Children
are exposed to a highly social environment from the day they are born.
The world in which they have to grow up consists inevitably of not only
siblings, parents, teachers, other people and things – living and
non-living, but also values, opinions and prejudices.
All
of them constitute strong, ever-burgeoning stimuli, in the context of
which the cognitive development of children is triggered.
Reading and cognitive development
At
the age of 3–5 years, thinking skills of preschoolers undergo
tremendous change. Their capacity for using representational symbols to
signify people, objects, and events become more complicated. In
addition, preschoolers start to apply logic to their thinking process,
and ask why and how things work in the world.
A
great way for teachers to sharpen the thinking skills of preschoolers
is shared reading of quality books; it helps promote aspects of
cognition like problem solving, reasoning, symbolic play, memory,
metacognitive knowledge, and social cognition. Here are a few ideas for
you to help encourage cognitive development of your kids.
Reasoning and problem solving through reading
During
preschool years, children try to explain how any stuff works. At times
their explanations may seem far-fetched: their series of ‘why’ and ‘how’
questions show a real desire on their part to solve problems, and
reason about the bases of events.
To
develop the natural curiosity of these toddlers, teachers must pose
questions that are thought provoking. They must help children in
understanding the natural causes behind certain phenomena, to promote
their cognitive development beyond simple recognition of superficial
transformations in the looks of things.
Symbolic play
Another
striking trait of preschoolers is their ability to participate in
symbolic representation. A box can become a car, while a block may
become a phone. They start to display an understanding of the many
differences between what is unreal and what is real.
Teachers
must encourage make-believe play during the preschool years. Kids
associate themselves often with characters in storybooks. Hence it would
be rewarding for them to read books that depict little children,
animals or other characters that engage in symbolic play; it is a great
method that can inspire children to participate in pretend play in their
own unique ways.
Memory
Memory
of preschoolers is affected by their previous knowledge. Kids of this
age tend to remember new ideas and concepts more easily in relation to
previous knowledge about the particular subject on hand; it is not so,
when they know little about a certain topic.
Also,
kids of age 3-5 years remember new concepts more easily, if introduced
in meaningful contexts, or through hands-on experience.
Social Cognition
Social
cognition basically means thinking of others. As children start to
develop new cognitive skills, they tend to have increasingly deeper
perception of how the social world works around them.
It
is an excellent way for teachers to strengthen social cognition through
reading stories that portray feelings and emotions of people in
relation to their behaviors and thoughts.
Effective
cognitive development during preschool years helps kids to play,
communicate, and apply logic in ways that might have been impossible in
toddlerhood. With proper knowledge and planning of cognitive growth
during these years, teachers can easily promote cognitive development
through the everyday activity of story time reading.
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