EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHESKA CABIGTING / BS PSYCHOLOGY 2C / 2ND SEMESTER

LESSON 2: COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THE ABILITY TO ACQUIRE ONE’S FIRST

Development LANGUAGE
-​ Certain changes that occur in human CRITICAL PERIOD
beings (or animals) between conception -​ A maturational stage in the lifespan of an
and death. organism during which the nervous
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO: system is especially sensitive to certain
-​ Physical development (changes in the environmental stimuli.
body) SENSITIVE PERIOD
-​ Personal Development (changes in an -​ Notion that the effects of environmental
individual’s personality) stimuli on the developing organism are
-​ Social Development (changes in the way stronger during certain periods of
an individual relates to others), and development.
-​ Cognitive development (changes in THE BRAIN AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
thinking).

Changes during development; growth and

maturation:
MATURATION
-​ Changes that occur naturally and
spontaneously and that are genetically
programmed.
NATURE VS. NURTURE CEREBELLUM
-​ Is change a continuous process or it -​ Coordinates and orchestrates balance and
involves qualitative differences or stages smooth, skilled movements.
-​ Theorists agree that people develop at -​ Plays a role in higher cognitive functions
different rates, in an orderly process, and such as learning.
development takes place gradually. HIPPOCAMPUS
NATURE -​ Critical in recalling new information and
-​ Of an individual (heredity, genes, recent experiences.
biological process, maturation, etc.) AMYGDALA
NURTURE -​ Directs emotions
-​ Of environmental context (education, THALAMUS
parenting, culture, social policies, etc.) -​ Involved in our ability to learn new
CONTINUOUS PROCESS information.
-​ Like gradual improvement in your running
endurance through systematic exercise
DISCONTINUOUS CHANGE
-​ Also called “Qualitative Change”
-​ Like many of the changes in humans
during puberty, such as the ability to
reproduce– an entirely different ability.
-​ Contrasted with purely quantitative
change, such as the adolescent growing
taller.

PREPARED BY: MA. FRANCESCA FATIMA PAULE /PAGE 1

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
CHESKA CABIGTING / BS PSYCHOLOGY 2C / 2ND SEMESTER

CEREBRAL CORTEX SERIATION

-​ Associated with higher mental functions -​ Ability to sort objects or situations
-​ Crumpled sheet of neurons that serves according to any characteristic, such as
three major functions: size, color, shape, or type.
1.​ Receiving signals from sense organs FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (12-
j(such as visual or auditory signals) ADULTHOOD)
2.​ Controlling voluntary movements -​ The adolescent can transcend concrete
3.​ Forming Connections situations and think about the future.
-​ Part that controls physical motor EQUILIBRATION
movement develops/matures first than -​ Describes the cognitive balancing of new
areas that control complex senses such as information with old knowledge.
vision and hearing.
FRONTAL LOBE
-​ Higher-order thinking processes.

WHAT IS LATERALIZATION? WHY IS IT

IMPORTANT?
-​ Specialization of two sizes or hemispheres
of the brain.
-​ Left Hemisphere; Language
-​ Right Hemisphere; Spatial and Visual
Processing
-​ Both parts and systems work together to
learn and perform complex activities such
as reading and constructing
understanding.
JEAN PIAGET-COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
-​ Piaget provided support for the idea that
children think differently than adults and
his research identified several important
milestones in the mental development of
children. -​ Piaget believed that children take an
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (O-2 Y.O.) active role in the learning process, acting
-​ The child begins to interact with the like scientists as they perform
environment. experiments, make observations, and
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (2-6/7 Y.O) learn about the world.
-​ The child begins to represent the world -​ Cognitive development occurs in
symbolically children’s mental skills and abilities over
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7-11/12 time. (How children think, explore, and
Y.O) figure things out.)
-​ The child learns rules such as -​ Brain development is part of cognitive
conservation. development.
-​ One of the important processes that //To promote a child's cognitive development, it is
develops is that of Seriation. important that you actively engage in quality
interactions on a daily basis.

PREPARED BY: MA. FRANCESCA FATIMA PAULE /PAGE 2

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
CHESKA CABIGTING / BS PSYCHOLOGY 2C / 2ND SEMESTER

-​ Alternative explanations place greater

emphasis on students’ developing
information and processing skills.
VYGOTSKY'S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
LEV VYGOTSKY
-​ Russian psychologist, known for his
MAIN INFLUENCE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT sociocultural theory.
-​ Piaget’s Theory: People try to make sense -​ Believed social interaction plays a critical
of the world and actively create knowledge role in children’s learning.
through direct experiences with objects, -​ Through social interaction, children go
people, and ideas. through a continuous process of learning.

ORGANIZATION OF THOUGHT (SCHEMES)

-​ Through the development, incorporating, VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
and changing the existing schemes, -​ Learning is an essentially social process
thinking process and knowledge develop -​ Parents, caregivers, peers, and wider
ADAPTATION society and culture plays a crucial role in
-​ How a child handles new information from the development of psychological
what they already know. functions.
ASSIMILATION
WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLS AND WHY
-​ Process of taking in new information into
our existing cognitive structures ARE THEY IMPORTANT
ACCOMODATION PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLS
-​ Modifying one's cognitive structure to -​ Signs and symbol systems such as
include the new information. numbers and mathematical systems,
SCHEMES codes, and language that support learning
-​ Basic building blocks of thinking. and cognitive development.
-​ Organized systems of actions or thought -​ Change the thinking process by enabling
that allow us to mentally represent or and shaping thinking.
“think about” the objects and events in our -​ Many are passed from adult to child
world. through formal and informal interactions
-​ May be small and specific, or larger and and teachings.
more general. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PIAGET’S AND
-​ People adapt to new environments as VYGOTSKY’S PERSPECTIVE ON PRIVATE SPEECH
they increase and organize their schemes.
AND ITS ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT
LIMITATIONS OF PIAGET’S THEORY
-​ Criticized as children and adults often
think in ways that are inconsistent with the
notion of invariant stages.
-​ Piaget underestimated children’s cognitive
abilities
-​ Insisted that children could not be taught
the operations of the next stage but had to
develop them on their own.
-​ Overlooking cultural factors in child
development.

PREPARED BY: MA. FRANCESCA FATIMA PAULE /PAGE 3

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
CHESKA CABIGTING / BS PSYCHOLOGY 2C / 2ND SEMESTER

-​ Vygotsky’s sociocultural view asserts that their own schemes; must act on
cognitive development hinges on social information in some way.
interaction and the development of -​ Active experience should include both
language. physical manipulation of objects and
-​ Piaget suggests that private speech is an mental manipulation of ideas.
indication of the child’s egocentrism. -​ As a general rule, students should act,
-​ Vygotsky, more than Piaget, emphasized manipulate, observe, and then talk and/or
the significant role played by adults and write about what they have experienced.
more-able peers in children’s learning. -​ Concrete
STUDENT’S ZPD -​ experiences provide the raw materials for
thinking. Communicating with others
-​ A child is on the verge of being able to
-​ makes students use, test, and sometimes
solve problems that are beyond the child's
change their thinking abilities.
capabilities.
-​ Concrete experiences provide the raw
materials for thinking.
ZPD
-​ Communicating with others makes
-​ Where a child cannot solve a problem
students use, test, and sometimes change
alone but can succeed under adult
their thinking abilities.
guidance or collaboration with more
advanced peers. WHAT IS ASSISTED LEARNING AND WHAT ROLE
DOES SCAFFOLDING PLAY
SCAFFOLDING
-​ understanding the students’ needs; giving
information, prompts, reminders, and
encouragement at the right time and in the
right amounts; and then gradually allowing
the students to do more and more on their
own.
-​ Instructional scaffolding, also known as
"Vygotsky scaffolding"
-​ A teaching method that helps students
learn more by working with a teacher or a
TWO CRITICISMS OR LIMITATIONS OF more advanced student to achieve their
VYGOTSKY’S THEORY? learning goals.
-​ Overemphasized the role of social ADOLESCENTS EGOCENTRISM
interaction in cognitive development; -​ Describes the tendency for adolescents to
children figure out quite a bit on their own. have differing perceptions between what
-​ Vygotsky, who died so young, was not they believe others think about them and
able to develop and elaborate his theories. what other people actually think about
them.
WHAT IS ACTIVE LEARNING? WHY IS PIAGET’S
-​ Adolescents typically think others are
THEORY CONSISTENT WITH ACTIVE LEARNING? more aware and attentive of their behavior
ACTIVE LEARNING and appearance than people actually are.
-​ Individuals construct their own CO-CONSTRUCTION
understanding; learning is a constructive -​ A distinctive approach where the
process. emphasis is on collaborative or
-​ Every level of cognitive development must partnership working.
be able to incorporate information into

PREPARED BY: MA. FRANCESCA FATIMA PAULE /PAGE 4

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
CHESKA CABIGTING / BS PSYCHOLOGY 2C / 2ND SEMESTER

ASSISTED LEARNING
-​ The acquisition of knowledge and skill
through active helping and supporting
among status equals or matched
companions.
COLLECTIVE MONOLOGUE
-​ Children’s self-directed talk “egocentric
speech.”
-​ Assumes egocentric speech is another
indication that young children can’t see
the world through the eyes of others, so
they chat away without taking into account
the needs or interests of their listeners.
DECENTERING/DECENTRATION
-​ Ability to consider multiple aspects of a
situation.
-​ Child shows increased use of logic
DISEQUILIBRIUM
-​ Inability to fit new information into our
schema.
-​ When you come across information or
experiences that do not fit into your
current knowledge base, this is where
disequilibrium begins.
OBJECT PERMANENCE
-​ Knowing that an object still exists, even if
it is hidden.
BRAIN PLASTICITY
-​ Also known as neuroplasticity, is the
brain's ability to change as a result of
experience.
REVERSIBILITY
-​ The child learns that some things that
have been changed can be returned to
their original state.
REVERSIBLE THINKING
-​ Ability people have to reason things in
different directions.
CONSERVATION
-​ Understanding that something stays the
same in quantity even though its
appearance changes.
-​ Ability to understand that redistributing
material does not affect its mass, number,
volume or length.

PREPARED BY: MA. FRANCESCA FATIMA PAULE /PAGE 5