St Aidens- Preschool Curriculum

You hear a lot in the media about how researchers in the field of early
childhood education say the early years of life, from ages 0-5, are the prime
time for brain development. They tell us that children should be exposed to
numerous experiences that lead to cognitive development so that they
will have academic success when they begin school.

Most professionals point to preschools as places where young children will
get the experiences they need to acquire these skills. Why? What exactly
is "cognitive development" and what can preschool parents do to
encourage it in their own young children without sending them to
preschool?

There's no big mystery to "cognitive development." It refers to functions of
the brain such as thinking, learning, awareness, judgment, and processing
information. These are things healthy children do quite naturally as they
learn and grow.

The Swiss philosopher and psychologist, Jean Piaget (1896-1980), was the
first to suggest that children go through different stages of cognitive or
mental development and that learning activities should correlate to and
adjust with these developmental stages as follows:

Sensorimotor Stage, 0-2 years of age, child learns through sensation and
movement.
Pre-Operational Stage, 2-7 years, children begin to understand and master
symbols (language) and draw from past experiences to make assumptions
about things and people in their world.
Concrete Operational Stage, 7-11 years, the child's ability to reason begins,
based on his/her own personal experiences.
Formal Operational Stage, 11+ years, children can speculate, understand
abstract ideas, and develop theories.
Piaget invented developmental psychology and cognitive theory - the
foundation for education-reform movements. Piaget inspired the belief
that children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge (as
traditional pedagogical theory had it) but active builders of knowledge
who are constantly creating and testing their own theories of the world.

Piaget invented developmental psychology and cognitive theory - the
foundation for education-reform movements. Piaget inspired the belief
that children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge (as
traditional pedagogical theory had it) but active builders of knowledge
who are constantly creating and testing their own theories of the world.

Note: You can learn more about Piaget here:

Time Magazine's 100 Most Important People of the Century - Jean Piaget

The Jean Piaget Society

So, what are some of the activities that correlate with the cognitive
developmental stage of 2-5 year olds? A typical course of study designed
for preschoolers suggests concepts that educators think children ages 2-5
should learn.

What follows is an adapted listing of the World Book Encyclopedia's
Typical Course of Study for Preschoolers.

It suggests the key concepts to help children understand during the
preschool years.

Activities should help the preschooler to: