Mel Levines A Mind at a Time Essay example -- Cognitive Psychology Ch

Mel Levines A Mind at a Time Mel Levines book, A Mind at a Time, describes many aspects of cognitive psychology and attempts to apply them to the educational system for young children. This book also makes suggestions for parents that have children with cognitive difficulties. The chapters in this book are designated to various aspects of cognitive psychology as they pertain to children. This paper focuses on chapter six in A Mind at a Time, which is titled Making Arrangements Our Spatial and Sequential say Systems. This is a very interesting chapter because it incorporates many aspects of cognitive psychology. In this chapter, Levine focuses on how children organize their world in terms of learning, thinking, and remembering.Levine states that children have two ways in which they organize the information they receive from the world around them. He refers to these methods as sequential ordering and spatial ordering. He defines spatial patterns as, assembled parts that occupy stead and settle on the doorsteps of our minds all at once (Levine, p.151). Many examples are given of when spatial ordering is prevalent, for instance, when a student draws a map or recognizes the features of a persons face. Levine defines sequential patterns as information gaining admission to the minds one bit at a time and in an order thats meant not to be missed (Levine, p.151). He says that sequential ordering is used when students try to master a science project or learn a telephone number. Neurologically, Levine states that sequential ordering is carried out on the left side of the brain and spatial ordering is carried out on the right side of the brain. He also makes references to the possibility of childr... ...e abnormalities in their ability to learn efficiently. Throughout the book he is very supportive. He offers parents many great strategies for dealing with the problems of their children. The book A Mind at a Time gives parents a way to learn about their childs mind without a lot of technical terms. The of import problem I see with this book is that it may lead parents to discover potential problems with their children at much too young an age. Levines most crucial error is that he does not mention the age at which the minds of children develop. I feel that this book could be helpful to many parents and harmful to others. Parents, as rise as other readers, need to be cautious when reading this book. Works CitedLevine, M. (2002), A Mind at a Time. New York Simon & Schuster.Matlin, M.W. (2002). Cognition. (5th ed.). New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc.