Early Childhood Flashcards
describe the physical growth and change that takes place during early childhood
the pace of physical development slows in early childhood. from ages three to six the typical american child grows two to three inches per year and adds five to seven pounds. average heights and weights in early childhood are considerably lower in developing countries, due to inadequate nutrition and higher likelyhood of childhood diseases
describe the changes in brain development that take place during early childhood and the aspects of brain development that explain infantile amnesia
the most notable changes in braind evelopment during early childhood take place in the connections between neurons and in myelination. most people experience infantile amnesia and have limited memory for personal events that happened before age 5 mainly due to the immaturity of the hippocampujs
ientify the main nutritional deficiencies and the primary sources of injury, illness and mortality during early childhood and in developed and developing countries
about 80% of children in deeloping countries experience nutritional deficiencies but a surprisingly high percentage of children in developed countries experience them as well. calcium is the msot common nutritional deficiency in the usa whiereas the two most common types of malnutrtition in developing countries are lack of protein and lack of iron. mortality rates in early childhood are much higher in developing countries than in deeloped countries, due mainly to the greater prevalence of infectious disaeases but have declined substantially in recent yearts. Ind eveloped countries, the most comon cause of injury and death by far in early childhood is motor vehicle accidents.
describe changes in gross and fine motor abilties during early childhood
from age 3-6 young children learn to make more hops in a row and hop on one foot, jump farther from a standing postition and make a running jump; climb stairs without support, alternating their feet, throw a ball farther and more accuratel; become better at catching a ball; and increase their running speed and ability to stop suddenly or change direction. in their fine motor development, children learn to pick up small objets more quickly and precisely, draw something that is recogniable to others, write their first letters and some short words, put on and remove their clothes , use scissors and ause a knife to cut soft food
describe the development of handedness and identify the consequences and cultural views of left hnadedness
about 10% of children are left handed. handedness is due primarly to the direction in which fetuses lie in the womb although there is also a small genetic influence. being left handed has been stigmatized in many cultures, perhaps due to its association with higher risk of eveloping mental problems, but it is also associated with exceptional abilities
explain the features of piagets preoperational stage of cognitive development
piaget viewed the preoperational stage of cognitive development as prone to a variety of errors, including centration, lack of reversibility, egocentrism, and animisn. in this stage, they make mistakes in tasks of conservation and classification. research has shown that piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of early childhood
explain what theory of mind is and the evidence for how it develops during early childhood
theory of mind is the ability to understand thinking processes in ones self and others. by age 2 as they begin to use language more, children show increasing recognization that others have thoughts and emotions that can be contrasted with their own. by age 3, children now it is possible for them and others to imagine something that is not physically present, an understanding that becomes the basis of pretend play for many years to come. while 3 yr old are better than 2 yr old at understanding that others have thoughts and feelings that are different from their own, they still i=find it difficult to take others perspectives. perspectibe taking ability advances considerably from age 3-6 as demonstrated by performance on false belief tasks
identify the way that cultural learning takes place in early childhood
a great deal of cultural learning takes place in early childhood through observing and working alongside parents or siblings and in many cultures children begin to make important work contributions to the family at this stage. in developed countries children also gain cultural learning in the preschool setting
identify the features that are most important in preschool quality and explain how they reflect cultural values
children genrally benefit cognitively from attending preschool but the social effects of preschool are more mixed and in some ways negative. key dimensions of high quality preschool programs include education and training of teachers, class size and child teacher ratio, age appropriate materials and activiites and quality of teacher child interactions. american and chinese preschools often inclde academic preparation but preschools in japan focus more on group play so that collectivistic japanese values such as cooperation and sharing are enforced
describe early intervention programs and their outcomes
early intervention programs have often resulted in a rise in IQ that fades after a few years. some early interventions via s=oreschool have had long term postive effevts on childrens development but the effects depend greatly on the quality of the program
explain how advances in vocabulary and grammar occur in early childhood
chidrens vocabulary expand immensely in early childhood, from about 1000 words at the age of 3 to about 2500 words at age 6 and they readily grasp the grammatical rules of their culture with few errors by age 4
describe how children learn pragmatics in early childhood and identify to waht extent these social rules are culturally based
pragmatics guide us in knowing what to say and what not to say in a given social situation and by age 4, children are sensitve to the characteristics of their conversational partner and will adjust their speech accordingly. all cultures have their own rules for what kinds of pseech can be used in what kinds of situations
identify advances in emotional understanding and self regulation during early childhood
early childhood is a key time for development of emotional self regulation as children improve at effortful control. children also imrpve in their ability to understand the sources of others emotions
describe moral development in early childhood, including empathy, modeling, and morality as cultural learning
the capacity for empathy increases in early childhood, which leads in turn to an increase in prosocial behaviour. children learn morality in part thru modeling i.e observing the bheaviour of others and its consequences. early childhood is also a time when children begin to show a capacity for moral reasoning and demonstrate that they have learned the moral beliefs of their culture
describe the roles that parents and peers play in gender socialization and explain how gender schemas lead to slf socialiation
children learn gender identity by age two but do not learn gender constancy until age 6 or 7, during early childhood they often become rigid in heir views of gender roles. parents are key agents of gender socialization, especially fathers and conformity to gender roles i enforced by peers as well. once yoiung children posses gender schemas, they seek to maintain consistency between their schemas and their behaviour, a process called self socialization
