development

Question 1

the brain stem

Answer 1

• connects to spinal cord
• carries motor and sensory neurons to and from the brain via the spinal cord
• controls automatic such as breathing, heart rate, sleeping as apart of the auntonomic system
• most highly developed at birth as its key to survival

Question 2

cerebellum

Answer 2

• means little brain
• coordination of movement
• some input in language and emotions
• one of the last to mature

Question 3

thalamus

Answer 3

• located deep inside the brain
• acts as a hub of information
• receives signals from other areas and also passes them on

Question 4

cortex

Answer 4

• bumpy structure surrounding brain giving it a groovy shape
• thinking and processing
• motor and sensory areas of the cortex are active in the womb but other areas continue growing in life

Question 5

how does smoking affect brain development

Answer 5

it can affect the size of the brain as well as its growth if a pregnant woman smokes

Question 6

how does infection affect development

Answer 6

illnesses such as rubella can cause brain damage such as hearing loss if contracted in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy

Question 7

how does voices affect brain development

Answer 7

babies recognise their mothers voices immediately after birth showing your brain adapts during development in response to external stimuli

Question 8

piagets theory of cognitive development

Answer 8

• young children are not mature enough to think logically
• brain develops in stages
• we store knowledge in schemas for all information we come across
• assimilation= adding to an existing schema
• accommodation= changing a schema or creating a new one

Question 9

evaluation of piagets theory

Answer 9

+ research - piagets theory led to many to follow his footsteps and conduct their own theories although not all of them supported him. high internal
+ real world application- his theories were applied to classrooms to make them more productive rather than copying off the board. high external

Question 10

McGarrigle and Donaldson’s naughty teddy study

Answer 10

method: 80 primary and nursery students from edinburgh were introduced to the naughty teddy. they were then shown 2 rows of 4 red counters and white counters, the teddy then jumped out of its box and messed up the counters making one row look smaller, the children were asked which row had more counters or if they were the same
results: 41% said there was the same amount if the change was deliberate and 68% said the same amount if the change was accidental

Question 11

evaluation of the naughty teddy study

Answer 11

• the sample- all the children came from the same school meaning its not generalisable to the population. low external
• the change wasn’t noticed- the study was conducted again by another researcher but this time the teddy took a counter and the child still said they were the same amounts, meaning they might have been distracted by the teddy and didn’t notice a change. low internal

Question 12

Hughes’ policeman doll study

Answer 12

method: tested children ages 3.5 to 5. they were shown a structure of 2 intersecting walls, with a policeman sat left of the child also looking at the structure. a boy doll was then placed in different sections of the structure and the child was asked if the policeman could see it, the policeman was then moved to the right of the child as asked to hide the boy themselves. if the child made mistakes, they were corrected and asked to try again. if the study went well there was 2 policemen placed and the child asked to repeat
results: 90% of children were able to hide the boy from 2 policemen

Question 13

evaluation of the policemen doll study

Answer 13

+ realistic- children have more experience of hiding from games of hide and seek than the three mountains task piaget performed. high internal
+ challenges piaget- the tasks piaget based his research off of may have confused children, and helped to rethink the ages he stated in his study. high internal

Question 14

the sensorimotor stage

Answer 14

• ages 0 to 2
• learn from their senses and performing tasks
• children do not have object permanence

Question 15

the pre operational stage

Answer 15

• 2 to 7
• they are mobile and can use language but not logically
• they do not have egocentrism

Question 16

the concrete operational stage

Answer 16

• 7 to 11
• can only think concretely

Question 17

the formal operational stage

Answer 17

• 11+
• children can think abstractly

Question 18

evaluation of the stages of cognitive development

Answer 18

• underestimated children’s abilities- children are able to conserve and not egocentric when given tasks that make sense. low internal
• overestimated children’s abilities- some people never reach the stage of development piaget stated 11 year olds can do. low internal

Question 19

evaluation of the application to education

Answer 19

+ very influential - child centered education applied to primary schools. high external
- possible to improve with practice- a study showed that some pre operational kids were able to perform logical tasks if they were given opportunity to practice it. low internal

Question 19

piagets’s application in education

Answer 19

• he thinks you cant teach a child something just because they are biologically ready, its important to wait until they are ready
• a child must discover concepts by themselves to truly learn, a teacher must create an environment where children are stimulated into asking questions
• all children go through the stages but at individual rates so teachers must focus on individual needs

Question 20

Dweck’s mindset theory of learning

Answer 20

• fixed mindset = intelligence is genetic and does not improve with practice, if they fail they give up as they will always not be ‘smart enough’
• growth mindset = believe intelligence is your choice and you can improve at anything with hard work, when they fail they learn from it and try again
• people aren’t one or the other mindset but instead a continuum

Question 21

evaluation of dwecks mindset theory

Answer 21

+ supporting research- in a study, one group was taught how the brain can grow like a muscle if exercised and the other group was taught a lesson on memory. the group taught about a growth mindset improved motivation and results. high internal
- both mindsets involve praise - both mindsets involve praise from another, either on your effort or your ability, rather than personal motivation. low internal

Question 22

the role of praise and self efficacy

Answer 22

• for praise to be effective, it must be honest, you must not praise everything but in proportion to the quality of your performance
• if you see someone praised for their ability, it demotivates you as you cannot reach their ability but if you see them praised for their effort, that should be motivating as you can improve your effort
• self efficacy = a persons understanding of their own abilities
• your past performance creates expectations of how well you will perform again, repeated success raises it but failures lowers it
• self efficacy can also come from others as they can raise your expectations
• you are more likely to choose things you think you are good at
• when facing difficulties, students with high efficacy are more likely to increase their efforts

Question 22

evaluation of praise and self efficacy

Answer 22

+ low self efficacy lowers performance - in a study, African Americans taking an IQ test are more likely to score lowly if they are asked their ethnicity beforehand. this is because most Americans believe African Americans are more likely to not have a high IQ this is called the stereotype threat. high internal
- praise destroys internal motivation - praise may make you feel good but it doesn’t increase motivation in the long run as it is no longer for personal achievement. low internal

Question 23

the learning styles

Answer 23

verbalisers = they gather info my hearing or reading it and prefer to discuss topics or write
visualisers = they gather info from pictures or charts and prefer making diagrams and mind maps
kinaesthetic = they gather info from exploration, they prefer hands on activities and experimenting

Question 24

evaluation of the learning styles

Answer 24

+ change from traditional methods - old methods focused on verbal methods only and now moved to include tasks and discussions. high external
- depends on the task - no one is one specific style for every task they are given, for example pe cannot be taught visually or verbally. low internal

Question 25

Willingham’s theory of learning

Answer 25

• praise should be unexpected, if you do something knowing you will be praised it hinders motivation
• most the time when you forget things, you know the info but cannot access it, so its important to associate cues with difficult memories
• young children with high self control perform better on tests later in life
• children with learning difficulties such as dyslexia have different brain patterns to those who don’t meaning we can diagnose early and provide adequate help

Question 26

evaluation of Willingham’s theory

Answer 26

+ evidence based - all of his concepts are drawn from existing research, making his conclusions trustable. high internal
+ real world application - he chose research specific to teaching and learning giving his theory real world value. high external

Question 27

Willingham’s criticism of the learning styles

Answer 27

• he agrees everyone learns differently and teachers should take it into account
• but these differences do not affect your ability to learn, the difference is between what you learn and how you learn
• he concludes ‘ the learning styles is not a theory of instruction’ because it is not about what you learn