Chapter 2 - Cognitive, Language, and Literacy Development Flashcards
Continuous Theories of Development
Theories based on the belief that human development progresses smoothly and gradually from infancy to adulthood.
Development
Orderly and lasting growth, adaptation, and change over the course of a lifetime.
Discontinuous Theories of Development
Theories describing human development as occurring through a fixed sequence of distinct, predictable stages governed by inborn factors.
Cognitive Development
Gradual, orderly changes by which mental processes become more complex and sophisticated.
Schemes
Mental patterns that guide behavior.
Adaptation
The process of adjusting schemes in response to the environment by means of assimilation and accomodation.
Assimilation
Understanding new experiences in terms of existing schemes.
Accomodation
Modifying existing schemes to fit new situations.
Equilibration
The process of restoring balance between present understanding and new experiences.
Constructivism
View of cognitive development that emphasizes the active role of learners in building their own understanding of reality.
Sensorimotor Stage
Stage during which infants learn about their surroundings byusing their senses and motor skills.
Reflexes
Inborn automatic responses to stimuli (e.g., eye blinking in response to bright light).
Object Permanence
Understanding that an object exists even if it is out of sight.
Pre-operational Stage
Stage at which children learn to represent things in the mind.
Conservation
The concept that certain properties of an object (such as weight) remain the same regardless of changes in other properties (such as length).
Centration
Paying attention to only one aspect of an object or situation.
Reversibility
The ability to perform a mental operation and then reverse one’s thinking to return to the starting point.
Egocentric
Believing that everyone views the world as you do.
Concrete Operational Stage
Stage at which children develop the capacity for logical reasoning and understanding of conservation but can use these skills only in dealing with familiar situations.
Inferred Reality
The meaning of stimuli in the context of relevant information.
Seriation
Arranging objects in sequential order according to one aspect, such as size, weight, or volume.
Transitivity
A skill learned during the concrete operational stage of cognitive development in which individuals can mentally arrange and compare objects.
Formal Operational Stage
Stage at which one can deal abstractly with hypothetical situations and reason logically.
Developmentally Appropriate Education
Instruction felt to be adapted to the current developmental status of children (rather than to their age alone).
Sign Systems
Symbols that cultures create to help people think, communicate, and solve problems.
Self-regulation
The ability to think and solve problems without the help of others.
Private Speech
Children’s self-talk, which guides their thinking and action; eventually internalized as silent inner speech.
Zone of Proximal Development
Level of development immediately above a person’s present level.
Scaffolding
Support for learning and problem solving; might include clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example, or anything else that allows the student to grow in independence as a learner.
Emergent Literacy
Knowledge and skills relating to reading that children usually develop from experience with books and other print media before the beginning of formal reading instruction in school.
Three General Principles of Development
- People develop at different rates
- Development is relatively orderly.
- Development takes place gradually.
Maturation
Biological changes that are genetically programmed at conception - least modifiable.
Activity
The ability to act on the physical environment and learn from it
Social Transmission
Learning from others.
Accomplishments of the Sensorimotor Stage
Object permanency
Logical, goal-directed actions
Accomplishments of the Pre-operational Stage
Cognitive mapping
Language
Reversible thinking
Cognitive Mapping
Thinking about how you are going to get somewhere before you go.
Decentering
Learned in the pre-operational stage, but not mastered until very end, or perhaps in the concrete operational stage - the ability to focus on more than one aspect at a time of something.
Collective Monologue
Characteristic of the pre-operational stage; children in a group talk but do not actually interact or communicate.
Concrete Operations
Mental tasks tied to concrete objects and situations - hands-on thinking.
Accomplishments of the Concrete Operational Stage
Identity Compensation Reversibility Classification Seriation
Identity
Principle that a person or object remains the same; accomplishment of the concrete operational stage.
Compensation
Principle that changes in one direction can be offset by changes in another; accomplishment of the concrete operational stage.
Reversibility
Mastery of two-way thinking; accomplishment of the concrete operational stage.
Classification
Related to reversibility - grouping objects into categories, and recognizing that one class fits into another.
Accomplishments of the Formal Operational Stage
Abstract Thinking
Coordination of many variables
Hypothesizing
Scientific Reasoning
Adolescent Egocentrism
Assumption that everyone else shares one’s thoughts, feelings, and concerns.
Disequilibrium
A mismatch between what the student thinks should happen and what actually happens. Students may then rethink their understanding and develop new knowledge.
Cooperative Learning
Putting high, middle, and low ability students together to enable them to learn from each other.
Information Processing
The study of how humans perceive, comprehend, and remember the information they gain from the world around them.
Four Aspects of Attention
Controlling Attention
Fitting Attention to Task - focusing on the dimensions of a problem that will lead to the solution
Planning
Monitoring
Metacognitive Ability
Ability to think about one’s own thinking, and then monitor and direct it.
Metacognition
Knowledge about our own thinking processes.
Three Aspects of Language
Pronunciation
Grammar
Meaning
Pronunciation
Involves distinct sounds of a language
Phonemes
Distinct sounds of a language - English has 40 separate phonemes.
Grammar
Includes morphemes and syntax
Morphemes
Smallest units in language that have meaning
Syntax
The order of words in phrases or sentences
Meaning
The combined effects of semantics and pragmatics
Semantics
The meaning of words and combinations of words; affected by the context (learned through prior experience).
Pragmatics
The area of language that involves the effects of contexts on meaning and the unwritten rules for when, how, to whom, and about what we speak in different contexts (situational).
Characteristics of the “First Words Stage” of Learning Language
Holophrase
Overextension
Holophrase
Single words that express complex ideas (ex. saying “light” to say “it’s too dark and I need more light”)
Overextension
Using one word to cover a range of concepts (ex. all animals are dogs)
Characteristic of “First Sentences” Stage of Language Learning
Telegraphic speech
Telegraphic Speech
Child’s speech using only essential words, as in a telegram
Over-regularization (as applies to grammar)
Applying a learned rule to all situations, including inappropriate ones (mixing grammar rules).
Dialect
A variation of a language spoken by a particular ethnic, social, or regional group. Differences in dialect are not errors.
Verbal Skill
In the early elementary grades, one of the most important of all developmental tasks. School success is equated with reading success.
Analytical Skills
Considered second most important task in elementary grades. It’s problem solving and includes math and other abilities such as map and table interpretation.
Emergent Literacy
Knowledge and skills relating to reading that children usually develop from experience with books and other print media before the beginning of formal reading instruction in school.
Whole Language
Emphasizes the integration of reading, writing, and language and communication skills across the curriculum in the context of authentic of real-life materials, problems, and tasks.
Bilingualism
Being able to speak two languages fluently.
