Hands-on and social learning approaches for cognitive development

¶ … learning? What role does behavior play in learning?

Learning is the acquisition of skills through behaviors. Behaviors help an individual learn through experiences, both favorable and unfavorable. Learning is a life long endeavor which is garnered in the beliefs and behaviors of the individual. The overall process takes time, as beliefs are often broken down, eliminated, and reborn through experience. Behaviors directly impact learning as they are correlated to experiences. Experiences therefore follow behaviors. For example, if an individual behaves in an inappropriate manner regarding his spending, he or she will experience debt. Through this experience the individual will "learn" to manage his or her money in a more appropriate manner.

What are two different types of learning? Describe each one in your response.

The two primary learning styles are that of hands on (kinesthetic) learning and visual learning. A hands on experiments allows the individual to develop in a manner that is both unique and adaptive. By providing an activity that has both a physical and cognitive component, the individual is better able to enhance their cognitive development (Kamii, 1985). Individuals should be able to see and touch the project at hand. A good example of this is a project that teaches density. Individuals will be given a glass of water and an egg. They will have to predict if the egg will float or not in order to determine which is denser.

Hands on Learning

By physically acting the experiment out, instead of just reading about it in a book, individuals will understand and process the information so that they retain it and learn from it. Individual already have knowledge of water and what happens to it when something is placed inside it. It is this prior knowledge that they will use to hypothesize for their new experiment. Teachers need to address their classes with old information first, and then the new. Once the information is relayed to them, they need to assign a group project for the individuals in order to get them involved. Teachers' instructional delivery needs to be creative and lively with little lecture and involving kinesthetic approaches.

Examples of Cognition and Learning

As society enters unfamiliar territory in regards to the technological revolution, they are using previously learned information to make sense of it. This assimilation is causing unrest, particularly within the job market of American civilization. Individuals are using previously learned skills, which are antiquated, and attempting to apply them to new technological jobs. What should be occurring however is accommodation, in which individuals are growing, and developing other schemas that can be used in the now technological world. This helps development as individuals have schemas in which to apply new information that will undoubtedly occur in the technological world. For instance technological advances are providing means for individuals to learn in a more effective manner at an earlier age. Technology allows different mediums to be used that ultimately allow learning to be conducted in a more seamless manner. As such, individuals can learn more at any age. Through the exposure of unique and differentiated schema, individuals are better able to learn. However, individuals must first learn to accommodate the new technological advances of science into their newly developed schema. Otherwise, these individuals would be assimilating by using old schemas to process new and otherwise helpful information. By using the old schema individuals may not learn about the new developments of education as it relates to their overall learning habits. The concept very helpful in regards to the theory of cognitive development as it relates to learning (Demetrious, 1998).

Younger individuals are now using assimilation rather than accommodation. The older individuals, were at one time, taking unfamiliar information and using previous knowledge. However, the younger individuals, due to technology, have now developed new schemas. They are now applying unfamiliar information in new and innovative ways. As a result, their overall learning has been altered for the better. They are more competitive in regards to early cognitive development because they are evolving new and unique schema. Through the use assimilation, individuals are aiding there overall cognitive development. Because this is occurring at an early age, individuals have more opportunity to learn even more schema that can directly be applied to a profession or a trade throughout their life. More important, these individuals can learn skills that will be important in the coming wave of technological innovations that are bound to shape the overall competitive landscape between nations. Through assimilation, individuals learning earlier within the lifespan development process will be better able to compete with their international counterparts. They can learn pivotal skills earlier, while learning skills relevant to the changing business landscape of the world, while still developing new schema in which to apply their newfound knowledge.

The theory of learning and cognition, as detailed above has very profound implications for society. The development of appropriate cognition applies throughout an individual's life. From birth, to adolescence, to adult hood, learning and acquiring schema is important. It allows an individual to see the world differently, while also adapting to its changing dynamic. This changing dynamic will call for unique cognitive skills. Through the use of both learning and cognition, these skills will be garnered at an earlier age. As such, new schema will be developed at an earlier age which translates directly into lifespan development. As individuals learn more at an earlier age, they will be able to acquire even more schema throughout the course of their younger years.

References:

1) Santrock. John Life-span development. Mc Graw Hill (12ed.) 2012

2) Demetriou, A. (1998). Cognitive development. In A. Demetriou, W. Doise, K.F.M. van Lieshout (Eds.), Life-span developmental psychology (pp. 179 -- 269). London: Wiley

3) Kamii, C. (1985). Young children reinvent arithmetic: Implications of Piaget's theory. New York: Teachers College Press