Within this blog post I will be reflecting upon Goswami’s report on “Children’s cognitive development and learning’. There are two key conclusions that particularly gained my attention which I will stimulate my focus and key discussions around. The first conclusion is: ‘thinking, reasoning and understanding can be enhanced by imaginative or pretend play contexts.” The second conclusion I will discuss is: “language is crucial for development” (Goswami, 2015, p.25).
The first conclusion considers the importance of imaginative and pretend play of a child. Goswami discusses that children embed human behaviour from the situation that is around them which encourages their intentions and emotional responses which through imagination and pretend play can be enriched for the child to develop cognitive learning and development.
From my school experience I have seen class teachers scaffolding their pedagogical practice of imaginative play within their lessons. For example; I observed a class of year 5 pupils role-playing characters from the Shakespearean story ‘Macbeth’ where children used pretend voices for the role of the ‘witches’. This allowed the children to illustrate and demonstrate their use of imaginative play which facilitated symbolic development (Bigelow et al 2004). This type of pretend play demonstrated is known as ‘sociodramatic play’ (Lindsey and Colwell 2013).
From my observation there are many benefits to sociodramatic play. The pupils within the class interacted and built a positive report with their fellow classmates which aided their social skills and allowed the children to get in the mind set and gain a deeper understanding of emotion through role play. The teacher carefully framed this activity in which the children could gain as many opportunities for reflection and development of learning as possible.
The second conclusion I will discuss is the importance of language for learning development. Goswami talks about how language plays a key role in cognitive development and aids conceptual development. From my experience I have witnessed class teachers focusing on four key areas of communication such as; speaking, listening, reading and writing. For example; during an English lesson the class teacher used the strategy of guided reading with the class when reading the story of ‘Macbeth’. At key points during this lesson, the teacher discussed with the class any new vocabulary and the definitions of these words and put these onto a ‘word bank’. The Department for Children, School and Families (2009) discuss the importance of working walls and reading corners as this creates a broad and rich language environment for all children. Once the teacher I was observing had finished with the key words, these were now displayed within the classroom as a visual representation for the children to see a positive reflection on their learning. These words were then used in a later task during the week in which the teacher was able to assess their understanding of the vocabulary learnt.
(Click on image to view in larger format)
The ‘language learner’ diagram shows how much of an impact language has upon the progress children make within their cognitive learning (Department for children, schools and families, 2009).
To conclude, I feel that the conclusions provided by Goswami will have great implications on myself as a teacher as I will ensure my lessons are as interactive as possible to further develop children’s cognitive learning. I will plan my lessons thinking of the language used from myself and the children through listening, speaking, reading and writing which will encourage children’s social, learning and emotional development. I will also use the strategy of asking thought provoking questions and the use of new words which will extend children’s thinking and curiosity (Joan E, et al 2010) and adapt their behaviour to a specific task to achieve the highest attainment possible.
Word Count: 608
Reference List:
- Bigelow, A. E., MacLean, K. and Proctor, J. (2004) The role of joint attention in development of infants’ play with objects. Developmental science. Vol. 7, No. 4: 419-421.
- Department for Children, School and Families (2009) Developing language in the primary school: Literacy and primary languages, London: DfE
- Goswami, U. (2015) Children’s cognitive development and learning; Report for the Cambridge Primary Review Trust [online]. Available: <http://cprtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/COMPLETE-REPORT-Goswami-Childrens-Cognitive-Development-and-Learning.pdf> [Accessed 22nd October 2017].
- Lindsey, E., & Colwell, M. (2013). Pretend and physical play: links to preschoolers’ affective social competence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 59(3), 330-360. Available: <http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.nd.edu/journals/merrill-palmer_quarterly/v059/59.3.lindsey.html (link is external)> [Accessed 23rd October 2017].
- Test, J. E., Cunningham, D. D. and Lee, A. C. (2010) Talking With Young Children: How Teachers Encourage Learning. Dimensions of early childhood. Vol. 38, No. 3: 3-14.