How do you define cognitive development? What experiences have helped you develop as a learner? Take a few minutes to read and respond to these questions. Then, share and discuss your responses with a trainer, coach, or family child care administrator.

1. What do you already know about cognitive development in young children that will guide your learning in this course?
    
2. Finish this sentence: I think cognitive development is important because...
    
3. In the past, what has worked well to help you learn? What hasn’t worked well that you could change or avoid in the future regarding your learning?
    
4. What have you noticed about how the children in your classroom or program seem to learn? What events or experiences stand out in your memory? Thinking of a specific memory where children were very engaged in learning, what were the roles of the adults, children, environment, materials, and activities?
    
5. Which of the following strategies have you used to help you learn? How might these strategies apply or not apply to how children learn?

   1. Wrote your own study questions?
   2. Asked yourself questions about something you read or heard?
   3. Closed your notes and thought about what you remembered?
   4. Tried to fit what you’ve read into the bigger picture of what you know?
   5. Tested out an idea or tried to recreate something you saw?
   6. Watched an expert perform a skill?
   7. Asked for feedback from someone else?