Cognitive and Intellectual Development Activities

Piaget's Four Stages of Cognitive Development Theory 

Jean Piaget suggested that children's cognitive development involves four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages. Piaget's theory's application by teachers helps child development, especially in atypical development (Haywood, 2020) .

Definition

The sensorimotor stage comprises children from birth to the age of 2 years. Children in sensorimotor understand their surroundings by movements, looking, listening, grasp, sucking, and sensing.

Activity

Children learn to play with toys of different textures and shapes.

Strategies for atypical development

Play with toys repeatedly, representing some everyday objects and shapes to understand particular conditions and items, especially for children with atypical development.

Definition

The preoperational stage includes children between the ages of 2 to 7 years. Children at this stage understand and see things from the perspective of other humans. Children start to learn how to use pictures and words to represent something or objects. 

Activity

Use shapes, sounds, and illustrations of the actual objects.

Strategies for atypical development

Playing with shapes and make illustrations such as mimicry animal sounds or use hands as airplane wings for the delayed child to understand everyday objects.

Definition

The concrete operational stage includes between the ages of 7 to 11 years. Children develop logical thinking of concrete actions and relate their reasoning to general principles. They start thinking and feeling like other people. Children's thoughts and thinking becomes unique and not like other people's thinking or feeling. 

Activity

Children to engage in building objects with blocks or puzzle pieces.

Strategies for atypical development

Engage children in building a particular object such as a house. Also, use word puzzles for students to match correctly in the respective order. The building and use of puzzles help children improve conservation skills, especially those with delayed logical thinking development.

Definition

The formal stage comprises individuals in the age of 12 years and above. The stage involves teenagers in the adolescent stage. Many individuals start to think about specific information. Many teens' thinking focuses on the moral, ethical, political, social, and philosophical perspectives that comprise theory and abstract thinking.

Activity

Learning complex calculations such as algebra. Educate children on the essence of abstract thinking, such as have freedom of speech, have friends and learn morals.

Strategies for atypical development

To enable subsequent development, a teacher can group students to interact, form friendships, and develop intricate knowledge to solve technical calculations. Also, groups help individuals with delayed development to catch up with other students through consulting their friends. Group discussions allow cognitive development due to easier interaction between students, unlike students listening to adults.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

The social-cultural theory was developed by Vygotsky, who believed that culture and social interactions contributed significantly to human development. The way people interact with others and the societal culture is a learning process, which shaped their mental capabilities. The theory focuses on behavioral changes in individuals from infancy to adulthood. 

Definition

 Vygotsky believed that social interactions are significant in the learning process. Social activity lays the foundations of what a child will think or do in certain situations. The child actively acquires problem-solving and cognitive skills through adult's assistance.

Activity

Learning in this stage can be accessed through guided participation or internationalization. Learning awakens a child's developmental process internally, which they use to interact with peers.

Strategies for atypical development

Strategies that aid in meeting the learner's needs include, Mentoring, Observational /Assessment, Use words and simples in a particular culture and Encouraging language use.

Definition

Vygotsky describes ZPD as the distance between real development and potential growth. It's usually determined through problem-solving when with people or under guidance by an older person.

Activity

Activities to assess learning at this stage include Assessing learners to determine the current skills and then providing instruction beyond learners' limits (Shabani, 2016).

Strategies for atypical development

Strategies that help meet learning needs include Using hints and prompts or teaching directly as guidance or scaffolding. Study groups and individually guided activities in quality instructions .

Definition

According to Vygotsky, it can be described as a language based on the learning process. The language provides an understanding. It is a gradual process through which children undergo. For instance, at age three, children develop private speech, which transforms into inner speech at age 7. Language is affected by social interactions, which impacts a child's future.

Activity

Learning at this stage can be analyzed through children writing down ideas or reading out words aloud.

Strategies for atypical development

Strategies that can help students meet their needs include linguistic supports and cognitive or forming an academic monologue.

Reflection

Jean Piaget's theory best matches the development strategies in the classroom for students with atypical development. Piaget's theory comprises of four stages, with each step consisting of common characteristics for normal development. Piaget's approach can help a teacher assess a student's development by analyzing the development characteristics and their age relations. Student's that experience challenges through their critical development are identified quickly. A teacher can determine what factors lead to the student's slow learning (Arsalidou & Im-Bolter, 2017). Some students' delayed developments occur due to environmental changes, a new language, and different learning styles.

A teacher introduces new strategies to a student's learning development, especially those experiencing atypical development. For example, a teacher can identify a student's strength in the school's curriculum by assessing each subject's student. A teacher quickly identifies a student's strengths through repetitive tests, either proficient in grammar or weakness in a particular topic. Hence, the teacher deploys strategies to improve students' cognitive ability in challenging subjects for the student by doing homework daily to enhance learning skills. A teacher can use illustrations to allow a student to understand the instructions' real requirements. For example, the use of other classmates and teachers' to demonstrate particular learning. Teachers need to understand each student and find effective ways to assess them while dealing with emergencies and learning. A student who still has a fear of the surrounding needs a polite tone while addressing them. Additionally, teachers need to arrange students in groups to allow students with normal cognitive development to teach those with atypical development.

Arsalidou, M., & Im-Bolter, N. (2017). Why parametric measures are critical for understanding typical and atypical cognitive development.  Brain Imaging and Behavior ,  11 (4), 1214-1224.

Haywood, H. C. (2020). Cognitive early education. In  Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education .

Shabani, K. (2016). Applications of Vygotsky's sociocultural approach for teachers' professional development.  Cogent education ,  3 (1), 1252177.