Chapter 7: Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Flashcards
Growth
Genes influence growth by stipulating the amount of hormones released. Growth hormone regulates bodily growth and is located throughout the entire body. Growth slows during early childhood. A child from 2-6 will grow 2-3 inches and 5 pounds in weight each year.
Nutrition
A decline in appetite will be seen as growth slows. Picky eating becomes common during this phase. A healthy diet is required for children this age.
Brain Growth
The brain reaches 90% it’s adult size by 5 years old. The frontal and temporal cortices see the greatest increase in surface area. Plasticity begins to develop, this becomes useful if the brain is damaged in the future. Lateralization, hemisphere specificity, develops during early childhood. Myelination also continues to occur, allowing for quicker and faster movement and complex thought processes.
Gross Motor Skills
Increases in bone and muscles mass, as well as lung capacity. Begin to show better coordination of multiple limbs. Gross motor skills are influenced by the child’s context.
Fine Motor Skills
As children increase these skills, they are able to become more independent and do more for themselves. By 5 or 6 most children can do the complex task of tying their shoelace. Increased fine motor skills have a possible influence on cognitive abilities as well.
Preoperational Reasoning
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
Egocentrism
The inability to take another person’s point of view or perspective
Three-Mountains Task
A child is asked to describe the scene of three mountains from the view of a teddy bear sat on the opposite side of the mountains. Preoperational children explain the scene from their perspective.
Animism
The belief that inanimate objects are alive and have feelings and emotions
Centration
The tendency to focus on one part of the stimulus or situation and ignore the others.
If you wear a dress than you’re a girl, even though physically you’re still a boy
Appearance-Reality Distinction
A task where children are asked to distinguish what something appears to be from what it really is.
Maynard the Cat
Irreversibility
The inability to understand that reversing a process can often undo it and restore the original state
Conservation
The understanding that the physical quantity of a substance remains the same even when its appearance changes
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Cognitive development in influenced by differences in the ways particular cultures and societies approach problems. Much of children’s comes not from working alone but collaborating with others. Mental activity is influenced by culture and children learn by interacting with more experienced partners that provide guidance
Guided Participation
A form of sensitive teaching in which the partner is attuned to the needs of the child and helps him or her to accomplish more than the child could do alone
Also known as apprenticeship in thinking
Scaffolding
The expert partner permits the child to bridge the gap between his or her competence level and the task at hand
Zone of Proximal Development
The gap between the child’s competence level and what he/she can do with assistance of a skilled partner.
Sustained Attention
The ability to remain focused on a stimulus for an extended period of time
Selective Attention
The ability to systematically deploy one’s attention, focusing on relevant information and ignoring distractors
Memory
The greatest increases of memory span occurs during early childhood. An increase in short-term memory allow for more working memory and increased ability to plan ahead
Episodic Memory
The memory for events and the information acquired during those events. Rapid expansion of episodic memory during early childhood
Recognition Memory
The ability to recognize a stimulus one has encountered before. Nearly perfect by 4 to 5 years old.
Recall Memory
The ability to generate a memory of a stimulus encountered before without seeing it again. Not very proficient during early childhood
Memory Strategies
Cognitive activities that make us more likely to remember
Scripts
Description of what occurs in a particular situation. They become more elaborate as the child matures
Autobiographical Memory
Memory of personally meaningful events that took place at a specific time and place in one’s past. More proficient as the child’s cognitive abilities increase
Theory of Mind
Children’s awareness of their own and other people’s mental processes
Metacognition
Knowledge of how the mind works and the ability to control the mind
False-Belief Tasks
A task that requires children to understand that someone does not share their knowledge. Associated with measures of executive function
Logical Extension
A strategy children use to increase their vocabulary in which they extend a new word to other objects in the same category.
Dog with black spots = Dalmatian
Bunny with black spots = Dalmatian bunny
Mutual Exclusivity Assumption
When learning new words, young children assume that objects have one name or label
Overregularization Errors
Grammatical mistakes that children make because they apply grammatical rules too stringently to words that are exceptions. “I goed on the slide.”
Private Speech
Self-directed speed that children use to guide their behavior
Social Learning Theory
All behavior, including moral behavior, as acquired through reinforcement and modeling. Other children and adults serve as models, demonstrating appropriate and inappropriate behavior.
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Views moral development through a cognitive lens and examines reasoning about moral issues
Heteronomous Morality
As children first become aware of rules, they view them as sacred and unalterable
Preconventional Reasoning
Kohlberg’s first level of reasoning in which young children’s behavior is governed by punishment and gaining rewards
Academically Centered Preschool Programs
Emphasize providing children with structured learning environments in which teachers deliver direct instruction on letters, numbers, shapes, and academic skills
Child-Centered Preschool Programs
Takes a constructivist approach that encourages children to actively build their own understanding of the world around them, interacting with objects and people, and engaging in a variety of activities that allow them to manipulate materials and interact with teachers and peers
Project Head Start
Created by the federal government to provide economically disadvantaged children with nutritional, health, and educational services during their early childhood years, prior to kindergarten
