The Impact of Home Learning Environment on Cognitive Development

This essay delves into the critical role of the home learning environment in shaping a child's cognitive development. It begins by highlighting the unique cognitive abilities of humans and then examines how the home environment, particularly parental behaviors and language, influences a child's learning process. The essay references two key articles: one focusing on family interventions to improve the home learning environment and another exploring the impact of the home literacy environment, specifically the maternal language, on children's language and literacy skills, even in children with dyslexia. The essay emphasizes the importance of the home environment in fostering cognitive growth, advocating for improvements in this sphere to enhance a child's thinking abilities and overall development, aligning with the principles of Piaget and the importance of early-life experiences.

Running head: HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Home Learning Environment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The development of the human life is quite interesting to note as it is the factor of brain
that separates human beings from the other mammals living on earth. The thought process of the
individuals, their ability to solve problems through the medium of reasoning and their capability
to critically analyze an important issue, makes them unique. This essay seeks to analyze the
aspect of the cognitive development of the individual right from their birth. This essay further
looks in to the factor of teaching and how they contribute to the development of the thinking
ability of a child. The essay concludes with the importance and significance of cognitive
development.
The article entitled “Home learning environment and concept formation: A family
intervention study with kindergarten children” written by Niklas, Cohrssen and Tayler (2016),
talks about the cognitive development of the brain of a child. Usually the development of
cognition depends on a large number of factors. However, the author has laid emphasis on the
aspect of the surrounding environment that aids in the cognitive development. It has often been
observed that a child learns a lot by observing the people around him or her, especially the
parents. The way the adults behave. Their mannerism, the language they speak, all are picked up
by the child when they live in their home environment. The author is of the opinion that one of
the most important way to enhance the cognitive development of a child is to improve the home
learning environment.
This article is relevant for the learning for practice and pedagogy. Pedagogy refers to the
essence of knowledge and it is with the aid of the surrounding environment that the child is able
to learn right from birth. This aspect of cognitive development has also been advocated by Piaget
who opined that it at the age of one month when the brain of the child tries to observe his or her
surroundings the most.

2HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Another article on home learning environment is titled “The home literacy environment is
a correlate, but perhaps not a cause, of variations in children’s language and literacy
development” written by Puglisi et al. (2017). According to this article, the language spoken by
the mother figure has quite a significant impact on the cognitive development of a child. This
article surveyed two hundred and fifty one children who suffered from dyslexia. The longitudinal
study showed that the exposure of children to story books has considerable but latent impact on a
child. They do not lead to direct literacy objectives and learning. The maternal language rather
influences the language spoken by the child, the reading and the spelling skills of the individual.
Such skills reflect the genetic influences of the mother on the child.
This article is relevant to the practice of teaching and pedagogy because of the
significance it places on the role of the mother. For an effective cognitive development of the
child, it is important to expose the child to the maternal language.
In conclusion it is observed that the environment in the home greatly influences a person
in his or her orientation. Moreover, this influence is quite necessary in the cognitive development
of the individual.

3HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
References:
Niklas, F., Cohrssen, C., & Tayler, C. (2016). Home learning environment and concept
formation: A family intervention study with kindergarten children. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 44(5), 419-427.
Puglisi, M. L., Hulme, C., Hamilton, L. G., & Snowling, M. J. (2017). The home literacy
environment is a correlate, but perhaps not a cause, of variations in children’s language
and literacy development. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21(6), 498-514.
(https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2017.1346660)