Editing Cognitive development (section)

== History ==
Jean Piaget is inexorably linked to cognitive development as he was the first to systematically study developmental processes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Piaget|first=Jean|title=Origins of intelligence in the child|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|year=1936}}</ref> Despite being the first to develop a systemic study of cognitive development, Piaget was not the first to theorize about cognitive development.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=WESLEY|first=F|date=March 1989|title=Developmental cognition before piaget: Alfred Binet's pioneering experiments|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0273-2297(89)90023-3|journal=Developmental Review|volume=9|issue=1|pages=58–63|doi=10.1016/0273-2297(89)90023-3|issn=0273-2297|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] wrote ''[[Emile, or On Education]]'' in 1762.<ref>{{Citation |title=Theory of Education |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781472541376.ch-003 |work=Jean-Jacques Rousseau |year=2008 |publisher=Continuum |doi=10.5040/9781472541376.ch-003 |isbn=978-0-8264-8412-3 |access-date=2020-11-15|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He discusses childhood development as happening in three stages. In the first stage, up to age 12, the child is guided by their emotions and impulses. In the second stage, ages 12–16, the child's reason starts to develop. In the third and final stage, age 16 and up, the child develops into an adult.

[[James Sully]] wrote several books on childhood development, including ''Studies of Childhood'' in 1895<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sully |first=James |date=1895 |title=Studies of childhood |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/11376-000 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1037/11376-000}}</ref> and ''Children's Ways'' in 1897.<ref>{{Citation |title=Sully, James |date=2020 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529714388.n567 |encyclopedia=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |doi=10.4135/9781529714388.n567 |isbn=978-1-4739-4292-9 |access-date=2020-11-15 |s2cid=241133576|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He used a detailed observational study method with the children. Contemporary research in child development actually repeats observations and observational methods summarized by Sully in ''Studies of Childhood'', such as the mirror technique.

[[Sigmund Freud]] developed the theory of [[psychosexual development]], which indicates children must pass through several stages as they develop their cognitive skills.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Freud |first=Sigmund |date=1971 |orig-date=1905 |chapter=Chapter II: Infantile sexuality. (2). The manifestations of infantile sexuality |title=Three essays on the theory of sexuality |doi=10.1037/e417472005-178}}</ref>

[[Maria Montessori]] began her career working with mentally disabled children in 1897, then conducted observation and experimental research in elementary schools. She wrote ''[[The Discovery of the Child]]'' in 1950 which developed the [[Montessori education|Montessori method of education]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Montessori |first=Maria |title=Play Is The Work of the Child |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/e555792011-001 |doi=10.1037/e555792011-001 |access-date=2020-11-15|url-access=subscription }}</ref> She discussed four planes of development: birth to 6 years, 6 to 12, 12 to 18, and 18 to 24. The Montessori method now has three developmentally-meaningful age groups: 2–2.5 years, 2.5–6, and 6–12. She was working on human behavior in older children but only published lecture notes on the subject.

[[Arnold Gesell]] was the creator of the [[Gesell's Maturational Theory|maturational theory of development]]. Gesell said that development occurs due to biological hereditary features such as genetics and children will reach developmental milestones when they are ready to do so in a predictable sequence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gesell Theory |url=https://www.gesell-yale.org/pages/gesell-theory |access-date=2020-11-08 |website=Gesell Program in Early Childhood}}</ref> Because of his theory of development, he devised a developmental scale that is used today called the [[Gesell Developmental Schedules|Gesell Developmental Schedule]] (GDS) that provides parents, teachers, doctors, and other pertinent people with an overview of where an infant or child falls on the developmental spectrum.

[[Erik Erikson]] was a [[Neo-Freudianism|neo-Freudian]] who focused on how children develop personality and identity. Although a contemporary of Freud, there is a larger focus on social experiences that occur across the lifespan, as opposed to childhood exclusively, that contribute to how personality and identity emerge. His framework uses eight systematic stages that all children must pass through.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sacco |first=Rob G. |date=2013-03-28 |title=Re-Envisaging the Eight Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson: The Fibonacci Life-Chart Method (FLCM) |journal=Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology |volume=3 |issue=1 |doi=10.5539/jedp.v3n1p140 |issn=1927-0534 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Urie Bronfenbrenner]] devised the [[ecological systems theory]], which identifies various levels of a child's environment.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bronfenbrenner |first=Urie |title=Ecological systems theory |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |year=1992}}</ref> The primary focus of this theory focuses on the quality and context of a child's environment. Bronfenbrenner suggested that as a child grows older, their interaction between the various levels of their environment grows more complex due to cognitive abilities expanding.

[[Lawrence Kohlberg]] wrote the theory of stages of moral development, which extended Piaget's findings of cognitive development and showed that they continue through the lifespan. Kohlberg's six stages follow Piaget's constructivist requirements in that those stages can not be skipped and it is very rare to regress in stages. Notable works: ''Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Development Approach'' (1976) and ''Essays on Moral Development'' (1981)

[[Lev Vygotsky]]'s theory is based on social learning as the most important aspect of cognitive development. In Vygotsky's theory,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vygotsky |first=Lev |title=Thought and language |date=1962 |editor1-last=Hanfmann |editor1-first=Eugenia |doi=10.1037/11193-000 |editor2-last=Vakar |editor2-first=Gertrude}}</ref> adults are very important for young children's development. They help children learn through mediation, which is modeling and explaining concepts. Together, adults and children master concepts of their culture and activities. Vygotsky believed we get our complex mental activities through social learning. A significant part of Vygotsky's theory is based on the zone of proximal development, which he believes is when the most effective learning takes place. The [[zone of proximal development]] is what a child cannot accomplish alone but can accomplish with the help of an MKO (more knowledgeable other).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berk |first=Laura E. |title=Infants and Children: Prenatal Through Middle Childhood |publisher=Allyn & Bacon |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-205-83191-3 |location=Boston, MA |pages=224–225}}</ref> Vygotsky also believed culture is a very important part of cognitive development such as the language, writing and counting system used in that culture. Another aspect of Vygotsky's theory is private speech. Private speech is when a person talks to themselves in order to help themselves problem solve. Scaffolding or providing support to a child and then slowly removing support and allowing the child to do more on their own over time is also an aspect of Vygotsky's theory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slavin |first=Robert E. |title=Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice |publisher=Pearson Education Inc. |year=2018 |isbn=978-0134524283 |location=New York, NY |pages=33–35}}</ref>