Ch. 7 Vocab

Question 1

a characteristic of development refers to malleability or openness to change in response to experience

Answer 1

plasticity

Question 2

the process in which neurons are coated in a fatty substance, myelin, which contributes to faster neural communication

Answer 2

myelination

Question 3

Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development, between about ages 2 and 6, characterized by advances in symbolic thought, but thought is not yet logical

Answer 3

pre-operational reasoning

Question 4

Piaget’s term for children’s inability to take another person’s point of view or perspective and to assume that others share the same feelings, knowledge, and physical view of the world

Answer 4

egocentrism

Question 5

the principle that a physical quantity, such as number, mass, or volume, remains the same even when its appearance changes

Answer 5

conservation

Question 6

temporary support that permits a child to bridge the gap between a his or her current competence level and the task at hand

Answer 6

scaffolding

Question 7

gap between the child’s competence level - what he or she can accomplish independently - and what he or she can do with assistance of a skilled partner

Answer 7

zone of proximal development

Question 8

the ability to remain focused on a stimulus for an extended period of time

Answer 8

sustained attention

Question 9

the ability to focus on relevant stimuli and ignore others

Answer 9

selective attention

Question 10

children’s awareness of their own and other people’s mental processes and realization that other people do not share their thoughts

Answer 10

theory of mind

Question 11

the ability to think about thinking; knowledge of how the mind works

Answer 11

metacognition

Question 12

Kohlberg’s first level of reasoning in which young children’s behavior is governed by punishment and gaining rewards

Answer 12

preconventional moral reasoning

Question 13

an approach to early childhood education that emphasizes providing children with structured learning environments in which teachers deliver direct instruction on letters, numbers, shapes, and academic skills

Answer 13

academically centered preschool programs

Question 14

a constructivist approach to early childhood education that encourages children to actively build their own understanding of the world through observing, interacting with objects and people, and engaging in a variety of activities that allow them to manipulate materials and interact with teachers and peers

Answer 14

child centered preschool programs