The use of ICT’s does make cognitive demands when used across the curriculum on students. I looked at the Cognitive Development as described by Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner. Cognitive development can best be described as intellectual processes by which individuals make sense of the unknown. It involves storing and processing information in order to solve problems. With this in mind, I thought it necessary to read information on how students can develop cognitively using educational technologies. In order to develop higher order thinking skills I recognized that as a teacher I must allow my students to discuss, hypothesize, experiment and develop problem –solving skills on their own. This allows them to take charge of their learning. Therefore, as teachers if we desire to achieve this, the approach we need to take is a constructivist approach to learning which Piagetian psychologists and educators describe as, “the process of creating knowledge to solve problems and eliminate disequilibrium.”
The tools that we are currently learning in our course all lend themselves to the constructivist approach and does allow the student to be interactive within the process. By examining the works of Jean Piaget (1896-1980) and Jerome Bruner (1964) it can help us to have a clearer understanding of cognitive development and the role it plays in constructive learning.
It is important that students participate in and take charge of their learning. Interestingly enough when students engage in such activities they are better able to retain the information,make connections to other concepts and use the processes of analysis in other areas of study. The difficulty though may be in the helping students to move away from the norm of being 'spoon-fed'to taking charge of their learning.The use of ICT is an excellent avenue through which this can be done.
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