Softcopy notes were given, I just copy paste the key points

Cognitive development includes the fields of thinking, reasoning, problem solving, logic, imagination, concentration, memory, concept formation, language-related learning abilities.

Theories of Cognitive Development

• Jean Piaget – a Swiss Biologist (Cognitive Development)
  • Action = Knowledge
  • Knowledge is the product of direct motor behavior
  • Concept of Schema
    • Assimilation
    • Accommodation
    • Equilibration
  • Stages of Cognitive Development
    • Sensory-motor stage (0-2 years)
    • Preoperational stage (2-7 years)
    • Concrete operational stage (7-11 years)
    • Formal operational stage (11 and above)
• Lev Vygotsky – a Russian Psychologist (Zone of Proximal Development aka ZPD)
  • Vygotsky’s term for the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but can be learnt with the guidance and assistance of more skilled adults and peers
• Jerome Bruner – an American Educational Psychologist (Scaffolding)
  • A teaching technique in which a more skilled person adjusts the level of guidance to fit the child’s current performance level
  • Dialogue is an important aspect of scaffolding
  • Language plays a key role in cognition
  • Teaching Strategies
    • 1. Assess the child’s ZPD
    • 2. Use the child’s ZPD in teaching
    • 3. Use more skilled peers as teachers
    • 4. Monitor and encourage children’s use of private speech
    • 5. Play instruction in a meaningful context
    • 6. Transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas
  • 3 different modes of learning
    - Enactive mode (action-based)
    - Iconic mode (image-based)
    - Symbolic mode (language-based)