Vygotsky's Cognitive Development

Part A Some factors that influence young children’s cognitive development are the environmental community in which they are engaged in. According to Vygotsky, he believed children’s thinking is affected by their knowledge of the social community. Engaging students in social groups is another factor that influence’s a child’s cognitive development, and it shows value of learning skills . According to the text, Vygotsky stated “that in order to measure a child’s intellectual skills and their changes through the course of learning and development, he believed that experiments should be conducted” (Driscoll, 2005). Scaffolding is the process of support given to students during their learning process to help them achieve their goals. Using

It involves language, mental imagery, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and memory development. Jean Piaget stages of cognitive development are the sensorimotor period (birth to 2 years). Children at the sensorimotor stage becomes more goal-directed oriented with goal moving from concrete to abstract (Driscoll et al., 2005). Children at the preoperational period (2-7), engage in symbolic play and games, but has a difficult time seeing another person’s point of view (Driscoll et al., 2005). For example, teaching a preoperational child can provide opportunities to play with clay, water, or sand. Children at the concrete operational period (7-11), solves concrete problems in a logical fashion (Driscoll et al., 2005). For example, providing materials such as mind twisters, brain teasers, and riddles. The formal operational period (11-adulthood) is when student’s solve abstract problems and develop concerns for social issues (Driscoll et al., 2005). For example, making sure that tests that’s given has essay questions and asks a student to come up with other ways to answer the

For instruction to be meaningful and relevant, it must build upon a student’s prior knowledge. Using analogies will be a good way to relate the students current experience to their prior experience. According to the text, “Gagne’s theory of instruction indicates that teachers and designers must consider four components when they develop instruction”(Driscoll et al., 2005):
1. The learner
2. The learning task (including desired learning outcomes)
3. The learning environment (learning conditions and instructional methods)
4. The frame of reference (or the context in which learning is to occur) Teachers must be aware of who they are teaching during instruction. Getting to know a student’s background and culture will aid significantly when trying to identify why the students are disengaged. Some may not understand the instructions that are given and may require additional instructions. The teacher must also consider what curriculum is being taught, and what they want their students to gain from it. Math at this grade level becomes more complicated as students continue to progress to a higher grade