Learning Log: Cognitive Development

What?
Physical development is primary to cognitive development. Children's brain increase in gray matter mass as they learn, and then decreases as they begin to prune neurons. Children of exceptional intelligence develop the mass of their gray matter more slowly, and then prune more extensively.
The environment and how a child interacts with their environment is key in brain development and learning. Jean Piaget was very interested in child/environment interaction.

Piaget's stages of development are:
1.Sensorimotor State (ages 0-2)
2. Preoperational (2-7)
3. Concrete Operational (7-11)
4. Formal Operational (12+)

Although Piaget was pretty accurate about the order of development, he was not correct on the ages. Children of many different ages may vary in which stage they are currently in, and of course what they are developmentally capable of.
Piaget's schema is a way of thinking, ideas, thoughts, concepts, or categories that we store information in our brains. This is personalized by how each of us think differently.
Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development vary from piaget's. He characterizes the adult-child relationship to be integral to cognitive development. He places great value on cognitive apprenticeship, where an adult is assisting an child to think like an adult.
Vygotsky also believes that no knowledge is original or produced soley in our minds, but is generated through our environment and experiences we have outside of ourselves.

So What?

Understanding how children's brains develop allows us to tailor how we teach them. If we understand what stages they are in and how capable they are of certain thought processes, we will be able to understand why some things frustrate them or make them lose interest. These kind of behaviors may occur simply because they are not developmentally even capable of correctly processing certain types of information or thought processes.
It also shows us how important it is to allow many different levels of experiences for students, knowing that they will not all be in the same level of cognitive development. Providing a variety of different levels increases your realm of effectiveness.

Now What?

Now that I better understand how much of this affects my future teaching, it makes me realize how important it is to not just lecture all of the time. I have always connected well with predictability, and have done well in classes that consistantly lecture where I can take notes. However, I understand that the majority of my students will not be that way. They will need a variety of activities using different thought processes in order to absorb the information effectively. I do believe that as as high school teacher, I do need to help prepare my students for the college environment, and so I do plan in integrating a college-like structure to my classroom. However, I do see through the lens of Piaget and Vygotsky, it is important to also stretch their minds and make more connections through disequilibrium.