1.

0 INTRODUCTION

Every child is a gift from God. Every child is unique in its own way. It is the
responsible that has been laid upon the shoulder of the society surrounding the child to
shape the child. No child should be left behind.
This coursework is about child development focusing on cognitive development
of a child. Cognitive development refers to development of intelligence according to
stages. Thus, the development of a child can be observed through the childrens
personality, motivation and social characteristic of human being.
It is important to know the development of a child by stages. The development of
a child can be affected by both biological and environmental factor. If a child doesnt
have the balance development or growth, we cannot solely blame on heredity of the
child. Rather we should see the main cause being obstacle for the development and
growth of the child. The society may also be blamed for this.

2.0 CONCEPT OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

The concept of child development can be categorized into the concept of child
and development. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the word child refers to a young
human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority. While
according to According to American Heritage Dictionary, child is a person in between
the stages of birth and puberty. To summarize, the word child can be defined as a
person who has not attained maturity.
On the other hand, concept of development refers to a dynamic process of
progression which occurs in stages. Development can be cathegorized into qualitative
and quantitative process. Human development is changes that are in qualitative, not
quantitative. These changes cannot be measured, but we can see it clearly when we
compare with an early stage than the stage we are right now (Atan Long, 1980).
Qualitative process cannot be measured by any means of apparatus. For example, a
newborn baby doesnt know how to talk. But when he reaches one year old, he is able
to say one or more words like mama or papa. This development cannot be
measured but can be only observed. On the other hand, quantitative process can be
measured by physical means like ruler, weighing scale, and measuring tape. Hence,
growth is categorized as quantitative process as it can be measured. Development
can occur in terms of physical, mental or cognitive, emotional and social.
To sum up, child development is the process or the stages taking place during
biological and physical growth of a child which is from birth till puberty.

3.0 PRINCIPLE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

According to Wikipedia, principle is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to

be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of
something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is
constructed. Development of a child can be divided into four categories which is
physical development, emotional development, cognitive development and social
development. Among which all these developments are very important for a balance
overall development of a child. There are certain principles which show that certain
parts of the body of a child which grows faster than others. However, this development
is same for all children.
The first principle of child development is cephalocaudle. Cephalocaudle is
progression of development of a child from top to down. It begins from head, followed
by arms and then legs. This can be vividly seen in an infant who lifts up his head first
before he could use his arms. He then later uses his legs to crawl, walk or even run. It
all happens in stages. An infant starts to lift up his head when he is two months.
However, according to Medline Plus, a childs neck is unable to support his head when
he is pulled to a sitting position. Within three to four months, his neck is able to support
his head. Later, the infant is able to use his arms when in his fifth to sixth month. The
infant may begin to crawl in his sixth to twelfth months before progressing to walk and
run.
The second principle of child development is proximodistal development.
According to (Novella J. Ruffin, 2001), based on theory, the spinal cord actually
developed first before the outer part of the body. This means that a child attains gross
motor skills before he could attain fine motor skills. Grass motor skills are larger
movement using large muscles. For example, gross motor skill is the ability of a child
to use his muscle in his arms and legs. He is able to run, swim and lift up heavy things.
Whereas, fine motor skills involves smaller actions of the child. This is related to his
ability to use small muscles in fingers and toes. For example, the child is able to draw,
use scissors, and play with toys. Thus, in any parts of a childs body, gross motor skills
begin first before fine motor skills.

The third principle of child development is growth and development is in an

orderly manner. It means that a child will progress stage by stage. For example, a child
cannot straightaway get run as soon as it is born. The child will first learn move his
legs, then to crawl, walk and then only will run. Thus, each and every development
occurs in an orderly manner. Other example will be speaking. Scientists have found
out that before a child could utter the first word, he will be learning the rules of
language and how adults use it to communicate. In the first two months, the child will
make sounds like oohahh. However as the child is in his fourth and fifth months, he
is able to call out his mom, mama and call his dad, papa. The child will further
develop in his speech by catching up more words and eventually will be able to
construct a two to three words sentence. Besides speaking, the childs food intake
should also be an orderly manner. The child should take soft food before taking solid
food. The initial food that should be given for a born new baby is breastmilk. A child
cannot be given rice immediately after his birth. The child slowly progresses to take
soft food and then later to hard food.
The fourth principle of child development is development proceeds from simple
(concrete) to complex. Simple activities like categorizing things into same group or
called assimilation are concrete. Take for instance, a child sees an orange and a
mangosteen. In the beginning stages of cognitive development, if the child was asked
to describe the similarities, he would say that there are no similarities. Seeing no
relationship, the child would try to describe some properties of the fruits. For example,
he would talk about the colors of the fruits. He might say that the orange is in orange
colour while the mangosteen is in purple. Besides, he would also talk about the shape
of the fruits. He would say that they both are round in shape. Thus, he recognizes the
properties of objects in the beginning periods of cognitive development. The child will
be able to classify things; which is a concrete thought of how things look alike. But as
the child progresses in his cognitive development, he observes things in a more
complex manner. He is able to understand the relationship of an orange and a
mangosteen; which is the fruit category. By now, the child is capable of classification.

The fifth principle of child development is that growth and development is a

continuous process. There must be a foundation laid before a house is built. Same
goes to the development of a child. Before acquiring a new skill, the child should
already have the basic principle; and the new kill will be the foundation for further
attainment and mastery of skills. For example, before a child could turn over, he
should be able to lift his head. Other best example would be, a child should be able to
move his arms before grasping an object. The mastery of drawing involves increasing
skills from holding the pencil. Thus, a child adds new skills to the skills that have been
already acquired.
The sixth principle of child development is growth and development depends on
maturation and learning. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word mature means
become fully developed or growth; or fully developed physically. Thus, maturation
biological development or growth in sequential order. The most significant
development responsible for maturation is development of brain and nervous system.
It is important to enhance cognitive and motor skills. Thus, a child will be able to think
more maturely and be able to make physical movements. It so happens in sequential
order that a child must develop to a certain point of maturation in order to step into
new skills. Take for instance, a 1 year old boy is hungry. All he can do is just to cry for
milk. However, if the boy reaches 4 years old boy and is to feel hungry, he wouldnt be
crying for food. He is now able to talk and ask his mother to provide some food. This
shows the maturation and learning. The childs brain has developed further or matured
and with the help of his environment he is able to speak and understand words. The
environment in which the child is living will greatly influence the maturation of a child. A
stimulating environment will help the child to develop his competency.

4.0 FACTORS INFLUENCING CHILDS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Every child has same development characteristics in every aspect especially
cognitive development. However, it is the rate of development which differs from one
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to another. Factors influencing a childs cognitive development can be categorized into

two which are endogen (intrinsic of child) factors and exogen factors (extrinsic of
child).
Endogen factors are the biological factors or factors influencing the child in
mothers womb itself. It is caused by heredity or temperament. A child is born as a
result of fusion of ovum from mother and sperm from father. Thus, a child may inherit
either the mothers characteristics or that of the father. There are also opinions that
only genetic factors influence a childs cognitive development, some who disagree,
while others say that its a mixture of both inheritance and environment. However,
according to a recent study directed by Dr. Bouchard at the University of Minnesota,
evidence supports that nearly 70 percent of your intelligence is inherited. In the survey
carried using both identical and fraternal twins also prove that cognitive development
is inherited. Dr. Thompson believes the findings show that environment has little to do
with intelligence.
Besides genetic factors, defect in sense organs can also influence a childs
cognitive development. Sensory receptors in organs are very important for every child
as they receive stimuli from external environment and convert them into nervous
system signals which then will be transferred to brain through nerves. The brain then
interprets the signals. For example, skin is an organ for sense of touch. If a child would
touch a hot kettle, the sensory receptors in the skin will send information through
sensory nerves to central nervous system which is brain. Thus, if there is a defect in
sensory organs, then the cognitive development of a child will be affected.
Other than that, food can also be the endogen factor influencing cognitive
development of a child. The intake food during pregnancy of a mother should be
balanced as it is vital for both mother and fetus. The brain of fetus grows rapidly from
10th to 18th week of pregnancies. Thus, in this period of time a pregnant mother should
consume appropriate amount of nutrients which are essential for cognitive
development of the fetus. For example, deficiencies in intake of nutrients like amino
acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals can affect nervous system which will eventually

disrupt the development of brain. Not only nutrients inadequacies but overabundance
may also result in stunted development in fetal brain.
On the other hand, exogen factors are the factors are the external factors or
environmental factors affecting a childs cognitive development. The main exogen
factor influencing cognitive development is food intake. A child should take balanced
diet so that the mental development wont be affected by any means. As the old saying
goes, fish is brain food. Besides having proteins, organic vegetables and blueberries
are said to directly benefit the brain. Having sufficient nutrient supplements will prevent
a child from having stunted cognitive development.
Besides that, family of the child plays a very important role in cognitive
development. The environment in which a child is brought up is very important. If the
childs family creates a peaceful environment, then the child will have healthy cognitive
development. However, if the child is stressed emotionally, he will be mentally
challenged. This might lead to retarded cognitive development. For example, if the
parents keep fighting in front of the children and abandon them, there will not be a
peaceful environment for the child. The child will feel lonely and feel as no one to care
for him. This will eventually cause him to depressed, which will in turn challenge his
cognitive development. In addition, the childs cognitive development is also affected
by the way he was brought up. A child is brought up in poverty stricken family can lead
to stressful life too. The child may be less effective, more punitive, and less warm with
children (Mc Loya, 1990). Hence, family can be said that it has a major role to play in a
childs cognitive development.

Apart from that, the cognitive development of a child is also influenced by peer
group. Peer influence can be said as powerful influence. This is because, when a child
begins to mingle with friends, he is coming out of family boundary. That means he is
learning to socialize with his friends. When a child mingles with his peers, his
intelligence is believed to increase. In some cases, it is believed that young children
will easily imitate their friends. For example, when a teacher asks her students to draw
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a building, the child will immediately look at his friends drawing to get an idea on what
to draw. He might even draw a same picture like that of his friends. Somehow this will
steer the childs cognitive development.
Last but not least, schools play a very important role in influencing a childs
cognitive development. In fact, one of the main purposes of schools is for the benefit of
cognitive development of a child. Teaching and learning process done in schools will
directly affect the cognitive development of a child. The lessons carried by a teacher
are to give input to her students and the children will gain new experiences and
knowledge. Different types of lessons are carried out by the teacher according to the
cognitive levels of the children. This is because; different children achieve different
level of cognitive development. Thus, lessons taught for the children should be
suitable with their mental ability. By doing this, a child will slowly develop from stage to
stage in intelligence. The teacher will try hard to bring up the students step by step to
attain the stages of cognitive development. Teachers teach the students on the basis
of no child left behind.

5.0 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF A CHILD (PIAGETS CONSERVATION TASKS

ON CHILDREN AGED FOUR AND SEVEN)
Jean Piaget is a famous physiologist in Switzerland. He became interested in
science especially in development thinking. He labeled development thinking genetic
epistemology. According to Jean Piaget, cognitive development goes through four
stages that is sensorimotor ( from birth to 2 years), pre operational periods ( 2-7

years), concrete operational periods (7- 11 years), and formal operational periods
(after 11 years).
The first stage which is the sensorimotor stage is the earliest stage among all in
cognitive development. This stage is named as sensori motor because a child in this
stage uses senses and motor skills.This is the stage where the infants receive stimuli
from external environment. They are able use their senses such as sense of touch,
sound, smell, and sense of sight. This is the phase where the child uses physical
movements to understand the surroundings. For instance, the child moves his arms
and legs, closing and opening his eyes voluntarily, and plays with his toys by grasping
them. at the later stage of sensorimotor, children will gain object permanence.
According Jean Piaget, the development of object permanence is one of the most
important accomplishments at the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development.
Object permanence is the ability of a child to understand that an object exist though
they cannot be seen. Previously, the child was unable to represent objects in their
memory. This is because they do not have memory of objects out of sight. After
mastering the concept of object permanence, the child will acquire directed groping.
The child in this stage will vary his movements to see how the results differ. For
example, the child will shake the clatter to see if makes the sound. He might even pull
objects towards him using strings, or might even tilt the objects. By doing this, he is
learning to see cause-and-effect relationships. Once he masters the effects of his
activities, he will intend those effects.
The second stage of cognitive development is the preoperational stage.during
preoperational stage, a child will increasingly adapt to symbols. This can be seen
when uses objects to represent things like using broom to represent a horse while
playing. Not only that, the child is also able to pretend or role play like a mother,
teacher, doctor or even a lawyer. Besides, a child in this stage is very transductive. He
will try to make inferences from one specific to another. For example, a child sees a
round shape thing and asked his mother, what was it. His mother replied that it was a
ball. Thus, when he sees moon in the sky, he calls it ball too. As for him, everything
which is in round shape is a ball. In addition, a child in this stage is very egocentric.
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Egocentric means that a child sees things in his very point of view. In order to
investigate the mental abilities of children in this stage, Piaget uses three dimensional
display of mountain scene. Children were asked to select a picture based on what they
have observed. They find it quite hard to do this task. Then the children were asked to
select a picture where the child sitting on the other side of the mountain looking at
different viewpoint would observe. However, the children chose picture showing their
own scene of the mountain. This is because the children are egocentric or selfcentered and unable to see others viewpoint. They are unable to consider others
perspective. Somehow or rather, the child in the latter part of this stage will be able to
distinguish between reality and fantasy.
The third stage of Piagets cognitive development is concrete operational stage.
At this stage, a child will gain a better perception of mental development. The child will
be able to think in a logic manner about concrete events. However, a child in this stage
will have difficulty in understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts. Piaget divided
logic thinking of a child into two manners. They are inductive logic and deductive logic.
Inductive logic is the ability of a child to think from specific experience to general
principles. Inductive logic is based on experience or observations. Whereas deductive
logic is arguments based on laws or principles. For example, a child said that he threw
a ball to the air and it fell down. Thus the ball will fall down again if he was to throw it
again. This is called inductive as the child is thinking based on his observation. While
his mother argues that the ball will definitely fall down because of pull of gravity based
on Newtons Law. This is deductive logic. However, the child in this stage will have
difficulty in using deductive logic. Apart from that, a child in this stage begins to be less
egocentric. It means that the child will be able to think from other persons perspective.
Another ability that a child gains in this stage is reversibility. This refers to the ability of
the child to mentally cancel out the change that has been made. For example, in
Piagets Conservation Task, a child is given two glasses of same size containing same
amount of water. Then, the water in one of the glass is poured into a bigger glass and
the child is tested on the amount of water. The child in this stage is able to conclude
that when water in the big glass is poured back into the small glass, it will give the
same amount water level as the other glass. This is called reversibility. Another ability
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acquired by the child in this stage is classification. The child will be able to realize that
things in certain groups can actually fit into another. This classification is done by the
student through existing schema. For instance, a child will categorize dogs into animal
category and at the same can fit in mammal category.
The last stage of cognitive development by Piaget is the formal operational
stage. In this stage, the child begins to reason hypothetically and systematically. In this
stage, Piaget believed that it is important for the child to acquire deductive logic to
solve problems. Deductive logic is the ability of the child to use general principle
obtains a specific outcome. Deductive logic is used in hypothetical situations and
usually is necessary in science and mathematics. There are two important
characteristics in formal operational stage. They are hypothetic-deductive reasoning
and propositional in nature. Hypothetic deductive reasoning is using a general theory
to make a specific prediction for a situation. For example, when a child faces a
problem, he will come out with all possible outcomes that may affect his actions.
Based on the outcomes, he will deduce a specific hypothesis that might be the result.
Thus, a child in this stage is able to consider possible result of actions rather than
relying exclusively on earlier experiences. Next is propositional characteristic in nature.
It means that a child does not require concrete stuffs to make judgments. They can
evaluate things in a logical manner without a need of concrete evidence.

The

following are task carried on children aged 4 and 7. The result of our findings are
recorded below.

CONSERVATION TASK ON NUMBER

TASK
ORIGINAL POSITION

TRANSFORMATION

AGE OF CHILD

11

4 Years Old
( Nurul Shakinah
binti Muhammad
Nor)

Question
Are there same number of coins
in each row?

Question
Are there same number of coins
in each row?

Answer
Yes.

Answer
No. One row contains more
coins than the other.

Question
Are there same number of coins
in both the arrangement?

Question
Are there same number of coins
in both the arrangement?

7 Years Old
( Nur Sofia Suraya
binti Najib)

Answer
Yes.
Explanation on Conservation of Number

Answer
Yes.

12

I have carried out Piagets Conservation Task on volume two children of age 4
and 7. The child aged 4, Nurul Shakinah and the child aged 7, Nur Sofia were shown
coins arranged close together and on the other side was coins spread up all in mess.
When they were asked regarding the number of coins, Shakinah said that the number of
coins were not same. However, Sofia answered that the number of coins were same.
Their answer and explanation contradict each other.
By looking at this, it can be said that Shakinah is still in the preoperational stage
of cognitive development. She is still not matured and unable to make rational decision.
She is not able to reverse operations in her head. She doesnt have the understanding
that the number of coins will be just the same if she was to arrange arrange them close
to each other. When she was asked to give reason for her answer, she said that the
coins which were in mess occupied more space and thus, they are more. Her thought is
still intuitive as she reveals the style of thinking Piaget called centralized. She
considers only one characteristic whereby the coins take up more space on the table.
She is unable to make judgments based on the number of coins. Her cognitive level is
still low as she is centralized to sight. She it means that she says what she sees and
unable to make cause-and-effect relationship
In contrast, the child aged seven, Sofia can be said that she has reached the
concrete level of cognitive development. This is because she can picture the
transformation taking place. Unlike Shakinah, Sofias answer that the number of coins
were same is based on rational thinking. She is able to understand reversibility. The
number of coins will be same if they were to be arranged in a close manner. This proves
that the child has attain concrete level of cognitive development. However, she is still
bound to physical as she needs concrete objects to arrange and manipulate situations.

CONSERVATION TASK ON LENGTH

13

TASK
ORIGINAL POSITION

TRANSFORMATION

AGE OF CHILD
4 Years Old
( Nur Farah Adilah
binti Sheikh Nasir)

Question
Are there same number of coins
in both the arrangement?

Question
Are there same number of coins
in both the arrangement?

Answer
Yes.

Answer
Yes.

Question
Is each of these straws just as
long as the other?

Question
Now, is each of these straws just
as long as the other?

Answer
Yes.

Answer
Yes.

7 Years Old
( Muhammad Shafiq
Aizat bin
Muhammad Zainal
Abiddin)

14

Explanation on Conservation of Length

I carried out conservation task on length on two children of age 4 and 7. The
children of age 4, Nur Farah and of age 7, Shafiq were ask to identify the length of
straws. First, two straws of same length were arranged in same position. The children
were whether the straws are of same length and their answer was yes. However, their
answers contradict when the position of the straw was changed by moving one of the
straws a bit forward. Farah said one of the straw was longer than the other; while Syafiq
argued that they were just same in length.
Based on Farahs answer, it can be said that she is still in the preoperational
stage of cognitive development. Thus, her maturity and thinking ability has not reached
concrete level. She is unable to make reverse operations in her mind that if she was to
put back the straw in horizontal to the other straw, the length would same. When she
was asked to give reason for her answer, she said one of the straw is longer than the
other. Her thought is still intuitive as she reveals the style of thinking Piaget called
centralized. She is unable to make judgments logically. She is very egocentric as cant
see things from others perspective.
This indicates that Shafiq has attained concrete level of cognitive development.
This is because she can picture the transformation taking place. Shafiqs answer that
the length of both the straws after transformation is same based on logical thinking. He
is able to understand reversibility. He said, the size of the straw has not been changed.
It was just the position of one straw was changed. If the straw was to be put back in its
original place, the result will be same length of straws. This proves that the child has
achieved concrete level of cognitive development. However, he is still bound to physical
as he needs concrete objects to arrange and manipulate situations.

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CONSERVATION TASK ON VOLUME

TASK
ORIGINAL POSITION

TRANSFORMATION

AGE OF CHILD
4 Years Old
( Nurul Huda Aina
binti Mohamad
Tajuddin)

Question
Is there same amount of water in
both the glasses?

Question
Is there same amount of water
in both the cup and the glass?

Answer
Yes.

Answer
No. The glass contains more
water compared to the cup.

Question
Is there same amount of water in
both the glasses?

Question
Is there same amount of water
in both the cup and the glass?

Answer

Answer

7 Years Old
( Nur Hana Diyana
binti Mohd Rosli)

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Yes.

Yes.

Explanation on Conservation of Volume

I have carried out Piagets Conservation Task on volume two children of age 4
and 7. The child aged 4, Nurul Huda Aina and the child aged 7, Nur Hana Diyana were
shown two glasses containing same volume of water. When they were asked regarding
the volume of water, they both agreed that the glasses contain same amount of water.
However, their answers contradict each other when one of the glasses of water was
poured into a bigger cup of polystyrene. Nurul Huda said that the volume of water in
glass is more than that of polystyrene. However, Nur Hana argues that the volume of
water in both the container is just the same.
By looking at this, it can be said that Nurul Huda is still in the preoperational
stage of cognitive development. This is because; her maturity and thinking ability has
not reached concrete level. She is not able to reverse operations in her head. In short,
she didnt master the concept of invariance yet. She couldnt make operations in her
mind that if the water in the cup was to be poured back into the glass, it would be same
volume of water as the other glass. When she was asked to give reason for her answer,
she said that polystyrene cup contains less water because the cup is big and only three
quarter of water is filled, whereas the glass contains full amount of water. Her thought is
still intuitive as she reveals the style of thinking Piaget called centralized. She
considers only one characteristic whereby the cup is big. She is unable to make

17

judgments based on the volume of water. She is not able to think that no water has
been added or taken out; and that just the container has been changed.
On the other hand, the child aged seven; Nur Hana can be said that she has
reached the concrete level of cognitive development. This is because she can picture
the transformation taking place. Unlike Huda, Hana answered that the amount of
volume in the cup and glass is the same based on logical thinking. She is able to
understand reversibility. She said, No water has been added or taken out; and that just
the container has been changed. Thus, the amount of water is just the same. She is
also able to explain that increase in the size of container reduces the water level, not
the amount of it. This proves that the child has attained concrete level of cognitive
development. However, she is still bound to physical as she needs concrete objects to
arrange and manipulate situations.

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6.0 IMPLICATION OF CHILDS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT TO TEACHING AND

LEARNING PROCESS
It is very important for a teacher to have an understanding on cognitive
development of a child. This is because a teacher will be able to understand better the
reason behind a childs behavior. Knowing the childs behavior will help the teacher to
adapt herself with the children.
No two children are the same. This is the basic knowledge that a teacher
should know. Some children have high rate of cognitive development compared to
others. Having this knowledge will help the teacher to identify children with low rate of
cognitive development and high rate of cognitive development. To do this, a teacher
can assess her students by giving simple tests and categorized the students according
to their levels. For example, two students in the same standard will attain different
marks in their test. This is because one will have higher rate of cognitive development
than the other.
Thus, identifying students according to their abilities will help the teacher to
separate the students into different level of classes and carry out different lessons in
the classes. For example, a teacher might ask the students with higher cognitive
development to simply spell out the words. Whereas for students with lower cognitive
development or slow-learners, the teacher might chunk a word according to their
syllables and use different colors for each syllable so that the children will be able to
visualize in their heads.
Besides that, a teacher having knowledge about cognitive development will be
able

19

could be the cause of childs slow to sympathize with slow-learners and teach the
students patiently. Thus, the teacher wont be angry if students are slow in learning.
She would rather try to find alternative ways of teaching. For example, she would plan
certain activities whereby the students will be excited and easily attain studies. She
might ask the students to carry out role play, singing or poem reciting to boost their
English Language proficiency. Mostly it wouldnt be a good start for these students by
just reading articles and answering questions based on it.
Not only that, the teacher with knowledge of cognitive development of a child will
be able to do research on the factors affecting a childs cognitive development. A
childs cognitive can be either affected by heredity or environmental factors. For
example, if the teacher finds out that the childs mental development is affected by
imbalance diet, and then she can have a conversation concerning this matter with the
childs parents about it. Probably mental depression cognitive development. This
mental depression could be the cause of family problem; may be facing poverty. In
addition, the child may also be taking imbalance food. If that would be the reason for
childs low cognitive development, the teacher can talk to the organization in the
school to provide food for example through RMT programme.

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7.0 CONCLUSION OR SUGGESTIONS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS

Teachers play a very important role in moulding children. This is because school
is the second home for children as they spend almost for more than six hours in school.
Thus, teachers also play a role as parent. It is a burden that has befallen the teachers
to mould their attitude as well as impart knowledge. They are responsible for the
childrens cognitive development. Children can be divided into four categories of
teaching learning process.
The first category is teaching pre operational children who are in between two to
seven years old. Children in this category need guidance of teachers as they just begin
to acquire knowledge. They are still not able to reason things. Thus, it is important for a
teacher to use concrete teaching aids and visual aids while teaching. For example, if
the teacher was to teach name of fruits and colors, she can bring different colors of
fruits and question them. This will make the lesson interesting and the children will get
keenly involved in the activity; rather than chalk and talk where students will be
passive learners. At this stage, whatever the children visualize will be strongly rooted in
their mind. This will help to boost their memory power and eventually contribute to
cognitive development.
Besides that, teachers should give short and clear instructions to the children.
Long instructions will confuse them as they are not able to catch up. Besides, the word
choice of a teacher in her classroom should not be bombastic rather should be of
simple words. For example, when a teacher is giving instruction probably to draw a
picture, she should give a clear instruction using simple words so that the students
wouldnt be blur about it. She can also repeat to emphasize on her instruction; or else
she can even draw a simple picture on the white board for the children to follow. This
will give the students confidence in what they are doing. This will boost confidence in
them that what they are doing is right. This is because children learn how to imitate in
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this early stage of cognitive development. Thus, students do not really understand by
mere instructions; but through her drawing on the white board.
Apart from that, in order to contribute to cognitive development of children, a
teacher should carry many activities which will make the children active learners. For
example, the teacher can give hands-on practice for the children like forming words
from cut-out letters. The students will really use their intelligence in forming those
words. While other activity which will contribute in cognitive development of children is
by providing wide range of experiences. For instance, the teacher can bring her
students to Zoo Negara, Botanical Garden, and parks. Children will gain a lot of
knowledge besides gaining new experiences.
The second stage will be teaching operational children with children between the
ages of seven to eleven. In this stage, children will still require concrete resources in
learning new skills. The teacher should provide solid three dimensional models to
represent certain objects. For example, the teacher uses a 3D magnet to explain about
North Pole and South Pole in a magnet; as well as to describe about attraction or
repulsion of opposite poles. Not only that, the teacher should also provide opportunities
for the children to manipulate objects. For instance, the students should be given a
chance to carry their own experiment to test respond of plants towards sunlight. My
carrying out their own experiments, students will be able to develop their cognitive
level. They will be able to think more maturely.
Furthermore, teaching method of a teacher should revolve slowly with the
cognitive development of her students. Beginning from simple methods of teaching,
teacher can slowly bring in complex tasks depending on the cognitive development of
students. For example, the teacher should give a simple reading text for the students in
the beginning, and then gradually increase the level of toughness of the text. At the
end, the can give student longer and complex stories for the students to read. She can
also ask the students to compare their lives with the characters that of in the text. She
can also provide open-ended questions to generate students ability to think logically.
This will simulate their thinking ability to think and reason things.
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