Why is it important to analyse this period? The argument is whether middle childhood is a distinctive stage of development or is it just a mare progression from the infancy. We are now going to discuss main aspects of cognitive development during that time. We will analyse the importance of memory. We are also going to discuss one of the most important theorists – Jean Piaget – and how he influenced the way we think about cognitive development of children.
Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, believed that there is a universal pattern of intellectual growth that unfolds during infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Moreover, he divided childhood into 4 stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete-operational stage, and formal-operational stage. We will now focus on third stage: concrete-operational. It is called concrete because, according to Piaget, children during this period can only process …show more content…
Children come to understand that certain physical aspects of object (e.g. size, length, density) remain the same even when other aspects of the object’s appearance have changed. Moreover, their thinking becomes more flexible in terms of understanding multiple layers of the same problem. Logic and objectivity also increase so that they are able to classify or group things in a logical way. (Cole, Cole, & Lightfoot, 1989)
Conservation – a term that Piaget used for the understanding that some properties of the object remain the same although their appearance might change. For example, if we will present a child with two identical glasses, filled with the same amount of liquid, then we will pour the liquid from one glass to the third one that is taller but narrower, concrete operational child will be able to understand that the amount of liquid has not changed although it appears to be
Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, believed that there is a universal pattern of intellectual growth that unfolds during infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Moreover, he divided childhood into 4 stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete-operational stage, and formal-operational stage. We will now focus on third stage: concrete-operational. It is called concrete because, according to Piaget, children during this period can only process …show more content…
Children come to understand that certain physical aspects of object (e.g. size, length, density) remain the same even when other aspects of the object’s appearance have changed. Moreover, their thinking becomes more flexible in terms of understanding multiple layers of the same problem. Logic and objectivity also increase so that they are able to classify or group things in a logical way. (Cole, Cole, & Lightfoot, 1989)
Conservation – a term that Piaget used for the understanding that some properties of the object remain the same although their appearance might change. For example, if we will present a child with two identical glasses, filled with the same amount of liquid, then we will pour the liquid from one glass to the third one that is taller but narrower, concrete operational child will be able to understand that the amount of liquid has not changed although it appears to be