Introduction
Teaching five year old is as tricky as dealing with two year old children. Five year olds also have special needs that are critical to their growth and development. In this case, the five year olds perception and cognitive abilities must be harnessed in school for better understanding and good academic performance. In this case, a teacher may come up with activities that a five year old learner can cognitively understand or perceive. It is therefore, recommendable for teachers to use activities such as cooking, while teaching five year olds.
Perceptual development
Perceptual development is an aspect of cognitive development concept that describes the psychological development of a human being. In this case, development is majorly concerned with children, as it deals with sensory aspects of a child. For example, the aspect of a child being able to perceive, understand and interpret is considered as development.
Cognitive development
Cognitive development is a broader term that encompasses development and also deals with perceiving and understanding of concepts. However, cognitive development deals with the memory, the ability to concentrate and use of logical thinking and skills.
Promoting /cognitive development
According to Saracho (1997), research has found that some activities that engage the child in the very activity improve perception and cognition abilities. Cooking is one of the activities that a teacher can use to involve the five year olds. Such activities are basically in form of demonstrations in a lesson. It is important to note that a child attention is captivated by the activity conducted by the teacher.
At this juncture, a teacher can engage the student in other lessons through explanations. Nonetheless, the child must be part of the activity. For example, the teacher can instruct the student to help in adding ingredients in whatever is being cooked. In so doing the teacher can come up with other activities that students can complete on their own. In the very process, a child develops the use of logical thinking by observing the process of cooking.
Using activities such as cooking, explains that action can be a supplementary of perceptual input. Considering that children are able to perceive an action as part of their own doing, the teacher can test the students with similar activities to assess their cognitive abilities.
A cooking activity has the potential of influencing perception and cognitive ability in that it involves action production-observation matching system. Another reason as to why a cooking activity by the teacher could be used in teaching five year olds is that such activities are considered to be motor actions.
The teacher cooks by using various hand and wrist movements and such can be constructed internally by a child, thus developing a mental representation of the activity. If a child is able to remember such movements in cooking, it is because they are mentally constructed. This is a sign of attentiveness of children in the classroom.
As indicated earlier, activities such as cooking can be a major factor in provoking sensory elements in a child. The smell of food, the color of the food being cooked and ingredients used can be instrumental in helping the child learn and name objects. For example, a five year old child can learn that there exist different odors and different colors.
Moreover, activities such a cooking can be instrumental in inspiring children take part in scientific studies, where elements such as water and salt are being used. It is therefore recommendable that lessons with interesting activities be used in teaching five year olds.
References
Marotz, L. R. & Allen, K. E. (2013). Developmental profiles: Pre-birth through twelve. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning
Saracho, N. O. (1997). Teacher’s and students’ cognitive styles in early childhood education. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.