Do you think that there is any connection between the cognitive shifts that chil

Question

Do you think that there is any connection between the cognitive shifts that children make between about five and seven years of age and the fact that most cultures with formal education systems begin children's schooling at this age period? Are these shifts continuous or discontinuous? To answer this question, address the following points, some of which are covered in detail in one of Watson's lectures: Detail the many shifts that occur between five and seven years of age. Talk about the cognitive characteristics of the end product, the child in the concrete operational stage. Discuss the differences between the preschooler (age 3-5) and the school age (age 7-11) child in terms of how they think differently. Speculate as to why this shift might or might not make children ready for school. Are these shifts continuous, as Bandura would assert, or they discontinuous, as Piaget believed? Defend your answer.

Explanation / Answer

A child do not necessarily adapt the change occur to them all at once because their intelligence develops over time by building upon prior, successful stages across many domains. These changes and challenges experienced by children are commonly referred as "5 to 7 shift". It's a psychological pattern which appears to any human being, which may also differ to some due to the psychosocial settings around a child. As mentioned in the question, most of the cultures adapt a formal education system based on "5 to 7 shift" however; there are many cases where a child can be seen underperformed due to the absence of this pre childhood shift.

The changes occur during the "5 to 7 shift" are experienced in physical, psychosocial, and cognitive development:

1. Physical Development: A number of physical changes take place from losing teeth to gaining height and weight during the 5-7 year shift. Physical skills are tested and refined such as balance, flexibility and body strength.

2. Psychosocial Development: A concept of self-competency and the feelings for it occurs in a child due their interaction with other adults and teachers. By the age of 5, a child learns about his concrete behavioural affirmations like "I can run fast" or "I can climb that tree". And by the age of 7, a child become more accurate about his behaviour at a higher potential level like "I am smart in Mathematics" or "I am good in sports but not competent enough to beat others". Most importantly, children between 5 and 7 ages develop an ability to think of themselves and help other peers to lend a helping hand.

3. Cognitive Development: During 5 to 7 ages, a child moves in the cognitive development process from preoperational thought to concrete operational thought. Most of the 5 years old focus on a single aspect of a situation rather than a logical view point and it leads to a struggle in decision making on their perception, hence, "5 to 7 shift" helps them to build a good cognitive development. During this process, a child become aware that everyone around them is not identical and understand that everyone has a different character and perception.

Also, according to researchers, younger children have yet to develop certain aspects of memory such as metamemory (conscious awareness of the existence of memory), categorical knowledge (the ability to organize similar items in memory), and deliberate rehearsal (building a lasting memory by rehearsing).

One of the important cognitive shifts happens at the age of 3-4; and it also lead to foundation of Symbolic Thoughts. Symbolic thought is the ability to mentally or symbolically represent concrete objects, actions, and events (Piaget, 1952). A child in this period mainly depend [playing] on concrete objects rather than ideas hence; these periods also construct a foundation for "5 to 7 shift".

A pre-schooler makes decisions based on its appearance and quantity of an object whereas, a 7 years old start to analyse the quality of an object. A pre-schooler have good memory of things in their immediate experience however, they do not have an ability to develop it for effective strategies for recalling information over longer periods of time. Unlike a pre-schooler, a school age child experience important changes in cognitive growth. In general, they begin to problem solve, think about cause-and-effect relationships, and express these ideas to others. Their cognition matures; they begin to make the distinction between private thoughts and public expressions.

In Psychology, there are different school of thoughts put forward by different theorists which to led many controversies. These disagreements are also found in Child Development theories too. Child Development has different definitions outlined by the different theorists; and these theories and researches provided us new insights in this field. Child development is mainly divided into two processes known as continuous and discontinuous change. Some researchers such as Albert Bandura and John Watson think that development is gradually changed while others such as Sigmeud Freud and Jean Piaget believe it as a series of stages. However, modern theorists such as Fischer and Bidell suggest that child development can be both continuous and discontinuous, while each theory has its own strengths and limitations. To conclude, a child's experiences and surroundings can determine his/her personality or way of behaviour. “Theorists differ greatly in their approach to the study of development, but all tend to agree that people develop at different rates, that development is an orderly process, and that development takes place gradually” (Woolfolk 1998).

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