Cognitive Development
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Piaget/ˈpaɪəɡɪt/ | Jean Piaget, the psychologist known for a theory of stages in children's cognitive development. |
| accommodation/əˌkɒməˈdeɪʃn/ | Changing an existing mental schema to incorporate new information or experience. |
| conservation/ˌkɒnsəˈveɪʃn/ | The understanding that a quantity remains the same despite changes in its outward appearance or arrangement. |
| Vygotsky/vaɪˈɡɒtski/ | Lev Vygotsky, the psychologist whose account of development emphasised social interaction, language and cultural tools. |
| Scaffolding/ˈskæfəʊldɪŋ/ | The support a more capable person gives, then gradually removes. |
| Crystallised intelligence/ˈkrɪstəlaɪzd ɪnˈtelɪdʒəns/ | Accumulated knowledge and skills — is generally maintained or grows. |
| Fluid intelligence/ˈfluːɪd ɪnˈtelɪdʒəns/ | Reasoning with novel problems — generally declines. |
A child insists the taller glass holds more
- Pour the same water into a tall thin glass and a child says there is now more.
- The child is not guessing — the answer follows from how they reason.
- Cognitive development is about how that reasoning changes.
Piaget: building and rebuilding schemas
- According to Piaget 皮亚杰, children build schemas and change them through assimilation and accommodation 顺应.
- Development moves through stages, each with its own characteristic reasoning.
- The tall-glass error is a failure of conservation 守恒 — the understanding that quantity survives a change in shape.
Piaget’s proposed stages: broad age bands and characteristic abilities, not universal deadlines
A child who says a tall thin glass holds more than a short wide one has not yet grasped...
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Conservation is the understanding that quantity survives a change in shape.
Select all the Piagetian processes the CED names.
Difficulty 2/5 · 140 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Scaffolding is Vygotsky's term, not Piaget's.
Vygotsky: learning is social
- According to Vygotsky 维果茨基, children are social learners who develop by interacting with others.
- Scaffolding 支架 is the support a more capable person gives, then gradually removes.
- Where Piaget watches a child discover, Vygotsky watches a child be helped.
Climb Piaget's four stages
Each stage is defined by what the child can now do that they could not before — and by what they still cannot.
The support a more capable person gives and gradually removes is called ____.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Scaffolding is Vygotsky's account of how social interaction produces development.
Do not answer "does intelligence decline with age?" with a single word. Crystallised intelligence is generally maintained while fluid intelligence generally declines — an answer that names only one has answered half the question.
Match each theorist to what their account explains best.
Difficulty 2/5 · 140 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The two child theories describe different conditions, not competing truths.
Using the two theories against each other
- Piaget explains what a child can reach alone; Vygotsky explains what they can reach with help.
- The two are not rivals so much as descriptions of different conditions.
- A strong answer says which condition the question describes.
Crystallised and fluid intelligence both decline steadily across adulthood.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Crystallised is generally maintained or grows; only fluid generally declines.
Cognition across adulthood
- Crystallised intelligence 晶体智力 — accumulated knowledge and skills — is generally maintained or grows.
- Fluid intelligence 流体智力 — reasoning with novel problems — generally declines.
- Because they move in opposite directions, "does intelligence decline with age?" has no single answer.
A child who cannot solve a puzzle alone solves it with a few hints, then solves the next one unaided. Piaget would look at what she could do at the start; Vygotsky looks at the gap the scaffolding closed.
Piaget explains development through schemas changed by assimilation and accommodation, with conservation as a marker. Vygotsky explains it socially, through scaffolding. In adulthood, crystallised intelligence holds while fluid intelligence declines.
Write from 8 counters that are spread out
- A child agrees that two rows of 8 counters match. After one row is spread out, she says the longer row has more.
- Name the missing ability.
A child agrees both rows have 8 counters, then says the spread-out row has more. What has she failed to do, and whose theory names that gap?
Spreading the counters does not add any. Conservation is knowing the number is unchanged.
What is the number of counters in the longer-looking row?
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The row was only spread out. It still has 8 counters.