Cognitive Development of a Preschooler

Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

• Preschool children are in Piaget’s Preoperational stage of cognitive development.

• Toddlers and preschoolers form attitudes about learning that can last a lifetime.

• Children learn from concrete (hands-on and tangible) evidence.

Egocentric

• Still think in terms of their own activities and their perceptions at the moment.

• Struggle with abstract terms.• Continue to learn through make-believe play• Learning that objects and words can be

symbols and represent an idea.• Limited view on ideas because these are

based on the child’s perceptions.

How Preschoolers Learn

• Children are inquisitive and ask many questions because they are curious and want to understand the world around them.

• Preschoolers learn by participation and involvement in everyday experiences.

Four and Five Year Olds

• Four Year Olds– Learn colors and shapes– Sort and identify the differences between

objects–Have an expanded vocabulary

• Five Year Olds–Begin problem solving

Reality and Fantasy

• Preschoolers can differentiate between reality and fantasy or make-believe.

• The imaginary life of kids is powerful and sways their perceptions of the real world until they master adult rationality and logic.

• Jean Piaget said that kids in the preoperational stage of cognitive growth use magical thinking until they learn the properties of physics and reality.

Cognitive Development Terms

• Conservation– Even though one property of an object

changes, the other properties remain the same.– Examples: • A ball of play-dough smashed into a pancake is

still the same even though it looks different• Liquid is the same amount even though it is

poured into differently shaped glasses.

Cognitive Development Terms

• Classification–Putting objects into sets based on common

traits.• Examples:–Cats and dogs– Toy blocks and toy trucks

Cognitive Development Terms

• Sorting:–Placing classified objects into smaller

groups based on how they are alike and different.

• Examples:– Sorting cats by color– Sorting blocks by size or shape

Cognitive Development Terms

• Seriation–Putting objects in a particular order based

on size, weight, etc.• Examples:– Lining crayons up in order from shortest to

longest.

Cognitive Development Terms

• Transformation– The change of an object from one state to

another.• Examples:–Popcorn kernel to popcorn–Bread dough to bread– Jell-O powder to Jell-O

Cognitive Development Terms

• Reversal–What can be done up can also be undone.

• Examples:–A sand castle can be built and knocked

down–A jacket can be zipped up and unzipped–A mistake can be made and fixed

Cognitive Learning Centers

• You will participate in six learning centers:–Conservation–Classification– Sorting– Seriation– Transformations–Reversal

• Fill out the worksheet and turn in before leaving class today.