Young children discover the world like little scientists: discovering, testing hypotheses, and creating little experiments. Through exploring and discovery, children make their way through several stages of cognitive development.
- What are the cognitive development milestones in childhood?
- What are the benefits of cognitive development in childhood?
- How can adults promote cognitive development in children?
- What are some examples of cognitive development in childhood?
- What are some characteristics of atypical cognitive development in childhood?
Cognitive Development Milestones in Childhood
Jean Piaget developed stages of cognitive development by observing children while they solved problems. He noticed that children's thinking abilities are very different from adults, and they change in specific ways as the child grows.
Read more about Piaget's stages of cognitive development here!
Stages of Development According to Piaget
The three stages that occur during childhood are the sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, and concrete operational stage.
Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)
Children in this stage understand and explore their world through sensory and motor activities. This is why babies put toys and objects in their mouths. Babies, especially newborns, also rely heavily on their reflexes. Reflexes help them know when they need to eat or sleep, and their reflexes control motor skills like turning their head and sucking. Babies younger than six months old lack object permanence.
Fig. 1 Sensory discovery, pixabay.com
Object permanence is the awareness that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be perceived (seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted).
Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
Children in this stage learn to use language, which allows them to explore more about the world and relationships. They are able to use images, words, and gestures to represent objects and experiences through pretend play.
Children in this stage tend to focus on only one aspect of a situation. Their logical thinking abilities are not yet fully formed. If someone pours the same amount of liquid into a tall glass and a short glass, children in the preoperational stage will think there is more liquid in the tall glass because it looks bigger. They lack the ability to understand conservation.
Conservation is the idea that quantity remains the same even if the object changes form.
Fig. 2 Preschool children, pixabay.com
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
Children in this stage develop the ability to perform complex math problems. They also develop decentration or the ability to consider more than one attribute of an object. With these new operational skills, children begin to reason more logically. They are not yet able to think in hypothetical, abstract ways. Abstract thinking skills develop in the formal operational stage from age 12 to adulthood.
Benefits and Importance of Cognitive Development in Childhood
Understanding cognitive development in childhood is especially beneficial to teachers and parents. Every child's cognitive development is different. Rather than viewing children as bottomless receptacles for knowledge, adults should tailor lessons to the child's cognitive abilities and build on what the child already knows.
Cognitive development in childhood can affect development later in life and throughout adulthood. Children with positive cognitive development may have more occupational opportunities in the future. Additionally, cognitive development can affect a child's social development. Being able to read emotional cues or having strong language skills can help a child connect more with their peers.
How to Promote Cognitive Development in Childhood
Several activities can help promote cognitive development in childhood. Physical activity can help promote cognitive development such as motor skills in children. Going to the park, playing at recess, and reducing time in front of a screen are great ways to work physical activity into a child's routine. Other activities can promote cognitive development as well, such as:
Children can benefit from interacting and socializing with adults. The gap between what a child can do independently and with the assistance of an adult or peer is called the zone of proximal development. Adults can assist children in moving forward in their cognitive development by providing just enough help until the child can do something on their own. Scaffolding or tailoring temporary support to match a child's current skill level is also important.
Fig. 3 Mother helping daughter, pikwizard.com
Examples of Cognitive Development in Childhood
While every child is different, there are several common examples of cognitive development in childhood. Take the marshmallow test, for example. In this study, researchers placed children in a room with a single marshmallow and told them they could have a second marshmallow if they could wait just 15 minutes. Many children, especially younger ones, would last only a few minutes before eating the marshmallow. However, some had enough self-control to wait 15 minutes to reap the reward of a second marshmallow. These children understood the concept of delayed gratification.
Delayed gratification is the ability to resist an impulsive and immediate reward in order to reap the benefit of a more valuable reward in the future.
Delayed gratification is linked to a higher chance of future success and strongly correlates with good academic performance.
Another example of cognitive development in childhood is the third eye experiment. Here, researchers asked children to draw where they would place the third eye. Most 9-year-olds who were concrete operators would choose to place the third eye on the forehead between the other two eyes. On the other hand, 12-year-olds forming formal operational thinking would find more creative and inventive places to draw the third eye.
Theory of Mind
A child's theory of mind develops as the child grows. Young children are egocentric -- unable to understand someone else's perspective. As children grow, they are able to sense the mental and emotional state of others. This type of cognitive development is called the theory of mind.
Even infants as young as seven months old begin to develop some awareness of another person's feelings. Children can recognize what made a friend angry or how to get a sibling to share. They are able to use their awareness of another person's feelings to make decisions. This is how they begin to develop empathy and persuasion skills.
By around age four, children are able to recognize when others hold false beliefs. Jenkins and Astington (1996) showed 3-year-old children a band-aids box filled with pencils. The children were surprised to see that band-aids were not in the box. When researchers asked what others would think was inside the box, the most common answer was "pencils". When they showed the same box to 4- and 5-year-old children, the answer was different - the children said that other people would think that band-aids were in the box.
Atypical Cognitive Development in Childhood
A toddler learning to walk is very clumsy, and a 2-year-old's attention span is pretty short. These behaviors are expected based on what we know about cognitive development in childhood. Even though every child develops at their own pace, some children experience significant delays or struggles in cognitive development.
A 3-year-old will probably have trouble focusing on a task for more than 5 minutes. If the same is true for a 10-year-old, we may suspect that their cognitive development is atypical. Signs of atypical cognitive development in early childhood may be the result of several disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or down syndrome.
Delayed language skills or motor skills can be signs of a child not meeting the expected gains for their age. You may notice that children with ASD show obsessive behavior, do not make eye contact, and become upset when their routine is disrupted. Children with ADHD may talk excessively, have a hard time sitting still, act impulsively or without thinking, or constantly fidget.
Cognitive Development in Childhood - Key takeaways
Jean Piaget developed stages of cognitive development by observing children while they solved problems.
The three stages that occur during childhood are the sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, and concrete operational stage.
Children in the sensorimotor stage understand and explore their world through sensory and motor activities and develop an understanding of object permanence.
Children in the preoperational stage learn to use language and understand conservation, which allows them to explore more about the world and relationships.
Children in the concrete operational stage develop the ability to perform complex math problems and to understand decentration.
The Theory of Mind is a child's ability to sense the mental and emotional state of others.
Signs of atypical cognitive development in childhood can be the result of autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or down syndrome.
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