Chapter 5: Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Flashcards
what age group is early childhood group?
2-5 years old
what are some physical changes in the body and the brain during early childhood?
-body growth: growth rate slows, gains about 2 inches per year and 5-7 pounds per year
-brain: increased maturation of brain combines with life experiences help influence cognitive abilities, big growth in FRONTAL CORTEX, myelination continues
TRUE or FALSE: gross and fine motor skills improve dramatically in early childhood?
TRUE!
how much sleep should 3-4 year olds get on a daily basis?
10-13 hours
how much exercise should 3-4 year olds get on a daily basis?
3ish hours
TRUE or FALSE: eating behaviors improve when the caregiver eats with the children on a predictable schedule and a model choosing nutritious meal
TRUE
what are the leading types of accidents in young children?
drowning and car accidents
why is the death age so young in impoverished countries?
due to lack of modern medicine
-often dies from dehydration and malnutruition
according to Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory, what stage would Early Childhood fall into?
Preoperational Stage (ages 2-7 years old)
what are some things that children can do/understand during the preoperational stage?
-begins to represent the world with images and words
-can use language effectively
-pretend plays
define egocentrism?
the inability to distinguish between your perspective and other people’s perspectives
(can only see the world from one view)
what are some limits of preoperational thoughts?
-conservation: awareness that altering an object’s appearance does not change its basic properties
-centration: centering of attention of ONE characteristic to the exclusion of all others
-animism: belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of actions
what does Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory tell us about cognitive development?
-children learn though social interactions
-cultures determines what and how children should learn
what is the Zone of Proximal Development according to Vygotsky?
the range of tasks that are too difficult for the child to master alone but can be learned with assistance of adults of more-skilled children
what does scaffolding mean?
you are changing the level of support given
(ex: starting heavily supported then reducing your help)
what are some teaching strategies?
- assess the child’s ZPD
- use the child’s zone of proximal development in teaching (note that it should start high!)
- use more skilled peers as teachers
- monitor and encourage kiddos!
- plave instructions in a meaningful context
what is the difference between executive attention and sustained attention?
executive: involves planning actions, allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for errors, dealing with novel circumstances
sustained: focused and extended engagement
what are some deficiencies in attention during early childhood?
- most likely to pay attention to stimuli= SALIENT
- no systematic, planned attention
TRUE or FALSE: during early childhood, your short term capacity decreases?
FALSE: it increases!
what is executive function?
umbrella-like concept that encompasses several higher-level cognitive processes
what is the Theory of Mind?
the awareness of one’s own mental processes and the mental processes of others
if you have autism, you likely have…
an impaired theory of mind
how does language develop throughout early childhood?
-increase capability of understanding and producing all sounds of their language
-demonstrates knowledge of morphology rules
-learns and applies rules of syntax
-semantics!
-advances in pragmatics (appropriate use of words in difference contexts)
