Jean Piaget was at the forefront of psychology. He was the father of educational psychology, having studied child development for over 50 years. Some say his contributions were not empirical in nature as his subjects were his own children. That said, who are our own children? They are the most important and integral part, most often, of our interest in acquiring knowledge to enhance their development. So, our observations and primary focus as caregivers, be it parents and professionals often start at home. Parents are a child’s first and foremost teachers and teachers at school are also constantly attempting to disentangle the child’s best manner of learning and developing to their maximum potential. Here in my blog, we will look at child development through the eyes of conscientious partners in childhood development. 

Let me introduce myself, I am Lisa Vargas, B.Ed in Special Education Kinder-12th grade with cross-categorical concentration. I am an experiential Montessori practitioner with over 30 years of teaching experience in the front lines of actual classroom experience. I am soon to hold a Master’s degree in educational psychology pursuing my interest as a life-long learner focusing on optimizing children and adolescent learning and development. I also have a background in physical education, so I put emphasis on both physical development and a grounding in real life actual presence in reality and am more averse to technology and its implications of disengagement and disassociation. Technological advances not being disregarded, and benefits appreciated yet rather a prognostication that particularly in our early ages being a current conundrum to mediate access, screen time and deluge of information to be critically processed and contribute to development rather than avoid it. My history being an international ambassador to many styles of teaching and learning has brought me to this point of furthering my career. While being a Jill of All Trades Master of none I feel I can contribute to many areas and endeavor to do so through my non-profit organization ConUCo Educativo whose acronym stands for Community and Universal Collaboration. Our mission is to focus on best practices in education and sports opportunities in an inclusive manner. A conuco being also an indigenous term for subsistence farming in small plots where each planting contributes nutrients to its neighbor in a symbiosis of mutual benefit. I welcome you on this journey and hope each of us makes even a small contribution in our own way to the success of this enterprise. 

Jean Piaget identified four stages in children’s cognitive development. Lev Vygosky determined