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Cognitive Learning Theory
A theory that emphasizes the brain and its functioning in learning, through processing, memory, thinking, and mental executive functions such as planning, organizing, and categorizing. The cognitive-learning process begins with attention and recognition. As we process information, we categorize it and organize it based on prior experience, memory, and logic. Then when we want to retrieve the information, we use the same memory, categories, and plan of organization to “find” it and use it later.
Piaget (1928) presented four stages of cognitive development, asserting that we think differently in each stage, based on the schemas we develop. A schema is the mental process we use to understand and remember an object, idea, or event. In each of Piaget's stages, our understanding becomes more mature because we ...