Running Head: RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

My Research Assignment
Dodmattie Jaipersaud
Child Development: 2-6 Years – ECE -124 RNA
Vidya Rampersad
28th November, 2020

I have maintained Academic Integrity in my work by adhering to the values of honesty and integrity. I declare
that this work respects APA requirements as well as policies within the Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness.

Student’s Digital Signature: D. Jaipersaud

Student Number: N01392951

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Content

 Questions reflected upon

 Definition of cognitive development
 Cognitive development milestones (stages)
 The importance of cognitive development
 Piaget’s theory demonstrated
 Jerome Bruner’s theory
 What are cognitive developmental issues?
 How to enhance cognitive skills in children (activities)?
 Who/what is the biggest impact of promoting cognitive development?
 Activities that can be done to improve children’s cognitive skills
 Skills that fall under cognitive development
 Cognitive development in children ages 21/2 -6 years as outlined in ELECT
 Reflection
 Self-evaluation
 References

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Research Assignment

Cognitive Development in Children 2-6 years

A few questions to reflect upon while undergoing this research project has helped me in discovering the
fundamental perspectives toward cognitive development and children’s thinking as I proceed in the approach to
working with little minds. Children’s knowledge and advancing this knowledge is of vital importance to
consider by an educator.

Questions reflected upon:

 How does cognitive development in children happen? Is it a perpetual or intermittent process?

 What are the factors that influence cognitive development in children ages 2 – 6 years old?
 How can I promote children’s cognitive development through play and exploration?
 What hands-on activities can be provided to stimulate children’s cognitive development?
 How do children process knowledge from one stage to the other?
 How are theories linked to the development of cognitive skills?

What is Cognitive Development?

Definition

Cognitive development refers to the development of thinking across the lifespan. (nobaproject.com>). Cognitive
development is a child’s mental capacity for problem solving, language acquisition, learning about objects and
relations between cause and effect. (www.adam-mila.com>).

“During a child’s early years the brain makes connections at a rapid rate. “There is a strong connection between
art, thinking and what the child knows”. (Eisner, 1976). Children’s brain develops rapidly in response to
genetics and their environment. The genes provide the initial structure for brain development while the
experiences within the environments contribute to the overall shaping or development of the brain”. (Dietze &
Kashin, pg.25). The nature nurture principle is basically applied to the developmental milestone and in
particular, the cognitive area.

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“During the first four years of a child’s life, the developing brain becomes organized based on life experiences
and environment that the child is exposed to and that form the foundation of the brain’s architecture”. Children
become a reflection of their environment. e.g. if a child is exposed to environments that are rich with
experiences, safe and predictable, they can grow to be self-regulating, thoughtful, and a productive member of
family, community and society whereas if a child’s world lacks supportive relationships, is chaotic, stressed or
bored, and lacks limited nutrition and stimulation, these children are more likely to become impulsive,
aggressive, inattentive, and have difficulties with relationships”. (Dietze & Kashin, pg.26)

“The principles of brain development outlined by the Canadian Institute of Child Health, 2008, states that:

 “The child’s environment shapes the brain’s wiring.

 A child’s experiences the outside world through the senses which enables the brain to create or modify
connections.
 The brain operates on a “use it or lose it” principle.
 Relationships with other people early in life are the major source of development of the emotional and
social parts of the brain”. (Dietze & Kashin, pg.25)

Cognitive Development Milestones (Stages)

In the cognitive domain a lot of children by age two, starts to understand concepts and follow simple
instructions. At this stage children become aware of simple commands e.g. “yes”, “wait”, “no” etc. They are
able to follow two steps oral directions e.g. “bring the ball and put it in the box”. At this age children are big
explorers, they are inquisitive and want to try everything e.g. they love to try other person’s shoes especially
bigger shoes. They are imitators. What they see is what they copy e.g. my 2 ½ year old nephew, after seeing my
mom wash the dishes and placing them in the draining rack would take them out of the rack and wash them
again by climbing on a chair as soon as mom turns away. They love to copy from their siblings. “They imitate
more complex adult actions e.g. playing house, doing laundry etc”.(verywellmind.com). They start to
understand sign language e.g. a head shake which symbolizes “no”. “They become able to match objects with
their uses, name objects in a picture book and stack objects by category”.(verywellmind.com).

By age 3, reasoning skills starts to come into action, these children starts to recognize letters/numerals/colors
etc. and become aware of the concept “one and two”. By age 3-4 years, children are capable of analyzing the
world around them in more complex ways. As they observe things they are able to place them in categories

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which are referred as schemas. They start to make sense of their language and thinking and poses such
questions as “why’, “how”, etc”.(verywellmind.com).

By age 4, they start to recognize numerals 1-10, recognize letters of the alphabet and associate each with its
initial sound. Children at this stage can retell parts of a story and tell made up stories. They are able to identify
similarities and differences and some can tell the time on a clock. At this stage they are able to draw with some
accuracy, form letters and make predictions about a story/event. “Children during these years learn to observe
and listen to instructions and seek answers to questions”.(verywellmind.com). While not every child can
accomplish these tasks, they will develop these skills later. By age 5, children become more knowledgeable
about basic necessities such as food, different types of clothes worn for different occasions, why money is
important etc. Their drawing becomes clearer e.g. drawing all the body parts in their respective position and
writing their names independently. They love to draw and shade, they find a lot of interest in storybooks.
Children begin to develop a powerful resiliency. They can shift their focus quickly from a sudden
disappointment to create a positive outcome. They are able to redirect their attention quickly and make the most
of what’s left of it e.g. turning an interrupted game due to rain into playing doll’s house, reading a storybook or
helping mommy in the kitchen. During this stage children are expected to become upset because they can’t
carry on what they wanted but it’s amazing how they overcome a disappointment and turns it into an
opportunity.

1. 2 year old 2. 4-5years old 3. 6-8years old

Photos demonstrating cognitive development as they progresses to each milestones

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The Importance of Cognitive Development

“Children who are engaged in active play are shown to be advance in cognitive development, score higher on
tests of imagination and creativity, and have an advance ability to think inventively. This is in support of
Piaget’s perspective that play is vital to cognitive development. Play episodes allow children to assimilate the
information that they gather and then, by using it in play, make sense of it”. (Dietze & Kashin, pg.119).

“According to Piaget, children in the pre-operational stage of development build on skills learned and mastered
during the sensory-motor stage”. (www.verywellmind.com).

“Children’s play at this stage is imaginary and filled with fantasies. Piaget believes that as children advances in
their cognitive development, their play eventually will move from simple make-believe to plots which include
more characters and scenarios, games and sophisticated rules etc”. “Playing isn’t just fun, it is an important part
of brain development”. (Piaget), (www.verywellmin.com).

“Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting like little scientists as they
perform experiments, make observations and learn about the world around them. As children continually
interact with the world they add new knowledge as they build upon existing knowledge, and adapt previously
held ideas to accommodate new information”. (www.verywellmin.com).

“Children should be able to improve their ability to focus to remember information and think more critically as
they age. Cognitive skills allow children to understand the relationships between ideas, to grasp the process of
cause and effect and to improve their analytical skills”. (www.verywellfamilyy.com>)

“Parents and caregivers need not to think of “what” children think or learn, but “how” they are thinking and
learning”. (www.verywellfamilyy.com>). The way children pay attention and think of the world around them, a
child’s everyday experiences, working memory, attention, as well as the ability to manage and respond to new
experiences and information, taking in new information, and processing it on a daily basis defines the
importance of cognitive development in a child”.

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Children love to participate in make –believe plays

Jean Piaget categorizes the cognitive development process into four different stages as children advance
in age.

Image taken from:(support.google.com)

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Piaget’s developmental theory demonstrated

Image taken from:(support.google.com)

Piaget’s developmental stages demonstrated

Piaget explains through his theory how children think in the pre-operational stage.
He believes that children’s pretend play helps them solidify new schemes they were developing. Piaget
defines three terms to express his theory; he believes that in:

 “Egocentrism – Egocentrism in early childhood refers to the tendency of young children to

think that everyone sees things in the same way as the child e.g. a child may think that a dog eats
the same kind of foods as he/she does.

 Syncretism – Syncretism refers to a tendency to think that if two events occur simultaneously,
one has caused the other e.g. decorating with fairy-lights means it’s Christmas.

 Animism – Animism refers to attributing life-like qualities to objects e.g. the cup is alive, the
chair that falls down and hits the child’s ankle is mean, and the toys need to stay home because
they are tired”.
 (courses.lumenlearning.com)

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Working with early learners, an educator will continually experience these types of behavior from
children during the preoperational stage. As educators we need to support and broaden children’s
cognitive skills when they are engaged in these types of thinking.

Jerome Bruner’s Cognitive Theory

The Jerome Bruner’s insights on cognitive development in children

Jerome Bruner intellectual theory on cognitive development “proposes that learners construct their own
knowledge and do this by organizing and categorizing information using a coding system. He believed
that the most effective way to develop a coding system is to discover it rather than being told by the
teacher”. (www.simplypsychology.org>bruner).

Bruner believed that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts
based upon their current/pass knowledge. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs
hypothesis and make decisions, relying on cognitive structure to do so.
(www.simplypsychology.org>bruner ).
Bruner developed a model for the way children turn experiences into knowledge. The model consists of:
1. “Enactive – children represent and understand using physical actions. The act out experiences to
learn and remember.
2. Iconic – children will use one thing to represent something else or create their own images.
3. Symbolic – children are able to represent and understand the world around them using words and
ideas. They don’t need to act out or use objects when expressing experiences”. (Baker, B. Et Al,
2102:321).

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Picture 1. Picture 2. Picture 3.

Bruner’s theory demonstrated using pictures: Picture 1, shows how children act out their
experience (market vendor) to show the importance of plant base foods/produce. Picture 2 shows
that the children use the experience from picture 1 to make a decision that in order to get plant foods
they can grow their own plants. The children now transforms that new information from picture 2
and formed a hypothesis that new plants often comes from seeds as demonstrated in picture 3.

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Bruner’s main idea are:
 “Acquisition – Gaining new information
 Transformation – Changing old information into new information.
 Evaluation – Judging whether the change of information makes sense”.
(courses.lumenlearning.com)

From the Bruner’s perspective educators should provide activities that children can role play to connect
to the real world. The educator also must demonstrate these activities, observe the children in their play,
support them when needed and allow them to be independent. The educator then widens the child’s
knowledge by providing more complex tasks for the child to achieve.

Connecting children to the real world through their experiences.

Children’s knowledge are widen through demonstration, observation, and support.

What are Cognitive Development Issues?

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The risk factors and interventions influencing cognitive development in children can be divided into three
domains. These are:

 Nutrition
 Environment
 Maternal-Child Interactions

Nutrition
In childhood years when children are malnourished, this causes children to have less energy and become
less interested to learn which negatively influences cognitive development and academic performance.
(www.ausmed.com>). “Young children, whose brains are rapidly developing, need a nutrient-dense diet
to help them as they process the world around them. Without the right nutrients, children might struggle
to develop the skills to maintain concentration, which becomes increasingly important as they get older”.
(kidsclubchildcare.com.au).

Environment

“Environments with inadequate stimulation and few opportunities for learning are associated with poor
cognitive development outcomes. Studies have indicated higher cognitive function when children are
given stimulating environments”. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov>). “Children benefit significantly from having
long periods of time to explore in environments equipped with interesting open-ended materials that can
be used in many ways, inviting investigation and complex play. Activities in outdoor spaces that are
designed to inspire investigation with bodies, senses, and minds improve children’s physical health and
emotional well-being and enhance their capabilities for self-regulation, creative problem-solving, and
communication. Children’s self-discipline, self-awareness, and ability to focus also improve, as does
their development of social skills such as cooperation and flexibility”. (How Does Learning Happen, p. )

Maternal-Child Interactions
“Poor maternal mental health is associated with poor child growth and development. It is thought that
depressed women interact differently with their children than mothers without depression, leading to
poorer cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes”. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov>). Poor cognitive
performance of children is significantly associated with prenatal and postnatal nutritional history, such
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as birth weight, head circumference and height, the environment, and maternal-infant interaction”.
(researchgate.net).

How to Enhance Cognitive Skills in Children (Activities)?

“Play is vital for cognitive development in children. Through play children acquire the ability to think,
understand, communicate, remember, imagine, work, and make predictions. When children are engaged
in play, they are solving problems, creating, experimenting, thinking and learning all the time”.
(raisingchildren.net.au). “Through a variety of games, children enhance their cognitive skills in which
they learn problem solving and creativity e.g. younger children develops this skill by building with
blocks and playing ‘peek-a-boo” while older children gets engaged in board games, puzzles, hide-and-
seek, paintings etc”. (verywellmind.com).

“Art serves as a manifestation of a child’s thinking. A child’s artwork gives insight as to what a child
knows about the world and how to represent that knowledge”. (Englebright Fox & Schirmacher, 2014/
Dietze & Kashin, pg. ). Through Art, children think out loud by translating their ideas and expressions
into visual language.

“Block play expands children’s cognitive skills as they become engaged in sorting and classifying to
create a structure e.g. when children create a structure they develop a pattern of identifying shapes, sizes,
weight and use. This knowledge is later expanded. When children are involved in classification and
comparison skills, they are required to think, experiment, communicate, problem solve, and strategize”.
(Dietze & Kashin, pg.267).
“Researches have shown that music and movement poses many benefits on early brain development.
Studies have shown that music accelerates brain development in young children in the areas of the brain
that is responsible for processing sound, language development, speech perception, and reading skills.
Enriching music and movement experiences contribute to many aspects of brain development. Children
who are experiencing developmental delays benefit from a combination of physical therapy and creative
dance. This action improves their memory, increases physical fitness and encourages self-expression.
Children require experiences such as music and movement for optimal brain development otherwise
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brain stimulation and development might be slowed down. Researchers suggest that music increases
children’s overall intelligence. Bruner’s and Piaget’s theories co-relate as children’s knowledge widens
when repetitive movements happens”. (Dietze & Kashin, pg.403).

Children engaged in play experience that incorporates cognitive skills

Who/What are the biggest impact of promoting cognitive development?

“Teachers and parents are the biggest influence in stimulating and enhancing cognitive development in a
child’s development milestone. Supporting children in practical ways can put ideas into action”.
(verywellmind.com ).
“Educators and parents need to remember that children learn best by doing things rather than hearing
about them. Children need to discover for themselves and not be taught alone. Piaget believes that the
learning process is as much important as the end result. Piaget outlined in his theory that one should not
try to teach a child something he/she is not ready to learn. Children “must” master one level before they
move to the next. He believes that collaboration is best for children as they learn from each other as they
do from parents and teachers”. (www.ausmed.com).

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Putting ideas into action: Children not only get to hear about plant foods but experienced their taste

Educators and caregivers can support a child’s cognitive development by:

 “Helping the child to keep focus and limit distractions.
 Expressing interest in a child’s everyday activities through observation and reflecting on their
accomplishment.
 Spark curiosity by offering materials in new ways.
 Being interested in doing and noticing things with the child.
 Challenging materials and activities, yet interesting in nature, which is not too complicated,
should be given to the child.
 Children’s accomplishment should be celebrated but not over-done.
 Elicit previous knowledge from the children, e.g. recapping
 Provide opportunities for the child to categorize, match, sort, compare and contrast with toys and
activities.
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 Helping children in developing memories by keeping the routine and room arrangement
predictable e.g. toys should be kept where children are able to find them”.
(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Some activities that can be done to improve children’s cognitive skills are :
 Play simple board and card games with children.
 Read books and telling jokes and riddles.
 Encourage stacking and building games or playing with cardboard boxes.
 Do simple jig-saw puzzles and memory game.
 Play games that combine moving and singing e.g. head and shoulders, if you’re happy and you
know it.
 While driving, simple “spotto” games can be played e.g. who can see something green?
 Allow children to participate in helping to cook. Children learn about measuring, counting and
naming healthy foods.
 Play outside with children or take them on nature walk”. (www.ausmed.com)

Skills that falls under cognitive development are:

 Logic and reasoning

 Memory and working memory
 Attention
 Control
 Flexibility, ability to adapt
 Evaluation and analyzing skills
 Auditory processing
 Visual processing
(raisingchildren.net.au)

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Child is engaged in independent reading (visual processing skill)

Cognitive development in children ages 2.5 -6 years of age as outline in the ELECT document
(OMEd,204), (A combination of Piaget’s and Bruner’s theory)

Domains Indicator Representation

Self-regulation Monitor behavior

Problem Solve Brain storm solutions and

outcomes

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Representation Pretending to be someone else

Questioning Asking questions to solve

problems

Observing Visually attending to things in

the environment

Collecting and organizing Describing and comparing

information data

Reflecting and reaching Identifying patterns in events

conclusions

Communicating findings Presenting their ideas to others

through drawings, telling,
music and movement

Reasoning Logically Exploring causes

Classifying Comparing, matching and

sorting according to common
properties

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Seriating Placing objects, pictures and
things in order along a
continuum

Counting Counting in meaningful ways

in play and daily living

Determining quantity Matching numbers to sets of

objects

Comparing quantities Counting to compare

quantities

Representing numbers Reading numbers written in

words

Describing and determining Identifying position of events

ordinal numbers in a sequence

Understanding two- Recognizing and naming

dimensional and three- shapes
dimensional shapes

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Identifying patterns Identifying, creating, copying
and extending patterns

Completing simple number Identifying more than, less

operations than, or same when working
with concrete objects

Using number symbols and Identifying and using the “+”

operations and “-“ symbols

Using spatial relations, Following and identifying

directions and maps directions

Chart has been constructed using information from the ELECT document and Google photos. (OMEd,
2014), (www.google.com>photos>about).

Reflection

Children construct knowledge based upon their imagination, representation, imitation and play.

Children should be given every opportunity to explore, interact and feel a sense of self in their early foundations
of life. Being a role model to help children see the world through their eyes and helping to build their self
esteem is a priority. Children are the world’s most valuable resources and they need to be taught how to think.
Each child should be supported and valued to meet that child’s individual needs in his/her learning journey.

Different theoretical perspectives carry different outcomes but it is my belief that every theory has a part to play
in the demonstration and delivery of the curriculum to advance children’s learning. No one theory stands by
itself. “A child should be taught to fish and not feed him/her the fish”. (Vidya Rampersaud, mentor).

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Self Evaluation

I do believe that each child is unique in his/her own way. Every child develops differently at his/her own pace.
Children look at the world differently through their eyes. Childhood is play. Play is an essential part of every
child’s life. Children need to feel safe and free while learning life skills. Children should be given love, respect
and encouragement to help them reach their full potential.

I believed that a child’s environment should elicit play at all times and children should be given the opportunity
to express their freedom of play and choices. Children need to be provided at all times with the right
environment and adequate time for their play experiences. Children’s play should be encouraged and given
feedback which encourages them to form new ideas and solve problems.

As an educator, I will ensure that I create new ideas that will spark children’s curiosity and try new things to
motivate them. Finding out the child’s temperament, the child’s strengths, areas to improve on and ways to
support them is vital to me as this will allow me to focus on individual needs, and finding strategies to support
the advancement of their cognitive development. Adding good questioning techniques to my practice would
support children in the scaffolding process.

Applying the Jerome Bruner’s theory will allow me as a teacher to help children who are not particularly
interested in a topic in the enactive stage to ensure that children have access to enough manipulative to help
them grasp a concept and engage every child regardless of their cognitive concept at the moment. Children need
to build on every stage of their cognitive foundation as no developmental stage can be skipped. It is important to
provide experiences that stimulate the child to solve problem at different levels as this should serve in future
development. Revisiting the curriculum repeatedly will help children to grasp concepts fully.

To implement Piaget’s theory into my practice, I will ensure active exploration, inquiry learning, discovery
learning and my instructions to children will be developmentally appropriate to each child’s understanding.
Providing enough play spaces and time will help children to explore. My interactions and collaborative learning
also plays a vital role.

Because we are humans, setbacks and challenges will always be a part of our lives. With resilience and our self-
efficacy, it’s what pushes us through in difficult times. In lack of support of close ones since my arrival in
Canada plus the impact of COVID, has been a stressful experience especially when there is no one to relate to
on a personal basis. Assignments, in-class experiences, quizzes and tests have increased this level of anxiety as I

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try to strive for higher excellence in an uncertain time. Moving from one residential unit to another can be such
a hectic experience and poses it’s setbacks. The circumstances and moving altogether has been a great setback
for me at this time in particular as this is the season of all major assignments submission. With resilience and
the thought of my desired final grade outcome at the end of the semester is what encouraged me to stay focused
and strive for higher ideals.

Reference Page

 www.nobaproject.com>
 www.adam-mila.com>
 www.verywellmind.com
 www.ausmed.com>).
 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 raisingchildren.net.au
 courses.lumenlearning.com
 www.simplypsychology.org>bruner
 researchgate.net
 OMEd, 2014
 How Does Learning Happen?

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