cognitive development Some important cognitive changes occur during preschool, particularly in terms oi mental representation. Whereas infants and toddlers have limited ability to form representa only a world(images, concepts) and hold tions of their preschool posthem in memory, children in sess more of that extraordinary abllity. When asked about past or tuture events, preschoolers(unlike toddlers are able to think about what happened weeks ago or anticipate what has not yet happened. They can create fanciful scenes which a pilot and the other(e g., in one child is runs the control tower coordinating roles and story lines, and by 4 and 5 years old, they do so with an awareness that they are acting out an imaginary idea
(Sobel 2006). They become more efficient thinkers as they start to organize their thoughts into categories, and they show more sophisticated use of symbols through their use of pretend objects in play and drawings for learning and communicating. In spite of their many advances, preschool ers can be illogical, egocentric, and one- dimensional in their thinking, Piaget referred to these years as a preoperational stage of devel opment, emphasizing that children ages 2 to are less capable in their thinking compared with older children. More recent research indicates that preschoolers have greater cognitive abili ties han has been sometimes assumed, at least when children are in familiar situations and tasks are clearly explained to them no know or Preschool children can appear understand more or less-than they actually do. At times they seem mature and relatively advanced in their thinking, and then later seem limited and inflexible. As preschoolers move from and between simpler to more complex thinking skills, it is helpful to remember that they are not merely functioning less effectively older children or adults, their narrow focus than on a limited amount of information at any given time is actually uselul while they are leaming so many things so rapidly(Bjorklund 200i) That is, because they are just on the cusp oi grasping a variety of concepts, words, and skills at a new level, they learn best when they can attead to just one thing at a time(e g., putting all the yellow erayons and chalk in one bin and purple crayons and chalk in another- cement. ing awareness color) rather than attending to multiple things(e.g., yellow versus purple, crayons versus chalk. and broken versus whole, which is too many concepts to achieve success) Below are brief descriptions of some influ- eaces on cognitive development, as well as characteristics of children's thought, that a preschool teacher might expect to see Influences of social interaction and play As teachers are well aware, all learning for young children is interdependent: Cognitive development in the preschool years has lan- implications for children's social and development play and social and language an essential role in suna cognitive growth Children cons their understanding of a concept in the course of interacth on with others(Vygotsky 1978 Berk& winsler 1995) In developing ideas about what school nteans, for example, children use hat they her people say about school, glimpses of as soliools, and buildings identified by other stories about school that they have had read to them. Their initial ideas may be chantenged confirmed, elaborated on, or altered by subse quent interactions w peers, older children, or adults. And as V demon trated, noch of children's understanding first oraus lit com munication with other priople, then appears in"private speech(bli aioud) and ally is internalized as thoujoit. A dildren's memory, language, afiil other aspects oi coglti. on improve and change their ielahiiusbips with others are affeci Make believe or pretend play with ance and support from adolts, blossoms in the preschool years and allows chddren to make a number of cognitive gains as they try out new ideas and skills. Advances in children's play skills not only serve as indicators of preschool ers' advancing cognitive skills but also are cru cial in fostering further cognitive development other types of play, such as drawing or doing puzzles, are important too. But there is something special about social pretend pla for preschoolers. When they engage in mature sociodramatic play(pretend play that involve communication with other children), children's interactions last longer than they do in other situations, children show high levels of involv ment, large numbers of children are drawn in, and children show more cooperation(Creasey, Jarvis, & Berk 1998) all of which have impor tant benefits lor children's cognitive(and other types of development Toddlers, too, engage in pretend but by the time children reach preschool age they usually show more sophistirated pla especially when they have had parents and teachers' support and such play omportunities(Bodrova& Leong 2007sa II