The cognitive adjective comes from the Latin word cognoscere, which means to know. In psychology and pedagogy, this term is used in reference to the human capacity to learn and assimilate knowledge.
In the field of psychology
As of 1950, psychology abandoned the behavioral postulates based on behavior modifications and began a new course with a cognitive or cognitive orientation. This new trend focuses on the knowledge of mental activities that intervene in perception, thought or memory. In this way, the mental representations of individuals are analyzed in relation to biological, cultural and sociological aspects.
For Jean Piaget, the cognitive learning process or cognitive theory focuses on the understanding of thought. In this sense, our thinking determines what beliefs and values we handle in our daily lives.
Piaget argues that cognitive development occurs in four periods: the sensorimotor (up to two years), the pre-operational (from two to seven years), the concrete operational (from seven to twelve) and the formal operational (from adolescence). This means that the intellectual development of the child begins with the use of the senses and then concepts are gradually created.
The advancement of the intellect takes place because the human being tends towards a cognitive balance. In other words, we seek a mental balance in which our personal experiences are combined with the previous patterns that we have acquired.
Cognitivism or cognitivism includes a whole series of theories that study how we process, store and interpret information in the mind. Thus, the objective of this paradigm is to know how the human mind is capable of thinking, learning and acting.
In the field of pedagogy
In cognitive pedagogy, the student is conceived as a leading processor of the information he acquires. At the same time, the teacher has to be the organizer of the information and the one who stimulates the thinking skills for meaningful learning in the student.
In the cognitive model, the role of the individual in the learning process is claimed. In this sense, the student has to actively participate in their learning and, at the same time, learning depends on the prior development of a series of mental skills acquired in early childhood.
