Issues in Cognitive Development

Issues in Cognitive Development Steps in Language Development While debate is still ongoing about how children acquires language, with naturists arguing that individuals are born with biological inclination for language, and behaviorists projecting that children develop language by emulating the sounds heard within the immediate environment (Maitland 135), consensus seems to have been reached among the two groups on the major steps involved in the development of language in children. This section aims to elucidate the steps involved.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Issues in Cognitive Development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There exists broad consensus that humans can communicate from birth, as can be demonstrated by the newborn’s cry alerts when faced with a distressing situation such as pain or wetness. However, it is only after the fourth month from birth that the infant is able to turn these cry alerts, coos, and gurgles into some f orm of bubbling, explained as the generation of phonemes which are not in any way related or limited to the child’s exposure to the immediate environment. After the lapse of ten months from birth, the baby is able to narrow down these phonemes to those of the language or languages spoken in the immediate environment (Maitland 134). At the turn of their first birthday, most toddlers progress from bubbling into the use of a holophrase, which can be explained as the usage of one word to communicate meaning. For instance, the baby may point indoors and say, â€Å"Go!† At the turn of their second birthday, most children are able to put together two-word sentences known as telegraphic speech. Available literature demonstrates that this speech is mostly typified by the use of a verb and noun, such as â€Å"go toilet† or â€Å"eat bread† (Maitland 134). Language development theorists are in agreement that it is between two and three years of age that the child is not only able to expand the vocabulary exponentially, but the sentences generated increase in length and intricacy. By their third birthday, the young children begin to follow the rules of grammar without necessarily sticking to any conventions of instruction. For instance, a 3-year-old child may say, â€Å"I goed to the shop.† Such sentence construction, although coming from a 3-year-old child, indicates the use of the general rule, also called overgeneralization or over-regularization, that we form the past tense by adding (-ed) to the word or phrase. The ‘overgeneralization’ or ‘over-regularization’ of language witnessed among the 3-year-olds demonstrates that children apply grammatical rules without necessarily making any appropriate exceptions (Maitland 134). However, as time goes and language development becomes further entrenched, young children achieve the capability to express more abstract notions, concepts and ideas that goes beyond the p hysical realm around them, not mentioning that they also attain the capability to express their own feelings.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Applying Piaget’s Vygotsky’s Theoretical Concepts to Classroom Experiences Both Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky can be termed as the leading lights in the psychology of cognitive development due their classical works, which have been well documented in literature. It is indeed true that their theoretical concepts can be, and continues to be, used in modern classroom settings. This section aims to discuss five concepts from the theories of both Piaget and Vygotsky, and illuminate how these concepts can be applied to classroom experiences. Jean Piaget was a prominent psychologist of the 20th century mainly interested in aspects of developmental psychology, particularly in respect to how individuals acquire, retain, and devel op knowledge (Wittrock 41). Today, his concepts and theories are used by teachers across the world to enhance students’ learning experiences. In his theory of cognitive development, Piaget came up with the concept of assimilation and accommodation to denote two corresponding processes of adaptation through which awareness of the external world is internalized in the individual. In assimilation, what an individual perceives in the external world is incorporated into the internal world without necessarily changing the structure of the internal world, while in accommodation; the internal world is obliged to accommodate itself to the evidence and facts with which it is confronted, thus triggering an adaptation (Wittrock 43). This concept can be applied in modern classroom experiences by encouraging teachers to take an active, mentoring role towards students so as to enable them share in their learning experiences instead of pushing information to passive and sometimes unintereste d students. By observing children to have a comprehensive understanding on their growth and developmental patterns, Piaget came up with the concept of maturation to imply the children’s mounting capability to understand their world and those around them (McInerney 587). This concept further implies that children cannot comprehend or perform certain activities or duties until they are psychologically mature enough to be able to engage in those activities. This assertion has been overwhelmingly used by contemporary educators to form the basis for scheduling the school curriculum with a view to making sure that only those activities or learning tasks that children within a specific age-group can understand are indeed included in the curriculum.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Issues in Cognitive Development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In his theory of cognitive development, Lev Vygotsky came up with the con cept of the zone of proximal development, which was aimed at explaining the idea that development should be defined both by what a child can be able to achieve independently and what the child can be able to achieve when he or she receives assistance from either an adult or a more competent peer (Slavin 47). This concept, along with the two levels of development, is useful for teachers in modern classroom settings to the extent that they can use it to objectively evaluate where the child is at a given moment in terms of learning outcomes, as well as where the child ought to be. In the context of curriculum development, educators and teachers can employ Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development concept to design a developmentally suitable curriculum, where learning activities are designed on not only what the learners are capable of doing on their own volition, but also on what they are capable of learning with other peers who are more proficient (Slavin 47; McInerney 590). Vygo tsky’s concept of proximal development further suggests that educators in modern classroom settings must make sure to expose the children to instruction and activities that fall inside the zone of proximal development if effective learning is to take place (Woolfolk 156). For example, if a child is unable to recognize the sounds in a word or phrase even after been exposed to repeated prompts, the child may not be able to take advantage of the instruction in this type of skill. Additionally, extant literature demonstrates that instructors can employ this concept to, among other things, design instruction in such a way that it is capable of providing practice in the zone of proximal development for individual learners as well as for groups of learners (Woolfolk 159). For example, instructors can employ suggestions, clues and prompts that in the past assisted children during evaluation to form the basis for instructional activities. Vygotsky’s concept of cooperative learn ing can be used in the modern classroom setting to plan learning activities by bringing together children who are at different learning levels to assist each other to learn. What’s more, Vygotsky’s concept was later developed in 1976 by Wood, Bruner Ross to operationalize the concept of scaffolding. In its most basic form, the scaffolding concept represents the supportive interactions that take place between an adult and a child with the view to assist the child to accomplish an activity that is beyond his or her independent efforts (Slavin 88). In the modern classroom setting, the concept of scaffolding has been used by teachers to assist learners graduate from assisted to unassisted success at various learning tasks.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In a school biology class, for example, the instructor might utilize scaffolding by first providing learners with exhaustive guidelines that are needed to perform an experiment on osmosis, and afterwards provide them with concise outlines that they can use to structure further osmosis experiments. With time, the teacher might request the learners to perform the experiments exclusively on their own. Maitland, Laura Lincoln. 5 Steps to a 5AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print. McInerney, Dennis M. â€Å"Educational Psychology – Theory, Research, and Teaching: A 25 –Year Retrospective.† Educational Psychology 25.6 (2005): 585-599. Web. Slavin, Robert E. Educational Psychology: Theory Practice. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn Bacon, Inc., 2005. Print. Wittrock, Mike C. â€Å"Learning as a Generative Process.† Educational Psychologist 45.1 (2010): 40-45. Web. Woolfolk, Anita. Educational Psychology. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

The Sindhu (Indus) River

The Sindhu (Indus) River The Sindhu River, also commonly referred to as the Indus River, is a major waterway in South Asia. One of the longest rivers in the world, the Sindhu has a total length of over 2,000 miles and runs south from the Kailash Mountain in Tibet all the way to the Arabian Sea in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the longest river in Pakistan, also passing through northwestern India, in addition to the Tibetan region of China and Pakistan. The Sindhu is a large part of the river system of the  Punjab, which means land of five rivers. Those five rivers- the Jhelum, Chenab,  Ravi,  Beas, and  Sutlej- eventually flow into the Indus. History of the Sindhu River The Indus Valley is located on the fertile floodplains along the river. This region was home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, which was one of the oldest known civilizations. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of religious practices starting in about 5500 BCE, and farming began by around 4000 BCE. Towns and cities grew up in the area by about 2500 BCE, and the civilization was at its peak between 2500 and 2000 BCE, coinciding with the civilizations of the Babylonians and Egyptians.   When at its peak, the Indus Valley Civilization boasted houses with wells and bathrooms,  underground drainage systems,  a fully developed writing system,  impressive architecture, and a well-planned urban center. Two major cities,  Harappa  and  Mohenjo-Daro, have been excavated and explored. Remains including elegant jewelry, weights, and other items. Many items have writing on them, but to date, the writing has not been translated. The Indus Valley Civilization began to decline around 1800 BCE. Trade ceased, and some cities were abandoned. Reasons for this decline are unclear, but some theories include flood or drought. Around 1500 BCE, invasions by the Aryans began to erode what was left of the Indus Valley Civilization. The Aryan people settled in their place, and their language and culture have helped to shape the language and culture of todays India and Pakistan. Hindu religious practices may also have their roots in Aryan beliefs. The Sindhu Rivers Significance Today Today, the Sindhu River serves as a key water supply to  Pakistan  and is central to the country’s economy. In addition to drinking water, the river enables and sustains the country’s agriculture.   Fish from the river provide a major source of food to communities along the river’s banks. The Sindhu River is also used as a major transportation route for commerce. Physical Attributes of the Sindhu River The Sindhu River follows a complex path from its origin at 18,000 feet in the Himalayas near Lake Mapam. It flows northwest for roughly 200 miles before crossing into the disputed territory of Kashmir in India and then into Pakistan. It eventually exits the mountainous region and flows into the sandy plains of the Punjab, where its most significant tributaries feed the river. During July, August, and September when the river floods, the Sindhu stretches to several miles wide in the plains. The snow-fed Sindhu River system is subject to flash floods, too. While the river moves quickly through the mountain passes, it moves very slowly through the plains, depositing silt and raising the level of these sandy plains.