How do children acquire the vast array of concepts, strategies, and
skills that distinguish the thinking of infants and toddlers from that
of preschoolers, older children, and adolescents? In this new book,
Robert Siegler addresses these and other fundamental questions about
children's thinking. Previous theories have tended to depict cognitive
development much like a staircase. At an early age, children think in
one way; as they get older, they step up to increasingly higher ways
of thinking. Siegler proposes that viewing the development within an
evolutionary framework is more useful than a staircase model. The
evolution of species depends on mechanisms for generating variability,
for choosing adaptively among the variants, and for preserving the
lessons of past experience so that successful variants become
increasingly prevalent. The development of children's thinking appears
to depend on mechanisms to fulfill these same functions. Siegler's
theory is consistent with a great deal of evidence. It unifies
phenomena from such areas as problem solving, reasoning, and memory,
and reveals commonalities in the thinking of people of all ages. Most
important, it leads to valuable insights regarding a basic question
about children's thinking asked by cognitive, developmental, and
educational psychologists: How does change occur?
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780195352085
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter