WiseTip: CD-EXP-M0003-I01B

Cognitive Development

Promoting Exploration & Discovery

Interact with your baby by showing him/her different toys. Let your baby look, reach out, grasp, mouth and discover. Occasionally comment on what your baby is doing and respond to his/her attempts to look at you or vocalise while playing.

WHY IT MATTERS

Your baby’s very first playmates are their parents and other caregivers. Responsive interactions, such as talking to babies and responding to their actions, will encourage exploration and build their brains.

1. 2

Shonkoff, J., & Phillips, D., (Eds.). (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development, Board on Children, Youth, and Families. National Research Council. (Level III)
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Babies at this age (0 – 2 years) are in the sensorimotor stage - the first of the four stages in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. It is a period of very fast cognitive growth. During this time, children use their senses and actions to explore, discover, learn and grow. This period begins with basic reflexes and advances through a series of “stages” to complex sensory and motor skills, and early symbolic thought. Physical development (mobility) allows the child to begin developing new intellectual abilities.

Piaget, J. (1964). Part I: Cognitive development in children: Piaget development and learning. Journal of research in science teaching, 2(3), 176-186.

One of the most important discoveries about the developing mind is how early and significantly infants are uniting individual observations into coherent conceptual systems.

4, 5

Gopnik A & Wellman HM. (2012). Reconstructing constructivism: Causal models, Bayesian learning mechanisms, and the theory theory. Psychological Bulletin. ;138(6):1085–1108.
Spelke, E., & Kinzler, K. D. (2007). Core knowledge. Developmental Science, 10, 89-96

From very early on, children are not simply passive observers, registering the superficial appearance of things. Instead, they are building explanatory systems (implicit theories) that organize their knowledge. Such implicit theories contain causal principles and causal relations. These theories enable children to predict, explain, and reason about relevant phenomena and, in some cases, intervene to change them.

As early as the first year of life, babies develop implicit theories about how the world of people, other living things, objects, and numbers operate. Researchers have found that these foundational theories are not simply isolated forms of knowledge but play a profound role in children's everyday lives and subsequent learning.

Allen L.R., Kelly B.B., editors. (2015). Committee on the Science of Children Birth to Age 8: Deepening and Broadening the Foundation for Success. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation. Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council; Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); Jul 23. 4.