topic 3 cognitive developmental theories 1

8/13/2019 Topic 3 Cognitive Developmental Theories 1

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INTRODUCTION

In the last topic, you have learnt about behaviourist learning theories. What doyou think are the main limitation to these theories? According to behaviouristtheories, the respond that we show as a result of repetitive stimuli given to us iscalled learning.

As can be seen in Figure 3.1, this theory assumes that a learner is essentiallypassive in responding to environmental stimuli. The behaviour is shapedthrough positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcementand negative reinforcement will increase the possibility that the prior behaviourwill recur. Positive reinforcement indicates the application of a stimulus, whilenegative reinforcement indicates the withholding of a stimulus. Learning istherefore defined as a change in behaviour in the learner. This however reducescomplex human behaviour to simple cause and effect. Actually, there are a lot offactors that can influence learning other than just respond to the given stimulus.We will learn about this in this topic.

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CognitiveDevelopmentalTheories 1

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Explain the main features of cognitive learning theories;

2. Describe Piagets theory;

3. Apply Piagets theory in the teaching of science;

4. Describe Bruners theories; and

5. Apply Bruners theories in the teaching of science.

LEARNING OUTCOMES


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TOPIC 3 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES 146

Figure 3.1:Behaviourist Learning TheorySource:http://tanvirdhaka.blogspot.com/In this topic, we will learn about cognitive learning theory and how we can applythis theory in the teaching of science.

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORYAs a result of the limitation of behaviourist theory, a group of psychologistspropose a new approach to explain the process of learning. This new approach iscalled the cognitive learning theory.

Figure 3.2:Cognitive learning theorySource:http://psybibs.revdak.comThis approach recognises the vital role of the human brain in the process oflearning. Cognitive experts believed that a lot of thought processes happen in our

brain that help us to interpret, organise, store and receive information before wecould respond to the stimulus. These are called cognitive processes (seeFigure 3.2).

As we learn, our cognitive structures in our brain are changed or modified. Thesestructures enable us to interpret, store and retrieve information. Thus, accordingto Ormrod (1999), there are two main features underlying this cognitiveapproach:

(a) That the memory system is an active organised processor of information.

(b) That prior knowledge plays an important role in learning.

3.1


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TOPIC 3 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES 1 47

Kohler, Tolman, Lewin, Piaget and Bruner are among the psychologists whocontributed to the cognitive learning theory. Atherton (2011) summarisedcognitive theory as theories that are interested in how people understand

material. In order to fully understand this, we should also include the study on:(a) Aptitude and capacity to learn;

(b) Learning styles; and

(c) Constructivism as these three aspects influences how people learn.

But we are not going to discuss them in this topic as the focus in this topic isintroducing you to the cognitive learning theories, specifically Piaget and Brunerlearning theories..

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORYEXPONENTS

Just imagine that you are at your desk with a pen in your hand and staring at anempty book. You are wondering the best approach for a lesson on Basic needs ofliving things for Year 4 students. What is your basis for planning the lesson?Learning theories could be one of the things that you could use to plan aneffective lesson. As a start, let us learn about Piagets learning theory.

3.2.1 Piagets Learning Theory

Jean Piaget is a Swiss biologist and psychologist. After working with Alfred

Binet, Piaget developed an interest in the intellectual development of children.Based upon his observations of his children and their processes of making senseof the world around them, he eventually developed a four-stage model of howthe mind processes the new information it encountered. These four stages areillustrated in Figure 3.3.

3.2

Explain the difference between behavioural and cognitive theory.

SELF-CHECK 3.1


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Figure 3.3:Piagets theory on stages of human developmentCognitive development involves changes in cognitive processes and abilities. InPiaget's view, early cognitive development involves processes based uponactions and later progresses into changes in mental operations.

As seen in Figure 3.3, each stage is characterised by new abilities and ways ofprocessing information. Piaget believes that, "all children pass through thesestages in this order and that no child can skip a stage, although different childrenpass through the stages at different rates. The same individuals may performtasks associated with different stages at the same time, particularly at points of

transition into a new stage (Slavin, 2006)."

You would have probably learned this theory in detail in your psychologycourse. If not, you can gather a lot of information from various resources to readand understand fully about this theory. This is necessary because soon we aregoing to look at how to apply this theory in a science classroom.


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3.2.2 Identifying the Stages of Development

There are four stages of human development as mentioned by Piaget. This means

that as a teacher, the first thing that you need to do is to identify at what stageyour students are. This is important because it allows you to plan suitable andappropriate teaching and learning activities for your students.

Do you know how to identify your students stage of development? One way isto look at the characteristics of your student and compare them to the list givenin Figure 3.3. You could also conduct simple experiments as Piaget had donewhen he was doing his research. Take time to do Activity 3.1 to understand theexperiments that could be used to identify your students' stage of development.

Study the following situations. Determine the stage of developmentdescribed by the situation.

Situation Whatstage?1 Play with a child and then, "disappear" behind the paper.

The child becomes distressed at your disappearance.

2 Show a child four marbles in a row, then, spread themout. The child says that there are now more marbles thanbefore.

3 If you take four one-inch square pieces of felt, and laythem on a six-by-six cloth together in the centre, and then,the same square spread out in the corner, the child says

that the squares cover the same area in both cases.

ACTIVITY 3.1


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By looking at the stages, we could see that generally children in Year 1 and Year2 could probably be still in the pre-operational stage, while Year 3 till Year 5students would be in the concrete operational stage. By Year 6, they would startto be in their formal operational stage. So, what should you do to teach them?

4 A set of cards have letters on one side and numbers on theother. If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even

number on the other side.

Take a look at the cards below and tell me, which cards do Ineed to turn over to tell if this rule is actually true?

5 You have two five inch sticks laid parallel to each other, andthen, move one of them a little. She says the two sticks are stillhaving the same length even though it now extends beyondthe other.

6 Fill a tall glass of water and a short glass of water of the same

volume and ask which glass has more. The child says the tallglass.

Source: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.htmlAnswers:1. Sensorimotor period

2. Pre-operational period

3. Concrete operational period

4. Formal operational period

5. Concrete operational period

6. Pre-operational period


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Now, read the following guidelines which could help you to develop suitabletasks based on Piagets theory. What would your classroom look like if you applyPiagets theories in your teaching and learning?

3.2.3 Applications of Piagets Theory in TeachingChildren at Various Stages of Development

Piaget outlined several principles for building cognitive structures or schemes.Children learn by observing and try to understand their experiences bycomparing their experiences to their existing schemes in their mind. Whenchildren encounter a new experience in their environment, they will try toexplain their experience based on their cognitive structures or schemes. If theirnew experience is similar to their schemes, they will add the new informationinto their previously existing schemes. This process is called assimilation.However, if the new experience is different from their existing schemes(according to their perception), they would alter their existing schemes or newschemes may also be developed during this process. When the existing scheme ismodified or altered, then learning has also taken place. The process wherebychildren has to modify the new experiences before incoprorating it into their

scheme is called accomodation. This procceses is summarised in Figure 3.4.

What are the four stages of human development according to Piaget?

SELF-CHECK 3.2

Do you think the classification of ages by Piaget still apply in thepresent time? Discuss with your coursemates.

ACTIVITY 3.2


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Figure 3.4:Reaching equilibrium through assimilation and accommodation processesSource:http://eprints.oum/edu.my/411/1/enriching_nantha.pdfIn short, you as the teacher should present the new knowledge as close aspossible to the childrens prior knowledge. As a result, the children couldassimilate rather than take time to accomodate the new experiences or

information in order for learning to take place.

Bearing in mind on the principles mentioned earlier, you could use the followingguidelines or tips so that your childrens schemes will develop through time. Letus start with the pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage and finally,formal operational stage.


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Pre-operational Stage Age 2 - 7 years)

1. Provide natural objects such as leaves, stones, twigs and real animals forthe children to manipulate. This is important at this stage as childrenlearn through their senses.

2. Provide opportunities for the children to begin grouping things intoclasses, such as, living/non-living and animal/plant. When doing this,they are studying the attributes of the objects and noting the similar anddifferent attributes at the same time.

3. Provide experience that gives children an opportunity to lessen some oftheir geocentricism. For example, have them listen to other childrensstories about what was observed on a trip to the zoo.

4. Use concrete props and visual aids whenever possible as the aids helpthe children to 'see what you try to explain.

5. Make instructions relatively short, using actions as well as words. Forexample, add one spoonful of salt to the beaker of water. Then stir.

6. Be sensitive to the possibility that children may have different meaningsfor the same word or different words for the same meaning. Childrenmay also expect everyone to understand words they have invented.

7. Plan a lot of hands-on activities so that they have enough practice with

the skills that will serve as building blocks for more complex skills. Forexample, make sure you give them plenty of practice in observing asobservation is the most basic science process skill but this is thefoundation for all subsequent skills.

8. Provide a wide range of experiences in order to build a foundation forconcept learning and language. This is important as different childrenhave different learning styles.


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Concrete Operational Stage

1. Reinforce and continue using concrete and hands-on materials. Prepare alot of concrete teaching aids to help the children to understand theconcept. For example, give children the opportunities to observe realanimals when you want to explain about physical characteristics ofanimals. Bring fish, butterfly or bird to the class so that the students coulduse their senses to observe the physical characteristics of these animals.You should not be satisfied by just bringing in animal pictures and askstudents to study the pictures and learn about the physical characteristicsof animals. They can manipulate ideas mentally, but they need props asthe ideas presented to them continue to become more abstract.

2. Organise the materials and concepts presented. Give short and preciseinstructions when you want them to do the activities. The experimentalprocedures must consist of only a few steps. If the procedures are long,

break them up into a few sections. Be concise and brief when you areexplaining concepts. The attention span of these students is longer than forpre-operational children, but they often want to focus on something new.

3. Always allow students to relate their prior experiences beforepresenting a new topic. For example, if you want to introduce theconcept of food chain, you should use animals familiar to your students,so that they know the types of food that those animals eat. Then only,

can they build a food chain. When they have understood the concept offood chain, you can extend or elaborate with other less familiar animals.

4. Let the children classify or group things. Use graphic organisers likematrices, charts, diagrams and table to make it easier. This wouldimprove and develop their logical ability. You could also use crosswordpuzzles and word mazes. Give more divergent questions rather thanconvergent questions because the former give children more opportunityto think and stimulate imagination. Give them opportunities to classifyobjects and ideas into increasingly complex groupings. Without doingthis, they would never become formal operational.

5. Offer children many experiences to use their acquired abilities withrespect to the observation, classification and arrangement of objectsaccording to some property. Any science activities that includeobservation, collection and sorting of objects should be able to be donewith some ease. You should use activities involving living things andnon-living things that are familiar and concrete to them. You should beable to successfully introduce many physical science activities thatinclude more abstract concepts such as space, time and number.


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6. Use familiar objects and ideas to explain more complex concepts. Theyneed practice at logical thinking as well as motivation towards starting

really abstract thinking.7. Present problems that require logical thinking of a relatively non-

abstract level. They need practice dealing with abstractions. What theycannot do is abstractions on abstractions.

Formal Operational Stage Age 11 through Adulthood)1. Even if at this stage the students can visualise abstract concepts, you

could still continue to use strategies that are effective with concreteoperational thinkers. Why? Reason for this is because at this stageconcrete thinking is still easier. Let say, you ask someone to describe toyou how to go from your school to the shopping mall. Would you beable to visualise the route or would you get a map so that you couldreach the mall easily without getting lost?

2. Build abstractions upon solidly understood concrete concepts.Abstractions are essential for complex ideas, but the concrete ideaswould help in the early stage of transition from concrete to formaloperational stage.

3. Give them opportunities to explore hypothetical questions. Students atthis stage could formulate their own hypothesis on problems that theyencounter and plan investigations to test their hypothesis. If you do notgive them opportunities and encouragement, the students would not beable to progress beyond concrete operational stage to formal operationalstage. In other words, you should give them the opportunities toexperiment on their own rather than conducting experiments that youhave planned.

4. Give them opportunities to solve problems that seem impossible to

solve. Students take pride and build self-confidence when they are ableto solve problems that they could not solve when they were less mature.

5. Integrate concrete concepts with broad concepts and encourage them toapply concepts in numerous settings. This could be done byencouraging them to generalise the conclusions from their experiments

by linking the concepts in real life setting. In this way, the learning ismeaningful and more importantly, they will apply their learning in theirlives, as that is the purpose of learning science.


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BRUNERS THEORIES

Jerome Bruner is another influential psychologist who introduced many theoriesthat could be applied in the science classroom. In this subtopic, we are going todiscuss some of his theories and how to apply them in the science classroom.

6. Respect and encourage lateral thinking that involves insightfulhypothetical reasoning. Even when they are incorrect, their attempt at

hypothetical thinking may be a productive step in the right direction.7. Model effective formal operational thinking to them. You are probably

capable of formal operational thinking yourself and children can useyou as a productive model while developing their own skills.

3.3

"We teach a subject not to produce little living libraries on that subject, butrather to get a student to think . . . for himself, to consider matters as anhistorian does, to take part in the process of knowledge-getting. Knowing isa process, not a product."

(Bruner, 1966)

1. Select a topic from Year 1, Year 3 and Year 6 from a primaryscience curriculum specification and discuss two learning-teaching activities that suit Piagetians learning theory.

2. Compare the activities for the different steps of humandevelopment. How are they different? Give reasons based onPiagets theory. Share your answer with your classmates.

ACTIVITY 3.3

Imagine that you want to introduce the concept of transparent,translucent and opaque materials to your students. What are someexample of objects that you will use?

SELF-CHECK 3.3


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Bruner introduced many ideas in explaining the process of learning. His workincludes the significance of categorisation in learning, the ideas of "readiness forlearning", motivation for learning, intuitive and analytical thinking, inductive

thinking, discovery learning and spiral curriculum. We are not going to discussall of his ideas. Instead, we are only going to discuss his theory on discoverylearning, inductive thinking and the three stages of cognitive growth.

3.3.1 Discovery Learning

The notion of discovery learning had been discussed by Rousseau, Pestalozzi andDewey. Nevertheless, modern discovery learning environments were initiated by

Jerome Bruner (Mukerji, 2002). He believes that for learning to be meaningful,students must actively be engaged in identifying principles and rules for

themselves, rather than relying on the teacher's explanations. Therefore, learningenvironments must provide situations, in which students are called upon toquestion, explore or experiment. In typical discovery learning environments,information and examples are presented to students and the students work withthe information and examples until they "discover" the interrelationships.

As a result, students may be more likely to remember concepts and knowledgediscovered on their own. Models that are based upon discovery learningincludes:

(a) Guided DiscoveryThe student receives problems to solve, but the teacher provides hints anddirections about how to solve the problem to keep the student on track.Guided discovery may require more or less time depending on the task, buttends to result in better long term retention and transfer as the students areinvolve actively while learning takes place. Unlike true discovery, theinstructor directs what problems the learners will learn and sets the pacethat they will learn at. The students do, however, have to figure out how tosolve the problems that they are given. Generally, the students firstdiscover specific topics and then move to more general ones.

(b) Problem-based LearningProblem-based learning (PBL) is an approach that challenges students tolearn through engagement in a real problem. It challenges students to seeksolutions to real-world (open-ended) problems by themselves or in groups,rather than learn primarily through lectures or textbooks. You are going tolearn this approach in detail later.


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(c) Simulation-based LearningSimulation is a technique to replace and amplify real experiences thatmirror substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion.

Simulation makes imitated situations available to the learner to practice andrefine necessary skills, rather than having them jump right into the realexperience. It also provides an immersive learning experience, where skills,process, and knowledge can all be enhanced in a way reality cannot.

(d) Case-based LearningUsing a case-based approach engages students in discussion of specificsituations, typically real-world examples. This method is learner-centered,and involves intense interaction between the participants. Case-basedlearning focuses on the building of knowledge and the group works

together to examine the case. The instructor's role is that of a facilitator andthe students collaboratively address problems from a perspective thatrequires analysis. Much of case-based learning involves learners striving toresolve questions that have no single right answer.

(e) Incidental LearningIncidental learning describes the process in which a child's knowledge isgained from interactions with the environment. This learning process lacksa formal structure or objectives, and is guided by real-world experiences.Through incidental learning, children learn fundamental skills that theywill use throughout life.

Discovery learning is a learning method that encourages students to askquestions and formulate their own tentative answers, and to deduce generalprinciples from practical examples or experiences (Thorsett, 2002). It is a learningsituation in which the principal content of what is to be learned is not given butmust be independently discovered by the student. In other words, discoverylearning can be defined simply as a learning situation in which the principalcontent of what is to be learned is not given, but must be independentlydiscovered by the learner, making the student an active participant in hislearning.

Ormrod (2000) defines discovery learning as an approach to instruction throughwhich children interact with their environment by exploring and manipulatingobjects, wrestling with questions and controversies, or performing experiments.There are certain principles that you need to follow if you want to use discoverylearning in your class and make it work. Among others, the instructions:

(a) Must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the studentwilling and able to learn (readiness).


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(b) Must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiralorganisation).

(c) Should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and/or fill in the gaps (going

beyond the information given).

If the principles are not adhered to, it would only:

(a) Cause confusion to the student if no initial framework is available.

(b) Lead to inefficiency and be time consuming.

(c) Result in student frustration.

(d) Make you fail to detect problems and misconceptions.

3.3.2 Inductive Thinking

Bruner believes classroom learning should take place through inductivereasoning. This reasoning is done by forming generalisations based on thespecific examples given. This is an important cognitive strategy in discoverylearning environments. It encourages students to actively use their intuition,

imagination and creativity. It also relies more on providing students with a rangeof experiences, which gradually increase their familiarity with new conceptsbefore attempting to draw them together into a coherent understanding of thenew concept. If you are going to teach concepts inductively means you do notdefine or explain the concept in the beginning of the lesson. You should providevarious activities so that the students will use their reasoning to graduallyunderstand the concept that you want the students to form. This can be seen inFigure 3.5.

In a group, discuss the meaning of:

(a) Guided discovery;

(b) Problem-based learning;

(c) Simulation-based learning;

(d) Case-based learning; and

(e) Incidental learning.

ACTIVITY 3.4


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Figure 3.5:Inductive approach to instructionFor example, if the students are presented with enough examples of triangles andnon-triangles (as shown in Figure 3.6), they will eventually find out what the

basic properties of a triangle must be.

Figure 3.6:Forming a concept a triangleSource:http://academics.rmu.edu/~tomei/ed711psy/c_bruner.htm


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Do you realise that discovery learning encompasses the scientific model?Children identify problems, generate hypotheses, test each hypothesis againstcollected data and apply conclusions to new situations. Due to this reason,

discovery learning should be used in the teaching and learning of science as it fitsto the nature of science itself. We have already discussed about scientific methodand the nature of science in Topic 1 of this module.

3.3.3 Stages of Cognitive Growth

In the previous subtopic, we have identified the stages of cognitive developmentsuggested by Piaget. According to him, we progress from sensorimotor to pre-operational, concrete operational and finally formal operational. Like Piaget,Bruner believes in stages of instruction based on development. There are threestages according to Bruners theory as can be seen in Table 3.1 below.

Table 3.1:The Three Stages of Cognitive Growth According to Bruner's TheoryStage DescriptionEnactive (birthto age 3)

In this stage, children learn by observing and manipulating real orconcrete objects. For example, if you want to teach about flowers,you must let children observe real flowers so that they can see, touchand smell the flowers. Knowledge is acquired through senses. This isalso true if you want to teach a new skill. Let say you want to teachstudents on how to use a thermometer. Get a thermometer and letthem touch and observe the apparatus.

Iconic (age 3 to

8)

In this stage, knowledge is represented by using models and

pictures. So, if you want to teach them about flowers, you can usepictures of flowers for the children to list the components of a flowerand classifying flowers based on their characteristics. If you want toteach about how the lungs work, you could use a model to explainhow the size of lung changes when we breathe in and out. In short,you do not need to show them the real object as cognitively they areready to understand the concepts with the help of pictures ormodels.

Discuss the concept of discovery learning by using a mind map.

ACTIVITY 3.5


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Symbolic (fromage 8)

Learners can think in abstract form. So, abstract terms and symbolsystems can be used to represent knowledge like numbers,mathematical symbols, letters, music and language. The precise

timing of when to use it depends on the child, particularly his or herlanguage ability. For the first time, the child can categorise, thinklogically and solve problems.

Each stage as shown in Figure 3.7 is dominant at different phases of developmentbut they are always present and accessible (Johnson, et al.).

Figure 3.7:Learning stages according to Bruners theorySource:http://jaylordlosabia.blogspot.com/2010/05/constructivism-jerome-bruners.html

According to Waring (2011), Bruner rejects the idea of stages as popularised byPiaget and to a lesser extent Vygotsky. Rather than looking at the ages ofdevelopmental changes, Bruner concentrates more on how knowledge is

represented and organised as the child develops. For Bruner, the earlier ways ofthinking are still used later in life where they can be very useful for some tasks.

Teachers, according to Bruner, should be able to speed up the rate of cognitivedevelopment, primarily by improving language acquisition thereby assisting thetransition from iconic to symbolic modes of representation. In short, if you planactivities in accordance to each stage as Bruner describes it, your children canlearn more effectively.


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Say for instance you want to teach them about the concept of animals. If youteach younger children, you should use real animals to explain the concept.However if your students are older, you could use pictures or models of animals,

and when they are in the symbolic stage, you could simply use text to teach themabout animals.

3.3.4 Application of Bruners Theories in the Teachingof Science

How do you use Bruners theory in a science classroom? Since discovery learningrepresents or follows the scientific method, you should always try to use thismethod when you teach science. The question is, which model of discoverylearning should you use? Should you apply guided discovery, free discovery,problem-based learning, simulation-based learning or case-based learning?

Let us look at Table 3.2 which shows some of the suggestions on how we can useBruners theories in the science classroom.

Imagine that you want to teach about the different parts of plants.Discuss the teaching activities for each of Bruner's stage theory.

ACTIVITY 3.6

Learning subtraction by showing six items and physically removingfour of them.

To which stage does this classroom activity belong to?

SELF-CHECK 3.4


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Table 3.2:Suggestions on How Bruners Theories Can Be Used in Science ClassroomBruners Theories Explanation

1 Present both examplesand non-examples of theconcepts that you areteaching.

When teaching about mammals, include people,kangaroos, whales, cats, dolphins and camels asexamples. Besides that, use chicken, fish, alligators,frogs and penguins as non-examples.

Ask children for additional examples and non-examples.

When presenting an explanation of the phases ofthe moon, have the children to observe the phasesin a variety of ways. For instance, directobservation of the changing shape of the moon inthe evening. A demonstration of the changes can be

shown by using a flashlight and sphere, and alsodiagrams.

2 Help children seeconnections amongconcepts.

Ask questions such as, What else could you callthis apple? (Fruit). What do we do with fruit?(Eat). What do we call things we eat? (Food).

Use diagrams, outlines and summaries to point outconclusions.

3 Design inductiveactivities.

Provide them with specific cases or situations.Children will need to observe, classify, making

inferences and prediction in order to makeconclusion based on the situation given.

4 Design activities that areproblem-oriented.

Children need to be given enough practice to solveproblem so that they will learn the heuristics orrules of discovery.

5 Emphasise the basicstructure of the newmaterial.

Use demonstrations that reveal basic principles.For example, demonstrate the law of magnetism byusing similar and opposite poles of a set of barmagnets. Encourage children to make outlines ofbasic points made in textbooks or discovered in

activities.6 Help children construct

coding system. Coding system helps children make connections

between objects and phenomena.

For example, ask the students to invent a game thatrequires children to classify rocks and havechildren to maintain scrapbooks in which theykeep collected leaf specimens that are groupedaccording to observed characteristics.


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7 Pose a problem to thechildren and let themfind the answer.

Ask questions that will lead naturally to activities.For example, why do you need to wear a helmetwhen riding a bicycle? What are some ingredients

that most junk foods have? Do a demonstration that raises a question in the

childrens minds. For example, lift a washer usingmagnet or mix two-coloured solutions to produce athird colour.

8 Encourage children tomake intuitive guesses.

Intuitive guesses allow children to be able to buildmeaning, significance or structure to a problemwithout explicit evidence.

For example, ask children to guess the amount ofwater that goes down the drain each time they get

a drink of water from a water fountain. Give the children magazine photographs of the

evening sky and have them guess the locations ofsome constellations.

Instead of defining a particular object, tell yourstudents, "Let us guess what it might mean bylooking at the words around it."

Do not comment after the first few guesses. Waitfor several ideas before giving the right answer.

Use guiding questions to help children focus when

their discovery has led them astray.

There are many resources in the Internet if you want to use the discoverylearning approach in the teaching of science. Here is just one of the websites youcan use: http://www.discoverysciencelearning.com/

1. In a group, choose a topic. Describe how you would teach the

topic using discovery learning.

2. Use a suitable graphic organiser to compare and contrast Piagetsand Bruners stages of cognitive growth.

ACTIVITY 3.7


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Cognitive theory is a learning theory of psychology that attempts to explainhuman behaviour by understanding the thought processes.

Piaget identified four stages in human cognitive development. They aresensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational.

Piaget also explained how the cognitive structures or schemes change throughthe process of assimilation, accommodation and mental equilibrium.

The application of Piagets stages of cognitive growth is when you plan to teachscience based on students' abilities in each stage.

Generally primary school students are in the concrete operational stage. Thus,concrete materials need to be used in the teaching of science concepts or skills.

In Bruners discovery learning model, students involvement plays a vital role inthe learning process. The teachers role is as a guide and advisor in students'quest for information rather than as a giver of information.

Bruner also identified three stages of cognitive growth: enactive, iconic andsymbolic.

The application of Bruners stages of cognitive growth is when you plan to teachactivities suited for each stage, whether to use concrete, pictures or models, or

just use text or description when explaining concepts or skills.

Cognitive development growth

Cognitive learning theories

Cognitive structures or schemes

Concrete operational

Discovery learning

Enactive

Formal operational

Iconic

Inductive reasoning

Pre-operational

Sensorimotor

Symbolic


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topic 3 cognitive developmental theories 1

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