminate among the and draw on them to guide behavior; knowledge of one's own strengths, weakneses, desires, and intelligence
• Naturalist: Abilities to recognize plants and animals, to make distinctions in the natural world, to understand systems and define categories (perhaps even categories of intelligence)

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

• Ability to perceive and understand emotions in others (usually by reading nonverbal cues) and respond appropriately
• Ability to integrate one's emotions into thinking about situations
• Ability to understand one's own emotions
• Ability to manage one's own emotions

Maslow's Theory of Self-Actualization (from Wiki)

They embrace the facts and realities of the world (including themselves) rather than denying or avoiding them.

• They are spontaneous in their ideas and actions.
• They are creative.
• They are interested in solving problems; this often includes the problems of others. Solving these problems is often a key focus in their lives.
• They feel a closeness to other people, and generally appreciate life.
• They have a system of morality that is fully internalized and independent of external authority.
• They have discernment and are able to view all things in an objective manner.

1. Awareness

• efficient perception of reality
• freshness of appreciation
• peak experiences
• ethical awareness

2. Honesty

• philosophical sense of humour
• social interest
• deep interpersonal relationships
• democratic character structure

3. Freedom

• need for solitude
• autonomous, independent
• creativity, originality
• spontaneous

4. Trust

• problem centered
• acceptance of self, others, nature
• resistance to enculturation - identity with humanity