Development of basic concepts

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT
Lesson 05: Cognitive Development during Early Childhood Period

Development of basic concepts

To help children organize their experiences of the environment and develop logical thinking we need to develop some basic concepts. They are:

  • Concept of color
  • Concept of shape
  • Concept of space
  • Pre Number Concepts: for example, big-small. Fat-thin, long-short, high-low, heavy-light, more-less, before-after.
    Concept of Time and Temperature
  • Environmental Concepts-concepts related to the physical, biological and social environment.

Concept formation takes place in an orderly way in a developmental sequence. Hence, the following principles have to be kept in mind while planning activities and experiences.

For each concept, children should be given experiences in the following sequence

  • Matching activities (at the perceptual level).
  • Identification and Naming activities (at the verbal level i.e. activities involving the language).
  • Seriation activities (child must be able to make relative comparisons and grade the experiences e.g. from biggest to smallest; lightest to darkest) .
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Last modified: Monday, 7 November 2011, 11:35 AM