Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Abstract This paper explores two fundamental theories that are considered to be worthy guides and reference points in different discourses of early childhood cognitive development and education. Scientists and scholars world over hold the principles established in the two theories in high esteem. However, the theories, though explicably analyzed the behaviors and learning abilities at each developmental stage of early childhood, but have divergent opinions on how those behaviors early are formed. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) theory basically attributed a child development and learning process to self-discovery and natural abilities.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) on the other hand, believed a child’s learning abilities and mental development are facilitated by his immediate socio-cultural environment. This paper focuses more on early childhood as presented in the preoperational stage of Piaget's theory’s, and the information processing, language development and individual differences in mental development as established in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. Keywords: early childhood, cognitive development stages, preoperational, psychology, socio-cultural. Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Introduction Early childhood is one of the most important stages of human development.

It is the period which all components of human nature and abilities are formed, and, therefore, has a direct influence on personality formation. The intricacies of this crucial stage of human development have been a major interest to scientists and psychologists in different fields of human studies. There have been many studies conducted to help proffer clear understanding of children’s cognitive development.

Some of the most prominent amongst the theories in this regard are by the two psychologists whose findings have been center of reference in academic discourses regarding early childhood cognitive development. The two renowned psychologists are Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Jean Piaget Cognitive Development Theory According to Piaget theory, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations are the four universal and consecutive stages through which a child’s cognitive development is formed from infant to young adult stage.

By universal, Piaget believed that this concept is the same everywhere and works the same way in every child. Sensorimotor developmental stage is between the ages zero to two. Piaget called this stage sensorimotor because it is the stage of infancy which a child “uses senses and motor abilities to understand the world” (Boeree 1999). An infant’s sensorimotor phase can be categorized into four sub-stages which are: primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions, and mental representation.

A child’s first to the fourth month is the first phase of reaction whereby his activities are limited to the abilities and skills he was born with. By default, infants suck, look, grasp, listen and perform other tasks which they are capable of at this stage. As such, if they try any of these, for instance, and derive pleasure in it, they continually develop these set of reactions as their regular activities.

During secondary circular reactions sub-stage, however, which is from fourth to the eighth month, an infant moves from those activities limited to their bodies to engage in actions that involve other things around them. For instance, at this sub-stage, they take pleasure in repeatedly clinging on to toys, clothes, and other items they can lay their hands on. The secondary circular reactions usually span through the 12th month, which is sometimes, referred to as coordinating secondary scheme.

At this phase, they have the ability to “remember [things], and may even try to find things they can no longer see” (Boeree 1999). During tertiary circular reaction and mental representation stages of infancy (12th to 24th month), a child now makes a more interesting practice of all the acquired skills from the first and second sub-stages of sensorimotor. At this stage, they have developed the ability to solve simple tasks when playing with their toys and peers.

Preoperational stage is what immediately precedes the sensorimotor stage in human development. A child’s preoperational stage according to Piaget’s theory is between age two to seven. At this stage, a child’s traits are more of “an increase in language ability (with over-generalizations), symbolic thought, egocentric perspective, and limited logic” (Ojose 2008). This is one of the most crucial developmental stages of life. The key elements of the preoperational stage include centration, egocentrism, symbolic representation and pretence and animism (McLeod 2018).

The attributes of this stage and characteristics shown by children within the age bracket have been the core of principles guiding early childhood education and cognition. It is believed to be the stage of life where personalities are formed. At the preoperational stage, though, the child has developed advanced abilities compared to the sensorimotor stage, however, he is still limited in logic and affected by centration.

His low level of logic can make him less rational in thinking and acting and be responsible for: connecting together unrelated events, viewing of objects as possessing life, and inability to understand other people's point-of-view, and being unable to reverse [arithmetic] operations (Ojose 2008). Centration, as established in Piaget’s theory, is the “tendency to focus on only one aspect of a situation at one time” (McLeod 2008).

It is the major characteristic of preoperational developmental stage that is mostly responsible for a child’s low level in logic and restriction to task-solving skills. Centration is highly exhibited at this stage in both social and non-social contexts.

For example, (Boeree 1999), explained that a child within this age bracket might find it difficult making sense of a simple statement such as “Your father is my husband.” While he might have the understanding of what father and husband means if discussed separately, connecting the two in the same statement might be out of his mental capability. In addition to the features discussed above, egocentrism at the preoperational stage is usually shown in children’s communications.

This characteristic is dominant in their thinking and verbalization and thereby restricts them from seeing things from another person’s perspective. According to Piaget, a child at this stage is of the assumption that everyone around him feels, hears and sees things just exactly the same way he does. Also, at the preoperational stage, play is another feature amongst a child’s regular activities.

Although, a child can be seen playing in the same settings as other children, however, the egocentric attribute is still dominantly reflected even while in the same room with others. They show individualism by engaging in parallel play as they “play next to others rather than with them” (Mcleod 2008). The verbalization at this stage is not for communication but simply to externalize their thinking. Preoperational phase is also a stage characterized by what Piaget called the inability to conserve liquid volume.

For example, if a child within this age bracket is given the choice to pick between two glasses of juice (smaller volume one in a thin tall glass and more plenty one in a fat glass), he will most likely pick the one in tall thin glass. The level of the juice which will be higher in a thin glass will make the child believe it has more juice than the fat glass. Animism is another feature of preoperational developmental stage in childhood.

It is the belief that inanimate objects have consciousness and the ability to perform the same tasks as living things. Children exhibit animism in their view of objects around them. For example, a child might be seen talking to his doll, getting angry at the floor because he fell on it, or believing “that the stars twinkle in the sky because they are happy” (“Piaget’s Theory of”). In addition, artificialism is another element of the preoperational stage.

It is the belief “that the environmental characteristics can be attributed to human actions or interventions” (“Piaget’s Theory of”). For example, a child at this stage may say the rain is falling because someone is pouring water outside. Piaget in his theory established that these critical features that form a child’s preoperational stage are the factors responsible for their limited mental capabilities. Therefore, their comprehension cannot go beyond these mental limitations.

The preoperational stage of a child’s developmental stage often shapes other stages like concrete and formal operations which are from age 7 to 11 and 11 to adulthood respectively. However, a child’s cognitive development cannot be fully understood from just the perspective of inbuilt tendency as presented by Piaget. The study must also be balanced with environmental factors which also play significant roles in a child’s growth.

To this end, a worthy consideration is usually given to Vygotsky’s theory to broaden the scope of studies in early childhood development. Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development is based on three major components which are culture, language and Zone Proximal Development. Lev Vygotsky Cognitive Development Theory While Piaget’s theory is largely based on self-discovery, Vygotsky's, on the other hand, focuses more on the socio-cultural aspect of human life.

The theory explicates more on the influence of the environment in which a child grows in and learns from. For Vygotsky, social interaction within family and community settings is the primary means of a child’s habit formation. Through what he referred to as "dialogues," human beings learn the civic values of their society from social interactions and communications held with other members of the society. Vygotsky believed that a child’s initial development is stimulated by this immediate socialization.

However, as the child gets to internalize learning from his social environment, there will be a shift to individual level (Williams 2018). The theory explained that a child’s development can only be understood from cultural perspectives as that is the only settings within which human activities take place. A child’s learning and development process, according to Vygotsky, is on two different stages: first, social plane and then, psychological plane (Shabani, Mohammad and Ebadi 2010).

A child’s society will continue to influence his cognitive development as he participates more in activities with others in his social and learning environment. Children are likened to “apprentices who [learn] from and alongside those with greater experience who understand their abilities and needs.” This concept is what Vygotsky called Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

Unlike Piaget’s theory which asserts that a child only learns when he is ready according to his mental ability at a given time, Vygotsky, however, emphasized that learning from people with a higher skill set will facilitate cognitive development. ZPD is a worthy component of early childhood care which help a child develop cognitive skills independently by participating in activities within his environment.

For example, in a preschool setting, Vygotsky laid emphasis on the use of proximal development as he believed children will not develop to their full potentials if left alone to discover themselves based only on their natural abilities. Another important feature of Vygotsky’s theory is the scaffolding approach to a child’s cognitive development. Scaffolding is one of the ways through which Vygotsky expressed the importance of the social environment to a child’s cognitive growth.

It states that a child develops and learns faster when supported with clues or hints needed for task-solving. The scaffolding approach has been a major instructional method in early childhood learning environments for many decades and is considered to be one of the most efficient approaches to a child’s cognitive development.

Contrary to Piaget’s theory which believes that many inabilities at the childhood developmental stage will prevent a child from solving some tasks, Vygotsky, on the other hand, believed that with encouragement, support and other strategies in scaffolding approach will help the child will achieve learning objectives faster. Vygotsky's theory, just like Piaget’s also covered the aspect of language as part of early childhood cognitive development. For Vygotsky, self-talk or private speech usually exhibited by children at their developmental stage is part of.