Development Flashcards
Constructivism
Children are active contributors to their own learning
They construct their own knowledge
Assimilation
Occurs when individual encounter information that is similar to what they have in their existing cognitive structures; when this new information is encountered, it is added to existing cognitive structures
Putting new experiences into a file drawer with similar characteristics
Accommodation
The process in which one creates a new cognitive structure to account for information that does not fit elsewhere
Into a new file (schema), a zebra is not a horde
Schema
Categories, or the basic structures we use to organize information
Four major stages of cognitive development
Sensorimotor period
Preoperational period
Concrete operational period
Formal operational period
Sensorimotor stage (ages, significant characteristics)
0-2 years
Learns about the world largely through motor abilities
Reflexes, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, combine secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions, mental representation
All sensory input and motor responses are coordinated (acquire info); most intellectual development is nonverbal; object permanence
Preoperational stage (ages, significant characteristics)
2-7 years
Can mentally represent the past, but experiences issues with animism and egocentrism; routinely fails at conservation tasks
Pre-conceptual thinking, intuitive thinking
Symbolic thinking, animism, egocentrism
Unable to transform images or ideas; begin to use language and think symbolically; intuitive thought (little logic); egocentric thought; confuse words with the objects they represent
Concrete operational stage (ages, significant characteristics)
7-11 years
Reasons well about concrete events and routinely passes conservation tasks; still experiences difficulty thinking and reasoning abstractly
Identity, compensation, and inversion
Can carry out mental operations (concrete, not abstract); reversibility of thought; conservation
Formal operational stage (ages, significant characteristics)
(11/12) years+
Able to think and reason about hypothetical situations and/or abstract problems
Inductive and deductive reasoning
Object permanence
Objects continue to exist when they cannot be seen
Sociocultural theory
cognitive development is a continuous process that was intimately linked to the context in which children were raised.
Vygotsky believed that one could not understand cognitive development without considering the context in which children were raised
Zone of proximal development
The distance between what a child can accomplish alone and what a child can accomplish with some assistance
Eriksons eight stages of development
Infancy, early childhood, preschool years, school age, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, maturity
Infancy stage (age, developmental milestone)
Birth -2 years
Trust vs. mistrust
Early childhood stage (age, developmental milestone)
2-4 years
Anatomy vs shame and doubt
Preschool years stage (age, developmental milestone)
4-5 years
Initiative vs guilt
School Age stage (age, developmental milestone)
5-12 years
Industry vs inferiority