Theories as a guideline for understanding cognitive development of children in an acadmic environment

Lev Vygotsky believes that it is important for the teacher to facilitate the child from the level of independent performance to the level of assisted performance through the zone of proximal development. Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory varies from that of Piaget in this one aspect. He gives a more important role for society’s influence in a child’s development than Piaget did. Indeed, Vygotsky believes that peer learning and teacher facilitation will enable a child to develop better.

Marsh states that it is important that the teacher gives tasks that are sufficiently difficult for the child to perform so that the child is motivated to achieve learning either by asking his/her peer or the teacher. The teacher’s instructions should motivate and not de-motivate the child from learning. Also, these tasks will be easier to perform if the child is helped through the zone of proximal development by the teacher.




Keeping in mind Vygotsky’s theory and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory; it is possible to involve children with learning activities that will enable them to develop their individual intelligences through cumulative effort. If one were to include activities that will be challenging, students can learn to strengthen those intelligences that are relevant to themselves.



In order to ensure that the activities within the classroom will allow for multiple intelligence progression, it is imperative that the teacher use Bloom’s taxonomy so as to monitor whether he/she has a healthy mix of activities that will cater to the needs of each child’s intelligence quotient in the classroom.

Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development lacks only one aspect and that is – it does not address the issue of society’s role in the development of a child’s knowledge and mental aptitude. Neither did his theory state the role of culture in the learning acquired by a child.

These theories are excellent as a guideline to understanding cognitive development of a child within the academic environment. However, as Barrow (1984) stated ‘these theories and generalisations have not been empirically validated’. So, it is wrong to take them to be the Gospel when it comes to understanding Cognitive Development amongst children. Instead they can be used as guidelines to improving the learning environment in our schools so that children can improve their knowledge and develop their personality so that they can handle their future better.

Making a difference

I have learnt three very important facts this week, and they are related to the statements/questions:
- “Think about”
- “I would correct my mistakes”
- “So, you want to be a teacher?”

When I walked out of the lecture theatre on Monday, the words that were ringing in my mind were Dr. Howard Nicholas’ “THINK ABOUT”. The emphatic tone that he used when he said those words, made me realise that there are a lot more questions that I need to ask myself so as to improve my skills as a teacher.

Not only did Dr. Nicholas ask us to think about our students and the schools that we will be working in but also he asked us to think about our role as teachers. How prepared am I to take on the responsibility of laying the foundation for future learning in the minds of children who are not only eager to learn in a creative manner but also very impressionable and vulnerable - emotionally and mentally?

This is a role that I cannot take in a flippant manner. It involves constant self-monitoring and constant raising of the bar for myself. Like Jaime Escalante said, “Every year I would correct my mistakes.” His statement reminded me of what my Assistant Manager said when I was working as a Corporate Communications Trainer, “You stop growing when you stop listening to feedback”.



The learning or rather the gaining of knowledge never stops. I would once again have to refer to last week’s learning. If I have to prepare my students for a future that I’m unaware of, then I’ll have to constantly learn and improve myself. There’s no room for mediocrity of teaching nor is there room for ‘taking a break’ from learning for me.

Listening to “Poison Berries” by Penny Ikinger made me realise that we do live in a world where we have lost the optimism and romanticism of the past. But the pessimism and realism of the words, “You’d be better off dead” can be changed if I as a teacher work on realising and improving myself in my areas of concern.



During the workshop discussion, I listened to my colleagues talk about their experiences working in schools in Australia. It was very thought-provoking and I was glad that I got an opportunity to listen to them. Their statements helped me to understand what I needed to do so as to answer the question that was raised in my mind by Dr. Howard Nicholas and the workshop’s questions.

Am I sure that I want to be a trainer? Oh, yes! I would love to work with adults who are attempting to re-start their lives and their careers by improving their communication skills in English. This week’s session and discussion has only helped to re-enforce this thought in my mind.

Why innovate?

I totally agree with Sir Ken Robinson’s statement that “education will take us into a future we cannot grasp”. This one statement made me wonder how different will the world be from what I grew up in and what I know of it. I guess I got my answer when I read what Beare has said through a 5 year old child, Angelica (Beare 2001). It is a truly ‘multi-cultural, multi-national, multi-faith world’ that future students will be living in.

If that is the case then we will have to use innovative teaching methodologies that will concentrate on the creative capacity of a student. These should help students to imbibe and hone skills that will help them to face their future. These skill sets cannot be learnt using the conventional methodologies that curb student creativity. So, that brings us to the question of what are the innovative teaching methodologies that foster creativity.

I guess I got my answer through Miller who talks about ‘timeless learning’ and the ‘characteristics of timeless learning’. However, I am unsure of how effective ‘timeless learning’ will be; especially since the examples given by him were from abstract forms of learning that are not easily quantifiable.

So, that brings me back to how can a student creatively learn skills that will help him/her in the future. Maybe, there are certain fields where it is not possible to be creative with the basics. How can one explain to a child that 1+1=2 always since that is how it has been taught us? Why can it not be 1+1=3? Or, how does one explain to a child that it is always ‘they are’ and not ‘they is’ in the English language?
I guess there will always be certain rules that cannot be taught creatively. But for all the others not only the student but also the teacher can don on his/her thinking cap and become innovative once again.

Training and Learning Activities

Imagine this: On completion of your graduation in Engineering, XYZ Company has recruited you as IT Support Executive. XYZ Company is an IT Business Process Out-sourcing firm providing services to a UK-based company. It’s your first day at work. There are 19 other trainees who either are like you or have worked for 5-6 years in another company.
Even as you interact with your colleagues, a lady walks in and says, “Welcome to XYZ Company. My name is Rachel James and I will be your ‘Corporate Communications’ facilitator for the next two weeks.” Then she goes on to say,
Scenario 1: We will begin with basic communication skills. As stated in the first slide of this power point presentation, basic communication skills are… (Expository teaching)
Scenario 2: We will be learning more about basic communication skills. You can stop me at any moment to clarify doubts. We know that basic communication skills are reading, writing, listening and speaking. Can any one tell me which skills you will be using when interacting on-line with customers from Norwich… (Interactive teaching)
Scenario 3: The first thing we will do is split into 5 groups of 4. We’ll work in our groups for the next two weeks to learn more about basic communication skills and to understand the communication methods used within the company… (Small group teaching/discussion)
Scenario 4: You might or might not know about XYZ Company. In the next 45 minutes we’ll find out more about XYZ Company through company advertising videos, search engines, IT magazines, etc. Once we research the topic, we’ll split into 4 groups of 5 to co-relate the data and create presentations… (Inquiry teaching/problem solving)
Scenario 5: Based on diagnostic tests done during your recruitment, we have created individualised training programmes. Log onto the computer system using your username and password. Double click the ‘Day One’ folder in ‘E-drive’. The folder has a series of tasks that you will complete within a stipulated time… (Individualisation)
Scenario 6: Please log onto the computer system using your username and password. On the desktop, there’s an icon that says ‘Virtual Learning Environment’. Double-click on this icon. You will be paired with a virtual customer… (Models of reality)
Print (1993) states, “In the cycle of the curriculum process, learning activities are integrally related to content and curriculum intent…The selection of appropriate teaching-learning strategies reflects the curriculum developer’s professional understanding of the task at hand and the needs of students…” Print’s (1993) definition forms the selection criteria for my imaginary training programme, i.e.
Content: Communication Skills Use and Usage by Indian IT agents amongst British customers.
Curriculum Intent: Facilitate and improve practical knowledge in the use of communication skills, i.e. reading, writing, speaking and listening, so that trainees can work as a team in the future to handle customer queries effectively.
Teaching Learning Strategies: ‘Small group teaching/discussion’ and ‘Inquiry teaching/problem solving’ are the two strategies to be used.
Learner: A group of tenured and un-tenured IT agents who are not first-language users with limited exposure to British culture.
Learner Needs: Improvement in the use and usage of English language so as to be effective IT support agents.
Now that we know the background to my imaginary training programme, let us look at the learning activities used. Print (1993) defines learning activities as “those activities offered to learners in the teaching-learning situation which are designed to enable them to acquire the designated content and thereby achieve the stated objectives and more broadly, the curriculum’s intent.” Based on Print’s (1993) definition, I have decided to use the above stated two teaching learning strategies. The advantages and areas of concern for using ‘Small group teaching/discussion’ and ‘Inquiry teaching/problem solving’ are as follows:
Small group teaching/discussion: allows me to divide the classroom into small groups. Each group works on the same task but they learn to work independently. They achieve the learning objective by using interactive formats such as group discussion, brain-storming, mind-mapping, etc. The interaction between trainees will result in communication skills improvement. The use of technology for topic research will improve their receptive skills. The discussions will improve their productive skills.
Print (1993) states “small groups are the only…opportunity for (trainees)…to acquire these skills effectively.” Group discussions will result in trainees working together in teams to achieve a common goal. This suits the training purpose of ensuring that in the future they will work as a team to sort out consumer problems.
An important area of concern is that trainees can lose focus. I can circumvent this by placing ‘off-task behaviour’ checks at points where trainees might deviate from learning objectives. Since the learning objective is to improve communication skills, it’s irrelevant how loud the discussions are as long as trainees are not discourteous to each other. It’s to be noted that the advantages of using this learning strategy to improve communication skills far outweighs its ‘areas of concern’.
Inquiry teaching/problem solving: Print (1993) states ‘Inquiry teaching/problem solving’ “ensures…learners are actively engaged in determining answers to questions or resolving problems.” This method will involve trainees in four stages of activity. Later, this will help them to determine a consumer’s area of concern. They’re as follows:
1) Problem awareness: Trainees determine the problem by asking questions and listening to answers provided.
2) Forming tentative hypotheses or possible solutions to the problem or issue: Based on the answers given, trainees will create possible solutions.
3) Researching and collecting data to test those hypotheses: Trainees will ask leading questions that will enable them to test the feasibility of their solution to the problem.
4) Forming conclusions based on the evidence collected and accepting or rejecting the hypotheses/possible solution: Trainees work on determining plausible solutions that can be substantiated with data.
The learning objective here is to ensure that trainees receive enough opportunities to improve their communication skills before they begin interacting with customers. The expository and interactive teaching strategies do not provide these opportunities. Since we require trainees to work in teams once they begin taking calls, ‘individualisation’ and ‘models of reality’ strategies do not work. Both these strategies require trainees’ to work as individuals and they defeat the training programme’s purpose.
Print (1993) suggests four criteria for choosing learning activities and they are diagrammatically sequenced as follows:

I have based my criteria on all four. When you work in the BPO industry, you will realise that there are little or no ‘resources crunch’ or ‘constraints’ based on finance, technology, etc. This multi-billion dollar industry generates enough finance to fund it-self and other industries too. The basis’ here are the first two. If I had a resource crunch or constraints then I would have a contingency plan in place. For example, if I had no access to online systems then I would have given each trainee printed sheets, magazines and other media examples to access information. As a facilitator I do know how to work with what is given to me so that I can achieve the objectives of the learning modules keeping in mind the learners’ styles of learning.
Appropriate content teaching with effective teaching learning strategies that achieve learning standards is an extensive field. Print (1993) provides us with the stepping stones to accomplish those objectives along with information about possible pit falls in disregarding them. Since I am convinced by what Print (1993) has stated, I’ll follow the above process in my training career in the future.

Bibliography:
Print, M. (1993) Curriculum Development and Design (2nd Edition). St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin