MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered

Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

CHAPTER
2 Cognitive
Developmen
LEARNIN G OUTCOMES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1.Describe what is meant by development from the psychological perspective; Describe the concept
Explain the language development from infancy to adolescence; and Identify the biological and en
2.

3.

4.

5.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

INTRODUCTION
‘Development’ is one of the famil-
iar concepts that synonyms with the
element of ‘change’. Development
involves movement from one state
to another. As a result, an interest
in development leads one to a
concern for transitions. These
changes are also understood to have
a permanent or lasting impact, or at
least having some degree of ‘carry-
forward’.

According to Papalia, Olds and Feldman;

“The term development refers to the process of change and stability that occ
(Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2007).

Changes and stability according to Papalia, Olds and Feldman occur in 3 related dimensions.
The 3 related dimensions are physical, psychosocial, and cognitive as explained in figure 2.1.

Physical development includes the growth of the

body and brain, sensory capacity, motor skills,
and health.
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Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

Psychosocial development refers to the changes and

stability in emotions, personality, and social relationship.

Figure 2.1: Change and stability in human development

As you will learn in this chapter, cognitive developmental theories provide important
Cognitive
information about the nature of people’s development
thought referhow
processes and to the
theychanges and to
are likely
stability in
change with age. We begin the discussion withmental abilities,
the ideas of 2 such as learning,
prominent cognitive
attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning,
developmen- tal theorists, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Next, we will evaluate their main
and creativity.
contributions to the classroom teaching and learning. We will also consider some criticisms
of their ideas as well. Finally, we will explain the systems of language rules, biological and
environmental influences on language and language development from infancy to
adolescence.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development can be organized into 2 parts. The first part is
2.1the processes
about PIAGET’S THEORy
children Of construct
use as they COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
their knowledge of the world. The
second part is the 4 stages of cognitive development. These stages describe how people’s
intelligence change as they grow older.

Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development

Figure 2.1: 2 Parts of cognitive development in Piaget’s theory.

Cognitive processes Cognitive Development
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

2.1.1 Cognitive Processes

Piaget described cognitive growth as occurring through 3 interrelated processes that are
organization, adaptation, and equilibration. Before we explain the processes, let us first
look at the concept of scheme as stated below.

Piaget believed that babies begin to understand their world with very
simple and innate scheme. Schemes are organized patterns of behaviour
that a person uses to think about and act in a situation.

Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2007

In a simpler manner, schemes are actions or mental representations that

organized knowledge.
Santrock, 2008

People use these organized patterns of thought and action to understand

and interact with their world.
Fetsco & McClure, 2005

Concept of scheme

• Some schemes are present at birth such as suck-

ing and grasping. These physical-based activities
are categorized under the behavioural
schemes.
• As children acquire more information, the
schemes become more and more complex. For
examples, they have schemes for remembering
and solv- ing problems. These are the mental
schemes or cognitive-based activities.
• Adults have a great number of schemes. For
exam- ple, they are able to use a computer and
understand the idea of globalisation.
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Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

As mentioned earlier, Piaget described cognitive growth as occurring through 3

interrelated processes that are organization, adaptation, and equilibration. Let us look at
how the 3 process interrelated with each other as explained in figure 2.3.

To make sense out of their world, children cognitively

organize knowledge about their experiences into categories.
The grouping and combining of various experiences is referred
Organization
to as organization in Piaget’s term. Organization provides
children with new and more advance ways to understand their
environments.
For instance, they may combine their schemes for cat
and their schemes for dog into a larger scheme for
animal that people keep as pets.

As children acquire new information, they are forced to adapt

in“Adaptation is the process
order to function of developing,
effectively. Adaptationrefining,
occursand
through
adjust- ing schemes to maintain equilibrium.”
complementary sub processes of assimilation and
accommoda- tion.
(Eggen & Kauchak, 2007; Fetsco & McClure,

Adaptation Assimilation Assimilation

• Assimilation occurs when • Accommodation involved

chil- dren take in new the modification of
information and existing- schemes to fit
incorporate it into their new informa- tion and
existing schemes. experiences.
• Examples: A young kid may • Examples: The kid has to
identify all soft toys as be informed that not all
“teddy bear” and all flying flying vehicles are
vehicles as “aeroplane”. aeroplanes. In this case,
Equilibrium accommodation would
involve the modifica- tion
of the aeroplane scheme.
Assimilation and accommodation work together to produce
equilibrium. According to Piaget, children often move from
one stage of thought to the next.
• Disequilibrium = Occurs when children experience cognitive
difficulties in understanding the world. Through assimilation
and
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

accommodation, children will resolve disequilibrium and reach

a balance of thought, or equilibrium.
• Equilibration = The movement from equilibrium to
disequilib- rium and back to equilibrium again. The process
of equilibration promotes progression toward increasingly
complex thought.
Figure 2.3: 3 interrelated processes in cognitive growth

Let us look at an example below to understand the scheme concept.

MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered
Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2
 MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered
Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development. There are sensorimotor stage,
preoperational
2.1.2 stage, concrete
Piaget’s Stages operational stage,
of Cognitive and formal operational stage as shown on
Development
Table2.1. Piaget believed that all people pass through the stages in exactly the same order.
It is important to note that the age ranges associated with the stage may not apply to every
child. Some children may reach a particular stage earlier or later than the others.

Table 2.1: Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development

Stage Range of age (year) Main characteristic

The baby constructs an understanding
Sensorimotor Birth to 2 of the world by coordinating sensory
experiences with physical actions.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

Preoperational 2 to 7 The child begins to represent the world

with words and images.

The child can reason logically about

Concrete operation 7 to 12
concrete events and classify objects.

The adolescent reason in more abstract

Formal operation 12 years to adulthood
and logical ways.

Table 2.1: Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development

Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)

During this stage, babies learn about the world through:

• Sensory activities such as seeing, hearing, and
tasting) and
• Motor activities such as moving, reaching, and
touching.
In the initial part of the stage, children focus on what
they are doing and seeing at the moment. Their schemes are based largely on behaviours and
perceptions. For them, objects that are out of sight are out of mind. Later in the stage, babies
develop object permanence. It is infants’ understanding that objects continue to exist even
they are out of sight. Toward the end of the stage, babies acquire the ability to represent
objects and events in term of symbols. These symbols take the form of words and simple
sentences. In addition, they develop the ability to imitate. This ability allows them to learn
by observing others.

Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)

During this stage, the use of symbolic thought expands rapidly

especially the use of language. Children’s rapidly increasing
vocabularies enable them to represent and think about people, objects,
events, and feelings. They gain the ability to represent mentally objects
that are not present. They also begin to draw people, animals, and
objects. In the beginning, their drawings are fanciful. However, toward
the end of the stage, their drawings become more realistic, neat, and
precise.

Apart from the great expansion in the use of symbolic thought, preoperational children
also gain other cognitive advances. For example, at this stage, children begin to realize that
MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered
Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

every event has a cause. In addition, they are able to group

objects, people, and events into meaningful categories such as big
or small and boy or girl. Furthermore, they can count and deal with
quantities. As they grow older, they become more able to imagine
how others might feel.

Even though preoperational children make progressive progress in this stage, they have some
definite limitations. You can see the limitation in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Limitations of Preoperational Thinking

Limitation Description and Example

• Children of this stage experience egocentrism or the tendency
to see the world of others from their own viewpoints. They
Egocentrism assume that everyone else share their feelings, reactions, and
perspetives.
- Example: A boy assumes that all people enjoy watching
Ultraman as he does.
• This is the tendency to attribute life to objects that are not
Animism alive.
- Example: A child says, “My teddy bear wants a cup of milk too”.
• Conservation is the principle that some characteristics of an
object stay the same even though the object changes in
appearance.
Lack of conservation
- Example: A preoperational child cannot understand that the
amount of liquid stays the same regardless of the
container’s shape (Refer table 2.3).
• Irreversibility refers to the failure to understand
that certain processes can be undone or reversed.
Irreversibility - Example: A young child might recognize that 3 + 2 = 5, but
not understand that the reverse 5 – 2 = 3, is true.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

Figure 2.3 shows some types of conservation which explains the principle that some
characteristics of an object stay the same even though the object changes in appearance.

Table 2.3: Some Types of Conservation

Type of Before transformation After transformation

conservation
Shape

Preoperational child’s response

Both straws have the The sausage shape has

same length. more amount of clay.

Length

Preoperational child’s response

The balls have the The one on top (or bottom) is

same amount of clay. longer.
Liquid

Preoperational child’s response

The containers have the same The tall container has more
amount of liquid amount of liquid.
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Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

Number

Preoperational child’s response

Both rows have the The longer row has more number
same number of of candies.
candies.

As an educator, we should know how to handle with the preoperational students. Figure 2.4
lists some guidelines for working with this types of students.

Guidelines for working with preoperational students

• Use concrete teaching aids such as sticks in teaching addition and

subtraction.
• Reduce egocentrism by involving children in social interaction.
• Let students make comparison: big, bigger, biggest.
• Ask them to justify their answers.
• Provide a wide range of experiences such as taking field trips to fire station
and lake garden.
• Make short instructions, step by step.

Figure 2.4: Guidelines working with formal preoperational students

Concrete operational stage (7 to 12 years)

During the concrete operational stage, children develop the

ability to think in a more logical manner. They are less egocentric
than before and can take multiple aspects of a situation into
account. At this stage, children can do mentally what they
previously could do only physically and they can reverse
concrete operations. Table 2.4 summarizes the advances in
cognitive abilities of the concrete operational thinkers.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

Advance Description

• Can use map.

Spatial thinking • Can give directions for finding objects, places, and locations.
• Can estimate distance.

Seriation • Can arrange items in order such as from the smallest to the
biggest.

Multiple • Can group items into shape or colour or both.

categorization • Understand the concept of class (such as vehicle) and the
concept of subclass (car).

Inductive • Can use inductive reasoning, that is, drawing general

reasoning conclusion from specific observations.

Conservation • Can comprehend that a transformation in appearance does

not imply a transformation in amount.

• Can understand that certain processes can be undone or

Reversibility reversed.

Number • Can count in head.

Table 2.4: Advances of concrete operational thinking

Although the concrete operational thinkers make important advances in logical capabili-
ties, their thinking is still limited to real situations in here and now. Put in another way, they
have difficulty in understanding abstract ideas. Figure 2.5 lists some guidelines for working
with concrete operational students.

Guidelines for working with concrete operational students

• Continue to ask students to justify their answers.

• Encourage students to work in groups and exchange thought.
• Use props and visual aids as well as familiar examples when teaching complex
ideas.
• Involve students in adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, ordering, seriating,
and reversing tasks.
• Create activities that require conservation.

Figure 2.5: Guidelines for working with concrete operational students.

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Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

formal operational stage (12 years to adulthood)

This stage begins when children develop the capacity of

thinking that is abstract, systematic, and hypothetical.
These capabilities allow students to make abstract
reasoning, sophisticated moral judgments, and plan more
realistically for the future. They can understand historical
time, learn algebra and calculus, imagine possibilities, form
and test hypotheses (hypothetical-deductive reasoning in
Piaget’s term) and can use deductive reasoning.
Figure 2.6 lists some guidelines for working with formal operational students.

Guidelines for working with formal operational students

• Continue to use teaching aids.
• Give students opportunities to debate and discuss in small groups.
• Develop projects for students to carry out.
• Give students opportunities to solve problem and reason scientifically.
Figure 2.5: Guidelines for working with concrete operational students.

Piaget contributed a great deal of information about children’s cognitive development.

However,
2.1.3 hisEvaluation
theory hasofbeen criticized
Piaget’s for some reasons. The following are some
Theory
contributions and common criticisms of Piaget’s view.

• Piaget has generally provided us with an accurate account of age-related

changes in cognitive development.
Contribution • His view that individuals can only increase their cognitive
performance when cognitive readiness and appropriate
environmental stimulation are present affects the nature of
educational curricular and teaching methods.
• Developmental psychologists suggest that cognitive development
proceeds in a more continuous fashion than Piaget’s stage theory
implies.
Criticism
• Piaget underestimated the age at which children can understand
specific concepts and principles.
• Piaget’s work failed to take into account the influence of culture on
cognitive development.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

1. What is a scheme?
2. How is accommodation different from assimilation?
3. Describe the major cognitive changes that occur as children move
from sensorimotor to formal operational stage.

2.2 VyGOTSky’S VIEw Of kNOwLEDGE CONSTRUCTION

For Vygotsky, cognitive development occurs as a result of social interactions. In social
interactions, children work with others to make decisions and solve problems. Therefore,
their cognitive abilities increase and eventually they gain the ability to function
intellectually on their own.

One of the key ideas proposed by LevVygotsky

Semenovich Vygotsky
is called the zone(1896-1934),
of proximal adevelopment
Russian
psycholo- gist, emphasized the social and cultural
(ZPD). ZPD is the range of tasks that are too difficult for a child to master alone, but
processes on human cognitive development. His
that can be learned with guidance and assistance of adults or more-skilled children as
increasingly influential perspec- tive is popularly known
illustrated in figure 2.7. Childrenasin the
the ZPD for a particular task can almost, but not quite,
sociocultural theory or the sociohistorical
performed the task on their own. theory.

Figure 2.7: Picture that shows zone of proximal development (ZPD) by Vygotsky.
 MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered
Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

Another important idea to be discussed here is the concept of scaffolding. Scaffolding refers
to the temporary support that parents, teachers, and more-skilled peers give a child to do
a task until the child can do it alone. The concept of scaffolding can be interpreted in the zone
of proximal development graph as illustrated in figure 2.8.

Figure 2.8: Zone of proximal development graph

Demonstrating and asking questions are two ways to scaffold students’ learning. An art
teacher may demonstrate drawing before asking students to try on their own. Another
teacher may ask students such question “Can you provide an example of that?”

2.2.1 Applications of Vygotsky’s Theory

• Teach within the ZPD such as presenting tasks that students can
perform successfully only with assistance.
• Encourage collaborative problem solving such as working in
small groups to accomplish complex tasks.
• Use scaffolding to help student’s progress through their ZPD such
as providing teaching aids that student can use to make difficult
tasks easier.
• Use more-skilled peers as teachers.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

2.2.2 Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Piaget’s Theory

Vygotsky’s view fits with the current belief that it is important to evaluate the contextual
factors in learning. However, his descriptions of cognitive development were too general.
As a result, researchers found it difficult to test, verify, or disprove his theory.

1. What is the nature of Vygotsky’s theory?

Language can be defined
2. Whatin various
are the ways as stated
differences below.Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s perspective
between
on cognitive development?
Language takes several forms of communications that are spoken, written, and signed as
“Language is one of the most significant cognitive developments
illustrated in Figure 2.9. of the human species.”
Lahey, 2004
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_09/i_09_p/i_09_p_dev/i_09_p_dev.html

‘Language is defined as the communication of information through symbols

arranged according to systematic rules”
(Feldman,
2.3 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTS 2005)

Figure 2.9: Language takes several forms of communications that are spoken, written, and signed.
 MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered
Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

Language involves 2 important processes that are, sending and receiving information. To
convey information, one must be able to speak or otherwise use words, phrases, and sen-
tences. This ability is referred to as language production. Language comprehension, on the
other hand, is the ability to understand message conveyed by words, phrases, and sentences.
To understand how language develops, we first need to review some systems of language
rules. Let us look at each of these in turn.

There are 4 rules of language system. The rules are semantics, syntax, phonology and
morphology
2.3.1 asSystems
shown inofFigure 2.10. Rules
Language

Figure 2.10: Rules for language system

The rules for language system can be describes as below.

(a) Phonology
• Phonology is the sound system of a language.
• English has the sound such as sp, bs, and ar.
• A phoneme is the basic unit in a language. It is the smallest unit of sound that
affects meaning.
• Bahasa Melayu has 24 phonemes.

Example:
• The alphabet e sound in emak and the e sound in enak represent two
different phonemes in Bahasa Melayu.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

(b) Morphology
• Morphology refers to the unit of meaning involved in word formation.
• A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. It can be a word or a part
of a word that cannot be broken into smaller meaningful parts.

Example:
• Sing, wet, and talk are the examples of single freestanding morphemes.
• The word singer has two morphemes: sing + er. Morphemes -er means one who.
• In Bahasa Melayu, the word pemakanan has three morphemes:
pe + makan + an.

(c) Syntax
• Syntax is the ways that words must be combined to form acceptable phrases and
sentences.
• The syntax of a sentence is determined by a set of rules for combining different
categories of words such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Example:
• We understand the sentence “I am wearing a blue t-shirt” but the sentence
“ Wearing t-shirt I am a blue ” is ambiguous.

(d) Semantics
• Semantics refers to the meaning of words or sentences.
• Semantics includes knowing the meaning of such words as dragon fruit and love.

Example:
• The sentence “He drives a bicycle” is syntactically correct but
semantically incorrect.
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Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

Prelinguistic speech
Crying + cooing + babbling, + imitating language sounds
Newborn babies signal needs and feelings through cries and facial expressions. Between
six weeks and three months, babies start cooing. Then, they begin making speechlike
but meaningless sounds. These sounds are called babbling. Babies repeat the same
sounds such as ba-ba-ba and ma-ma-ma, which are most common across all languages.
Language development continues with accidental imitation of language sounds babies
hear. They imitate the sounds without understanding the meaning. Crying, cooing,
babbling, and imitating language sounds are known as prelinguistic speech.

Gestures

Shortly before one year of age, babies start using gestures to communicate. For example,
they learn that nodding the head means yes or blowing means hot.

Linguistic speech

At about one year of age, babies begin to say single words. The productions of single
words mark the beginning of the linguistic speech. Linguistic speech refers to the verbal
expressions that convey meaning. Babies’ single words such as go may mean “I want to
go out”, “I want to sleep” or “Go and get that thing for me”. A single words that conveys
a complete thought like this is called a holophrase.

Telegraphic speech

The babies’ first brief sentence comes between 18 and 24 months during which they
make telegraphic speech to express various actions. In telegraphic speech, words not
critical to the message are left out. Examples of telegraphic speech are “Papa work”,
“Baby cry” and “No watch TV”.

Vocabularies increased

During early childhood, children’s vocabularies increase rapidly due to fast mapping
process. Fast mapping allows children aged three to six years old to absorb the meaning
of a new word after hearing it once or twice in conversations. In addition, children’s
grammar and syntax become fairly sophisticated.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

Pragmatic

During the school years, children’s vocabulary continues to grow. They learn that some
words can have more than one meaning. Their understanding of rules of syntax becomes
more sophisticated. The major area of linguistic growth during this stage is in
pragmatics or the practical use of language to communicate. For example, when they
recognize a breakdown in communication, they do something to repair it and before
introducing a topic with which the other person may not be familiar, they first ask
simple questions.

Teenage slang

During adolescence, young people know about 80000 words. They can define and discuss
such abstractions as love and freedom. They also become more skilled in the ability to
understand another person’s point of view and level of knowledge and to speak
accordingly. Adolescents also like to use teenage slang. Thus, they speak different
language with peers than with adults.

Figure 2.10: 7 stages of language acquisition

All children acquire language in the same order because there are genetically programmed
physiological
2.3.3 and neurological
Biological features in the brain
and Environmental and vocalonapparatus.
Influence Language

Example:
• Research findings indicate that the left
hemisphere of the brain play an important
role in acquiring and using language, whether
spoken or signed.
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Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

However, it is widely agreed that the way chil-

dren learn a particular language depends on
the environmental factors as well. Children
benefit when parents and teachers actively
engage them in conversations, asking them
questions, and talk with them. Social
interactions like these provide opportunities
for children to observe, imitate, and practice
language skills. In sum, biology and
environment interact to produce language
develop- ment.

1. How do people use language?

2. How does a child develop language skills?
3. Describe the ways in which early speech differs from adult speech.
4. What influences contribute to linguistics progress?
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

SUMMARy
• Changes and stability in mental abilities, such as learning and attention are grouped
under the cognitive development.
• According to Piaget, cognitive growth occurs through: organization, adaptation, and
equilibration processes.
• Schemes are organized patterns of behaviours that a person uses to think about and
act in a situation.
• Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
operational, and formal operational.
• For Vygotsky, cognitive development occurs as a result of social interactions.
• The two key concepts of Vygotsky’s theory discussed are zone of proximal development
and scaffolding.
• Language is defined as the communication of information through symbols arranged
according to systematic rules.
• In acquiring a language, children go through the same stages but at different rate.
• Biology and environment interact to produce language development.

kEy TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Terms Definitions
Piaget’s term for modification of existing
Accommodation schemes to fit new information and experiences.
Piaget’s term for process of developing, refining,
Adaptation and adjusting schemes to maintain equilibrium.
Piaget’s term for the tendency to attribute life to
Animism
objects that are not alive.
Piaget’s term for process of taking in new
Assimilation information and incorporating it into existing
schemes.
In Piaget’s theory, during this stage, children
Concrete operational
develop the ability to think in a more logical
manner.
MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered
Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

Piaget’s term for the principle that some

Conservation characteristics of an object stay the same even
though the objects change in appearance.
Development Process of change and stability that occur
throughout the human life span.
Piaget’s term for the tendency to see the world of
Egocentrism
others from own viewpoints.
Piaget’s term for tendency to seek a stable balance
Equilibration among cognitive elements.
A process that allows children aged three to six
Fast mapping
years old to absorb the meaning of a new word
after hearing it once or twice in conversations.
In Piaget’s theory, during this stage, children
Formal operational develop the capacity of thinking that is abstract,
systematic, and hypothetical.
Holophrase Single words that convey a complete thought.
Piaget’s term for the ability to form and test
Hypothetical-deductive hypotheses.
Inductive reasoning The type of reasoning that moves from specific
observations to general conclusion.
Piaget’s term for the failure to understand that
Irreversibility certain processes can be undone or reversed
Linguistic speech Verbal expressions that convey meaning.

Morpheme The smallest unit of meaning in a language.

Morphology Unit of meaning involved in word formation.

Piaget’s term for infants’ understanding that

Object permanence objects continue to exist even they are out of
sight.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

Phoneme Basic unit in a language.

Phonology Sound system of a language.

Pragmatics Practical use of language to communicate.

Utterance of sounds that are not words such as
Prelinguistic speech crying, cooing, babbling, and imitating language
sounds.
In Piaget’s theory, during this stage, the use of
Preoperational symbolic thought expands rapidly especially the
use of language.
Telegraphic speech A type of speech in which words that are not
critical to the message are left out.
Temporary support that parents, teachers, and
Scaffolding more-skilled peers give a child to do a task until
the child can do it alone.
Semantics Meaning of words or sentences.
In Piaget’s theory, during this stage, babies learn
Sensorimotor about the world through senses and motor
activities.
Piaget’s term for organized patterns of behavior
Schemes that a person uses to think about and act in a
situation.
Ways that words must be combined to form
Syntax acceptable phrases and sentences.
Range of tasks that are too difficult for a child to
Zone of proximal master alone, but that can be learned with
development(ZPD) guidance and assistance of adults or more-skilled
children.
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Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

ENDNOTES
1. Eggen, P & Kauchak, D. 2007. Educational psychology windows on classrooms. 7th ed.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

2. Feldman, R. S. 2005. Understanding psychology. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill.

3. Fetsco, T. & McClure, J. 2005. Educational psychology an integrated approach to

classroom decisions. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

4. Lahey, B. B. 2004. Psychology: an introduction. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill.

5. Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldma R. D. 2007. Human development. 10th ed. Boston:
McGraw Hill..

6. Santrock, J. W. 2008. Educational psychology. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

REVIEw AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Piaget described a scheme as a psychological structure that .

A. organizes experiences
B. is used in language but not in thought
C. we lose as we age
D. is only found in those with a set of personal values.

2. Muhammad has a scheme for drawing that had to be changed in order to learn how
to paint a picture with a paint brush. This is an example of .
A. assimilation
B. accommodation
C. disequilibrium
D. reversibility

3. Piaget used the term to describe the process by which new experiences
are easily incorporated into existing schemes.
A. assimilation
B. accommodation
C. adaptation
D. organization
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

4. distinguished four major stages of cognitive development.

A. Jean Piaget
B. Lev Vygotsky
C. Sigmund Freud
D. John Bowlby

5. The first of Piaget’s stage involves .

A. sensory-motor learning
B. operational thinking
C. egocentrism
D. conservation

6. According to Piaget, the stage is marked by a phenomenal growth in

language.
A. sensorimotor
B. preoperational
C. concrete operational
D. formal operational

7. Wan Haziq believes that everyone like insects because he likes them. What
characteristic of preoperational thought is he demonstrating?
A. Egocentrism
B. Irreversibility
C. Centration
D. Assimilation

8. In the television show “Kacang”, all sorts of nut were alive, could talk, and had
their own personalities. These actions are consistent with the Piagetian concept of
.
A. egocentrism
B. animisme
C. imitation
D. conservation

9. Piaget’s stage of formal operations involves .

A. emotional intelligence
B. abstract thinking
C. obedience and punishment
D. unconscious mental processes
MODULE 2/PART 2  The Learner and the Learner-Centered
Psychological Principle: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

10. Which one of the following is an example of Vygotsky’s law of development?

A. A student acquires the reading strategies of a more skilled reader by interacting
with that more skilled learner.
B. Students changes their opinions about an idea based on their own private
experiences with that idea.
C. Students must represent their knowledge physically before they can represent the
same knowledge symbolically.
D. Students may have difficulty in complicated problem-solving activities because they
are overwhelmed by the complexities.

11. Vygotsky referred to the distance between what a learner can accomplish and what
the same learner can accomplish with the help of a more skilled learner as the
.
A. general law of development
B. zone of proximal development
C. scaffolding
D. internalization

12. Before start teaching, Abdul Hadi reminds himself that his students will need a lot
of direction at first but will then require much less direction. Abdul Hadi’s action
provides an excellent example of the concept of .
A. scaffolding
B. fast mapping
C. social interactions
D. conservation

13. The smallest unit of meaning in a language is known as .

A. semantics
B. syntax
C. a morpheme
D. a phoneme

14. Which of the following words has exactly one morpheme?

A. Cats
B. Kitten
C. Don’t
D. Seeing

15. refers to the rules of a language for the ways in which morphemes can
be combined in that language.
A. Semantics
B. Syntax
C. Morphemics
D. Phonemics
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT  MODULE 2

16. A young child said “I rided on the horsey”. His speech reflects his lack of
understanding of .
A. semantics
B. syntax
C. morphemes
D. phonemes

17. Which speech sound is always a vowel-like sound?

A. coo
B. babble
C. phoneme
D. morpheme

18. Telegraphic speech involves the use of .

A. words directly relevant to meaning
B. little intonation
C. one word utterances
D. ecessive grammatical morphemes

19. Despite having only heard the word “factor” a few time, Nani can use it in
conversation correctly.Nani’s behavior is best explained by .
A. scaffolding
B. fast mapping
C. social interactions
D. conservation

20. Language is easily learned by humans because the human brain .

A. is bigger than other brain
B. can learn a series of simple words
C. has areas that are specialized for language
D. processes sound energy at early age