Cognitive Development: How Children Learn

Cognitive Development: How Children Learn
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What Surprised Me the Most about How Children Learn
The role played by external factors towards cognitive learning among children has surprised me the most. Although the impact of Intelligence Quotient (IQ) towards the cognitive learning of children cannot be entirely ruled out, environmental factors play a vital role in the learning process among children. Environmental factors predominantly entail the nature of the family a child is born and raised, the nature of the schools they attend as well as the diet of children particularly in their formative years. Research indicates that children born and raised in families without many children are likely to be intelligent than their counterparts.
The enhanced cognitive development of singletons compared to non-singletons can be explained through a resource-dilution model. The resources within a family can be broadly categorized into economic as well as interpersonal resources. Economic resources entail the available financial resources while interpersonal skills predominantly entail the attention given to an offspring by the parents. Therefore, when a new child joins the family the finite economic and interpersonal skills are dwindled. This explains the variance in cognitive development between children born in small families and children born in large families.
Teaching methods can be broadly categorized into conservative (traditional) teaching methods and liberal (modern) teaching methods.

In the traditional methods, school is considered a task to be endured. Teachers impact knowledge to the students through rigid techniques, such as coursework and lectures. The students are then accessed and appraised via standard tests. On the other hand, education is considered both a fun and challenging process in modern teaching methods. Teachers impart knowledge to students through tailored techniques whereby audio-visual techniques are used to ensure effective learning. Learners are tested and appraised based on talent. Modern teaching methods aimed at making learners the core of the learning process are better than traditional teaching methods.
The diet consumed by children over a prolonged period has a direct effect on their cognitive development. When children are subjected to severe malnutrition either prior to their birth or during their formative years, it adversely affects their neurological development. Consequently, dismal neurological development hinders the cognitive development of such children. Malnutrition adversely affects the abstract reasoning, attention span as well as the memory of children. Although children are believed to recover from short spans of malnutrition, the effect of prolonged malnutrition on intellectual level may be experienced throughout the life of an individual. The administration of balanced diets throughout an individual’s learning process enhances the cognitive development among children.
How That Might Impact My Understanding of Teaching Practice
In light of the fore mentioned information, I intend to adjust my teaching practice accordingly to foster increased cognitive development among children. Learners particularly adolescents should be taught on the benefit of small families. This will encourage the learners to have smaller families once they are adults. Consequently, their children are likely to enjoy accelerated cognitive development. A teaching practice that places learners at the center is critical to an improvement in their learning process. A suitable teaching practice should equip learners with skills that they can directly apply once they are done with school. Further, it is necessary to regularly conduct mass education to teach parents on the importance feeding their children with balanced diets. Feeding programs in school should also feed children on balanced diets or at least provide supplements and vitamins in the food availed to learners.