The cognitive development theory by Piaget contends that there are different phases of intellectual development and each stage is associated with certain behavioural activities. It is these activities that guide educators and theorists in literacy on what is and what is not tenable. Educationalists using this theory believe that the nature of content that is given to pupils for learning must relate to their level of intellectual development.This position is based on Piaget’s theory that children’s cognitive growth occurs in a sequential pattern through four related stages: sensorimotor stage (birth - 2yrs), preoperational stage (2-7yrs), concrete operational (7-11yrs) and formal operational (11yrs - adult).
Within our settings we focus primarily on the sensorimotor and preoperational stage of development. There are a number of ways to support emergent literacy. Some examples below:
- Reading story books
- Rich practitioner-child talk
- Using a variety of music, rhyming, poems
- Content focused activities
- Active play eg. baking
- Quality, responsive, developmentally appropriate materials
- Multi-sensory activities
- Props for dramatic play
- Availability of a listening centre
Constructivism shows that children acquire knowledge not by internalising it directly from the outside but by constructing it from the inside, in interaction with the environment. Thus, these interactions are required to be positive and supportive and in turn supports their cognitive development through strengthening of neural pathways to the prefrontal cortex.
