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Supporting Children’s Cognitive Development 0-6 years

INDUSTRY

Early Childhood

CATEGORY

Refresher Module

LEVEL

Entry

AVG COMPLETION TIME

25 mins
Access This Course

Expert Led

Developed by Australian Experts

Up To Date

Updated as standards and regulations change

Compliant

Comply with ethical and legal obligations

Self Paced

Complete in the flow of work

What You’ll Learn

  • Understand how children’s brains develop in the early years and why secure relationships are critical for learning.
  • Recognise and nurture learning dispositions such as curiosity, persistence, and creativity.
  • Apply constructivist and social-constructivist theories (Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner) to scaffold and co-construct learning.
  • Embed maths, science, and literacy concepts in everyday routines and play.
  • Encourage critical thinking through open-ended questions, shared investigations, and reasoning routines.
  • Foster metacognition by modelling planning, problem-solving, and reflective thinking.
  • Resource children’s learning through people, places, technologies, and materials, while supporting eSafety.
  • Design environments that support deep engagement, sustained shared conversations, and exploration.

Course Overview

Nurturing curious, creative, and confident thinkers.

Children are natural problem solvers, explorers, and questioners. This course helps educators unlock and extend those abilities by creating environments where thinking, imagining, and learning can flourish.

Grounded in EYLF Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners, you’ll discover how to turn everyday experiences into opportunities for deep cognitive growth.

Together, we’ll explore how children’s brains develop, the importance of relationships in learning, and practical ways to support curiosity, persistence, creativity, and critical thinking. You’ll learn how to scaffold children’s ideas, encourage metacognition (“I have a plan…”), and embed rich maths, science, and literacy concepts into play.

This course is part of our Child Development 101 series. Check out other courses in this series!

Course Activities

Introduction

  • Welcome to Child development 101 Series 
  • What you will learn
  • Links to NQF

    • Lessons

  • What is cognitive development
  • Theories related to cognitive development
  • Developing critical thinking and metacognition
  • Teaching strategies such as Reciprocal scaffolding
  • Concept development
  • Metacognition
  • Learning processes and Dispositions
  • Transference and adaption of skills 
  • How to support children’s cognitive development 0-6 years

    • Conclusions

  • Knowledge Checks
  • Final Quiz

    • Meet Your Course Authors

    KA

    Karen Atkinson

    Childcare Resources

    With 38+ years of experience in Early Childhood and Adult Education, Karen combines her background as a Teacher, University Lecturer, and RTO Founder to develop research-based, practical learning resources. Her expertise spans educational theory, curriculum design, and neuroscience-informed approaches to effective teaching and professional development.

    SS

    Stephanie Sinclair

    Childcare Resources

    With 15+ years in Early Childhood Education, Stephanie brings experience as a Teacher, Trainer, and Consultant, specialising in curriculum design, play-based learning, and compliance with National Standards. As Co-Director of Insightful Learning and Education, she’s dedicated to helping educators create environments where curiosity and connection thrive.

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    • Enquire About This Course

    Speak with our team about accessing this and other ready-made expert led courses for your sector and industry