4.3: Child Growth and Development
As children grow and develop, they go through many physical, cognitive, and emotional changes. These changes are known as human growth and development . All children will go through these stages, but they may not go through them in the same manner or rate as other children. It is important to remember that all children are unique .
Jean Piaget, a famous developmental psychologist developed a theory called the Cognitive Development Theory . It is widely used today to understand the cognitive development of children. He believed that children go through four stages as they construct (make and understand) meaning of the world.
Sensorimotor Stage (birth to 2 years)
Infants construct an understanding of the world as they interact with it using their senses. Infants use the sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and even taste to learn about the world around them. Their senses are combined with physical actions and muscle movements such as pushing, pulling, and kicking to make sense of objects around them. For example, a baby kicks a brightly colored ball and learns to understand that they can make the ball move by using their muscles. However, if the ball is out of their sight, they will no longer think about it until they develop object permanence, which occurs at the end of this stage. Object permanence is the understanding that something exists even though it is no longer in sight.
Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)
During this stage, children learn about their world beyond just senses and using motor actions. They also learn to understand the meaning of words and images. They learn about the world by looking at pictures, symbols, and books. Piaget believed that children at this stage cannot perform operations or solve problems mentally, but still focus on the physical understanding of the world. For example, a child in this stage could not say if there was the same amount of liquid in two glasses even if they saw you pouring equal amounts of liquid in two cups, with one cup tall and the other short. To a child in this stage, there appears to be more liquid in the short glass because the glass appears to be fuller. Children in this stage also believe that inanimate objects such as toys and trees have human like qualities.
Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)
In this stage, children learn to perform operations such as math and to reason logically. However, Piaget believed that children at this age can only do this with concrete things (things that are right in front of them). He felt they are unable to reason about abstract things (things we can only think about or imagine). If a child in this stage was shown the same two glasses in the example as discussed above, they would have an understanding that there was an equal amount of liquid, even though one glass is taller than the other.
Formal Operational Stage (11 years to adulthood)
At this stage, Piaget believed that people can move beyond what is concrete (or right in front of them) and think in abstract ways about things that are not right in front of them or which they can only imagine. They are able to reason and perform logical thinking about abstract things. People at this stage begin to think about the possibilities of what could be in the future.
Match the skill with the Cognitive Development Stage it represents.
| Skill | Cognitive Development Stage |
|---|---|
| 1. A baby hits the mobile with her hand and laughs when it starts to spin. | a. Sensorimotor Stage |
| 2. A child says, “The tree is dancing” when he sees the leaves blow. | b. Preoperational Stage |
| 3. A teenager dreams about one day becoming a police officer. | c. Concrete Operational Stage |
| 4. A child is able to understand that liquid poured into two different shaped glasses has the same amount of liquid. | d. Formal Operational Stage |
- Answer
-
1). A
2).B
3).D
4).C
Feedback :
1. In the sensorimotor stage babies learn to explore the world around them by using their sense and physical movements such as pushing and kicking. Exploring the world in these ways helps them to learn about the environment around them and that they can have an impact upon it.
2. Children in the preoperational stage often give inanimate objects such as trees, lifelike qualities. They learn to understand the meaning of words and images. They still have trouble thinking abstractly and are unable to understand that the same amount of liquid poured into two different shaped glasses is still the same amount of liquid.
3. Teenagers are able to think abstractly about things that are in the future. Their thinking is no longer limited to what is concrete and right in front of them. This helps them to imagine what life can be like. This is the Formal Operational Stage.
4. Children who understand that the same amount of liquid poured into two different shaped glasses is still the same amount of liquid are in the Concrete Operational Stage.