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

Mel Levine's A Mind at a Time Mel Levine’s 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 â€Å"Making Arrangements: Our Spatial and Sequential Ordering 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, â€Å"assembled parts that occupy space 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 person’s face. Levine defines sequential patterns as information gaining â€Å"admission to the minds one bit at a time and in an order that’s 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 referen ces 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 child’s mind without a lot of technical terms. The main 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. Levine’s most important 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 well as other readers, need to be cautious when reading this book. Works Cited: Levine, M. (2002), A Mind at a Time. New York: Simon & Schuster. Matlin, M.W. (2002). Cognition. (5th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.