Developmental Trends: Cognitive Strategies and Metacognition at Different Age Levels

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Infancy (Birth–2)

What You Might Observe:

• Use of one object to obtain another (in the second year)
• Emerging ability to plan a sequence of actions to accomplish a goal (appearing sometime around age 1)
• General absence of intentional learning strategies; however, toddlers may look or point at a location to remember where a desired object is hidden
• Little awareness and knowledge of thought processes (may have some awareness that other people have intentions, however; see Chapter 12)

Diversity:

• Willingness to engage in trial-and-error and other exploratory behavior is partly a function of temperamental differences.
• Emergence of early problem-solving strategies is somewhat dependent on opportunities to experiment with physical objects.
• Children with significant physical disabilities may have limited opportunities to explore and experiment.

Implications:

• Model tool use and other simple problem-solving strategies.
• Pose simple problems for infants and toddlers to solve (e.g., place desired objects slightly out of reach), but monitor children’s reactions to make sure they are not unnecessarily frustrated in their efforts to solve problems.

Early Childhood (2–6)

What You Might Observe:

• Some rehearsal beginning in the preschool years, but with little effect on learning and memory
• Occasional use of organization with concrete objects
• Some ability to learn simple strategies modeled by others
• Awareness of thought in oneself and others, albeit in a simplistic form; limited ability to reflect on the specific nature of one’s own thought processes
• Belief that learning is a relatively passive activity
• Overestimation of how much information one can typically remember

Diversity:

• Children’s awareness of the mind and mental events depends partly on the extent to which adults talk with them about thinking processes.
• Many young children with autism have little conscious awareness of the existence of thought, especially in other people.

Implications:

• Model strategies for simple memory tasks (e.g., pinning permission slips on jackets to remind children to get their parents’ signatures).
• Talk often about thinking processes (e.g., “I wonder if . . . ,” “Do you remember when . . . ?”).

Middle Childhood (6–10)

What You Might Observe:

• Use of rehearsal as the predominant intentional learning strategy
• Gradual increase in organization as a learning strategy
• Emerging ability to reflect on the nature of one’s own thought processes
• Frequent overestimation of one’s own memory capabilities
• Little if any self-regulated learning

Diversity:

• Chinese and Japanese children rely more heavily on rehearsal than their peers in Western schools; this difference continues into adolescence.
• Children with cognitive disabilities are less likely to organize material as they learn it.
• A few high-achieving children are capable of sustained self-regulated learning, especially in the upper elementary grades.

Implications:

• Encourage children to repeat and practice the things they need to learn.
• Ask children to study information that is easy to categorize, as a way of promoting organization as a learning strategy (Best & Ornstein, 1986).
• Ask children to engage in simple, self-regulated learning tasks; give them suggestions about how to accomplish the tasks successfully.

Early Adolescence (10–14)

What You Might Observe:

• Emergence of elaboration as an intentional learning strategy
• Few and relatively ineffective study strategies (e.g., poor note-taking skills, little if any comprehension monitoring)
• Increasing flexibility in the use of learning strategies
• Emerging ability to regulate one’s own learning
• Belief that knowledge about a topic consists of a collection of discrete facts

Diversity:

• Adolescents differ considerably in their use of effective learning strategies.
• Some adolescents, including many with cognitive disabilities, have few strategies for engaging effectively in self-regulated learning.

Implications:

• Ask questions that encourage adolescents to elaborate on new information.
• Teach and model effective strategies within the context of various subject areas.
• Assign homework and other tasks that require independent learning; provide sufficient structure to guide students’ efforts.
• Give adolescents frequent opportunities to assess their own learning.

Late Adolescence (14–18)

What You Might Observe:

• Increase in elaboration
• Growing awareness of which cognitive strategies are most effective in different situations
• Increasing self-regulatory learning strategies (e.g., comprehension monitoring)
• Increasing realization that knowledge involves understanding interrelationships among ideas

Diversity:

• High-achieving teenagers are most likely to use sophisticated learning strategies (e.g., elaboration); others typically resort to simpler, less effective strategies (e.g., rehearsal).
• Many teenagers with cognitive disabilities have insufficient reading skills to learn successfully from typical high school textbooks; furthermore, their study skills tend to be unsophisticated and relatively ineffective.

Implications:

• Continue to teach and model effective learning strategies both in and out of school.
• Assign more complex independent learning tasks, giving the necessary structure and guidance for those who are not yet self-regulating learners.
• Present various subject areas as dynamic entities that continue to evolve with new discoveries and theories.