2.8.1 Cognitive Development

2.8.1 Cognitive Development
Maturation and experience are two main features of cognitive development that impact on the capacity of an individual to model problems using their spatial skills. “According to (Piaget and Inhelder, 1971) a person’s cognitive development determines the potential of what he/she could achieve.” (Alias, Black and Gray 2002, p.2) Cognitive development can be categorised into four distinct stages; the sensori-motor stage, the pre-operational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. Pupils in post-primary education are positioned at stages three and four. The concrete operational stage is associated with how an individual uses his/ her experience to make limited judgements/decisions from

(Alias, Black and Gray 2002) As already documented, aptitude may limit strategy selection; thereby the effectiveness of the strategy could be undermined by aptitude, affecting an individual’s performance. (Lajoie 2003)
A recent study discovered that a significant correlation exists between a pupil’s spatial visualisation ability and a pupil’s ability to model 3D objects. (Branoff and Dobelis, 2012) The study carried out two tests; the PSVT: R measured pupils’ spatial skills, while pupils were required to interpret an assembly drawing of a model; modelling each part individually using 3D solid modeling software, to measure their modelling capacity. The results illustrated a direct relationship between students’ scores on the PSVT: R and their scores on the modeling test, highlighting that in general, pupils with good aptitude tend to possess strong spatial visualisation

Learning new information can be defined as a process which can vary from being trivial to very challenging at times; depending on the amount of information and the way in which it is presented, the amount of time available and the level of mastery required to acquire the new information. Cognitive load theory can be classed into three distinct areas that work collectively when processing new information; intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load and germane cognitive load. (Sweller 1994) Intrinsic cognitive load is the innate level of complexity related to a specific instructional task, which is fixed because the complexity of an activity cannot be compromised by the instructor or enhanced through instruction. In contrast, extraneous cognitive load is dependent on instructional control; which can be altered by changing the way information is presented and the means in which activities are completed by the learners. This category of cognitive load theory is centrally focused upon the pedagogical approaches and strategies incorporated by the teacher, in how they present new information. Extraneous cognitive load is a term associated with inducing the learner with unnecessary cognitive load, thus overloading the working-memory. When poised with a difficult problem (when intrinsic/ germane load is high) effective material resources should be