Cognitive Theories

Cognitive Theories

Upon graduation of high school, I decided that attending college was just not for

me. I had a friend that was working at a child development center and they were hiring

someone for their infant and toddler room. I have always loved working with children,

and was given the ultimatum by my parent’s to either: stay in school or start working full

time. I chose the latter. Landing the job of being an assistant teacher was what started

my interest in child development. To further my knowledge in child education, I

remember reading about Paiget’s theory as well as Vygotsky’s theory.

I spent four years working with children of all ages, but mainly working with

toddlers two years to three years of age. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

struck me as most interesting because the foundation of his theory is how children

learn. “The legacy of Jean Piaget to the world of early childhood education is that he

fundamentally altered the view of how a child learns. Piaget concluded that children who

are allowed to make mistakes often go on to discover their errors and correct them, or

find new solutions. In this process, children build their own way of learning.”

(Anonymous, 2001) Taking what I knew back then, when I would try to teach my

classroom something new, we would all get a hands on experience, and if someone got

a wrong answer, I would encourage them to keep trying to figure out the correct answer.

I do the same with my own daughter who is two and a half years old. She loves to do

puzzles, but can sometimes get frustrated if a piece doesn’t fit. I encourage her to keep

trying and let her know it’s okay if it doesn’t fit on the first try. From this encouragement,

I have seen children find the same answer, but come to that same answer in many

different ways.

COGNITIVE THEORIES

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Piaget’s theory consists of four stages. They include the sensorimotor stage:

birth to two years of age, preoperational stage: two to seven years of age, concrete...