Development Flashcards
Cortex
Two hemispheres
Responsible for All thinking and processing
Not full developed at birth and develops through a person life
Thalamus
Deep inside the brain
Hub of information
receiving signals and sending them on
What does cerebellum mean ?
Little brain
Cerebellum
Near the top of the spinal chord
Balance
Last parts to reach maturity
What is the function of the brain stem ?
It connects the brain to the spinal cord and is responsible for autonomic eg. Breathing.
And most highly developed at birth
Which area of the brain is most highly developed at birth
The brain stem
Nature
Things that you have inherited from your genes, present in the moment the first cell is formed eg. Skin colour
nurture
Influences that can shape a persons characteristics externally eg. What we eat
What are example of nurture affecting baby’s development in the womb ?
Smoking
Infection
Voices
Alcohol
How can smoking affect a baby’s development in the womb?
Nicotine slows down the brain growth
smoking when pregnant affects the size of the babies brain.
small babies
How can infection affect a baby’s development in the womb ?
Rubella can can cause brain damage to unborn babies
hearing loss if the mother contracts the illness during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy
cognitive development
Refers to the way a persons thinking
Knowledge and intelligence that changes as they get older
assimilation
When a child acquires new information about an object or idea. It’s a small change so doesn’t require a new schema. It adds to and existing one. An example can be a red and blue car
accommodation
When a child acquires new information about an object or idea. It’s a big change so requires a new schema. It adds to and existing one. An example can be a car and a tractor
What are the four stages of development + ages
Sensorimotor 0-2
Pre-operational 2-7
Concrete -operational 7-11
Formal operational 11+
sensorimotor
Age 0-2
Focus: physical sensation and physical coordination
Lack: object permanence until 8 months. (Ability to understand that something still exists even when out of sight)
Rattles - senses
Money in money box - coordination
Description of pre-operational stage
Age: 2-7
A child is very ego-centric (cannot see from another persons point of view)
Lack the ability to conserve (understand that quantity can remain the same even when The physical appearance is different)
Dress up - decentre
Counters - to conserve
Description of concrete operational stage
Age:7-11
A child in this stage has decentered (can see from another persons point of view)
and gains the ability to conserve (understand that quantity can remain the same even if the physical appearance is changed)
Science experiment - practical and includes logical thinking
Formal operational stage
Age: 11+
Capable of scientific and formal reasoning
Can show abstract thinking eg. Debate and use their imagination
Give a theme and ask to write a story about it - to develop abstract thinking
conservation
The ability to understand that quantity can remain the dame even when the physical appearance is different
ego-centrism
A persons tendency to only see the world from their own point of view
decentred
They can see from another persons point of veiw
fixed mindset
People believe their abilities such as intelligence are fixed in their genes
They believe if they are bad at something you can’t change it
If they fail at something they will probably give up because they believe they will always be bad at it
What is a growth mindset ?
People with a growth mindset believe that you can get better at most things with practice and effort
They believe if your not best at something you can improve
If they fail at something they will try and against because they believe they can get better next time
AO1 - naughty teddy study
McGarrigle and Donaldson wanted to see if younger children could
conserve when counters were moved accidentally
80 Children aged 4–6 years old
shown two rows of counters each with four counters in them.
A naughty teddy pushed the counters into one row.
Before and after each child was asked if there were more counters in one row or if each row had the same number of counters.
68% correct when teddy moved it accidentally.
41% correct when the researcher moved it deliberately
More primary school children gave the correct answer than nursery children.
traditional method of testing conservation underestimated what children could do. Piaget
said that children <7 couldn’t conserve but more of them could when the question
made better sense.
AO3 - strength of naughty teddy study
A strength of the study is it challenges Piaget’s view. McGarrigle and Donaldson’s study
implies that the way Piaget designed his research appears to have confused young children.
Therefore, this study helped refine this type of child development research.
AO3 - weekness of naughty teddy study
Not representative of the target population. In the study the sample consisted of 80 children all from one city (Edinburgh) in Scotland. They also all came from the same nursery school or primary school. This is a weakness because the sample doesn’t reflect a variety of nationalities or social classes . There for we must generalise these findings to other young children in other countries with caution.
AO1- Hugh’s policeman doll study
Aim was to see if children became decentred a a younger age than Piaget said.
30 children aged 3 1/2 to 5 years old from Edinburgh (Scotland)
each shown two intersecting walls and 2 policemen dolls were placed on different edges of 2 intersecting walls.
A boy doll was placed into each section and the children were each asked to hide the dolls from the policemen by putting the boy in one of the sections.
90% of children accurately hid the doll.
Piaget underestimated younger children’s abilities
study concludes that children aged under 7 can see the world from another point of view.
AO3- strength Hugh’s policeman doll study
It is considered valid. The task in the study is something young children would be used to. For example, children play hide and seek. This increases the validity of the study because participants understood the task therefore Hugh’s could be sure he was measuring levels of egocentrism in children aged 3 1/2 to 5.
AO3- weakness Hugh’s policeman doll study
The sample is unrepresentative of the target population. This is because all 30 participants were from Edinburgh. This means the sample is not reflective of children in other countries. Therefore the result must be generalised to the target population with caution
AO1 - Dweck’s mindset theory of learning
‘Mindset’ refers to a set of assumptions a person has.
fixed mindset believe their abilities are fixed in their genes. They believe if you are bad at something you can’t change it so if they fail at something they will give up because they believe they will always be bad at it.
growth mindset believe you can get better at something with practice and effort. They think you can always improve and if they fail at something they will try again because they believe the might be better next time
AO3 - strength Dweck’s mindset theory of learning
One strength of Dweck’s mindset theory of learning is that is has real world application.
The theory of mindset can be applied to many settings such as, schools, sports, businesses and relationships. For example, famous basketball player Michael Jordan has often talked about how he has failed on many occasions, and this is why he succeeds; because he learns from those failures. This shows how the theory of growth mindset can be applied to many settings in the real world showing its usefulness of psychological theories.
AO3 - weakness Dweck’s mindset theory of learning
One weakness of Dweck’s mindset theory of learning is that both mindsets, fixed or growth, require external praise. For example, even if a student has a growth mindset the learner is still dependent on praise from someone else. Research has shown that being dependent on praise leads to students working hard for that praise instead of their internal satisfaction. Therefore, this means praise may be detrimental to a students motivation
readiness
Piaget believe that children can only learn when they are biologically. You can’t teach something unless they are biologically ready eg. A 5 year old trying to complete a complex math problem
learning by discovery
Children should play and active role in their learning and discover concepts. Classroom environments should stimulate and facilitate discovery learning which would help a child develop new schemas
individual learning
According to Piaget Children go through the same stages and in the same order but at different paces. For example three 6 year olds could all be at different points of their pre operational stage.
AO1 - describe Piagets theory of cognitive development
Cognitive development refers to a way a persons things .
Piaget said that children are born with a small number of schemas and these develop through the process of assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation is when a child requires new information about an object or idea and it’ds a small change so does not require a new schema eg. A red and blue car.
Accommodation is when a child requires new information about and object or idea and it is a big change so requires a new shemca eg a tracto and car.
Piaget said that children under the age of 7 are ego-centric (can only see from their own point of view)
Conservation is the ability to understand that quantity can remain the same even when the physical appearance is changed.
AO3 - strength of Piagets theory of cognitive development
High practical application. His theory had influences activities in lessons to suit the stage of the Childers, children aged 7 play dress up to encourage their ability to decentre. This shows external validity as it can be used in the real world
AO3 - weakness of Piagets theory of cognitive development
Piagets research was carried out in one country. Piagets original study on egocentrism was complete in Switzerland using only Swiss children therefor this is a weakness because the research is unrepresentative of the target population and can’t be reflective of other countries/cultures
AO1 - describe Piagets theory applied to education
Readiness - Piaget believed that children should only learn when they are biologically ready eg. A 5 year old learning a complex math problem.
Learning by discovery - children should play an active roll in their learning the classroom should stimulate facilitate discovery learning to help develop new chemas.
Individual learning - Piaget beleived that children go through the same stages in the same order but at different paces eg. 3,6 year olds may be and different stages of their pre-operational stage.
AO3 - Weakness of Piagets theory applied to education
There is research hat contradicts its points. Piaget claims that a child must be ready to learn but this point ignores the roll of practice. Bryant and trabasso show that pre operational children could do some logical test if they were five practice. They argued that children couldn’t do skills because their memory skills needed practice. It challenges the idea that education teaching should be focused around the child’s readiness
AO3 - strength of Piagets theory applied to education
High practical application. For example discovery learning has changed the way teachers are taught and changes the experienced of children in the classroom. This is externally valid because out its used in the real world
AO1 - describe willighams learning theory
Willingham criticises the theory of learning styles because of a lack of
scientific evidence. He believes that we can improve learning by applying the results of
scientific research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. For example, research
indicates that the brain waves of people with dyslexia are different from those without
dyslexia. If a specific pattern is associated with dyslexia, they could receive help earlier,
which will benefit their progress. Another example is that research shows that praising
effort should be unexpected. Lepper et al. found that, if performance depends on praise, a
person works to get the praise rather than to feel good. This can then be confidently applied
to better educational practice. Schools therefore should avoid using techniques or ideas that
do not have a strong research basis.
AO3 - strength of willinghams learning theory
One strength of the idea of using praise to encourage learning is there is research to support.
Research by Dweck looked at the effect of the type of feedback on a student’s learning. For example, one group of students were persistently told that they hadn’t done well in their piece of work because they should try harder/ increase their effort. Whereas, the other group were praised and given feedback to act on to enable them to improve. At the end of the trial, the second group were quicker to give up when they didn’t perform whereas, the first group increased their efforts. This demonstrates that the type of feedback is important and illustrates the practical use of praising effort over achievement.
AO3 - weakness of willinghams learning theory
One weakness of the idea of using praise to encourage learning is that it may reduce internal motivation. Research by Lepper investigated this and found that when children had been offered a reward for doing something, later they were less interested in doing the same activity unless they received the reward. This demonstrated the children were more interested in the external physical reward opposed to being internally motivated in their learning. Therefore, teachers and parents should be cautious not to overuse physical external rewards and it reduces internal motivation to learn and progress
AO3 - weakness of Piaget stage theory (linking to police man doll study)
A weekness is that there is research to contradict. High intended to investigate weather are decentered under the age of 7. 2 intersecting walls and children were asked to hide the boy doll. He discovered that children are decentered
AO3 - strength of Piaget stage theory
Applicable to children’s development in real life
His understanding has been applied in real life
Children in concrete operational are very logical thinkers
Shows that it has practical application in the real world
How can voices affect a baby’s development in the womb ?
They recognise their others voices immediately after birth
Brain changes before birth responding to external stimuli
Schemas
Mental frameworks of information based on knowledge and past experience
AO1 learning styles
Verbalise Prefers to process information verbally, by hearing it or reading it.
They remember best by repeating sounds, talking or writing in words.
Visualiser Prefers to process information visually, by seeing it – especially the spatial relationships.
They remember best using diagrams, mind maps, graphs and charts.
They find it more difficult to process written information.
Kinaesthetic learnersA ‘hands-on’ learner, preferring active exploration, making things and experimenting.
They prefer physical activities rather than watching others or reading.
AO3 learning styles weakness
No supporting evidence
little evidence to suggest that learning styles work.
Pashler et al. reviewed many good quality research studies and found no support.
This challenges the claim that learning styles improve performance.
AO3 learning styles strength
encouraged teachers to focus on other teaching methods rather than just traditional verbal ones.
This has led to teachers adopting a more varied approach.
This has benefited their students’ learning.
AO1 praise and self efficacy
Praise is a reward and makes someone feel good so they repeat behaviours. Praise must fit performance and not be used for everything
Praising effort is motivating – it gives a sense of control as people can always put in more effort. Praising others for their performance is demotivating especially when you can’t compete.
Self-efficacy is your own abilities which is related to expectations you have about future performance. Experiencing success is important and opportunities should be provided by parents and teachers.
Self-efficacy affects motivation because if it is high you will put in greater effort, persist longer, have greater task performance and more resilience than if you
AO3 praise and self efficacy weakness
Praise destroys internal motivation
One weakness with using praise to encourage learning is that it can have the opposite effect.
Research by Lepper found that children were less interested in doing a task if they had previously been rewarded for it.
This suggests that praise can be demotivating.
AO3 praise and self efficacy. Strength
Practical application
A strength is the value of understanding rewards.
Dweck found that students who were criticised for their effort performed better on a test than those who had been previously praised.
This shows that the kind of praise that is given is important
