What is conceptual development

In your response, state whether you agree or disagree with your peer about the relationship between cognitive and conceptual development they feel is present in the case study. Be sure to support your stance with research and/or personal experiences.

Cognitive and Conceptual Development

Explain which theories of conceptual development are present in the case study. Provide an example to support your thinking.

“Almost everything children learn involves conceptual knowledge, ” and I believe most all theories nature and nurture; continuity and discontinuity; domain general; as well as performance and competence are all present in the case study (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015, Ch. 5 Intro). It is natural for children to be curious about things that they do not know. Experience and prior education told the children in the study that they were dealing with a living insect and a nonliving rock. The teacher, Ms. Serrano became excited to nurture and “play an instrumental role in elaborating” on the children’s conceptual knowledge (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015, Ch. 5 Intro). The case study was clear to indicate that the children had a foundation containing bits of knowledge yet so much more to learn. The theory of continuity regarding development suggests that conceptual development continues to grow at slow and steady rate whereas discontinuity means that this same development occurs in stages (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015). I believe that there are certain stages in life and development where comprehension of certain topics is more prevalent, however, it is also over a slow and continuous process that people learn and develop. “Performance reflects children's behavior on a task intended to assess their ability” the children’s performance showed that they were intrigued and inquisitive in response to their peers’ discoveries (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015, p. 1.2). The teacher assessed the responses and the knowledge the children had regarding the objects in question. Competence on the other hand “reflects their actual skill level” (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015, p. 1.2). Ms. Serrano had found that her students had some knowledge as to science and their questions suggested to her that they had much more to learn in order to further develop their skill level (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015). Some children knew the name of the insect while another could not differentiate that the rock was a non-living organism (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015). Therefore, the teacher knows to use differentiation when further elaborating so that all students are accommodated.