Cognitive Development: Piaget's Stages and Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development

Sensorimotor Stage

From birth to two years. Infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects.

Object Permanence

A child's ability to understand that objects still exist after they are no longer in sight.

Cooing

Young infants produce vowel-like sounds when they are seemingly happy and contented.

Babbling

This occurs during the very early stage of language development, usually around 3 - 4 months, in which children spontaneously produce nonsensical, unrelated sounds.

Phonemes

Sets of basic sounds (the most miniature set of sounds) that are the building blocks of all spoken language.

Morphemes

The smallest units of speech that convey meaning. All words are composed of at least one ____________.

One-word stage

The stage in which children speak mainly in single words, occurring between one and two years of age.

Universal Grammar

The linguistic term referring to the fact that all languages, no matter how different they may seem from one another, have in common that they can be broken down into nouns, verbs, and other grammatical forms.

Syntax

The rules that specify how words should be ordered in a sentence to make the sentence meaningful.

Syntax Speech

When a language speaker exhibits not only a knowledge of the words, but an understanding of word order that makes speech meaningful and understandable.

Preoperational Stage

Two to seven years. Significant characteristics and developmental changes occur during this stage, such as the children beginning to think symbolically and learning to use words and pictures to represent objects. Children also tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others. They also improve with language and thinking but still think in very concrete terms.

Schemas

These categories of knowledge help us interpret and understand the world by describing the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing.

Assimilation

New information is incorporated into pre-existing schemas.

Accommodation

Existing schemas might be altered, or new schemas may be formed as a person learns new information and experiences.

Mental Symbols

The process of cognitively representing objects and experiences through symbols (including linguistic symbols).

Animism

The belief that inanimate objects (not living) have feelings and thoughts and have the mental characteristics and qualities of living things.

Egocentrism

The inability on the part of a child in the preoperational stage of development to see any point of view other than their own.

Parallel Play

It is used to characterize preschool children's social development and participation.

Pretend Play

It often involves playing a distinct role, such as mother, teacher, or doctor.

Concrete Operational Stage

Seven to eleven. It is characterized by the development of logical thought.

Conservation

when a child understands that changing the form of a substance or object does not change its amount, overall volume, or mass.

Reversibility

The ability to recognize that numbers or objects can be changed and returned to their original condition.

Formal Operational Stage

Twelve to adulthood. During this stage, people acquire the ability to think logically about abstract concepts.

Abstract Thinking

It describes thoughts that are symbolic and conceptual and not concrete or specific.

Sociocultural Theory

It focuses on how mentors and peers influence individual learning but also on how cultural beliefs and attitudes affect how learning takes place.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

It is the distance between the actual development level (of the learner) determined by independent problem-solving and the level of potential development determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.

Scaffolding

It involves the teacher providing support structures to help students master skills just beyond their current level.