Cognitive Development In Early Childhood Education - Research Paper Example

Cognitive development in early childhood grooming has been an important area of concern for many psychologists working on the framework of young minds that are wired in a very different manner than adults. Cognition is a vast area of study which includes memory, reasoning, comprehending and associating. Cognitive theories were developed so that the learning abilities and processes that lead to cognition in early childhood could be studied. Many psychologists have worked to study the effect of cognition on young minds. In this case Piagets, Eric Erickson etc. contributions are very essential in the propagation of this theory. Piaget believed that young children while developing their cognition initially learn from the actions and later these actions are transformed to mental processes that are then put into operation. According to the study of Piaget, he evaluated that the development in the cognition was a gradual rearrangement of the processes that take place in the mind which are caused due to the biological changes that take place within individuals while they are getting matured. Another reason which builds up on cognition is the experiences one undergoes. In early childhood children build up their thinking abilities and also try to analyze and understand the worldly activities that happen in their environment which eventually lead to disparity between their initial learning that is what they know themselves and later about what they have absorbed and learnt from their surroundings.(Mathews, 1999) Vygotsky on the other hand worked on the development of cognitive theory in a very different manner as compared to Piaget. Piagets theory focused on considering cognition to be only targeted towards learning whereas Vygotsky took this theory a step further and stated that an essential component of cognition is social interaction. To advocate this point he formulated the Social Development Theory. When children interact with each other or their surroundings then their cognitions develops and this interaction is very important for their mental and physical growth. He strongly believed that in the making of oneself society tends to play a major role. The main purpose of this theory was to advocate that social learning comes before the development factor. (Perret-Clermont, 1999) The difference in these two theories lies in the fact that Vygotsky emphasized on culture and the social interaction in the development of cognition whereas Piaget focused on a series of stages that aid in cognition and development. Vygotsky has preference over Piaget as he bought a new dimension in the field of cognition which Piaget did not concentrate on. Another benefit of his theory was that it focused on language as an essential thing in building up the cognition which was ignored in Piagets theory. Although Piagets theory lacked certain essential components that deal with cognition and his theory has been apparently discarded but still Piagets theory sets the building blocks and lays the foundation of cognition. His theory has set basic set of rules that all individuals who seek to gain knowledge in this area of psychology can benefit from it. He can be termed as the initiator who gave birth to a subject that deals with mental growth of a child and the factors that effect this development. The stages that he has introduced are very precise and are helpful to judge the cognitive level of a child. Cognition in early childhood education is strongly based on the cultural and the social set up one belongs too. For instance, it is observed that children belonging to the western part of the world tend to be far more independent and self-reliant as compared to children of the same age bracket residing in Eastern part of the world who are not so independent. This is mainly due to the environment they are nurtured in proving that thus cognition is influenced by culture. (Wallace, 1972) Cognitive psychology is a very diverse field which deals with the study of understanding, mental intellect and knowledge therefore all the activities that deal with knowledge and apprehension come under this category. This follows a mechanism that is concerned with getting; processing and organizing information in such a way that it builds up the childs thinking abilities. This eventually leads to developing a childs mental structure and the way one evaluates and examines the world developing the childs efficiency and effectiveness to correlate to things happening in his environment building up on a reflexive approach that analyzes, interprets and evaluates. It should be noted here that the thinking of children is far more different than that of adults and the way this thinking develops during the passage of time is basically what this branch of psychology is all about. (Oakley, 2004) Cognition of every child tends to be different from another. This means that the level at what one child tends to perceive will be quite different from another child having the same age and circumstances. This merely means that the capability of each individual is different from another. Therefore comparing cognition f one child to another is practically useless as that would only undermine confidence. The only way to overcome this problem is that one needs to critically evaluate the childs way of learning, capabilities and social interaction and then device a way to deal and nurture the cognition in accordance with the childs pace of development. (Flavell, 1972) Another important aspect in cognition is about influence. When a child is developing and is actually building up his cognition then various factors affect his mind. Environment plays a significant role here as that is basically the starting point of learning. It is observed that a child who has been nurtured in a violent environment tends to explicit violent behavior when grown up. Thus creating a positive environment is beneficial and extremely important for a childs growth as that brings about a positive impact on the childs thinking and eventually makes him a better person. (Rudan, 2000) Thus cognition is an essential feature of a childs development. It gives a child the capability to understand the world that surrounds him, develop his perception about various things and finally build up his stance on the things. Cognition is a major area of concern which at times is neglected especially when it comes to the lower class as they usually do not spend much time and the required attention on the cognition of their child in the early years which causes them to suffer eventually. Cognitive development in early years of education is also essential because during early childhood a child is developing various concepts which he implements and executes throughout his life if at this point his concepts are clear and has a targeted sort of thinking therefore then many problems can be countered which a child having weak cognition might suffer from. Hence required attention needs to be given during early years of a child’s education because that will eventually either make or break his future. WORKS CITED Oakley, L. (2004). Cognitive development. London: Routledge .Wallace, A. F. C. (January 01, 1972). Culture and cognition. Culture and Cognition : Rules, Maps and Plans. Flavell, J. H. (January 01, 1972). An analysis of cognitive-developmental sequences. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 86. Matthews, G. B., & Hladnik, A. (January 01, 1999). Piaget. Fnm, 6, 44-52. Rudan, V. (January 01, 2000). Adolescent development and external influences. Collegium Antropologicum, 24, 2, 585-96. Perret-Clermont, A.-N., Perret, J.-F., & Bell, N. (January 01, 1999). The social construction of meaning and cognitive activity in elementary school children. Lev Vygotsky : Critical Assessments Read More