Schema and Cognitive Lod Theory

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Schema Theory and Cognitive Development: a) Discuss the main implications for teaching and learning b) Use your own detailed example to show an understanding of this topic can positively influence instruction in the classroom “The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.” (Jean Piaget) As young children we are active, open receivers for knowledge. Rarely content to simply accept what we learn as ‘gospel’, we ask multitudes of questions. As we become adults, the processes we use to gain this knowledge change and evolve as we learn to challenge, develop and pass it on. As future teachers it is important to understand these processes and how we can use them to enhance our students learning to make them capable of “doing [the] new things” to which Piaget refers. So why do children answer questions so differently to adults? And why do we they things so differently? Jean Piaget, a prominent biologist and psychologist helped to pioneer new ways of understanding this. His development of studies on cognitive development and schema theory, which are extremely rich, complex and multifaceted processes, have been furthered, contradicted and utilised to broaden our perspectives. Both schema theory and cognitive development are vital to understanding how we can best assist students learning. In this essay I will discuss implications for teaching and learning of cognitive development and schemata. I will also, through a detailed example, demonstrate how an understanding of this topic can positively influence instruction in the classroom. The study of cognitive development has spanned decades and brought to light many different aspects of the human brain. These include looking at different developments our brains experience as we think, perceive and

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