Reflection Paper On Cognitive Development

Learning can’t always just be in the classroom and from my observation at the Childhood Development Center I got to learn from real life observation. In the weeks prior to my observation I learned about the cognitive, language, physical, and lastly social and emotional development of children from birth to adolescence through lecture and readings. However I also got to see these parts of development in a preschool setting of children ranging from 3 to 5 years old at the Montana State University’s Childhood Development Center. In going to the observation booth I saw how children were developing and also how they worked socially with others. Some children were in groups or with a teachers and others were just by themselves however each showed me something about their development. QUESTION 1 - Cognitive Development

When I first got to the observation booth they were split into two groups by age and they each had different teachers. The younger children were with their teacher and the teacher was reading a book. The other group was a bit older and they were learning about pumpkins and the different parts that make up a pumpkin. I started watching the group that was learning about the pumpkins, and I noticed that the children weren’t focusing on the teacher. Many of the children were mobile and not watching or listening to what the teacher was saying. However when the teacher said that the pumpkin had ribs, child 1 then spoke and pointed out that he has ribs. This shows his cognitive development in the way of assimilation (Crowley et al., 2014, Page 52). Child 1 knew that he has ribs in his body but he was learning about the ribs on pumpkins. Child 1 knew about his ribs and thought of those in a way of understanding the