development

Question 1

Define brain

Answer 1

The organ in your head made up of nerves that process information & control behavior.

Question 2

Define forebrain

Answer 2

The anterior part of the brain.
It includes the hemispheres & the central brain structures.

Question 3

Define midbrain

Answer 3

The middle section of the brain
forming part of the central nervous system.

Question 4

Define hindbrain

Answer 4

The lower part of the brain
that includes the pons, medulla oblongata, & cerebellum.

Question 5

Define anterior

Answer 5

Directed towards the front, when used in relation to our biology.

Question 6

Define posterior

Answer 6

Directed towards the back, when used in relation to our biology.

Question 7

Define cerebellum

Answer 7

An area of the brain
near to the brainstem
that controls motor movements (muscle activity.)

Question 8

Define medulla oblongata

Answer 8

Connects the upper brain to the spinal cord & controls automatic responses.

Question 9

Define involuntary response

Answer 9

A response to a stimulus that occurs without someone making a conscious choice. They’re automatic, such as reflexes.

Question 10

Define neural connections

Answer 10

Links formed by messages passing from one nerve cell (neuron) to another.

Question 11

Foetus 3-4 weeks old
Development

Answer 11

Long tube develops in the brain.
Divided from the front into 3 distinct round sections called:
Forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain.

Below the hindbrain = spinal cord.

Question 12

Foetus 5 weeks old

Foetus 5 weeks old
development

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Foetus 6 weeks
development

Answer 13

cerebellum can be seen

Question 14

foetus 20 week
development

Answer 14

medulla oblongata formed (in the hindbrain, in front of the cerebellum)
-connects rest of the brain to the spinal cord
- controls involuntary responses

Question 15

year after birth

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

3 years old

Answer 16

Brain 80% of its size.
Birth to 3yo = increase in neural connections. 700-1000 every sec.

Question 17

state features in sensorimotor stage

Answer 17

• 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.

Question 18

state features in pre-operational stage?
what are the two sub-stages?

Answer 18

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.)

Question 19

state features in concrete operational stage

Answer 19

**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.

Question 20

state features of formal operational stage

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

features of piagets theory of cognitive development

Answer 21

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)

Question 22

piagets theory of cognitive development

define schema

Answer 22

mental represntations of the world based on one’s own experiences.

Question 23

piagets theory of cognitive development

define adaptation

Answer 23

using assimilation & accommodation to make sense of the world.

Question 24

piagets theory of cognitive development

define assimilation

Answer 24

incorporating new experiences into existing schemas.

Question 25

piagets theory of cognitive development

define accommodation

Answer 25

when a schema has to be changed to deal with a new experience.

Question 26

piagets theory of cognitive development

define equilibrium

Answer 26

when a child’s scemas can explain all that they experience; a state of mental balance.

Question 27

piagets theory of cognitive development

strengths

Answer 27

• 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.

Question 28

piagets theory of cognitive development

weaknesses

Answer 28

• 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.

Question 29

Dweck’s mindset theory

define mindset

Answer 29

a set of beliefs someone has that guides how someone responds to or interprets a situation

Question 30

Dweck’s mindset theory

define ability

Answer 30

what someone can do e.g maths ability/sports.
dweck suggests ability can be fixed & innate or as able to be improved.

Question 31

Dweck’s mindset theory

define effort

Answer 31

when u try to do better using determination

Question 32

Dweck’s mindset theory

define fixed mindset

Answer 32

believing your abilities are fixed & unchangeable

Question 33

Dweck’s mindset theory

define growth mindset

Answer 33

believing practice & effort can improve your abilities

Question 34

Dweck’s mindset theory

experimental evidence

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

Dweck’s mindset theory

strengths

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

Dweck’s mindset theory

weaknesses

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

Willingham’s learning theory

factual knowledge precedes skill

Answer 37

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.

Question 38

Willingham’s learning theory

Importance of practice & effort for building knowledge

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

Willingham’s learning theory

Importance of practice & effort for building skills

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

Willingham’s learning theory

Strategies to support development
(cognitive)

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

Willingham’s learning theory

Strategies to support development
(physical)

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

Willingham’s learning theory

Strategies to support development
(social)

Answer 42

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.

Question 43

Willinghams learning theory

define Decentration

Answer 43

Being able to separate yourself from the world & take different views of a situation, so not being egocentric.

Question 44

Willinghams learning theory

define self-regulation

Answer 44

Limiting & controlling yourself w/o influence from others.

Question 45

Willinghams learning theory

weaknesses

Answer 45

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

Question 46

Willinghams learning theory

stregnths

Answer 46

• 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.

Question 47

Willinghams learning theory