CHAPTER 2 Cognitive and Language Development © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Theory Schemes Assimilation Accommodation Organization Equilibration Actions or mental representations that organize knowledge Incorporating new knowledge into existing schemes Adjusting existing schemes to fit new information and experiences Grouping isolated behaviors into a higher-order system A shift, a resolution of conflict to reach a balance © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Four Stages Cognition unfolds in a sequence of four stages. • Each is age-related and distinctive • Each stage is discontinuous from and more advanced than the previous © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Four Stages © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage Coordination of sensory experiences with motor actions Object permanence involves the realization that objects continue to exist over time © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage Symbolic Function Substage Symbolic Thought: ability to represent mentally an object that is not present. Limitations: Egocentrism: The inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s perspective. Animism © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The Three Mountain Tasks © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage Symbolic Function Substage Limitations: Egocentrism Animism: The belief that inanimate objects have “lifelike” qualities and are capable of action. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Stages of Animism Almost everything is alive and conscious Only those things that move are alive Only those things that manifest spontaneous movements are alive Consciousness is limited to the animal world © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage Intuitive Thought Substage Intuitive Thought rather than logical thinking Centration: focuses on one characteristic to the exclusion of others Irreversibility: inability to mentally reverse operations Lack of Conservation Classification: ability to classify objects according to only one characteristic at a time © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Conservation of Liquid © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Conservation Tasks © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Conservation Tasks (con’t) © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage Logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning, but only in concrete situations. Conservation: Classification: Seriation: Transitivity: The idea that some characteristics of an object stay the same even though the object might change in appearance. Coordinate several characteristics rather than focus on a single property of an object. Order stimuli along some quantitative dimension. Combine relations to understand certain conclusions. If A>B, and B>C, then A>C. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Hierarchical Classification When shown a family tree of four generations, the concrete operational child can classify the members vertically, horizontally, and obliquely. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage Abstract reasoning: think in abstract, idealistic, and logical ways Hypothetical-deductive reasoning: ability to develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems and systematically reach a conclusion Adolescent egocentrism: heightened selfconsciousness and a sense of personal uniqueness © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Theory Teaching Strategies Preoperational Thinkers Manipulate groups of objects Reduce egocentrism Draw conclusions and explain why Concrete Operations Encourage children to discover concepts and principles Assign operational tasks Formal Operations Propose problems and encourage hypothesis formation Suggest alternative approaches to problems Develop projects and investigations © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Enter the Debate Should teachers allow preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade students to play for the bulk of their day? YES NO © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice Jennifer, James, and several of their classmates are playing hide-and-go-seek during indoor recess one rainy day. Jennifer carefully conceals her entire body behind Mrs. Johnson’s long smock. In contrast, James hides only his upper body behind a jacket hanging on a hook. He giggles, sure that his classmates will never see him. Q: Based on the information given above, at which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development is James most likely operating? Explain. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice Mr. Jackson has a sand table in his kindergarten classroom. He provides his students with many containers of different sizes and shapes to play with in the sand. He watches as his students carefully pour sand from one container to another. One little girl, Michelle, seems amazed when she pours sand back and forth between two containers. The sand always fills up one container and only half-fills the other, yet the containers are the same height. Q: Based on the information given above, what skill is Michelle most likely developing? Explain. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice Mr. Welby teaches high school English. He always asks his students to find the symbolism in the great works of literature he assigns. Some students do this with relative ease. For others it is a real struggle. Many are only able to parrot back what he has told them in class. Q.1: At which of Piaget’s stages are those who understand the symbolism in literature likely operating? Q.2: At which of Piaget’s stages are those who cannot understand the symbolism in literature likely operating? © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism Theory into Practice Marsha refuses to go to school one morning because she is having a “bad hair day” and is certain that everyone will stare at her all day. Her mother assures her that she looks just fine. However, Marsha races back to the bathroom to attempt to fix her “awful hair.” Q: What would Elkind say is happening here? © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Piaget and Language Development Which comes first? Language or cognition? Emerges from existing cognitive structures © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Speech Categories of the Preoperational Child Egocentric Speech Repetition Monologue Collective Monologue Socialized Speech © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Overview of Piaget Criticisms Underestimated abilities May not be stagelike Underestimated experience Ages influenced by culture Contributions © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Vygotsky’s Theory Cognitive skills Can be understood when they are developmentally analyzed Are mediated by words, language, and forms of discourse Have their origins embedded in a sociocultural backdrop © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Vygotsky’s Theory Internalization Interpsychological Intrapsychological Language Development Preintellectual speech Naïve psychology Private speech Inner speech © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Vygotsky’s Theory Zone of Proximal Development © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Vygotsky’s Theory Scaffolding - Teacher adjusts the level of support as performance rises Cognitive Apprenticeship - expert supports novice Tutoring Cooperative Learning – work in small groups, facilitate one another © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning Generation of group rewards Individual accountability © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism Theory into Practice Peter is having difficulty with his math assignment. His teacher, Ms. Jacobs helps him work through the first problem step-bystep. Peter begins to understand the concepts and begins the other problems. Suzanne also struggles with the assignment. However, even when Ms. Jacobs works through the first problem with her, she still cannot grasp how to do the remaining problems. Meanwhile, Clarice has breezed through the assignment with no difficulty at all. Q.1: What would Vygotsky say about the assignment for Peter? Q.2: What would Vygotsky say about the assignment for Suzanne? © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism Theory into Practice Peter is having difficulty with his math assignment. His teacher, Ms. Jacobs helps him work through the first problem step-bystep. Peter begins to understand the concepts and begins the other problems. Suzanne also struggles with the assignment. However, even when Ms. Jacobs works through the first problem with her, she still cannot grasp how to do the remaining problems. Meanwhile, Clarice has breezed through the assignment with no difficulty at all. Q.3: What would Vygotsky say about the assignment for Clarice? Q.4: What would Vygotsky call the assistance Ms. Jacobs gives Peter and Suzanne? Explain. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Cognitive and Language Development Language Development What Is Language Development? How Language Develops Biological and Environmental Influences © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Biological and Environmental Influences on Language Development Children are neither exclusively biological linguists nor social architects of language. Interactionists emphasize the contribution of both. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Language is … …a form of communication, spoken, written, or signed, that is based on a system of symbols. Phonology Sound system of a language Morphology Units of meaning involved in word formation Syntax Rules for combining words into phrases/sentences Semantics Meaning of words and sentences Pragmatics Appropriate use of language in different contexts © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. How Language Develops Infancy Prelinguistic Period Holophrastic Period Telegraphic Period Cooing Babbling One two words Simple Sentences © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. How Language Develops Early Childhood Phonology Sensitive to sounds, rhymes Morphology Overgeneralize rules Syntax Complex rules for ordering words Semantics 6-year-old: 8,000- to 14,000-word vocabulary Pragmatics Talk in different ways to different people © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. How Language Develops Middle & Late Childhood Phonology Alphabetic principle: letter-sound correspondence Morphology Appropriate application of rules Syntax Complex grammar; linguistic awareness Semantics 12-year-old: 50,000-word vocabulary Pragmatics Culturally appropriate language use © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. How Language Develops Adolescence Increased sophistication in use of words Greater understanding of metaphors, satire, and complex literary works Better writers Dialect includes jargon and slang © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Supporting Vocabulary Development Through Technology Computers Relate the new to the known Promote active, in-depth processing Encourage reading Audio Books Educational Television © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.