Chapter 7: Cognitive Development: Cognitive Processes Summary Basic Cognitive Processes Information processing theory focuses on how children receive, think about, mentally modify, and remember information, and on how these cognitive processes change over the course of development development Information processing theorists propose that cognitive capabilities improve gradually with age and e!perience Infants have many sensory and perceptual capabilities at birth or soon thereafter thereafter In general, however, however, children are less efficient learners than adults are "or instance, they have shorter attention spans, a smaller working memory capacity, capacity, and a smaller and less integrated knowledge base to which they can relate new information and events #etacognition and Cognitive $trategies %he term metacognition encompasses both the knowledge that people have about their own cognitive processes and their intentional use of certain cognitive processes to facilitate learning and memory memory Children&s metacognitive knowledge knowledge and cognitive strategies improve throughout the school years "or instance, children become more proficient in such learning strategies as rehearsal, organi'ation, and elaboration, and they ac(uire increasingly powerful and effective ways of solving problems )ith age, they become more aware of the nature of thinking, learning, and knowledge, and they develop strategies for regulating their own learning *dding a $ociocultural +lement to Information Processing %heory Information processing theory can tell us a great deal about what abilities change over time, and sociocultural views can help us e!plain how those changes occur Combining elements elements of both perspectives, then, can give us a more complete picture of cognitive development than we might get from either one alone "or e!ample, children learn what to pay attention to in part by watching what other people pay attention to *nd adults can help children become more effective, selfregulating learners by giving them control of a learning activity in a gradual, stepbystep manner manner Children&s Construction of %heories $ome theorists propose that children gradually construct integrated belief s ystems -theories. about the physical world, the biological world, the social world, and mental events $uch theories are not always accurate, however however "or instance, children&s theories about the physical world may include erroneous beliefs about the solar system and laws of motion %o the e!tent that children&s theories include misconceptions, they may interfere with children&s ability to ac(uire more sophisticated understandings understandings Comparing and Criti(uing Contemporary *pproaches to Cognitive Development Development Contemporary Contemporary theories -eg, information theory, theory theory. have added considerably to Piaget&s and /ygotsky&s early notions of children&s thinking and knowledge k nowledgebuilding building processes %aken %aken together, various
theoretical perspectives give us a more complete picture of cognitive development than any single perspective alone can give us +!ceptionalities in Information Processing %he information processing capabilities of some children are different enough that they re(uire the use of specially adapted instructional practices and materials Children with learning disabilities have significant difficulties in one or more specific cognitive processes Children with attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder -*D0D. either -1. have e!ceptional difficulty focusing attention on assigned tasks or -2. are unusually hyperactive and impulsive for their age group, with many children e!hibiting both of these characteristics Children with autism e!hibit a marked impairment in social interaction, perhaps as a result of deficits in certain areas of the brain or of e!treme undersensitivity or oversensitivity to sensory stimulation Quiz 1 )hich one of the following statements would information processing theorists probably make3 0uman memory systems are comprised of a sensory register, working memory, and long term memory 2 #arissa was born one week ago )hich one of the following statements is true about her abilities3 $he cannot discriminate between shallow and deep 4 )hich of the following vignettes best illustrates a true statement about thinking and reasoning3 *fter spending two years of not seeing the point, tenyearold 5ee is now able to see the logic behind cleaning his room so he can find his toys 6 )ith practice, children can perform mental tasks more (uickly )hich statement gives a reason why that is true3 Children&s mental activities become increasingly more automati'ed )hich of the following teachers illustrates a method used to promote the processing of information3 +ach morning, #r $nead allows his second graders to choose from several different review games to reinforce the previous day&s lesson 8 $i!yearold 9avier is performing a puppet show for his class 0e titled it, "rog&s "irst Day at $chool 9avier had "rog wait for the school bus, hop with his friend ;abbit to their classroom, and put their backpacks in their cubbies 9avier is demonstrating a type of knowledge organi'ation known as what3 script 7 * common classroom practice is for teachers to create activities that relate new information to students& e!isting knowledge base )hich one of the following teachers is engaging in this practice3 #s 9ones introduces the unit on subtraction by e!plaining that subtraction is the reverse of addition < =indergarten teacher #r >&#eara learned in his teacher education program that fiveyearold children have short attention spans and are easily distractible *ccording to the te!tbook, what should #r >&#eara do to increase the student attention span and reduce classroom distractions3 0e should use a variety of activities every day •
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? "or his child development class pro@ect, =ael decides to tape record si! fourthgrade students as they talk aloud about their studies on the $panish Civil )ar 0e is very interested in studying the effectiveness of their learning strategies and their awareness of their own thought processes =ael is interested mostly in which of the following3 metacognitive awareness 1A * researcher told threeyearold and fiveyearold children a story about a man who put peanut butter in the cupboard 0is wife later moved the peanut butter to the refrigerator %he researcher then asked the children where the man would think the peanut butter was when he went to look for it %he older children knew that the man would look in the cupboard %he younger children said that he would look in the refrigerator %his e!ample illustrates that the older children have what3 more sophisticated epistemological beliefs 11 #s 9ohnson&s preschool students are learning the names of various articles of clothing #s 9ohnson helps the students remember the items by asking them to name all the things they wear on their feet, then name the things they wear on their legs, then on the arms and chest, then on the hands, and then on the head )hat strategy is #s 9ohnson using to help her students remember the various articles of clothing3 organi'ation 12 #r *bel gave an assignment to his 12th grade students *fter reading a short story about adolescents who were faced with moving to another city during their senior year, the students created an analogy to their personal e!periences with difficult changes in their life )hat learning strategy did the students use in this assignment3 elaboration 14 ;honda&s teacher has noted that ;honda, age nine, e!periences difficulties with schoolwork and trouble maintaining friendships with her classmates ;honda seems to daydream a lot, makes seemingly careless mistakes, and behaves impulsively )hich information processing e!ceptionality probably best characteri'es ;honda3 attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder 16 )hich one of the following teachers is best applying a strategy that the te!tbook recommends for work with e!ceptional students -eg, those with learning disabilities, autism, attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder, etc.3 #r 9ohnson teaches his students useful memory str ategies, such as mnemonics, to better memori'e the material 1 )e have learned that maintaining attention to the sub@ect matter to be learned plays a crucial role in stimulating selfregulation >ne of the most effective ways of doing this is through personally involving students with the sub@ect matter )hich of the following scenarios indicates a teacher using this strategy to help students learn new material3 #r 0art assigns his si!thgrade students to research the origin of their own heritage, to interview a family relative or person who has immigrated to the nited $tates from that same country, and to write a biographical story of that person&s e!perience •
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