To what extent do you think cognitive development and language are "natural"? What are the potential strengths and weaknesses of neuroscience as an approach to the understanding of learning?

Jean Piaget suggested that children's thinking goes through a series of four major stages. He proposed that the biological factor played an important role in Children's learning. These biological factors showed a uniformity among children irrespective of their different social environments. Lev Vygotsky, on the other hand, argued that society shapes the child's mind. Both culture and child’s experience is necessary to understand children’s cognitive development. He brought about the connections between language development, social learning, and cognition. According to Vygotsky complex thinking begins at - A. Unification of scattered impression. B. organizing discrete elements into groups. C. Generalisation. D. Abstraction. E. Application

With this background, I feel that cognitive development and language has to be nurtured to a large extent and are natural only to a very small extent. I endorse Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple intelligence. Children do exhibit various intelligence like special intelligence, linguistic intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence, and so on. To a certain extent, these come to them Naturally however these skills have to be nurtured to a large extent. Children have to be provided with the right kind of environment so that they can build on their strengths.

Strengths and weaknesses of Neuroscience as an approach to understanding learning.

Neuroscience is beginning to provide evidence for many principles of learning that have emerged from laboratory research, and it is showing how learning changes the physical structure of the brain and, with it, the functional organization of the brain. Collaborative studies of the design and evaluation of learning environments, among cognitive and developmental psychologists and educators, are yielding new knowledge about the nature of learning and teaching as it takes place in a variety of settings. In addition, researchers are discovering ways to learn from the “wisdom of practice” that comes from successful teachers who can share their expertise. Emerging technologies are leading to the development of many new opportunities to guide and enhance learning that was unimagined even a few years ago.