Blog 3 Cognitive Development Cathy Morgan

After reading this chapter, article,and listening to the lecture I believe that all are very informative. Both Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky pioneered their theories of cognitive development through explanations of cognitive stages and the relationship between individuals and society. Piaget's theory is too inflexible because even as children develop and learn in stages, not all children develop at the same rate as their peers. AS for his theory on Limitations of Preoperational Stage, Egocentrism: inability to extend thoughts beyond the self; cannot take the perspective of others, Centration: focus attention on only one characteristic. Ex: color vs. shape. I am not sure that I agree with either. Working with pre-school children age 2 to 5, I have seen children be able to extend thoughts beyond the self and they do try to think about the perception of others. These children can also focus on more than one characteristic at a time. Vygotsky illustrated the important role that adults play in a child's education. He teachers us that part of a teachers job is to encourage and support parents, letting them know that they are their children first teacher as well as that they are an intricate part of their child's classroom; parental involvement is significant in a child's education and in assisting their child to be successful through out high school. Vygotsky’s Zone of proximal development- a range between what a child can accomplish independently vs. with assistance of a more experienced individual and Scaffolding- the process by which a more experienced individual provides support at less and less intrusive levels. Is of great interest to me as a pre-school teacher in how I can best help all the children in my class.
In the “How People Learn Article” I so believe that this is true “The committee sees the influence of research on these mediating arenas as weak. The research base on learning and teaching has not been consolidated in a way that gives consistent, clear messages in formats that are useful for practice. As a result, the various mediating arenas that influence practice are often not aligned either with research findings or with each other”. After reading through the entire article I was surprised by the information in it. There are several really good ideas, but this one might just be a new beginning to education for our children, “Use the principles of learning for understanding articulated in How People Learn as a lens through which to evaluate existing education practices (K-12 and teacher training programs) and policies.” What a concept “The teaching of meta-cognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.” I have always thought children should be taught how to learn and not what to learn.