Child Development Theories and Examples

Cognitive Development In School-Age Children: Conclusions And New Directions

Kurt W. Fischer and Daniel Bullock
What is the nature of children's knowledge? How does their knowledge change with development? In pursuing these fundamental questions in the study of cognitive development, researchers often expand their focus to include a range of children's behaviors extending far beyond the standard meaning of knowledge.
In the two primary cognitive-developmental traditions, the questions typically take different forms. In the structuralist tradition, influenced strongly by the work of Jean Piaget, Heinz Werner, and others, the questions are: How is behavior organized, and how does the organization change with development? In the functionalist tradition, influenced strongly by behaviorism and information processing, the question is: What are the processes that produce or underlie behavioral change? In this chapter we review major conclusions from both traditions about cognitive development in school-age children.
The study of cognitive development, especially in school-age children, has been one of the central focuses of developmental research over the last 25 years. There is an enormous research literature, with thousands of studies investigating cognitive change from scores of specific perspectives. Despite this diversity, there does seem to be a consensus emerging about (1) the conclusions to be reached from research to date and (2) the directions new research and theory should take. A major part of this consensus grows from an orientation that seems to be pervading the field: It is time to move beyond the opposition of structuralism and functionalism and begin to build a broader, more integrated approach to cognitive development (see Case, 1980; Catania, 1973; Fischer, 1980; Flavell, 1982a). Indeed, we argue that without such an integration attempts to explain the development of behavior are doomed.
The general orientations or investigations of cognitive development are similar for all age groups—infancy, childhood, and adulthood. The vast majority of investigations, however, involve children of school age and for those children a number of specific issues arise, including in particular the relationship between schooling and cognitive development.
This chapter first describes the emerging consensus about the patterns of cognitive development in school-age children. A description of this consensus leads naturally to a set of core issues that must be dealt with if developmental scientists are to build a more adequate explanation of developmental structure and process. How do the child and the environment collaborate in development? How does the pattern of development vary across traditional categories of behavior, such as cognition, emotion, and social behavior? And what methods are available for addressing these issues in research?
Under the framework provided by these broad issues, there are a number of different directions research could take. Four that seem especially promising to us involve the relationship between cognitive development and emotional dynamics, the relationship between brain changes and cognitive development, the role of informal teaching and other modes of social interaction in cognitive development, and the nature and effects of schooling and literacy. These four directions are taken up in a later section.
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