Chapter 7: Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Question 1

Growth

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Nutrition

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Brain Growth

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Gross Motor Skills

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Fine Motor Skills

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Preoperational Reasoning

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Egocentrism

Answer 7

The inability to take another person’s point of view or perspective

Question 8

Three-Mountains Task

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Animism

Answer 9

The belief that inanimate objects are alive and have feelings and emotions

Question 10

Centration

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Appearance-Reality Distinction

Answer 11

A task where children are asked to distinguish what something appears to be from what it really is.
Maynard the Cat

Question 12

Irreversibility

Answer 12

The inability to understand that reversing a process can often undo it and restore the original state

Question 13

Conservation

Answer 13

The understanding that the physical quantity of a substance remains the same even when its appearance changes

Question 14

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Guided Participation

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Scaffolding

Answer 16

The expert partner permits the child to bridge the gap between his or her competence level and the task at hand

Question 17

Zone of Proximal Development

Answer 17

The gap between the child’s competence level and what he/she can do with assistance of a skilled partner.

Question 18

Sustained Attention

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Selective Attention

Answer 19

The ability to systematically deploy one’s attention, focusing on relevant information and ignoring distractors

Question 20

Memory

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Episodic Memory

Answer 21

The memory for events and the information acquired during those events. Rapid expansion of episodic memory during early childhood

Question 22

Recognition Memory

Answer 22

The ability to recognize a stimulus one has encountered before. Nearly perfect by 4 to 5 years old.

Question 23

Recall Memory

Answer 23

The ability to generate a memory of a stimulus encountered before without seeing it again. Not very proficient during early childhood

Question 24

Memory Strategies

Answer 24

Cognitive activities that make us more likely to remember

Question 25

Scripts

Answer 25

Description of what occurs in a particular situation. They become more elaborate as the child matures

Question 26

Autobiographical Memory

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Theory of Mind

Answer 27

Children’s awareness of their own and other people’s mental processes

Question 28

Metacognition

Answer 28

Knowledge of how the mind works and the ability to control the mind

Question 29

False-Belief Tasks

Answer 29

A task that requires children to understand that someone does not share their knowledge. Associated with measures of executive function

Question 30

Logical Extension

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Mutual Exclusivity Assumption

Answer 31

When learning new words, young children assume that objects have one name or label

Question 32

Overregularization Errors

Answer 32

Grammatical mistakes that children make because they apply grammatical rules too stringently to words that are exceptions. “I goed on the slide.”

Question 33

Private Speech

Answer 33

Self-directed speed that children use to guide their behavior

Question 34

Social Learning Theory

Answer 34

All behavior, including moral behavior, as acquired through reinforcement and modeling. Other children and adults serve as models, demonstrating appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

Question 35

Cognitive-Developmental Theory

Answer 35

Views moral development through a cognitive lens and examines reasoning about moral issues

Question 36

Heteronomous Morality

Answer 36

As children first become aware of rules, they view them as sacred and unalterable

Question 37

Preconventional Reasoning

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Academically Centered Preschool Programs

Answer 38

Emphasize providing children with structured learning environments in which teachers deliver direct instruction on letters, numbers, shapes, and academic skills

Question 39

Child-Centered Preschool Programs

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Project Head Start

Answer 40

Created by the federal government to provide economically disadvantaged children with nutritional, health, and educational services during their early childhood years, prior to kindergarten