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1.0 INTRODUCTION Every child is a gift from God. Every child is unique in it’s own way. It is the responsible that has been laid upon the shoulder of the society surrounding the child to shape the child. No child should be left behind. This coursework is about child development focusing on cognitive development of a child. Cognitive development refers to development of intelligence according to stages. Thus, the development of a child can be observed through the children’s personality, motivation and social characteristic of human being. It is important to know the development of a child by stages. The development of a child can be affected by both biological and environmental factor. If a child doesn’t have the balance development or growth, we cannot solely blame on heredity of the child. Rather we should see the main cause being obstacle for the development and growth of the child. The society may also be blamed for this. 1
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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Every child is a gift from God. Every child is unique in its own way. It is the responsible that has been laid upon the shoulder of the society surrounding the child to shape the child. No child should be left behind. This coursework is about child development focusing on cognitive development of a child. Cognitive development refers to development of intelligence according to stages. Thus, the development of a child can be observed through the childrens personality, motivation and social characteristic of human being. It is important to know the development of a child by stages. The development of a child can be affected by both biological and environmental factor. If a child doesnt have the balance development or growth, we cannot solely blame on heredity of the child. Rather we should see the main cause being obstacle for the development and growth of the child. The society may also be blamed for this.

2.0 CONCEPT OF CHILD DEVELOPMENTThe concept of child development can be categorized into the concept of child and development. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the word child refers to a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority. While according to According to American Heritage Dictionary, child is a person in between the stages of birth and puberty. To summarize, the word child can be defined as a person who has not attained maturity. On the other hand, concept of development refers to a dynamic process of progression which occurs in stages. Development can be cathegorized into qualitative and quantitative process. Human development is changes that are in qualitative, not quantitative. These changes cannot be measured, but we can see it clearly when we compare with an early stage than the stage we are right now (Atan Long, 1980). Qualitative process cannot be measured by any means of apparatus. For example, a newborn baby doesnt know how to talk. But when he reaches one year old, he is able to say one or more words like mama or papa. This development cannot be measured but can be only observed. On the other hand, quantitative process can be measured by physical means like ruler, weighing scale, and measuring tape. Hence, growth is categorized as quantitative process as it can be measured. Development can occur in terms of physical, mental or cognitive, emotional and social. To sum up, child development is the process or the stages taking place during biological and physical growth of a child which is from birth till puberty.

3.0 PRINCIPLE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENTAccording to Wikipedia, principle is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed. Development of a child can be divided into four categories which is physical development, emotional development, cognitive development and social development. Among which all these developments are very important for a balance overall development of a child. There are certain principles which show that certain parts of the body of a child which grows faster than others. However, this development is same for all children. The first principle of child development is cephalocaudle. Cephalocaudle is progression of development of a child from top to down. It begins from head, followed by arms and then legs. This can be vividly seen in an infant who lifts up his head first before he could use his arms. He then later uses his legs to crawl, walk or even run. It all happens in stages. An infant starts to lift up his head when he is two months. However, according to Medline Plus, a childs neck is unable to support his head when he is pulled to a sitting position. Within three to four months, his neck is able to support his head. Later, the infant is able to use his arms when in his fifth to sixth month. The infant may begin to crawl in his sixth to twelfth months before progressing to walk and run. The second principle of child development is proximodistal development. According to (Novella J. Ruffin, 2001), based on theory, the spinal cord actually developed first before the outer part of the body. This means that a child attains gross motor skills before he could attain fine motor skills. Grass motor skills are larger movement using large muscles. For example, gross motor skill is the ability of a child to use his muscle in his arms and legs. He is able to run, swim and lift up heavy things. Whereas, fine motor skills involves smaller actions of the child. This is related to his ability to use small muscles in fingers and toes. For example, the child is able to draw, use scissors, and play with toys. Thus, in any parts of a childs body, gross motor skills begin first before fine motor skills. The third principle of child development is growth and development is in an orderly manner. It means that a child will progress stage by stage. For example, a child cannot straightaway get run as soon as it is born. The child will first learn move his legs, then to crawl, walk and then only will run. Thus, each and every development occurs in an orderly manner. Other example will be speaking. Scientists have found out that before a child could utter the first word, he will be learning the rules of language and how adults use it to communicate. In the first two months, the child will make sounds like oohahh. However as the child is in his fourth and fifth months, he is able to call out his mom, mama and call his dad, papa. The child will further develop in his speech by catching up more words and eventually will be able to construct a two to three words sentence. Besides speaking, the childs food intake should also be an orderly manner. The child should take soft food before taking solid food. The initial food that should be given for a born new baby is breastmilk. A child cannot be given rice immediately after his birth. The child slowly progresses to take soft food and then later to hard food.The fourth principle of child development is development proceeds from simple (concrete) to complex. Simple activities like categorizing things into same group or called assimilation are concrete. Take for instance, a child sees an orange and a mangosteen. In the beginning stages of cognitive development, if the child was asked to describe the similarities, he would say that there are no similarities. Seeing no relationship, the child would try to describe some properties of the fruits. For example, he would talk about the colors of the fruits. He might say that the orange is in orange colour while the mangosteen is in purple. Besides, he would also talk about the shape of the fruits. He would say that they both are round in shape. Thus, he recognizes the properties of objects in the beginning periods of cognitive development. The child will be able to classify things; which is a concrete thought of how things look alike. But as the child progresses in his cognitive development, he observes things in a more complex manner. He is able to understand the relationship of an orange and a mangosteen; which is the fruit category. By now, the child is capable of classification.The fifth principle of child development is that growth and development is a continuous process. There must be a foundation laid before a house is built. Same goes to the development of a child. Before acquiring a new skill, the child should already have the basic principle; and the new kill will be the foundation for further attainment and mastery of skills. For example, before a child could turn over, he should be able to lift his head. Other best example would be, a child should be able to move his arms before grasping an object. The mastery of drawing involves increasing skills from holding the pencil. Thus, a child adds new skills to the skills that have been already acquired. The sixth principle of child development is growth and development depends on maturation and learning. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word mature means become fully developed or growth; or fully developed physically. Thus, maturation biological development or growth in sequential order. The most significant development responsible for maturation is development of brain and nervous system. It is important to enhance cognitive and motor skills. Thus, a child will be able to think more maturely and be able to make physical movements. It so happens in sequential order that a child must develop to a certain point of maturation in order to step into new skills. Take for instance, a 1 year old boy is hungry. All he can do is just to cry for milk. However, if the boy reaches 4 years old boy and is to feel hungry, he wouldnt be crying for food. He is now able to talk and ask his mother to provide some food. This shows the maturation and learning. The childs brain has developed further or matured and with the help of his environment he is able to speak and understand words. The environment in which the child is living will greatly influence the maturation of a child. A stimulating environment will help the child to develop his competency.

4.0 FACTORS INFLUENCING CHILDS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTEvery child has same development characteristics in every aspect especially cognitive development. However, it is the rate of development which differs from one to another. Factors influencing a childs cognitive development can be categorized into two which are endogen (intrinsic of child) factors and exogen factors (extrinsic of child). Endogen factors are the biological factors or factors influencing the child in mothers womb itself. It is caused by heredity or temperament. A child is born as a result of fusion of ovum from mother and sperm from father. Thus, a child may inherit either the mothers characteristics or that of the father. There are also opinions that only genetic factors influence a childs cognitive development, some who disagree, while others say that its a mixture of both inheritance and environment. However, according to a recent study directed by Dr. Bouchard at the University of Minnesota, evidence supports that nearly 70 percent of your intelligence is inherited. In the survey carried using both identical and fraternal twins also prove that cognitive development is inherited. Dr. Thompson believes the findings show that environment has little to do with intelligence.Besides genetic factors, defect in sense organs can also influence a childs cognitive development. Sensory receptors in organs are very important for every child as they receive stimuli from external environment and convert them into nervous system signals which then will be transferred to brain through nerves. The brain then interprets the signals. For example, skin is an organ for sense of touch. If a child would touch a hot kettle, the sensory receptors in the skin will send information through sensory nerves to central nervous system which is brain. Thus, if there is a defect in sensory organs, then the cognitive development of a child will be affected.Other than that, food can also be the endogen factor influencing cognitive development of a child. The intake food during pregnancy of a mother should be balanced as it is vital for both mother and fetus. The brain of fetus grows rapidly from 10th to 18th week of pregnancies. Thus, in this period of time a pregnant mother should consume appropriate amount of nutrients which are essential for cognitive development of the fetus. For example, deficiencies in intake of nutrients like amino acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals can affect nervous system which will eventually disrupt the development of brain. Not only nutrients inadequacies but overabundance may also result in stunted development in fetal brain.On the other hand, exogen factors are the factors are the external factors or environmental factors affecting a childs cognitive development. The main exogen factor influencing cognitive development is food intake. A child should take balanced diet so that the mental development wont be affected by any means. As the old saying goes, fish is brain food. Besides having proteins, organic vegetables and blueberries are said to directly benefit the brain. Having sufficient nutrient supplements will prevent a child from having stunted cognitive development.Besides that, family of the child plays a very important role in cognitive development. The environment in which a child is brought up is very important. If the childs family creates a peaceful environment, then the child will have healthy cognitive development. However, if the child is stressed emotionally, he will be mentally challenged. This might lead to retarded cognitive development. For example, if the parents keep fighting in front of the children and abandon them, there will not be a peaceful environment for the child. The child will feel lonely and feel as no one to care for him. This will eventually cause him to depressed, which will in turn challenge his cognitive development. In addition, the childs cognitive development is also affected by the way he was brought up. A child is brought up in poverty stricken family can lead to stressful life too. The child may be less effective, more punitive, and less warm with children (Mc Loya, 1990). Hence, family can be said that it has a major role to play in a childs cognitive development.

Apart from that, the cognitive development of a child is also influenced by peer group. Peer influence can be said as powerful influence. This is because, when a child begins to mingle with friends, he is coming out of family boundary. That means he is learning to socialize with his friends. When a child mingles with his peers, his intelligence is believed to increase. In some cases, it is believed that young children will easily imitate their friends. For example, when a teacher asks her students to draw a building, the child will immediately look at his friends drawing to get an idea on what to draw. He might even draw a same picture like that of his friends. Somehow this will steer the childs cognitive development.Last but not least, schools play a very important role in influencing a childs cognitive development. In fact, one of the main purposes of schools is for the benefit of cognitive development of a child. Teaching and learning process done in schools will directly affect the cognitive development of a child. The lessons carried by a teacher are to give input to her students and the children will gain new experiences and knowledge. Different types of lessons are carried out by the teacher according to the cognitive levels of the children. This is because; different children achieve different level of cognitive development. Thus, lessons taught for the children should be suitable with their mental ability. By doing this, a child will slowly develop from stage to stage in intelligence. The teacher will try hard to bring up the students step by step to attain the stages of cognitive development. Teachers teach the students on the basis of no child left behind.

5.0 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF A CHILD (PIAGETS CONSERVATION TASKS ON CHILDREN AGED FOUR AND SEVEN)Jean Piaget is a famous physiologist in Switzerland. He became interested in science especially in development thinking. He labeled development thinking genetic epistemology. According to Jean Piaget, cognitive development goes through four stages that is sensorimotor ( from birth to 2 years), pre operational periods ( 2-7 years), concrete operational periods (7- 11 years), and formal operational periods (after 11 years).The first stage which is the sensorimotor stage is the earliest stage among all in cognitive development. This stage is named as sensori motor because a child in this stage uses senses and motor skills.This is the stage where the infants receive stimuli from external environment. They are able use their senses such as sense of touch, sound, smell, and sense of sight. This is the phase where the child uses physical movements to understand the surroundings. For instance, the child moves his arms and legs, closing and opening his eyes voluntarily, and plays with his toys by grasping them. at the later stage of sensorimotor, children will gain object permanence. According Jean Piaget, the development of object permanence is one of the most important accomplishments at the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. Object permanence is the ability of a child to understand that an object exist though they cannot be seen. Previously, the child was unable to represent objects in their memory. This is because they do not have memory of objects out of sight. After mastering the concept of object permanence, the child will acquire directed groping. The child in this stage will vary his movements to see how the results differ. For example, the child will shake the clatter to see if makes the sound. He might even pull objects towards him using strings, or might even tilt the objects. By doing this, he is learning to see cause-and-effect relationships. Once he masters the effects of his activities, he will intend those effects. The second stage of cognitive development is the preoperational stage.during preoperational stage, a child will increasingly adapt to symbols. This can be seen when uses objects to represent things like using broom to represent a horse while playing. Not only that, the child is also able to pretend or role play like a mother, teacher, doctor or even a lawyer. Besides, a child in this stage is very transductive. He will try to make inferences from one specific to another. For example, a child sees a round shape thing and asked his mother, what was it. His mother replied that it was a ball. Thus, when he sees moon in the sky, he calls it ball too. As for him, everything which is in round shape is a ball. In addition, a child in this stage is very egocentric. Egocentric means that a child sees things in his very point of view. In order to investigate the mental abilities of children in this stage, Piaget uses three dimensional display of mountain scene. Children were asked to select a picture based on what they have observed. They find it quite hard to do this task. Then the children were asked to select a picture where the child sitting on the other side of the mountain looking at different viewpoint would observe. However, the children chose picture showing their own scene of the mountain. This is because the children are egocentric or self-centered and unable to see others viewpoint. They are unable to consider others perspective. Somehow or rather, the child in the latter part of this stage will be able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. The third stage of Piagets cognitive development is concrete operational stage. At this stage, a child will gain a better perception of mental development. The child will be able to think in a logic manner about concrete events. However, a child in this stage will have difficulty in understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts. Piaget divided logic thinking of a child into two manners. They are inductive logic and deductive logic. Inductive logic is the ability of a child to think from specific experience to general principles. Inductive logic is based on experience or observations. Whereas deductive logic is arguments based on laws or principles. For example, a child said that he threw a ball to the air and it fell down. Thus the ball will fall down again if he was to throw it again. This is called inductive as the child is thinking based on his observation. While his mother argues that the ball will definitely fall down because of pull of gravity based on Newtons Law. This is deductive logic. However, the child in this stage will have difficulty in using deductive logic. Apart from that, a child in this stage begins to be less egocentric. It means that the child will be able to think from other persons perspective. Another ability that a child gains in this stage is reversibility. This refers to the ability of the child to mentally cancel out the change that has been made. For example, in Piagets Conservation Task, a child is given two glasses of same size containing same amount of water. Then, the water in one of the glass is poured into a bigger glass and the child is tested on the amount of water. The child in this stage is able to conclude that when water in the big glass is poured back into the small glass, it will give the same amount water level as the other glass. This is called reversibility. Another ability acquired by the child in this stage is classification. The child will be able to realize that things in certain groups can actually fit into another. This classification is done by the student through existing schema. For instance, a child will categorize dogs into animal category and at the same can fit in mammal category.The last stage of cognitive development by Piaget is the formal operational stage. In this stage, the child begins to reason hypothetically and systematically. In this stage, Piaget believed that it is important for the child to acquire deductive logic to solve problems. Deductive logic is the ability of the child to use general principle obtains a specific outcome. Deductive logic is used in hypothetical situations and usually is necessary in science and mathematics. There are two important characteristics in formal operational stage. They are hypothetic-deductive reasoning and propositional in nature. Hypothetic deductive reasoning is using a general theory to make a specific prediction for a situation. For example, when a child faces a problem, he will come out with all possible outcomes that may affect his actions. Based on the outcomes, he will deduce a specific hypothesis that might be the result. Thus, a child in this stage is able to consider possible result of actions rather than relying exclusively on earlier experiences. Next is propositional characteristic in nature. It means that a child does not require concrete stuffs to make judgments. They can evaluate things in a logical manner without a need of concrete evidence. The following are task carried on children aged 4 and 7. The result of our findings are recorded below.

CONSERVATION TASK ON NUMBER TASK

AGE OF CHILDORIGINAL POSITION TRANSFORMATION

4 Years Old( Nurul Shakinah binti Muhammad Nor)

QuestionAre there same number of coins in each row?

AnswerYes.

QuestionAre there same number of coins in each row?

AnswerNo. One row contains more coins than the other.

7 Years Old( Nur Sofia Suraya binti Najib)

QuestionAre there same number of coins in both the arrangement?

AnswerYes.

QuestionAre there same number of coins in both the arrangement?

AnswerYes.

Explanation on Conservation of Number

I have carried out Piagets Conservation Task on volume two children of age 4 and 7. The child aged 4, Nurul Shakinah and the child aged 7, Nur Sofia were shown coins arranged close together and on the other side was coins spread up all in mess. When they were asked regarding the number of coins, Shakinah said that the number of coins were not same. However, Sofia answered that the number of coins were same. Their answer and explanation contradict each other.By looking at this, it can be said that Shakinah is still in the preoperational stage of cognitive development. She is still not matured and unable to make rational decision. She is not able to reverse operations in her head. She doesnt have the understanding that the number of coins will be just the same if she was to arrange arrange them close to each other. When she was asked to give reason for her answer, she said that the coins which were in mess occupied more space and thus, they are more. Her thought is still intuitive as she reveals the style of thinking Piaget called centralized. She considers only one characteristic whereby the coins take up more space on the table. She is unable to make judgments based on the number of coins. Her cognitive level is still low as she is centralized to sight. She it means that she says what she sees and unable to make cause-and-effect relationshipIn contrast, the child aged seven, Sofia can be said that she has reached the concrete level of cognitive development. This is because she can picture the transformation taking place. Unlike Shakinah, Sofias answer that the number of coins were same is based on rational thinking. She is able to understand reversibility. The number of coins will be same if they were to be arranged in a close manner. This proves that the child has attain concrete level of cognitive development. However, she is still bound to physical as she needs concrete objects to arrange and manipulate situations.

CONSERVATION TASK ON LENGTH TASK

AGE OF CHILDORIGINAL POSITION TRANSFORMATION

4 Years Old( Nur Farah Adilah binti Sheikh Nasir)

QuestionAre there same number of coins in both the arrangement?

AnswerYes.

QuestionAre there same number of coins in both the arrangement?

AnswerYes.

7 Years Old( Muhammad Shafiq Aizat bin Muhammad Zainal Abiddin)

QuestionIs each of these straws just as long as the other?

AnswerYes.

QuestionNow, is each of these straws just as long as the other?

AnswerYes.

Explanation on Conservation of Length

I carried out conservation task on length on two children of age 4 and 7. The children of age 4, Nur Farah and of age 7, Shafiq were ask to identify the length of straws. First, two straws of same length were arranged in same position. The children were whether the straws are of same length and their answer was yes. However, their answers contradict when the position of the straw was changed by moving one of the straws a bit forward. Farah said one of the straw was longer than the other; while Syafiq argued that they were just same in length. Based on Farahs answer, it can be said that she is still in the preoperational stage of cognitive development. Thus, her maturity and thinking ability has not reached concrete level. She is unable to make reverse operations in her mind that if she was to put back the straw in horizontal to the other straw, the length would same. When she was asked to give reason for her answer, she said one of the straw is longer than the other. Her thought is still intuitive as she reveals the style of thinking Piaget called centralized. She is unable to make judgments logically. She is very egocentric as cant see things from others perspective. This indicates that Shafiq has attained concrete level of cognitive development. This is because she can picture the transformation taking place. Shafiqs answer that the length of both the straws after transformation is same based on logical thinking. He is able to understand reversibility. He said, the size of the straw has not been changed. It was just the position of one straw was changed. If the straw was to be put back in its original place, the result will be same length of straws. This proves that the child has achieved concrete level of cognitive development. However, he is still bound to physical as he needs concrete objects to arrange and manipulate situations.

CONSERVATION TASK ON VOLUME TASK

AGE OF CHILDORIGINAL POSITION TRANSFORMATION

4 Years Old( Nurul Huda Aina binti Mohamad Tajuddin)

QuestionIs there same amount of water in both the glasses?

AnswerYes.

QuestionIs there same amount of water in both the cup and the glass?

AnswerNo. The glass contains more water compared to the cup.

7 Years Old( Nur Hana Diyana binti Mohd Rosli)

QuestionIs there same amount of water in both the glasses?

AnswerYes.

QuestionIs there same amount of water in both the cup and the glass?

AnswerYes.

Explanation on Conservation of Volume

I have carried out Piagets Conservation Task on volume two children of age 4 and 7. The child aged 4, Nurul Huda Aina and the child aged 7, Nur Hana Diyana were shown two glasses containing same volume of water. When they were asked regarding the volume of water, they both agreed that the glasses contain same amount of water. However, their answers contradict each other when one of the glasses of water was poured into a bigger cup of polystyrene. Nurul Huda said that the volume of water in glass is more than that of polystyrene. However, Nur Hana argues that the volume of water in both the container is just the same.By looking at this, it can be said that Nurul Huda is still in the preoperational stage of cognitive development. This is because; her maturity and thinking ability has not reached concrete level. She is not able to reverse operations in her head. In short, she didnt master the concept of invariance yet. She couldnt make operations in her mind that if the water in the cup was to be poured back into the glass, it would be same volume of water as the other glass. When she was asked to give reason for her answer, she said that polystyrene cup contains less water because the cup is big and only three quarter of water is filled, whereas the glass contains full amount of water. Her thought is still intuitive as she reveals the style of thinking Piaget called centralized. She considers only one characteristic whereby the cup is big. She is unable to make judgments based on the volume of water. She is not able to think that no water has been added or taken out; and that just the container has been changed.On the other hand, the child aged seven; Nur Hana can be said that she has reached the concrete level of cognitive development. This is because she can picture the transformation taking place. Unlike Huda, Hana answered that the amount of volume in the cup and glass is the same based on logical thinking. She is able to understand reversibility. She said, No water has been added or taken out; and that just the container has been changed. Thus, the amount of water is just the same. She is also able to explain that increase in the size of container reduces the water level, not the amount of it. This proves that the child has attained concrete level of cognitive development. However, she is still bound to physical as she needs concrete objects to arrange and manipulate situations.

6.0 IMPLICATION OF CHILDS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT TO TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESSIt is very important for a teacher to have an understanding on cognitive development of a child. This is because a teacher will be able to understand better the reason behind a childs behavior. Knowing the childs behavior will help the teacher to adapt herself with the children.No two children are the same. This is the basic knowledge that a teacher should know. Some children have high rate of cognitive development compared to others. Having this knowledge will help the teacher to identify children with low rate of cognitive development and high rate of cognitive development. To do this, a teacher can assess her students by giving simple tests and categorized the students according to their levels. For example, two students in the same standard will attain different marks in their test. This is because one will have higher rate of cognitive development than the other. Thus, identifying students according to their abilities will help the teacher to separate the students into different level of classes and carry out different lessons in the classes. For example, a teacher might ask the students with higher cognitive development to simply spell out the words. Whereas for students with lower cognitive development or slow-learners, the teacher might chunk a word according to their syllables and use different colors for each syllable so that the children will be able to visualize in their heads. Besides that, a teacher having knowledge about cognitive development will be able could be the cause of childs slow to sympathize with slow-learners and teach the students patiently. Thus, the teacher wont be angry if students are slow in learning. She would rather try to find alternative ways of teaching. For example, she would plan certain activities whereby the students will be excited and easily attain studies. She might ask the students to carry out role play, singing or poem reciting to boost their English Language proficiency. Mostly it wouldnt be a good start for these students by just reading articles and answering questions based on it. Not only that, the teacher with knowledge of cognitive development of a child will be able to do research on the factors affecting a childs cognitive development. A childs cognitive can be either affected by heredity or environmental factors. For example, if the teacher finds out that the childs mental development is affected by imbalance diet, and then she can have a conversation concerning this matter with the childs parents about it. Probably mental depression cognitive development. This mental depression could be the cause of family problem; may be facing poverty. In addition, the child may also be taking imbalance food. If that would be the reason for childs low cognitive development, the teacher can talk to the organization in the school to provide food for example through RMT programme.

7.0 CONCLUSION OR SUGGESTIONS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS

Teachers play a very important role in moulding children. This is because school is the second home for children as they spend almost for more than six hours in school. Thus, teachers also play a role as parent. It is a burden that has befallen the teachers to mould their attitude as well as impart knowledge. They are responsible for the childrens cognitive development. Children can be divided into four categories of teaching learning process. The first category is teaching pre operational children who are in between two to seven years old. Children in this category need guidance of teachers as they just begin to acquire knowledge. They are still not able to reason things. Thus, it is important for a teacher to use concrete teaching aids and visual aids while teaching. For example, if the teacher was to teach name of fruits and colors, she can bring different colors of fruits and question them. This will make the lesson interesting and the children will get keenly involved in the activity; rather than chalk and talk where students will be passive learners. At this stage, whatever the children visualize will be strongly rooted in their mind. This will help to boost their memory power and eventually contribute to cognitive development.Besides that, teachers should give short and clear instructions to the children. Long instructions will confuse them as they are not able to catch up. Besides, the word choice of a teacher in her classroom should not be bombastic rather should be of simple words. For example, when a teacher is giving instruction probably to draw a picture, she should give a clear instruction using simple words so that the students wouldnt be blur about it. She can also repeat to emphasize on her instruction; or else she can even draw a simple picture on the white board for the children to follow. This will give the students confidence in what they are doing. This will boost confidence in them that what they are doing is right. This is because children learn how to imitate in this early stage of cognitive development. Thus, students do not really understand by mere instructions; but through her drawing on the white board. Apart from that, in order to contribute to cognitive development of children, a teacher should carry many activities which will make the children active learners. For example, the teacher can give hands-on practice for the children like forming words from cut-out letters. The students will really use their intelligence in forming those words. While other activity which will contribute in cognitive development of children is by providing wide range of experiences. For instance, the teacher can bring her students to Zoo Negara, Botanical Garden, and parks. Children will gain a lot of knowledge besides gaining new experiences. The second stage will be teaching operational children with children between the ages of seven to eleven. In this stage, children will still require concrete resources in learning new skills. The teacher should provide solid three dimensional models to represent certain objects. For example, the teacher uses a 3D magnet to explain about North Pole and South Pole in a magnet; as well as to describe about attraction or repulsion of opposite poles. Not only that, the teacher should also provide opportunities for the children to manipulate objects. For instance, the students should be given a chance to carry their own experiment to test respond of plants towards sunlight. My carrying out their own experiments, students will be able to develop their cognitive level. They will be able to think more maturely.Furthermore, teaching method of a teacher should revolve slowly with the cognitive development of her students. Beginning from simple methods of teaching, teacher can slowly bring in complex tasks depending on the cognitive development of students. For example, the teacher should give a simple reading text for the students in the beginning, and then gradually increase the level of toughness of the text. At the end, the can give student longer and complex stories for the students to read. She can also ask the students to compare their lives with the characters that of in the text. She can also provide open-ended questions to generate students ability to think logically. This will simulate their thinking ability to think and reason things. 22