What is development?
Changes occurring throughout the lifespan that are orderly and adaptive
State the basic principles of human development:
1) Developement is somewhat orderly and predictable
2) There are developmental milestones (walking, talking)
3) Different children develop at different rates
4) Occurs in spurts and plateaus
5) Is affected by nature and nurture
What is cognitive development
The process of acquiring knowledge and the ability to learn and solve problems.
Involves changes in thought, perception and reasoning, memory and language
Involves abstract logical, reflective thinking
Who was Piaget and why is he significant?
- Swiss psychologist worked on understanding children’s cognitive development
- known for theory of cognitive development
- noted age related similarities in how children attempted to solve tasks
- Saw specific deficits and specific strengths in problem solving in relation to age.
What is constructivism?
Assumption that learning is an active process not passive assimilation or memorization
- Individuals construct their understanding and learning is a constructive process.
- Founded by Piaget
- significant to American education
- we construct all learning regardless of if it is taught in a constructivist manner
What are the two constructivist states of learning?
- Equilibrium
- Disequilibrium - we are driven or motivated to learn in this state
