Cognitive Theories of Learning

 Provide a framework for understanding
important phenomena
 Raise crucial questions about human nature
 3. Motivate new research studies that lead to a
better understanding of children

 Cognition refers to all activity, processes,
and products of the mind. 1. Memory, 2.
Categorization 3. Problem solving 4.
Creativity, dreaming 5. Language
 Important issues in cognitive development:
1. Stage-like versus continuous development
2. Nature and nurture 3. Domain general
versus domain specific.

The Piaget Theory affirms that children go
through specific stages according to their
intellect and ability to perceive mature
relationships. These childhood stages occur in
the same order in all children, across all
cultures and backgrounds. However, the age
at which the stage comes may vary slightly
from child to child.
Piaget theory started out by two main
concepts, accommodation, and assimilation.

 1-Piaget Theory: Sensorimotor Stage (children 0-2)
 This developmental stage is characterized by how the child
understands the world, bringing together sensory
experience with the physical activity. This is the period
where the child improves innate reflexes.
 Children at this age like bright, shiny, moving stimuli with
lots of contrast.
 They construct schemes by trying to repeat an action
with their own body, like making noise by hitting their
toy, throwing something, or moving a blanket to get
something that’s on top of it. At this age, children repeat
actions randomly, experimenting with their own bodies.
 First contact with language: The first time the baby has
contact with language is when it is still in the mother’s
womb when it starts getting familiar with the parents’
voices. Research shows that during the baby’s first few
months of life, they prefer the sound of human voices to
any other sound. It’s surprising how used to the language
they are since from when the baby is born, they have an
exceptional ability to distinguish spoken language.

 2- Piaget Theory- Preoperational Stage (2-7 years-old)
 This the second stage of Piaget Theory. Schooling generally starts at
about 3 years-old, which brings about an important social change and
causes significant social development.
 The child will start relating to other children and people, especially
peers. Before this age, the interaction was generally with family.
 How do children aged 2-7 communicate? While between the ages 3-7
the child will largely expand their vocabulary, they are still guided by an
“egocentric thinking”, meaning that the child will think according to
their individual experiences, which makes their thinking and thoughts
starts, intuitive, and lacking logic. This is why children until the age of
about 6 will misunderstand events and will have trouble expressing them.
 Talking in the third person is very common in this stage because
children still don’t fully understand the concept of “I” or “me” that
separates them from the rest of the world.
 Children between 2-7 will be curious and want to learn, which is why
they so often as “why”.
 Children of this stage often give human characteristics or feelings to
objects. This is called personification.
 “Egocentr

4- Piaget Theory: Formal Operational (11
years and older)
This last period is characterized by the
acquisition of logical reasoning under all
circumstances, including abstract reasoning.
The new aspect of this last period in relation
to intelligence is, as Piaget mentions, the
ability to hypothesize about something that
they haven’t learned specifically.
This is where learning starts to take place as a
“whole”, rather than a concrete form like in
the previous stage.

 Piaget not only studied children’s developmental
stages, he also recognized that cognitive
development is closely tied to moral development
and was particularly interested in the way children’s
thoughts about morality changed over time.
 Piaget established that morality is one’s ability to
distinguish between wrong and right and to be able
to act on this distinction. He established that there
are three stages of moral development in children.
 Piaget Theory Pre-Moral Stage (0-5 years of age)
 In this stage, children have little to no understanding
of rules. It’s difficult for them to carry out mental
operations, therefore, the behavior is regulated from
outside the child, by a parent, caretaker, etc. This
stage happens simultaneously with the Sensorimotor
and Pre-operational stage.

Cognitive Theories of Learning

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