COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF

THE PRESCHOOLER

“There are children playing in the street who

could solve some of my top problems in physics,
because they have modes of sensory perception
that I lost long ago’’

-J. Robert Oppenhelmer

 ABSTRACTION
PRESCHOOLER’S SYMBOLIC AND INTUITIVE
THINKING

*there are two substages of piaget’s preoperational

thought,
*SYMBOLIC STAGES
*INTUITIVE STAGES
 SYMBOLIC STAGES-preschool children show
progress in their cognitive abilities by being able
to draw objects that are not present, by their
dramatic increase in their language and
makebelieve play.
 INTUITIVE STAGES-preschool begin to use
primitive reasoning and ask litany questions.
The development in their language ability
facilitates their endless asking questions.
PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 2. PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGES
the preoperational stages covers from about 27
years old, roughly corresponding to the
preschool years. Intelligence at this stage is
intuitive in nature.
 DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS
1.SYMBOLIC FUNCTION-This is the ability to represent
objects and events. A symbol is a thing that represent
something else.
2.EGOCENTRISM-This is the tendency of the preschooler
to only see his point of view and to assume that everyone
also has his point of view.
3.CENTRATION-This refers to the tendency of the
preschooler to only focus on one aspects. this is also refers
to as UNIDIMENSIONAL THOUGHT.
4.IRREVERSIBILITY-Preschool children still have the
inability to reverse their thinking. They can understand that
the juice in each glass can be poured back into the juice box
from which it came.
5.ANIMISM-This is the tendency of the preschooler to
attribute human like traits or characteristics to inanimate
objects.
6.TRANSDUCTIVE REASONING- This refers to
the preoperational children type of reasoning that is
neither inductive nor deductive reasoning appears to be
from particular to particular.
BRAIN CONNECTIONS IN THE
PRESCHOOL YEARS
 Because of fascinating developments in
neuroscience, brain development of young have
been of great interest to the field of early childhood.
brain research findings point us to more effective
ways to care for and teach preschooler from science
lessons you had in high school or even in elementary.
remember that our brain is composed of numerous
cells called NEURONS that connect to each other
function. Cell connections are what we call
SYANPSES, sometimes also referred to as
SYNAPSTIC CONNECTIONS.
DID YOU KNOW THAT?????

 The human brain contains some 50 billion

neurons at birth?
 by age of 2, children have developed half of
the brain cell connections that will be made
during one’s lifetime?
 around 6 years of age the brain develops for
more sophisticated thinking patterns?
 all these are facts point to the numerous
potential that the preschooler’s brain has. The
child’s billion cells have the ability to make
almost countless connections that prepare the
child for intricate path-ways to learn language,
acquired logical- mathematics skills, interact
with people, grow in his feelings and emotions,
and even express himself in art. As such, a
preschool teacher would often observe how a
child now has transformed from a dependent
toddler into proud and independent preschooler
who can now eat more neatly, enjoy, “reading ‘’ a
book.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

 Young children’s understanding sometimes

gets a head of their speech. As children go
through early childhood, their grasp of the
rules of language increases (morphology,
semantics, pragmatics and phonology)
 symbolic thinking involves language, literacy,
and dramatic play. Children rapidly conclude
that sounds link together to make words and
words represent ideas, people, and things.
THE 4 MAIN AREAS OF LANGUAGE
1. PHONOLOGY-Study of speech and sounds.
2.SEMANTICS-Studyof word meaning and word
combination.
3.SYNTAX-The study of sentence constructions.
4.PRAGMATICS-The study of conversation or
social uses of language.
FAST MAPPING
As they advance in age and as they
continuously interact with people, preschool
children expand rapidly in their vocabulary
through FAST MAPPING, a process by which a
children absorb the meaning of a new word after
hearing it once or twice in conversation.
Preschool children combine syllables into words
and words into sentences in an increasingly
sophisticated manner.
 VYGOTSKY’S SOCIO-CULTURAL
THEORY
LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
 Vygotsky believed that young children use
language both to communicate socially and to
plan, guide, and monitor their behavior in a self-
regulatory fashioncalled INNER SPEECH or
PRIVATE SPEECH.
 PRIVATE SPEECH- is a form of self talk that
guides the child’s thinking and action.
 for piaget, private speech is egocentrism and
immature, but vygotsky it is the important tool
of thought during early childhood.

ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

Vygotsky introduced the term ZONE OF
PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT(ZPD), To refer to tasks too
difficult for a child to master alone but can be mastered
with the guidance and assistance of adults or more
skilled children.
*SCAFFOLDING- A term that refers to the “changing
support over a the course of teaching session, with the
more skilled person adjusting guidance to fit the child’s
current performance
level”. The more skilled person is also called MORE
KNOWLEDGEABLE OTHER(MKO).
INFORMATION PROCESSING
THEORY-ATTENTION AND MEMORY
 The information processing model is another
way of examining and understanding how
children develop cognitively. This model
conceptualizes children’s mental processes
through the metaphor of a computer
processing, encoding, storing, and decoding
of data.
 *Short-Term memory(STM)

 *Long-Term memory(LTM)
 Short-Term memory(STM)- retain
information for up to 15-30 seconds,
assuming there is no rehearsal, which can
help keep information in STM for a much
longer period.
 Long-Term memory(LTM)- involves storing
information about the sequence of events
during familiar situations as “ scripts”. Scripts
 help children to understand interpret, and
predict what will happen in future scenarios.

THE YOUNG CHILDREN’S THEORY

OF MIND
 Theory of mind- refers to individuals thought
about how mental processes works.
 cognitive terms such as know, remember, and
think usually appear after perceptual and
emotional terms, but are used by age 3.
 the ability to remember and solve problems
improve, children start to reflect on their own
thought processes. They begin to construct a
theory of mind or a set of ideas about mental
activities.
 It includes awareness of ones own thought
processes, social cognition, understanding that
people can hold false beliefs, ability to deceive ,
ability to distinguish appearance from reality
and from fantasy.
 Various speculations and research
findings suggest that a social
experience is very important. Social
experience includes;
 *early forms of communication
 *imitation
 *make-believe play
 *language
 *social interaction
A QUICK LOOK AT WHAT A
PRESCHOOLERS CAN DO

Below are the list of preschoolers

cognitive skills lifted from the Philippine
Early Learning and Development
Standards(PELDS)
*Receptive language
*Domain: Cognitive Development
*Memory: episodic memory
RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE
STANDARD 1. the child is able to understand both
verbal and non-verbal forms of communication.
31-36 months: 3-4years old.
*speaks in a simple sentences.
*talks about an event and is understood.
37-48 months
*uses some prepositions
*uses plurals
*uses past tense
*uses newly learned words appropriately on sentences
*uses newly learned words appropriately when in group
conversations.
49-60 months-4-5 years old
*draws and tells a story about his drawing.
PRE-READING AND PRE MATH(MATCHING)
STANDARDS 1.1 The child is able to match
identical objects, colors, shapes, symbols. 31-
36 months:2-1/2 to 3 years old
*matches identical objects with 2 attributes(
e.g…color & shape)
*matches identical upper case letters
*matches identical lower case letters. 37-
48 months: 3-4 years old
*copies simple patterns with 2 or more
attributes(e.g, color, shape, sequence) and
continues this without guidance.
*recognizes familiar logos (e.g, McDonald’s, Coke,
etc.)
*recognizes signs (e.g, male & female
restrooms: stop and go; danger/poison, etc)
*matches identical 2-to-4 letter words
*matches identical single-digit numbers
*matches identical 2-digit numbers
PRE-READING AND PRE-MATH( Copying letters
and numbers)
STANDARDS 1.2: The child is able to recite the
alphabet and numbers in sequence.
37-48 months: 3-4 years old
*prints upper-case letters with some reversals
46-60 months: 4-5 years old
*prints complete name without model
Model with no reversal.
*prints upper case letters a model with no reversal.
*prints lower case letters a model with some
reversals.
*prints number 1-5 with a model with some
reversals
61-67 months: 5-6 years old
*prints upper case letters without a model and with
no reversals.
*prints lower case letters without a model and with
no reversal
*prints numbers 1-5 without a model and with no
reversals.
DOMAIN:COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTS
ATTENTION AND ACTIVITY
STANDARDS 1. The child is able to sustain
attention and modulate his activity at age-
expected levels.
31-36 months:2-1/2 to 3 years old
*completes simple task without prodding.
37-48 months: 3-4 years old
*may be distracted but re-focuses on her/his
own.
*remains settled while leafing through a
picture book for 5 minutes.
*remains settled while listening to a story using
picture books for 5 minutes.
*sustains attention and concentration on a
tabletop activity for 10 minutes.
*can work on a school assignment with a minimal
supervision.
49-60 months: 4-5 years old
*sustains attention and concentration on a
tabletop activity for 15-20 minutes.
*can work on a school assignment with minimal
supervision.
61-70 months: 5-6 years old
*can work on a school assignment independently.
HIGHER- ORDERED MENTAL
ABILITIES(CONCEPT FORMATION)
STANDARDS 1.T he child develops basic concepts
pertaining to object constancy, space, time,
quantity, seriation, etc. and uses these as the basis
for understanding how materials are categorized in
his/her environment.
31-36 months: 2-1/2 to 3 years old
*knows the difference between a recent event
and one that happened a long time ago. *counts
with one-to- one correspondence.
*understands the concept of number-quantity
relations from 1 through 5(e.g, hands over 5 objects
when asked)
*groups objects by shapes.
*arranges objects by length.
*arranges objects according to size
*can tell in what way 2 things are the same.
*can tell in what way 2 things are different.
37-48 months: 4-5 years old
*can tell which is prettier/nicer of 2 items based on
his/her criteria.
*groups pictured objects according to category
*can tell which is left and right on him/herself.
*understands “more” and “ less”
*understands the concept of conversation of
matter at a rudimentary level.
49-60 months: 4-5 years old
*can tell which is the left and right of people
facing him/her.
*knows the difference between yesterday,
today, and tomorrow.
*understands the concept of number-quantity
relations for 1-10.
*demonstrates concept of addition using
fingers and objects.
*demonstrates concept of subtraction using
fingers or objects.
HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL
ABILITIES(CAUSE AND EFFECT
RELATIONSHIPS)
STANDARDS 1.The child is be able to
understand the cause-effect relationships. 31-
36 months: 2-1/2 to 3 years old
*can complete a simple pattern(e.g, beads,
pictures, shapes) with occasional guidance.
37-48 months : 3-4 years old
*understands reasons behind rules and
practices in the community, like those
pertaining to sanitation, environment
preservation, etc.
MEMORY:(EPISODIC MEMORY)
STANDARDS 1. The child is able to recall
people he has met, events, and places he has
been to.
31-36 months: 2-1/2to 3 years old
*talks about things that happened during a
particular event that occurred some time back.
MEMORY:(MEMORY FOR CONCEPT-BASED
KNOWLEDGE-SEMANTIC MEMORY)
STANDARDS 1.The child is able to store verbal
information in short and long term memory.
37-48 months: 3-4 years old
*repeats 5-to-7 word sentences correctly
*memorize the lyrics of a short song
*memorizes a short rhymes
*remember the gist and many details of short
stories told or read. 49-60 months: 4-5 years
old
*can recite the days of the week with some errors
*remember lesson learned in school after several
days have passed.
61-71 months: 5-6 years old
*can recite the days of the week with no errors
*can recite the months of the year with some
errors.

WRITING:
IRREVERSIBILITY
SYMBOLIC FUCTION:
 READING:
chc
 CHILD AND ADOLESCENT
DEVELOPMENT

Topic: Cognitive Development of Preschoolers

 PREPARED BY:
Maevell P. Garcia