Journey Middle Childhood Cognitive Dev Part 2 of 2
Summary
TLDRThis engaging script explores the fascinating world of children's cognitive development. It delves into how children learn new strategies, often inventing their own methods, and the concept of 'rage to master' in gifted children. Highlighting the importance of the sensitive period between ages five and seven, it discusses Piaget's theory of concrete operational thought and the ability to understand transformations while retaining an object's identity, illustrated through water conservation tasks and the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
Takeaways
- 🧠 The script discusses the evolution of thinking skills in children, highlighting that not long ago, thinking was not a widely considered concept.
- 🤔 It presents a dialogue illustrating a child's lack of understanding of what 'thinking' is, suggesting a developmental stage in cognitive awareness.
- 🌞 The child humorously associates dreams with the sun, indicating a child's imaginative and literal interpretation of abstract concepts.
- 👀 The script touches on the idea of remembering through thinking, with the child suggesting that the whole body is involved in this process.
- 👶 The concept of 'modelling' is introduced as a method of learning new cognitive strategies, emphasizing observational learning in children.
- 💡 It is noted that children often invent new strategies for problem-solving, not just when old methods fail, but also when they are doing well.
- 🎓 The script defines a gifted child with three characteristics: precocity, a 'rage to master', and 'marching to their own drummer', indicating intrinsic motivation and independent thinking.
- ⏰ The presenter is reminded that they have limited time, underscoring the importance of concise communication.
- 🚀 The script emphasizes that gifted children not only think faster but also differently, suggesting a unique approach to problem-solving and learning.
- 🧶 The example of Mayan girls mastering complex weaving tasks at a young age illustrates the idea of a 'sensitive period' for cognitive development.
- 🧠 Jean Piaget's theory of concrete operational thought is mentioned, suggesting a critical developmental stage between the ages of five and seven.
- 💧 The script uses a water conservation experiment to illustrate the concept of understanding change while retaining identity, a key aspect of concrete operational thought.
Q & A
What is the main theme discussed in the video script?
-The main theme of the video script is the development of cognitive skills in children, including how they learn new strategies and the characteristics of gifted children.
How does the script suggest children learn new cognitive methods?
-The script suggests that children learn new cognitive methods through modeling, by observing others and copying them, being told by others, and by inventing strategies themselves as they think about problems in new ways.
What are the three characteristics of a gifted child as defined in the script?
-The three characteristics of a gifted child are precocity, a 'rage to master', and 'marching to their own drummer', which means they are intrinsically motivated to master knowledge and think in unique ways.
Why does the script mention children's dreams coming from the sun?
-The script mentions children's dreams coming from the sun as an example of a child's imaginative and non-literal understanding of the world, which is part of their cognitive development.
What is the significance of the 'concrete operational thought' as per Jean Piaget's theory mentioned in the script?
-Concrete operational thought, according to Jean Piaget's theory, is a cognitive milestone where children between the ages of five and seven start to understand that an object or thing can change while retaining its underlying identity.
How does the script relate the ability of Mayan six-year-old girls to master weaving tasks to cognitive development?
-The script relates the ability of Mayan girls to master weaving tasks to cognitive development by highlighting that it involves mental transformation, which is a hallmark of concrete operational thought, showing that cognitive skills can manifest differently across cultures.
What is the 'sensitive period' in cognitive development as suggested by Professor Greenfield in the script?
-The 'sensitive period' in cognitive development is a special time between the ages of five and seven when children are most likely to master cognitive tasks, and if exposed to certain tasks during this period, they might develop more general cognitive abilities.
How does the script illustrate the concept of 'conservation' in Piaget's theory?
-The script illustrates the concept of 'conservation' through a water play experiment, where children are asked to compare quantities of water in different containers, demonstrating their understanding of conservation as they recognize the quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or container.
What does the script imply about children's understanding of biological transformation, such as a caterpillar turning into a butterfly?
-The script implies that school-aged children understand that a biological process has taken place when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, yet they recognize that the caterpillar still exists in some form, showing their grasp of the concept of identity conservation.
How does the interaction with the butterfly at the Bronx Zoo in the script demonstrate a child's cognitive understanding?
-The interaction demonstrates a child's cognitive understanding by showing that they recognize the butterfly as having elements of the caterpillar it once was, reflecting their ability to understand the continuity of identity through transformation.
Outlines
🤔 The Nature of Thinking and Cognitive Development
This paragraph delves into the concept of thinking from a child's perspective, exploring their understanding of thought processes and the origins of dreams. It highlights the idea that children develop cognitive strategies through observation, imitation, and invention. The discussion also touches on the innate ability of children to devise new methods of problem-solving, even when their existing approaches are effective. The segment introduces the characteristics of gifted children, emphasizing precocity, a strong drive to master knowledge, and the tendency to think independently. The narrative concludes with insights into how children learn differently and the importance of self-directed learning during their developmental stages.
🦋 The Transformation of Identity: A Child's Perspective on Change
In this paragraph, the focus shifts to the understanding of identity and change, particularly through the metaphor of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. Children express their views on the continuity of identity despite physical changes, sharing anecdotes from personal experiences with butterflies. The conversation explores the children's intuitive sense of something remaining constant through transformation, even if they can't explicitly define it. The summary captures the essence of children's cognitive development in recognizing the underlying identity of things that undergo change.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cognitive Development
💡Concrete Operational Thought
💡Precocity
💡Intrinsic Motivation
💡Independent Learning
💡Mental Transformation
💡Conservation
💡Gifted Children
💡Sensitivity Period
💡Modelling
💡Strategic Thinking
Highlights
Children develop new cognitive methods by modeling, copying others, being told, and inventing strategies themselves.
Children can discover new strategies even when their old approaches are working fine.
A gifted child is defined by precocity, a strong intrinsic motivation to master knowledge, and thinking independently.
Gifted children think faster and in different ways, often learning on their own without much adult support.
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development includes the milestone of concrete operational thought between ages 5-7.
Mayan six-year-old girls demonstrate advanced cognitive skills in weaving, despite the lack of physical resemblance between tasks.
There is a special period between ages 5-7 when children are most likely to master cognitive tasks, with neural sensitivity to developing concrete operations.
Exposure to different concrete operational tasks during the sensitive period can lead to more general learning.
Concrete operational thought involves understanding that an object can change while retaining its underlying identity, as demonstrated by Piaget's conservation task.
School-aged children recognize biological transformations, such as a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, while acknowledging the retained identity.
Children's understanding of identity and change can be explored through activities like the water conservation science experiment.
Children's cognitive development is influenced by both innate neural sensitivity and environmental stimulation.
The sensitive period for cognitive development may make it harder to acquire certain skills if not exposed to relevant tasks during that time.
Children's inventiveness in problem-solving and learning strategies can be a significant indicator of their cognitive abilities.
Cognitive development in children can be observed through their ability to understand and apply concepts of identity and transformation.
Gifted children's unique cognitive skills can manifest as early as the preschool years, with rapid development and mastery in specific domains.
Cognitive milestones, such as concrete operational thought, can vary in their manifestation across different cultures and contexts.
Children's cognitive development is a dynamic process, influenced by a combination of innate abilities and environmental factors.
Transcripts
- [Voiceover] It's all pretty impressive when you consider
just a few years ago nobody was thinking about thinking.
- [Voiceover] Did you ever think about things?
- No.
- [Voiceover] No, you don't think about things?
- Only my mommy does.
- [Voiceover] Only your mommy does?
- [Voiceover] Do you know what thinking is?
- I don't know.
- [Voiceover] No?
- No.
- [Voiceover] And your dreams come from where?
- Australia and Africa.
- [Voiceover] They do?
- They just come from a sun.
- [Voiceover] They come, dreams come from the sun?
- Ya.
- [Voiceover] How do you remember something?
- You close your eyes and you think.
- [Voiceover] You think?
What part of your body do you do that with?
- With your whole body.
- [Voiceover] With your whole body?
- Hey! He's looking at me.
- [Voiceover] Yeah, he's always looking at you.
- I think he likes me.
- [Voiceover] So how do children come up
with these new cognitive methods?
- Well, modelling is one way they can learn them.
So, sometimes they see other people doing something,
and they copy them.
Another way they learn is by being told by other people,
but a great many of the strategies are simply invented.
The children are just thinking about the problem,
and they suddenly start doing it in new ways.
You might think that children will only discover
a new strategy if their old approaches aren't working,
but it turns out that's not true.
A lot of times you find that children have been doing
perfectly fine with older strategies,
and yet they still come up with new strategies.
- That's a great idea.
- [Voiceover] Some children have
exceptional cognitive skills at an early age.
- A gifted child is defined as a child
who has three characteristics.
The first is precocity.
That means the child has skills that develop,
that emerge and develop at an earlier age
than typical children, and learns much more quickly,
in a particular area than a typical child.
And that's really probably the most obvious characteristic,
and that's the one that everybody would agree on.
But I would add two others.
The second one is what I call a rage to master.
And that means these children are
incredibly, intrinsically driven, motivated
to master knowledge in the domain in which they have a gift.
And the third characteristic is what I call
marching to their own drummer.
- You have more like less than thirty seconds left.
- These kids are not just faster, they're also different.
They don't just think faster, they think in different ways.
And that means they come up with unusual ways
of solving problems.
And they also learn in a different way,
and primarily, they learn on their own.
They don't need a lot of adult support or scaffolding.
- [Voiceover] Jean Piaget believed children reach
a cognitive milestone called concrete operational thought,
between the ages of five and seven.
In the Mayan communities of Mexico, six year old girls
are able to master elaborate weaving tasks
and prepare complex winding boards
even though the board
- does not bear a physical resemblance
to the way the threads look when they're on the loom.
So, it involves mental transformation,
which is a hallmark of concrete operation
to understand how you're going to go
from this winding board,
operating on threads on the winding board to the loom,
to setting up the threads on the loom.
- [Voiceover] Professor Greenfield believes this is
a special period during which children are most likely
to master cognitive tasks.
- Between five and seven, my hypothesis is there's
some built-in neural sensitivity
to developing concrete operations,
and that you will develop them in a particular form
that depends on the particular stimulation.
If they were exposed to a whole lot of different
concrete operational tasks at the right age
they might learn it more general.
And if we were exposed to weaving at the right age,
we could probably learn to do it there too.
But that if you're, if you are not exposed to those tasks
at the age when that particular stage is developing,
it may be harder to acquire it in those domains
after the sensitive period.
- [Voiceover] Part of concrete operational thought
is understanding that an object or thing can change
while retaining its underlying identity,
as Piaget's conservation task demonstrates.
- Water Playdo with science experiment.
- [Voiceover] Okay, this is like a science experiment.
Okay, imagine we have some water here
and some water here.
Now, is there more here, more here,
or are they about the same?
- About the same.
- [Voiceover] Okay, good.
Now, watch what I do.
You ready?
- Now it's not close.
- [Voiceover] Okay, now look.
Is there... now start with Chiara.
Here, is there more here?
Is there more here?
Or are they the same?
- They're the same.
- [Voiceover] School agers know
that when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly,
a biological process has taken place,
and the caterpillar still exists in some form.
- It's still a caterpillar, because it was a caterpillar,
and has the same personality as it did
when it was a caterpillar, but...
Yeah, he just looks different.
He looks nicer and looks prettier.
Me and my friend Josh went to the Bronx Zoo,
and a butterfly landed on my shirt,
and I saw, like, it was a caterpillar, but it had wings
on the side.
- I know there's something that stays the same,
but I don't know what.
- I think it has some of what it was
when it was a caterpillar.
- [Voiceover] Well, how do you know?
- I'm not sure.
I just have a feeling that it does.
(giggles)
- You're cracking me up, you know?
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)