Deanna Kuhn Theory Of Cognitive Development

The nature versus nurture debate has been argued since the beginning of the discovery of biology and human evolution. And to this day continues to be a controversy that continues to be highly debated by psychologists and biologists. A fundamental individual is Lev Vygotsky who developed and introduced the Sociocultural Theory of development that was heavily dependent on the influence of environmental factors—such as social groups, culture and institutions—on the cognitive development of children. Although Vygotsky constructed his theory during the late 1920s to early 1930s, it did not gain popularity till “the recent translation and republication of his work into English in 1962” (Burkholder and Peláez 2000). The development of Vygotsky’s

The approach is based on the idea that an individual’s activities occurs in a cultural context and can be best understood in their historical development (Kagitcibasi, 2012). Vygotsky developed this theory with the intent of coming up with a way to explain human behavior. The theory examined various subjects including the psychology of art, thought and language; and also focused on education of students with special needs. Vygotsky believed that caregivers, parents, peers, and culture at large play an important role in developing an individual’s higher order functions. There are various modern time interpretations of this theory with one focused on explaining human development. In this context, the sociocultural theory explains that learning is a social process and the society makes a significant contribution to individual development. The theory states that learning is based on interactions with other people and once this has happened, the information is then incorporated on a personal level (Hutchison,

A basic concept of Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory is its claim that the human mind is the go-between and plays a significant role for what he calls tools‟ in humans‟ understanding of the world and themselves (Cole.1978). Vygotsky defends the theory that people do not act directly on the physical world without the intermediary of tools. Vygotsky describes cognitive development first occurs in a social context amongst people as "inter" and within the individual, as "intra." Thus meaning, according to Vygotsky as, "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first between people (inter-psychological) and then inside the child (intra- psychological) (Cole.1978).”

Two infamous developmental psychologists, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, have shared their knowledge on children’s cognitive development. Both psychologists had their own vision of what stimulates and helps a child grow. Jean Piaget 's theory was shaped through the thinking and understanding of how knowledge is built through a series of four stages; preoperational, sensorimotor, formal operational and concrete operational. He believed that the development was with the child themselves. On the contrary, Lev Vygotsky 's theory is shaped through adult social interactions and cultural roles. He believed that a child 's development is met based on their social environment and interactions with adults. Though both Piaget and Vygotsky had their

Many philosophers have developed theories of how individuals learn over the decades. As an individual progresses through life from childhood to adulthood, the manner in which they take in knowledge, and mature is the basic theory of cognitive development. Cognitive development can be described as how an individual’s thought process develops, and how these thought processes impact how an individual comprehends and interacts in the world. The psychology theorists of the past have shaped the classrooms of the present. There are many theorists that have influenced the teaching styles of today and a theorist that has significantly impacted today’s style of teaching is Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934). Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist and philosopher developed the Sociocultural Theory in the 1920s. He believed that children’s mental, language and social development is supported and enhanced through social interaction. Vygotsky believed that beginning at birth, children seek out adults for social interactions and that development occurs through these interactions. He stressed the idea the children learn through what he called guided participation. His theory was that children develop through interactions with parents, teachers, and other knowledgeable members of the culture.

The results for the combined study after the data was analyzed indicate that the hypothesis is correct for the three-factor model and developmental stability was present. Factors in children’s metamemory were revealed for the first time showing that there are multiple constructs rather than a unitary construct. The children were using different kinds of knowledge as they performed the tasks given them in the study. The three-factor scale is a helpful tool that can be used to evaluate metamemory throughout childhood with reliability.

In researching various development theories, one of those that stand out is cognitive development theory. Cognitive development theory studies “how people think and how thinking changes over time” (Kail & Cavanaugh, 14). One of the leading theorists in this area was Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. He was one of the first theorists to consider the sociocultural influences on a child’s development. His research allowed the development of key concepts that have been proven useful to educators as they have incorporated them within their teaching methods. Not only have these concepts helped children develop new skills, but also have made teachers more effective in the classroom. In considering the sociocultural influences on development, Vygotsky emphasized the importance of social interaction and imaginative play. He determined that these two factors made sizeable contributions in cognitive development in children.

In the early 19th Century, little attention was given to children development. Emphasis were based upon what a child would become as they get older( Green 2013)However, it was investigated by human developmental psychologist that Child development is relevant in relation to how individuals relate in the environment as well as the factors that influence human development. These psychologists developed the human developmental life span which is predominant in the society today, although remains unsubstantiated because of the dynamics of individuals and the environment. The theories that will be discussed mainly in this essay are;Cognitive theory-Jean Piaget, Social Learning Theory-Albert Bandura, Psycho-social theory-Erik Erikson ,Socio-cultural theories-Lev Vygotsky. The Psychoanalytic theory will be explored to reflect on how his theories have been integrated into other human developmental theories. Based on my observations,these theories will be explored in detail.

In psychology, cognitive development is the process that allows people to know, understand and think about the world (Feldman, 2012). It studies how children process and gain information at a particular age and how learning mechanisms change and evolve over time. There are many theories among parents, teacher and physicians of how children grow and develop. Piaget, Erikson, Skinner and Vygotsky are all developmental theorists who studied child development. Theorists have their own ideas of cognitive development. However, some build off the others theories. The four different developmental theorists bring important ideas to the development of children. Some important ideas are the aspects of family and society. Other important ideas include culture, psychosocial and physical influences. This paper focuses on the theorist Piaget, Erikson, Skinner and Vygotsky and who brought what ideas to the psychology of cognitive development in children.

The Authors mention that very little research has been published in mathematics education literature focusing on metacognitive activity in regards to how students select metacognitive strategies. Is it that the student actually selects it or is it an unconscious act? Reference is given to Stillman and Galbraith (1998)

Metacognition is said to develop at or around the age of 12, a time when the formal operation stage starts as well. Piaget’s stages of development serves as a basic outline of how people develop from infancy through adulthood. The first step is sensorimotor which begins around the ages of 18-24 months. This is when infants are only aware of what is right in front of them. It is for this reason that babies get surprised when you play peek-a-boo with them. The idea that a person exists even though they are not in plain sight is foreign to them. The next stage is the Preoperational stage, and is seen to begin from the ages of 18-24 months all the way until the age of 7. This stage consists of the symbolic meaning of thinking. Language is more defined and imagination is further developed, thus allowing them to understand the differences between past, present, and the future. The next step is the Concrete Operational stage which spans the ages of 7-12. During this time frame children begin becoming less egocentric, and are capable of focusing more about their surroundings as well as different perspectives. This is where they begin to understand that their thoughts are not always going to be similar to the other people around them, making them unique. Lastly, there is the Operational stage which includes the ages from 12 and all through adulthood. Here, adolescents

Metacognition can be considered as part of constructivist theory, and can be best conceptualized as “thinking about thinking”. While metacognition began to rise into common usage in the 1970s, there is no agreed upon concept. A lack of a clearly guided conceptual framework, as noted by Winters et al. (2008), creates a confusion of terminology and the lack of a single definition. While there are competing theoretical models and some disagreement over how best to define the term and its constituent parts, it is generally agreed the topic of metacognition is concerned with metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experience, and metacognitive regulation and monitoring. (Flavell, 1979; Hacker, Dunlosky, & Glaesser, 1998; McCormick, 2003; Zimmerman & Schunk, 2011; McLeod, 1997; Schneider & Lockl, 2002; Cross & Paris, 1988; Flavell, 1979; Paris & Winograd, 1990; Schraw & Moshman, 1995; Schraw et al., 2006; Whitebread et al., 1990).

Generally Metacognition is defined as “how individual monitor and control their cognitive process” (Young & Fry, 2008). Metacognition refers to being able to reflect upon, understand, and control one’s learning. Previous accounts of metacognition have differentiated between two major components, including knowledge about cog¬nition and regulation of cognition (Brown, 1987; Flavell, 1987; Jacobs & Paris, 1987). Knowledge about cognition includes three sub processes that simplify the reflective aspect of metacognition: declarative knowledge (i.e., knowledge about self and about strategies), procedural knowledge (i.e., knowledge about how to use strategies), and conditional knowledge (i.e., knowledge

Secondary, metacognition is a tool to knowing our better. Metacognition is kind of tool to identify the goals, but it builds on your abilities. We need to figure out like how many courses we can learn in one semester, which faculty we need choose and how do we plan our learning hours. Some students cannot learn math in short period time or some students only can learn 4 courses in one semester. This is the way we identify ourselves to achieving our goals. There are no specific ways fit everyone, so metacognition is necessary in college or university. The research result in the article “Clarifying metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning: What’s the purpose? Kaplan said ‘many students do not adopt learning as their main purpose of engagement in school.’ And ‘the types of self-regulated achievement are much more prevalent than types of self-regulated learning.’. This means students are weak at self-regulated learning, to be success in college or university we need identify our goals more clearly and detailed. Therefore, practicing metacognition is the way to prove the strategies to measure ourselves and it is necessary.

What is metacognition? The common definition is ones ability to reflect upon, understand, control one’s learning (Schraw & Dennison, 1994), refer to knowledge about cognition (Schraw, 2009) and recognize successful cognitive processing (Fleming, 2014). Metacognition can be broken down into two categories, knowledge about cognition and regulation of cognition (Schraw & Dennison, 1994). Metacognition can be measured in many different ways. A few measures that are used are absolute accuracy, relative accuracy, bias, scatter, and