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Introduction
This module deals with the changing ways that infants, children and adolescents think. What exactly do we understand when we are just babies, crawling around on the floor and putting things in our mouth? And exactly how is a 3 year old different from a 5 year old? There are actually many changes that occur quite rapidly in our ability to think and process information.In this module, you will learn about the Cognitive Developmental Theory of Jean Piaget. Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development revolutionized the ways that children are educated and gave parents and psychologists alike a new way to understand the child’s developing mind.
You will want to learn every stage (and, where applicable, the substages) — particularly, what the developing child is doing, learning, and exhibiting that is new or different. Keep in mind that, though we arrive in this life with some inborn reflexes that help us survive and adapt to our world, we are constantly learning and constructing our understanding of the world.
At times, it is important for parents to set clear boundaries with kids. Many parents set themselves up for failure because they don’t provide enough positive opportunities for kids to question things. As you will learn, “questioning things” is a natural outgrowth of cognitive maturation, so just as you would take a toddler to a park to let him run and get out his physical energy, having thoughtful discussions and debates with a teen is a positive way to let him “run out” his new-found abilities in young adulthood. In fact, parents who regularly discuss things with their teens also tend to have warmer, closer relationships and their teens have fewer problems at school.
We will also explore the many facets of intelligence. You will learn about various, sometimes conflicting, definitions of intelligence. For example, is “intelligence” a single , unitary ability, or is it possible that “intelligence” comes in multipleforms or multiple abilities? This is a debate within psychology that still generates quite a bit of controversy. The implications of how we define intelligence are huge — if someone is merely ” average ” intelligence (assuming intelligence is a single, unitary ability), does that mean that we can only expect “average” things (average levels of success) from him or her and, therefore, should not invest heavily in their education? What if the person is of “low” intelligence — should we just train him or her for low-level jobs that don’t require complex thought or high-level thinking (janitors, service work)? And what if the person is “highly” intelligent — do we put him or her in specialized educational settings so that we really identify and hone his or her talents, making sure he or she don’t get lost in the shuffle? In fact, this is how our educational system is set up, to some extent.
These questions don’t have easy answers. As you can tell, the debate over how to define intelligence isn’t purely an intellectual deb