development Flashcards
Define brain
The organ in your head made up of nerves that process information & control behavior.
Define forebrain
The anterior part of the brain.
It includes the hemispheres & the central brain structures.
Define midbrain
The middle section of the brain
forming part of the central nervous system.
Define hindbrain
The lower part of the brain
that includes the pons, medulla oblongata, & cerebellum.
Define anterior
Directed towards the front, when used in relation to our biology.
Define posterior
Directed towards the back, when used in relation to our biology.
Define cerebellum
An area of the brain
near to the brainstem
that controls motor movements (muscle activity.)
Define medulla oblongata
Connects the upper brain to the spinal cord & controls automatic responses.
Define involuntary response
A response to a stimulus that occurs without someone making a conscious choice. They’re automatic, such as reflexes.
Define neural connections
Links formed by messages passing from one nerve cell (neuron) to another.
Foetus 3-4 weeks old
Development
Long tube develops in the brain.
Divided from the front into 3 distinct round sections called:
Forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain.
Below the hindbrain = spinal cord.
Foetus 5 weeks old
Foetus 5 weeks old
development
Forebrain & hindbrain split into further 2 cavities (5 in total.)
Forebrain splits into an anterior & posterior section.
Hindbrain splits through the middle.
Midbrain doesn’t divide.
Foetus 6 weeks
development
cerebellum can be seen
foetus 20 week
development
medulla oblongata formed (in the hindbrain, in front of the cerebellum)
-connects rest of the brain to the spinal cord
- controls involuntary responses
year after birth
Cerebellum is 3 times the size.
Brain doubles in size.
Controls physical skills which develop a lot over this time; accounting for the growth of the cerebellum.
Cerebellum; balance & coordination.
manages motor commands sent to/from the nervous system – E.G, balance & the acquisition of motor skills such as crawling, walking, running, and hopping.
3 years old
Brain 80% of its size.
Birth to 3yo = increase in neural connections. 700-1000 every sec.
state features in sensorimotor stage
- Birth to 2 years
- Infants use senses & movements to get information about their world
Learn by linking what they see, hear, touch, taste or smell to objects they’re using e.g grasping/sucking objects.
Begin with reflex actions, then learn to control movements.
6 months old - object permanence (knowing something exists even if it’s out of sight.)
4 months old - repeat actions.
End of stage - has sense of self as existing separately from the world around them.
state features in pre-operational stage?
what are the two sub-stages?
Pre-operational stage
(2 to 7 years)
The symbolic function stage (2 to 4 years)
Start imitating others.
Start of language development.
Symbolic play: using 1 object to represent other objects.
Egocentrism: can only see the world through their eyes.
Animism: believe objects can behave like they’re alive.
Intuitive thought stage (4 to 7 years)
Start of reasoning; ask a lot of questions.
Centration: focusing on 1 aspect of situation & ignoring other factors.
Irreversibility: believing actions can’t be reversed.
Conservation not yet achieved.
(changing how something looks doesn’t change its volume, size, or weight.)
state features in concrete operational stage
**Concrete operational stage
**(7-12 years)
Difficulty understanding abstract ideas like morality.
Morality: general principles about what is right & wrong, including good & bad behavior.
Abilities:
Seriation: sorting objects, such as into size.
Classification: naming & identifying objects according to size or appearance.
Reversibility: actions can be reversed.
Decentration: consider other viewpoints.
Conservation: quantity not related to how things look.
state features of formal operational stage
Formal operational stage
(12+)
Control over thoughts.
Understand abstract concepts.
Learns actions have consequences.
Can think about 2+ things.
Ability to think about how time changes things.
features of piagets theory of cognitive development
Piaget held that children develop through adaptation - adjust to the world as they experience new things.
As they develop, babies have to understand many new things; they do this by forming ideas about how things are in the world.
Their ideas take the form of schemas (schemata.)
Often they can fit new things into their existing schemas. (Assimilation)
As they experience more, they need to change their schemas & create new ones. (Accommodation)
piagets theory of cognitive development
define schema
mental represntations of the world based on one’s own experiences.
piagets theory of cognitive development
define adaptation
using assimilation & accommodation to make sense of the world.
piagets theory of cognitive development
define assimilation
incorporating new experiences into existing schemas.
piagets theory of cognitive development
define accommodation
when a schema has to be changed to deal with a new experience.
piagets theory of cognitive development
define equilibrium
when a child’s scemas can explain all that they experience; a state of mental balance.
piagets theory of cognitive development
strengths
- Practical applications; can be used in education to help a child develop.
- Research evidence; Piaget & Inhelder (1956) 3 mountains task.
- Qualitative data gathered from observation & interviews. There’s validity.
piagets theory of cognitive development
weaknesses
- Reductionist as factors like culture & social interactions not considered.
- Dasen (1994) - Aboriginal children developed ability to conserve at a later stage than Piaget’s Swiss sample did. Suggests culture may affect cognitive development.
- He carried out interviews & observation - his interpretations of situations may be subjective - researcher bias.
Dweck’s mindset theory
define mindset
a set of beliefs someone has that guides how someone responds to or interprets a situation
Dweck’s mindset theory
define ability
what someone can do e.g maths ability/sports.
dweck suggests ability can be fixed & innate or as able to be improved.
Dweck’s mindset theory
define effort
when u try to do better using determination
Dweck’s mindset theory
define fixed mindset
believing your abilities are fixed & unchangeable
Dweck’s mindset theory
define growth mindset
believing practice & effort can improve your abilities
Dweck’s mindset theory
experimental evidence
Mueller & Dweck (1998)
Praising students’ ability led to fixed mindset + were vulnerable to issues such as coping with setbacks.
In contrast, praising effort or use of strategy taught a growth mindset, leading to students persevering more.
Yeager & Dweck (2012)
1500 students; low achieving students who learned to use a growth mindset did better compared to a control group who did not have that learning.
Dweck’s mindset theory
strengths
Experimental evidence - Mueller & Dweck (1998) & Yeager & Dweck (2012)
Practical applications - can be used by teachers to improve school performance of students.
Theory is positive - shows change is possible, which helps society.
Dweck’s mindset theory
weaknesses
Focus is on child, teaching quality may be ignored - affects usefulness of theory.
Experiments done in artificial settings - results may not represent real life - low ecological validity.
Studies ignore effects of feedback, without any judgment about the child or their ability e.g telling a child to ‘add a conclusion’ to an essay.
There’s a need to consider behavior where praise does not feature.
Willingham’s learning theory
factual knowledge precedes skill
Willingham suggested that to learn & develop skills you must have previous knowledge. Knowledge frees up space in our working memory. This allows us to practice skills such as problem solving.
Willingham’s learning theory
Importance of practice & effort for building knowledge
For what we learned to move from STM to LTM, it has to be practiced in the form of rehearsal. To fix it in the LTM it has to be practiced again.
Willingham’s learning theory
Importance of practice & effort for building skills
Problem solving & creative thinking are skills required for learning. They take space in our working memory (has dif. parts for processing info from senses) when skills are developed they become automatic, using up less space in working memory.
Willingham’s learning theory
Strategies to support development
(cognitive)
Use problems new & within a student’s ability, but also require effort.
Understand student’s stage of development when planning activities.
Remember student’s abilities are variable; can change from day-to-day.
Consider factors other then developmental level, student might not understand the task.
Willingham’s learning theory
Strategies to support development
(physical)
Focus on what movements will be suitable & in what order they need to be carried out.
Practice movements in that order enough times to make the muscle commands automatic (to build a skill set.)
Use conscious effort e.g make changes in order to develop motor skill, raising the bar when developing jumping skills.
Willingham’s learning theory
Strategies to support development
(social)
Build on a child’s ability to take the view of someone else;
Willingham disagrees w/ Piaget’s view that children cannot see things from someone else’s viewpoint until they’re 7 y/o; it can occur nearer to 18 months.
Piaget also later changed view on egocentrism & decentration to 18 months.
This skill is important for forming social relationships.
Demonstrate appropriate social behavior; child will use social learning.
Help a child to stop impulsive behavior (behaving w/o considering consequences & mainly w/o thought);
➜ this uses up the energy that could’ve been used more productively e.g paying attention in classroom.
➜ Stopping impulsive behavior = children can develop more suitable responses in social situation; helps build friendships.
➜ Impulsive behavior can be controlled by using an organized classroom environment, & removing anything that can trigger such behaviors.
Encourage practice, which requires self-regulation. Children need it bc there’s often other things they would rather do; Willingham refers to both nature & nurture in this respect.
Self regulation can come from genes.
Also can be influenced by the environment e.g parents giving child emotional support.
Delay giving rewards for a task to encourage a child to keep working at it, which requires them to have more self-control.
Willinghams learning theory
define Decentration
Being able to separate yourself from the world & take different views of a situation, so not being egocentric.
Willinghams learning theory
define self-regulation
Limiting & controlling yourself w/o influence from others.
Willinghams learning theory
weaknesses
Didn’t take individual differences into consideration.
Ideas come from many different theories - not easy to test – not reductionist.
Experimental evidence doesn’t reflect reality - low validity
Willinghams learning theory
stregnths
- Practical applications - can be applied to education & other situations; used to promote child’s development in a positive way.
- Studies supporting Willingham’s work & his arguments against Piaget’s view that development is in stages; Experimental evidence supporting against Piaget’s stage of dev;
- Repacholi & Gopnik (1997) - controlled environment - high reliability
Draws evidence from neuroscience & memory theories; holistic.
Willinghams learning theory
