development Flashcards
brain stem
highly developed at birth
connects brain and spinal cord
autonomic functions
cerebellum
matures late
near top spinal cord
coordinates sensory and motor
thalamus
deep inside brain
receives and sends signals around brain
cortex
thinking and processing
frontal visual auditory and motor areas
smoking in development
smaller brains
infection in development
german measles can lead to hearing loss
voices in development
babies learn to recognise mother voice
interaction between nature and nurture in development
brains form due to nature but env. has a major influence
piagets theory
changes in thinking over time
children think differently from adults
schemas
mental structure contains knowledge
assimilation
adding new info to existing schema
accommodation
receiving new info that changes understanding so new schema
strength of piaget theory
led to large amount of research
studies didn’t fully support piaget but led to new ideas and help adjust aspects of his theory
test ability of his theory allows to test his ideas so we can make certain that theory is correct
strength of piagets theory
his idea that children learn by creating mental representations influenced classroom learning
children now actively engage in activity oriented classrooms
weakness of piagets theory
involved middle class europeans
conducted research studies in switzerland
their families valued education and academic abilities
his theory may not be successfully applicable
conservation
appearance changes but quantity stays same
mcgarrigle and donaldson’s study’s aim
to see if deliberate change in row of counters would help you get children to conserve
mcgarrigle and donald’s method
40+40 nursery and primary students from edinburgh
shown two counters one with 4 red counters and one with 4 white counters
teddy bear pushed counters about making one row smaller
child asked which one had more or less or same
mcgarrigle and donald’s results
41% correct ans if display changed deliberately
68% correct ans if change was accidental
mcgarrigle and donald’s conclusion
piaget underestimated what children can do
but there were still age differences primary school did better
weakness of mcgarrigle and donaldsons study
primary age children all from same school in edinburgh
reason why they did better might be due to education background
school might have drawn in a group of more educated families therefore language abilities were better coping better with task
other factors might have influenced conclusion
decreased validity
weakness of mcgarrigle and donaldson’s study
childrens better performance in the accidental condition may because they didn’t notice change had taken place
more likely to say both rows were same because they were distracted by teddy
suggested by moore and frye that if you take away a counter they would still say it’s the same
means children may have not been conserving but weren’t just looking
strength of mcgarrigle and donaldson’s study
challenges piagets assumptions
way piaget designed his research may have confused the children
more able
important part of scientific process
researcher ideas should be refined
hughes’s aim
create a test that would be more understandable and see if children could cope better with the egocentrism task
hughes’s method
30 children from edinburgh
ages 3.5-5 years
shown a model with two intersecting walls
policeman doll placed on the side of child
puts boy doll in each section and asks if policeman doll can see boy doll
policeman doll then moved and child asked to place boy doll where he couldn’t be seen
if mistake error pointed and restarted
proper test : one place on point x and one on y then child asked to hide boy doll from both
hughes’s results
90% succeeded
complex trials three year olds had more trouble than four year olds (60% to 90%)
hughes’s conclusion
piaget underestimates younger children abilities
still age differences
piaget right about thinking changing as you grow
strength of hughes study
task made more sense than piagets
more similar to daily problem than three mountain task
also made sure children really understood task
researcher has better access to childrens abilities
weakness of hughes
may have unconsciously hinted at answer
very subtle cues eg gazing in a certain direction
lacks validity
strength of hughes
challenge piaget
allows researcher ideas to be improved and refined
sensorimotor
0-2years
coordinate sensory and motor info
object permanence develops
pre operational stage
2-7 years
can’t think in logical way
egocentric and lacks conservation
concrete operational
7-11 years
can conserve and show less egocentrism
logical thinking to physical objects
formal operational
11+ years
abstract concepts and form arguments
weakness of stages of cognitive development
some types of thinking develop earlier
piaget underestimated abilities eg shown by hughes study
weakness of stages of cognitive development
overestimated what older children are capable
eg card task by wason
illustrates abstract vs concrete thinking
tested undergraduate students
2/16 got it right in abstract form
10/16 in concrete form
possible that’s some people never reach this stage
strength of stages of cognitive development
evidence support view that children go through stages of cognitive development as they get older
there are still age differences in hughes and mcgarrigle and donaldson’s studies
overall concept of stages of cognitive development was correct
readiness
can only teach something when child is biologically ready
teachers role
children must play active role
teachers should challenge schemas
individual learning
go through same stages in same order but different rates
application to stages
sensorimotor
stimulating sensory env
application to stages
pre operational
discovery learning instead of written
application to stages
concrete operational
physical materials to manipulate
application to stages
formal operational stage
scientific experiments to develop logical thinking
strength of stages of cognitive development being applied in education
influential
positive impact on uk schools
more child centred activities
demonstrates value of piagets theory for education
weakness of stages of cognitive development being applied in education
possible to improve with practice
thinking can develop at early stage if given enough practice not just when ready
bryant and trabasso 1971 showed pre operational children could do logical tasks if given enough practice
weakness of stages of cognitive development being applied in education
traditional methods may be better
direct instruction is better teaching method in some subjects
active methods permit children to experiment for themselves which may not work for every kid or lesson
dwecks mindset theory
set of assumptions we have that affect success
fixed mindset
effort won’t help because talent is fixed in genes
focus on performance
sees failure as lack of talent
growth mindset
can improve with effort
enjoy challenge
focused on learning goals
sees failure as an opportunity to learn more
continuum
not simply growth or fixed
depends on situation
strength of dwecks mindset theory
research support
children taught a growth mindset had better grades and motivation
weakness of dwecks mindset theory
both mindset involve praise
praising effort can still lead to doing things for approval so can discourage independent behaviour
strength of dwecks mindset theory
real world application
in business , sport , relationships etc
seeing failure as lack of effort rather than talent motivates future effort
positive effect of praise
rewards
makes person feel good so behaviour is repeated
praise effort rather than performance
praising effort enables control
praising performance is demotivating
self efficacy
understanding own abilities
increases or decreases future success
effect of self efficacy on motivation
greater effort ,persist longer , greater task performance and resilience if high self efficacy
weakness of role of praise and self efficacy
praise destroys internal motivation
opposite effect
less interested if previously rewarded
strength of role of praise and self efficacy
supported by research
low self efficacy lowers performance
performance of an in test lower if reminded of a relevant stereotype (steele and aronson)
weakness of role of praise and self efficacy
students criticised for effort performed better on a test than those praised before (Dweck)
learning style
people differ in how they learn
matching teaching to learning style should improve learning
verbaliser
focus on words
hearing or reading or talking about info
visualiser
processing info by spatial relationships by using diagrams
kinaesthetic learners
active exploration
eg making things
strength of learning styles
change from traditional methods
teachers have adopted a varied approach benefitting diff students
weakness of learning styles
no supporting evidence
no good quality studies that challenge claim that learning styles improve performance
weakness of learning styles
too many diff types
coffield identified 71 types so difficult to work out preferred type of learning style
willinghams learning theory
educational ideas should be evidence based
cognitive psychology and neuropsychology can be used to improve learning
praise
praising efforts should be unexpected
praise before task leads to less motivation in future (lepper)
memory and forgetting
forgetting occurs due to lack of cues (tulving and psotka)
practise retrieving info from memory
self regulation
self control linked to high academic performance (delay gratification)
neuroscience
brain waves in dyslexics are different
could benefit progress by receiving help earlier
strength of willingham theory
based on scientific evidence
greater validity
strength of willingham theory
real world application
positive impact on education as an alternative to learning styles
weakness of willingham theory
dyslexia cannot be diagnosed by brain waves as it’s not just linked to one thing
