Option #1

Comment:

To what extent do you think cognitive development and language are "natural"?

Cognitive development is the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood.

Language is a system of communication which consists of a set of sounds and written symbols which are used by the people of a particular country or region for talking or writing.

Language development is the process by which children come to understand and communicate language during early childhood.

From birth up to the age of five, children develop language at a very rapid pace. The stages of language development are universal among humans. However, the age and the pace at which a child reaches each milestone of language development vary greatly among children. Thus, language development in an individual child must be compared with norms rather than with other individual children.

It was once believed that infants lacked the ability to think or form complex ideas and remained without cognition until they learned language. It is now known that babies are aware of their surroundings and interested in exploration from the time they are born. From birth, babies begin to actively learn. They gather, sort, and process information from around them, using the data to develop perception and thinking skills.

Psychological theories of language learning differ in terms of the importance they place on nature and nurture. Remember that we are a product of both nature and nurture. Researchers now believe that language acquisition is partially inborn and partially learned through our interactions with our linguistic environment (Gleitman & Newport, 1995; Stork & Widdowson, 1974).

Cognitive development and language are both influenced by nature and nurture and the extent to which both are natural depends on a child’s upbringing and their interaction with their surroundings.
 

Reference:

(Cognitive Development) Read more: http://www.healthofchildren.com/C/Cognitive-Development.html#ixzz7sugMhH7P
Meaning of Language:
Language development. Extracted from: http://www.healthofchildren.com/L/Language-Development.html#ixzz7sukzbG4r

 

What are the potential strengths and weaknesses of neuroscience as an approach to the understanding of learning?

Studying the nervous system advances understanding of our basic biology and body function. Knowing how things typically work can help shed light on what may happen when there are problems. It can help researchers find ways to prevent or treat problems that affect the brain, nervous system, and body.

Strengths:

The level of technology currently available.
The number of research currently available and accessible to neuroscientists and teachers in the field of learning.

Weaknesses:

The individual differences amongst learners make for the variance in data.

 

Make an Update: Some suggestions – define and provide an example of a concept in constructivism.

Constructivism is a term that describes theories used in psychology and education. It is a method that focuses on combining external information with internal systems to create meaning.

It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge.

Two prominent people in the field of constructivism psychology were Jean Piaget and George Kelly.

The constructivism learning theory argues that people produce knowledge and form meaning based upon their experiences. Two of the key concepts within the constructivism learning theory which create the construction of an individual's new knowledge are accommodation and assimilation.

I will be focussing on assimilation in the context of this assignment. Assimilating causes an individual to incorporate new experiences into the old experiences. This causes the individual to develop new outlooks, rethink what were once misunderstandings, and evaluate what is important, ultimately altering their perceptions.

What is insightful about this is the opportunity for an individual to constantly be in a state of mental progression, it gives room for constant review of information known and learnt through new learnings and understanding.

The limitation of this constructivism learning theory is that: there are times when new information doesn't fit neatly into an existing category or schema in our mind. This may lead to errors in judgment; such as a child calling a skunk a "kitty," for instance.

 

Reference:

1. Constructivism in Psychology: Theories and Applications

Extracted from study.com

2. What is constructivism?

Extracted from: https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html

3. Constructivism learning theory.

Extracted from: https://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/constructivism/

4. Reasons for assimilation

Extracted from: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-assimilation-2794821