9. Cog. Dev't on Preschoolers Flashcards
Which os Piaget’s stages covers the preschool years?
Preoperational
2-7
What is the Preoperational Stage?
In Piaget’s theory, it is the stage of cognitive development
- from 2-7 years
- characterized by use of symbols to represent objects and events
What symbols do children become proficient at in the preoperational stage?
Words, gestures, graphs, maps, and models.
What are the 3 main limits in preoperational-stage thinking?
- Egocentrism
- Centration
- Appearance as reality
What is egocentrism?
What experiment shows this?
Seeing the world primarily from the perspective of self, rather than of other people.
- the mountain experiment
What is centration?
What experiment shows this?
Narrowly focused thought - a child concentrates on one aspect of a problem and ignore other, equally-relevant aspects.
- conservation experiments (focus on level of liquid, not width of container)
What is animism?
Crediting inanimate objects with life and life-like properties.
What is “appearance as reality”?
Difficulty distinguishing appearance from reality / believing that an object’s appearance tells what the object itself is really like.
- especially prevalent in the early P-O stage
Does early training mean better performance later?
Not necessarily - more mature children can catch up faster because of more advanced developmental qualities.
Example of egocentrism
A child gestures during a phone conversation, assuming the listener will know.
Example of centration
A child focuses on the height of the liquid and ignores the width of the beaker.
Example of appearance as reality
Child thinks a person in monster costume is a real monster.
What 5 elements are included in many naive theories of biology in preschoolers?
Movement Growth Internal parts Inheritance Healing
Describe the naive theory of movement
Animals can move but inanimate objects can not.
Describe the naive theory of growth
Animals get bigger and more complex, but inanimate objects do not.
Describe the naive theory of internal parts
Insides of animate objects contain different parts than insides of inanimate objects.
Describe the naive theory of inheritance
Only living things have offspring that resemble the parents.
Describe the naive theory of healing
When injured, animate things heal by regrowth, whereas inanimate things need to be fixed by people.
Theory of mind
A person’s ideas about connections between mind and behaviour.
What is the first stage of theory of mind?
Understand that they and other people have desires, which are linked to behaviour.
- around age 2
What is the second stage of theory of mind?
Can distinguish the mental from physical world.
- by age 3
- emphasize desires as driving behaviour
- simple lying
What is the third stage of theory of mind?
Mental states are central to understanding own and others’ actions.
- age 4
- understand that actions are based on beliefs, even if those beliefs are wrong
Define executive functioning
a set of cognitive abilities that enable intentional, self-regulated behaviour.
- include attention, concentration, planning, organizing, introspection
False-belief task
In which the subject knows something that another player does not.
Counterfactual thinking
Understanding that a situation or fact is opposite to reality.
How does the information processing approach view cognitive development in the preschool years?
As a period of continuous growth (not stages), especially in:
- speed of info. processing
- increased retention in working memory
Attention
The process by which information is selected to be processed further.
What 2 factors influence attention?
- age (acquired strategies)
- biological factors (head injuries, disease)
What are two ways to improve attention for preschoolers?
- Use gestures and eye-gaze when teaching a new word
2. Make relevant information more obvious by minimizing distractions
What features of memory emerges in preschoolers?
Autobiographical memory
Autobiographical memory
Memory of the significant personal events and experiences of one’s own life.
What factors influence development of autobiographical memory?
- parental reminiscing style
- child’s level of cognitive development
- understanding of self-in-time
- the quality of attachment between parent and child
What 3 principles of counting have most 3-year-olds mastered? (Gelman & Mack)
- one-to-one principle
- stable-order principle
- cardinality principle
What is the one-to-one principle?
Each item counted can only have one number name.
Most 3-yr-olds have mastered this
What is the stable-order principle?
number names must be counted in the same order (e.g. 1-2-4-5).
(Most 3-yr-olds have mastered this)
What is the cardinality principle?
The last number name differs by denoting the number of items in the set. Often the last number is emphasized.
(Most 3-yr-olds have mastered this)
Why do Asian kids learn base-10 numbers more easily?
In those languages, number systems are more perfectly regulated, with no/few irregularities (e.g. eleven, twelve).
What was Kessen’s critique of Piagetian theory?
That is describes children’s developmental journey as solo. “the practice of seeing the child as a ‘unit’ of analysis separate from other people and culture is a cultural invention that should be avoided in theory and research.
How did Vygotsky see child development?
As a social relationship through which children collaborate with others who are more experienced.
An apprenticeship/collaboration.
What were 3 important contributions in Vygotsky’s theory of development?
- zone of proximal development
- scaffolding
- private speech
Zone of proximal development
The difference between what a child can do with the support of a caregiver and without.
(Vygotsky)
Scaffolding
A teaching style that matches the amount of necessary assistance to the learner’s needs.
(Vygotsky)
Private speech
Comments not directed at others that help children regulate their behaviour.
(Vygotsky)
Inner speech
Vygotsky’s term for thought - grows out of private speech.
How do parents help their children learn?
- speak to them frequently
- naming objects that the child focuses on
- reading books - describing the picture, asking questions
telegraphic speech
speech in which only the key words related to meaning are included (verbs, nouns)
9 rules used to express meaning in the two-word stage
- agent + action
- possessor + possession
- action + object
- agent + object
- action + location
- entity + location
- attribute + entity
- demonstrative + entity
When do children enter the 3-word stage?
Around the 2nd birthday
Grammatical morphemes
Words or word-endings that make a sentence grammatical. Learned as general rules - therefore creation of novel words using rules (e.g. unvelcro).
Overregularization
Applying rules to words that are exceptions
What happens during the two-word stage?
- the 9 rules
- mastering grammatical morphemes (including overegularization)
- questions marked by intonation alone
How does language develop between 3 and 6?
- extend speech beyond the subject-verb-object construction
- using wh-words but not correctly
- start using negation and embedded sentences
According to Skinner, how does language acquisition occur?
Imitation and reinforcement.
Critiques of Skinner’s theory of language acquisition:
- children produce words and sentences they have never heard
- children do not imitate adult grammar
According to Chomsky, how does language acquisition occur?
- grammatical rules/exceptions are too complex to learn by imitation
- children are born with mechanisms that simply grammar learning - “grammar-learning device hypothesis”
What 3 pieces of evidence support the grammar-learning device hypothesis?
- Specific areas of the brain have well-defined functions for language
- Only humans learn grammar readily
- Critical period for language learning
What is the critical period for language learning?
Before adolescence
Semantic bootstrapping hypothesis
Children rely on their understanding of work meanings to discover grammatical rules
What are 3 guidelines for effective communication?
- take turns
- speak effectively
- listen well
How does turn-taking develop for preschoolers?
age 2: spontaneous turn-taking
age 3: repeating comment to prompt response
How does effective speaking progress for young children?
10 mo: deliberate attempt to communicate
age 1: use speech, initiate conversation
age 4: adjust messages to age of listener
- pay attention to listener, repeat if misunderstood
What is involved in becoming a good listener?
- decide whether the speaker makes sense
- ask for clarification if vague or confusing
Why do young children often miscommunicate?
- remarks often contain ambiguities
2. as listeners, often do not detect ambiguities
Friedrick Froebel
When children are cared for, they blossom
- created Kindergarten
What is the difference between daycare and preschool?
Daycare: care for children while parents are at work
Preschool: nurture intellectual, social, and emotional growth
In what ways to ECE programs differ?
- length (1/2 day / full day)
- curriculum / goals
What are child-focused programs like?
- goal: educate the whole child
- learn through play
What are academically-oriented programs like?
- explicit curriculum for specific developmental goals
- still uses play
3 ways that Piaget’s theory influences ECE programming
- create environments where children can discover for themselves
- teaching slightly ahead of current skills
- let children discover inconsistencies and errors
NAEYC
National Association for the Education of Young Children
CAYC
Canadian Association for Young Children
NAEYC guidelines for ECE
- create a caring community of learners
- teach to enhance development and learning
- assess children’s learning and dev’t
- establish reciprocal relationships with families
CAYC points re. importance of play (6)
- children need to play
- children need to direct their play
- need the decision-making practice
- need an appropriate space
- need certain materials
- need adult support
Effects of NAEYC/CAYC guidelines on children
- better classroom behaviour
- work harder
- do better in school
Benefits of educational TV
- more proficiency at academic skills
- better adjustment to school
- larger vocabularies
- prosocial behaviour (with prosocial TV)
Drawbacks of TV
- obesity
- detracts from time spent being physical
- detracts from time spent being social
