Chapter 9

Question 1

Pre-Operational Stage

Answer 1

Ages 2 to 7 yrs

Defined by increase in capacity for mental representations

Question 2

How do children develop mental representations?

Answer 2

Sensorimotor activity —> internal images —> labeling with words

Question 3

Imaginary Play

Answer 3

Before age 2: detaches from real life conditions

After age 2: becomes less self-centered and more flexible

Age 3: includes complex combinations of schemes; can take part in socio-dramatic play, or the make-believe with others that increases rapidly in complexity during early childhood

Question 4

Why is imaginary play important?

Answer 4

◦  Social competence 
◦  Sustained attention 
◦  Inhibiting impulses 
◦  Memory
◦  Logical reasoning
◦  Language
◦  Literacy
◦  Creativity
◦  Perspective-taking

Question 5

Symbolic Representation and Reality

Answer 5

Dual representation: viewing a symbolic object as both an object in its own right and a symbol

When does this ability develop?
NOT at 2.5 yrs of age, but at approximately 3 yrs (DeLoache,
1987)

HOWEVER—
◦ Adult intervention
◦ Realistic pictures
◦ Exposure to diverse symbols

Question 6

Limitations of Preoperational Thought:

Egocentrism & Animistic thinking

Answer 6

Egocentrism

Egocentrism: failure to distinguish the symbolic viewpoints of others from one’s one

Question 7

Limitations of Preoperational Thought

Inability to conserve

Answer 7

What is conservation?
Typically a product of CENTRATION & IRREVERSIBILITY

Conservation Flaws: They focus on one aspect of a situation, neglecting other important features (looking at only the height of the juice in the glass)

Question 8

Limitations of Preoperational Thought

Lack of Hierarchical Classification


Answer 8

…..

Question 9

Follow-up research on preoperational thought

Answer 9

Piaget underestimated children’s abilities
◦ Children do not consistently show egocentric thinking
◦ Preschool children can hierarchically classify (Markman, 1990)
◦ Conservation errors stem from underdeveloped language skills (Mehler & Bever, 1968; McGarrigle & Donaldson, 1974)

Kids partake in prosocial behavior
Can classify better when asked in a way that they understand

Question 10

Egocentric

Answer 10

What does the mountain task require?

Talk to adults vs. peers (Gelman & Schatz, 1978)

Prosocial behavior

Name on paper

Question 11

Private speech

Answer 11

Children’s self directed talk

People used to think it meant that the kid was crazy, but it is actually builds on child’s emerging cognitive abilities

Question 12

Social origins of early childhood cognition

Effective Social Interaction

Answer 12

Intersubjectivity: the process by which two participants who begin a task with different understandings arrive at a shared understanding

Scaffolding: adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child’s current level of performance

More successful independent attempts
Advanced cognitive development

Guided Participation refers to shared endeavors between more expert and less expert participants without specifying the precise features of communication

Question 13

Information Processing

Gains in cognitive functions:

Answer 13

◦ Attention
◦ Impulse control
◦ Working memory
◦ Planning

Question 14

Information Processing:

Attention

Answer 14

Sustained attention increases sharply between 2 and 4 years.

Inhibition
◦ Responding with the opposite of the dominant stimulus
◦ Helpful parents
◦ Learning Aids

Planning
◦ Children can participate in planning if there aren’t too many options

Question 15

Information Processing:

Memory

Answer 15

Easier to study in early childhood because they have language and some retention

Recognition & Recall
◦ Memory strategies

Memory for Everyday Experiences
◦ Episodic Memory
◦ Memory for familiar events
◦ Memory for one-time events

Question 16

Evaluation of Vygotsky’s theory

Answer 16

Says little about basic motor, perceptual, attention, memory, and problem solving skills contribute to socially transmitted higher cognitive processes

Probably best to mold this with Piaget’s theory

Question 17

Autobiographical Memory

Answer 17

Two styles of caregiver–child communication:

Elaborative Style and
Repetitive Style

Elaborative Style:
•  Follows child’s lead
•  Asks varied questions
•  Adds information
•  Volunteers own recollections

Repetitive Style:
•  Provides little information
•  Keeps repeating same
questions
•  Ignores child’s interest

Elaborative style leads to better recall and more organized, detailed personal stories one to two years later.

Question 18

Information Processing:

Problem Solving

Answer 18

Children experiment with many ways of problem solving

Overlapping waves theory:
when given challenging problems, children try out various strategies and observe which work best, which work less well, and which are ineffective;
select strategies based on accuracy and efficiency

Question 19

Information Processing:

Theory of Mind

Answer 19

Metacognition:
Thinking about thought

Milestones:
◦ Age 1: view others as intentional beings who are available for communication
◦ Age 2: aware of others’ emotions and desires
◦ Age 3: realize that thinking is internal, but focus on desires
◦ Age 4: realize both beliefs and desires determine behavior; awareness of false beliefs

Question 20

Information Processing:

Factors Contributing to Preschoolers’ Theory of Mind

Answer 20

◦ Language and verbal reasoning
◦ Cognitive skills
◦ Make-believe play
◦ Social interaction

Question 21

False-Belief

Answer 21

….

Question 22

Information Processing:

Early Literacy Development

Answer 22

◦ Emergent Literacy: children’s active efforts to construct literacy knowledge through informal experiences

◦ At first, children rely on sounds of letters
◦ Phonological Awareness
◦ What can parents & teachers do to increase a child’s likelihood of success in future reading endeavors?

Question 23

Supporting Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood

Answer 23

◦ Provide literacy-rich homes and preschool environments.
◦ Engage in interactive book reading.
◦ Provide outings to libraries, museums, parks, zoos, and other community settings.
◦ Point out letter–sound correspondences, play rhyming and language–sound games, and read rhyming poems & stories.
◦ Support children’s efforts at writing, especially narrative products.
◦ Model literacy activities.

Question 24

Information Processing:

Mathematical Development

Answer 24

Builds on informal knowledge

Ordinality
◦ Order relationships between quantities
◦ Emerges at 14-16mo

Cardinality
◦ Last number when counting is the total.
◦ Mastered by 3.5-4 years

Estimation

Question 25

Early Childhood Intelligence Tests

Answer 25

``` Wider range: ◦ Verbal ◦ Memory ◦ Quantitative ◦ Spatial Reasoning ``` Lower SES tend to get anxious during testing Stabilize at 6–7 yrs

Question 26

Home Observations for Measurement and Environment

Answer 26

Assess intellectual growth support of 3- to 6- year-olds’ home life Home with educational toys and books ``` Warm and affectionate parents ◦ Stimulate language ◦ Academic knowledge ◦ Arrange interesting outings ◦ Demand socially mature behavior ◦ Resolve conflict with reason ```

Question 27

Preschool, Kindergarten, and Child Care

Answer 27

More than 60% of children in child care or preschool Preschool: planned educational experiences ◦ Range from child-centered to academic programs Child care: program designed for child supervision Some states offer government-funded pre-kindergarten programs located within public schools to all 4-year olds

Question 28

Early Intervention for At-Risk Preschoolers

Answer 28

Project Head Start ◦ Began in 1965 ◦ Currently serves 904,000 children ◦ Provides children with a year or two of preschool, along with nutritional and health services How successful are interventions? Intense analysis of 7 different programs ◦ Gains in IQ and achievement during first 2-3 years ◦ Less likely to be placed in special education or retained in a grade ◦ Greater number graduated from high school Perry Preschool Project

Question 29

Child Care

Answer 29

Substandard child care can impair cognitive and social skills and psychological well-being. Good child care enhances language, cognitive, and social development, especially for low-SES children. Center-based care is more strongly linked to cognitive gains than home-based care.

Question 30

Signs of Developmentally Appropriate Early Childhood Programs

Answer 30

Safe, clean, richly equipped physical setting No more than 18–20 children with 2 teachers No more than 8–10 children with each teacher Small-group and individual activities chosen by children Positive adult–child interactions Specialized, college-level teacher preparation Encouragement of parent observation and participation State licensing and voluntary accreditation (NAEYC, NAFCC)

Question 31

Educational Media

Answer 31

Time spent watching educational programs (such as Sesame Street) leads to ◦ gains in early literacy and math skills. ◦ academic progress in elementary and high school. Background TV viewing ◦ impairs sustained attention. ◦ decreases quantity and quality of parent–child interaction. ◦ delays acquisition of reading skills.

Question 32

Language Development

Answer 32

By age 6 children have acquired about 10,000 words Fast mapping: connecting words with their underlying concepts after only a brief encounter How do children discover which concept each word picks out?

Question 33

Mutual Exclusivity Bias

Answer 33

The assumption that only one label can be applied to each object in early word learning Bias might cause an infant to map a novel word onto an unfamiliar object  Child is presented with a duck and a novelty object. When asked to identify a “blicket,” the child will point to the unfamiliar object, because he knows the word duck and he knows what a duck has looked like in his past. So he associates the new object with the new word "blicket"

Question 34

Syntactic Bootstrapping

Answer 34

Discovering word meanings by observing how words are used in syntax How are words used in the context of a sentence? ``` “This is a citron one.” # must indicate a property of the car ``` ``` “That lemon is a bright citron.” # must indicate a property of the lemon ``` “Joe has to wear a muzzle, so he doesn’t lick guests” “You can call it a flying car, but it is better to say airplane.”

Question 35

Grammar

Answer 35

Overregularization – applying rules to words that are exceptions "Look at those gooses” “She goed to the store” “I have two foots” Age 4 to 5 years – forming more complex sentences “I think he will come.” “Mom will come back tomorrow, right?” “She gave her best friend the candy.” referring to indirect objects

Question 36

Explaining Grammar Development

Answer 36

Grammatical development is an extended process... Does this support Noam Chomsky’s views? Semantic bootstrapping: relying on word meanings to figure out grammatical rules ! “agent qualities” (things that cause actions) = subjects ! “action qualities” = verbs Observe structure of language

Question 37

Conversation

Answer 37

Around age 2, preschoolers begin to master pragmatics Presence of sibling helps children acquire pragmatics By age 4, children adapt language to social expectations From age 4 – 8, telephone talk improves significantly 

Question 38

How can caregivers support language learning?

Answer 38

Conversational give-and-take DO NOT overcorrect DO ◦ Recast: restructure incorrect speech into correct form “I goed to the park.” “Yes. We went to the park yesterday.” ◦ Expansion: elaborating on children’s speech, increasing its complexity ◦ Listen attentively, elaborate, model, stimulate child’s talk further