Intellectual Development Of Children
In two separate issues of "Time" magazine,
the intellectual development of
infants and preschoolers was analyzed with
contrasting viewpoints regarding the
development of their brains and the
views regarding how best to encourage the
cognitive abilities of these young
children. In the earlier issue, dated
February 3, 1997, the special
report consisting of two articles titled
"Fertile Minds" and "The
Day-Care Dilemma" the theories of Jean
Piaget’s cognitive-development are
supported. In the latter issue, dated
October 19, 1998, the special
report titled "How to Make a Better Student"
focused on refuting the theories
supported in the earlier issue of this
magazine. Understanding the influence
of Piaget’s and other’s views on
intellectual development of young children
on the contrasting views of this
topic and how it reflects contemporary
opinions on how young children should be
raised is the focus of this paper.
Hopefully, these contrasting articles will
provide a more holistic
understanding of Piagetian theory and its application to
real-life
situations. I. Children's Intellectual Development: Preoperations By
the age
of 3 and 4 years old, children have attained what Piaget called
functions or
"preoperations" that enable young children to perform a
number of feats far
beyond the capabilities of infants (Piaget, 1950). Infants
concentrate on
constructing a world of permanent objects. Once constructed,
these objects
will be known to exist even when they are no longer present to the
infant's
senses. Preschool children, in contrast, are constructing a world
of
qualities and properties that different objects share in common. They
are
beginning to identify and name colors, shapes, textures, density, and so
on. At
this stage, children are beginning to understand same and different as
these
terms refer to properties. At the same time, it is necessary to
recognize that
these classes are formed only on the basis of perceptual
attributes such as
color and form and not on the basis of any quantitative
characteristics.
Moreover, although children can name and identify
members of different classes
cow, dog, or car, they cannot as yet operate on
these categories in a systematic
way. That is to say they cannot logically
add categories and recognize that
cats, dogs, and cows are all animals. Nor
can they logically multiply classes
and appreciate that a cat is both a cat
and an animal at the same time. In
short, the one-many or quantitative
dimension of classes escapes young children.
Only when they have attained
the concrete operations of childhood (age 6 to 7
years) will they begin to be
able to coordinate sameness and difference and
arrive at the notion of a unit
that is basic to all quantitative thinking. A
unit, for example the number 3,
is at once like every other number in that it is
a number but also different
in that it is the only number that comes after 2 and
before 4. Once children
have a notion of a unit, they can engage in numerical as
well as logical
addition and multiplication (Gesell, 1949). The young child's
limitation with
respect to operating on classes is most evident when we ask them
to define a
word. Young children routinely define words by describing their
functions; an
apple is to eat; a bike is to ride. Only when they attain concrete
operations
at about the age of 6 or 7 years will they begin to define terms by
nesting
them in higher order classes, where an apple is a fruit, and a bike
has
wheels--you go places with it. Occasionally young children may define a
word by
placing it within a broader context, but this is often an
anticipation of later
intellectual achievement, not a true reflection of the
young child's competence
(Carey, 1989). In the "Fertile Minds" and "The
Day-Care Dilemma"
articles, neuroscientific evidence is used to comply with
Piagetian theory of
preoperational stages of development. The article
describes in depth how the
rapidly proliferating brain cells at birth make
connections that shape a
lifetime of experience. Thus, the author of this
article points at that the
first three to four years of development are
critical and that "there is an
urgent need . . . for preschool programs
designed to boost the brain power of
youngsters" (Nash, 1997, p.51) This
argument is supported by hard,
quantifiable evidence in the form of PET
scans. Furthermore, the use of
Piagetian tools to be incorporated in the
education of toddlers in day-cares is
stated to be a means that society can
use to promote the intellectual
development of young children who live in
conditions that are a threat to their
brain development. In "How to Make a
Better Student," Craig Ramey, a
cognitive neuroscientist, states that PET
scans have fueled unwarranted views of
brain development of young children
and a preoccupation with the cognitive
development of their babies (Cole,
1998). The use of high contrast toys and
musical cribs, for example, are
frowned upon in this later article. Rather, this
article stresses the
importance of less input and increased protection. II.
Variability of
Individual Growth Rates In discussing young children's
intellectual growth
and abilities, it is difficult to overemphasize the wide
range of normal
variability in the age at which they attain their new mental
powers. The
article "Fertile Minds" seems to downplay this variability by
using
scientific evidence of PET scans to quantitatively describe
intellectual
capability in all infants and young children. Although it is
sometimes useful,
as Gesell and his coworkers have done, to talk about the
characteristics of the
"3-year-old" or the "4-year-old," this can be
misleading.
Although some temperamental characteristics are relatively
unique to each age
group, a great deal of intellectual variability exists
(Gesell, 1949). This
individual variability has sometimes been obscured by
the tendency to think of
young children in temperamental, rather than
intellectual terms. Benjamin Bloom
has pointed out that the preschool years
are a time of very rapid intellectual
growth. One characteristic of periods
of very rapid growth, intellectual or
otherwise, is that they tend to
exaggerate individual differences (Bloom, 1974).
Consider early
adolescence and the growth spurt associated with puberty. Girls
are taller
than boys of the same age, and some boys and girls mature earlier
than
others. The physical variability among boys and girls in a sixth or
seventh
grade classroom are incredible. In the meantime, it is critical to
appreciate
that much of the variability among young children in readiness to
learn has to
do with variability in growth rate and nothing more. There is a
very real danger
in misdiagnosing young children as "learning disabled" when
in fact
their growth is such that they temporarily fall behind their peers
(Nash, 1998).
Recognizing the normal variability in growth rates is
particularly important
today when the academic pressures for achievement and
testing have been pushed
downward into the kindergarten and even into the
prekindergarten levels
(Hoffman, 1987). One consequence of this trend is that
our perception of the
range of "normality" has been compressed. The more
recent view
maintains agreement with the view that normal variability is
"normal" and it
is important to give children space and allowing them to
explore their own
environments. The earlier article on day-care, however,
stresses the increased
need of providing all children with individualized
attention and specifically"remedial education" for youngsters from disadvantaged
homes (Nash, 1998).
III. Conclusive Remarks Children of 3 and 4 years of
age are unique. They are at
an age of increased intellectual growth, and the
range of variability of that
growth must be recognized and appreciated in
setting educational programs and
assessing educational progress. In
disagreement with the special report on
"How to Make a Better Student"
that emphasized reducing input, ignoring
cognitive-development tools, and
giving children space, in dealing with young
children, it is well to keep in
mind their tendency to think about the world in
concrete ways and to remember
that their language ability often far exceeds
their cognitive understanding
(Cole, 1998). The socialization of young children
is by means of frames that
govern their behavior in repetitive social situations
and adults must
understand when frames are spoiled, switched, or contradicted.
Young
children's emotions are simple and are expressed directly in their words
and
actions. Children are most like us in their feelings and in their
emotions,
and least like us in their thoughts. It is, therefore, important to
treat
children with the same good manners we would accord to other adults. At
the same
time, we need to remember that young children may not understand
concepts the
same way we do. Put differently, we should treat young children
as we might
treat a visitor from another country--with good manners, but
without the
expectation that they will understand everything we have to say
or be affected
from our actions even if believed to be or not be in their
best interest.
Bibliography
Bloom. B. (1974). Stability and change
in human characteristics. New York:
Wiley. Carey, S. (1989). The child as
a word learner. Linguistic theory and
psychological reality. Cambridge, MA:
M.I.T. Press. Cole, W. (1998). How to Make
a Better Student. Time, 88-89.
Collins, J. (1997). The Day-Care Dilemma. Time,
58-60. Gesell, A., et.al.
(1949). The first five years of life. New York:
Harper. Hoffman, M. L.
(1987). Empathy: Its developmental and prosocial
implications. Nebraska
symposium on motivation. Lincoln, NE: University of
Nebraska Press. Nash,
J. (1997). Fertile Minds. Time, 48-56. Piaget, J. (1932).
The moral
judgment of the child. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Piaget,
J.
(1950). The psychology of intelligence. London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul.
Piaget, J. (1951). The child's conception of the world. London:
Routledge &
Kegan Paul. Piaget, J. (1952). The language and thought
of the child. London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul. Tanner, J. M. (1981).
Education and physical growth.
London: University of London Press.