Exam 2 chapter notes

Question 1

Communication, particularly language, plays a role in children’s learning.

Answer 1

• Language is a mechanism for thinking
• Language allows children to imagine, create new ideas and share ideas with others.
• Enriches parent-child relationships as they develop a new way of interacting and provides a remarkable lens into the mind of a young human
• Young children are born with an astounding capacity to learn, both in the amount they can learn in any one domain or topic and in the variety and range of what they can learn

Question 2

Although brain development is “acultural

Answer 2

• Cultural context is very important in determining how and what children learn and how they communicate
• Cultural context also shapes what skills children are most likely to acquire in early childhood and beyond

Question 3

Human language is

Answer 3

flexible and productive

- Estimated that more than 7000 languages are spoken in the world today

Question 4

Five elements of language

Answer 4

1. Phonology: the sound system of a language and the rules for combining sounds to produce meaningful units of speech.
2. Morphology: rules that specify how meaningful words are formed from sounds.
   o The morphology rule for many English nouns is to add the letter “s” to indicate plurality.
3. Semantics: expressed meaning of words or sentences.
   o Many English words have more than one meaning but voice inflection or the way words are combined in a sentence can indicate meaning. “pit”- can mean hole in ground or the pit of a fruit
4. Syntax: structure of a language or the rules specifying ho words and grammatical markers can be combined to produce sentences.
5. Pragmatics: rules or principles for the appropriate use of language in a social context
   o Includes being aware of subtle differences between words and how different words or sentence structures can be interpreted.
   - Children begin to communicate at birth using sounds and then gestures.
   o Oral language greatly expands the way in which children can express their needs, exchange ideas, express feelings and connect with others.
   o the capacity to communicate with language also expands children’s capabilities to regulate their emotions and behaviour and to get along with others

Question 5

Humans are prepared to communicate from

Answer 5

the moment they are born

• adults seem also to be prepared to speak in a certain way to infants and young children.
• “motherese” – Werker says it should be called “parantese” since mothers are not the only adults who do it.

Question 6

Infants are more responsive to

Answer 6

higher-pitched voices.
o Simple, clear enunciation is easier for children to understand
o Adults modify their language interactions based on children’s growing skill and even deaf parents use a form of parentese when signaling to their babies.
 This accommodation on the part of the parents is largely unconscious

Question 7

How language develops

- Babies communicate by

Answer 7

crying, looking towards a voice, cooing (vowel sounds and gurgling) and later babbling.
o By 9 months- start to pay attention to the same object or event when an adult labels or points to it
o Start to screen out sounds not used in their own language, use language patterns from their own language, take turns in games such as pat-a-cake or peek-a-boo, use pointing and other gestures to communicate and comprehend some words.

Question 8

How language develops

- Toddlers (between 12 months and 2 years of age) use

Answer 8

use gestures and a few words to express themselves and by the end of this period, can use up to 200 words.
o Understand a growing number of words when spoken and are starting to combine words into two- word sentences
o They use their own name or personal pronoun to refer to self and are starting to use words to influence the behaviour of others.

Question 9

How language develops

- At age 2.

Answer 9

children’s vocabulary is increasing rapidly and they are figuring out word meanings from cues in the environment, and speaking in simple sentences that follow basic syntax.

Question 10

How language develops

- At age 3, children

Answer 10

talk about objects and events that are not present and the actions of others.
o Can carry on conversations that have several turns for each participant, answer simple questions, ask many questions, and call attention to his/her own actions (‘watch me!’). Their speech is understandable most of the time and they use standard grammar, but may make mistakes with words that don’t follow standard form.

Question 11

How language develops

- At age 4

Answer 11

, children use prepositions ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘under’ and possessive forms of pronouns.
o They produce elaborate sentences, use correct verb tenses, and change tone of voice and sentence structure to accommodate the listener (i.e., a younger child vs. an adult)
o They remember first and last names, addresses, and telephone numbers and are able to verbally solve simple problems. They can recite and sing simple songs and rhymes

Question 12

How language develops

- At age 5,

Answer 12

children often have a vocab of 1500 words or more that are used in very complex sentences.
o They can tell a familiar story from looking at the pictures in a book, define simple words by function and enjoy humour and jokes
o They have a growing understanding of irregular syntax and tenses.

Question 13

• Adults often refer to children as

Answer 13

“sponges”- to highlight the way children seem to soak up experiences and knowledge in what appears to be an effortless way

Question 14

• Children construct knowledge by

Answer 14

defining, classifying, making connections and predictions, testing theories and using their imagination
o They connect existing knowledge and earlier experiences in new contexts to develop an understanding of the world around them.

Question 15

Talking, walking, and reading in any language typically follow similar patterns of learning:

Answer 15

• Selective. Babies around the world make the same babbling and cooing sounds. After about six months, they begin to make only the sounds that are related to the languages they hear around them.
• Move from simple to complex. Young children speak single words first and then build them into sentences
  o Language skills, like physical skills, build on one another.
• Move from concrete to abstract. First words usually name important people such as Mommy or Daddy and things such as a favourite food. Words about feelings and thinking come later.
• Sequential. Babies learn to sit up before they walk, use one word before sentences and focus on one aspect of a problem before learning to focus on several aspects at the same time.

Question 16

• the physical and social environments in which Canadian children develop have

Answer 16

changed over the past several decades.
o As more Canadians move into cities, their children are less likely to have access to outdoor play spaces in natural environments
o Technology, traffic, and urban land-use patterns have changed the natural play territory of childhood.3 Parents, increasingly concerned about the security of their children, are making greater use of carefully constructed outdoor playgrounds that limit challenge in the name of safety

Question 17

• Play nourishes every aspect of children’s development

Answer 17

it forms the foundation of intellectual, social, physical, and emotional skills necessary for success in school and in life. Play “paves the way for learning
o For example, block building and sand and water play lay the foundation for logical mathematical thinking, scientific reasoning, and cognitive problem solving
o Rough-and tumble play develops social and emotional self-regulation and may be particularly important in the development of social competence in boys
o Pretend play fosters communication, developing conversational skills turn taking, perspective taking and the skills of social problem solving—persuading, negotiating, compromising, and cooperating

Question 18

• Play and development

Answer 18

play is vital to all areas of a child’s development, physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually.
o in play children often use their bodies (promoting small and large muscle development), can engage with others (fostering social and emotional learning as well as friendships), solve problems and be creative

Question 19

• Unstructured free play

Answer 19

Allowing children time and space for spontaneous, self-initiated play supports children’s development and learning. Often adults may feel that children are “just playing” and not learning or accomplishing anything. However, through spontaneous play important learning is taking place.

Question 20

• Supporting children’s play

Answer 20

Adults can help support children’s play by recalling the fun of play in their own childhood. There are times when uninterrupted time to play is most beneficial and times when adult involvement can enhance and guide children’s play

Question 21

• Play environments

Answer 21

Human beings are driven to actively explore and understand the world around them and for children, play is their way. Play can occur in almost any environment, indoors and outdoors. Even when involved in household chores, children can find spontaneous ways to be playful.

Question 22

• Right to play:

Answer 22

he significance of play in the lives of children is recognized and stated in Article 31 in The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Almost every country in the world has made a commitment to protect children’s rights by ratifying this international treaty.

Question 23

• Play materials

Answer 23

Children’s ability to be creative and to be flexible in their thinking, allows them to playfully engage with materials in limitless ways. Having concrete materials to explore and manipulate supports their active learning

Question 24

• Literacy is the ability to

Answer 24

to use language in all its forms of communication: listening, talking, reading, writing, music, dance, story-telling, visual arts, drama and digital media.
o Everyday life experiences – speaking, listening, reading, watching, drawing and writing – are part of early literacy.
o As children transition from oral language into an understanding that print can represent experiences, ideas and knowledge, they develop a sense of narrative and the ability to make symbolic representation and actions. They are then ready to acquire reading strategies. All along, language development and literacy reinforce each other.
o For most children, learning to print their name is one of the first activities in learning to print words.

Question 25

Three aspects of executive function

Answer 25

inhibitory control, working memory, and mental flexibility.

Question 26

• Numeracy is a particular aspect of

Answer 26

thinking and learning that is characterized by the ability to work with mathematical concepts and reason with numbers.
o Mathematical concepts include things like number relations (quality and quantity), measurements, computation skills, geometry, patterns, probablity and statistics.

Question 27

• Interactive media refers to

Answer 27

digital and analog materials, including software programs, applications (apps), broadcast and streaming media, some children’s television programming, e-books, the Internet, and other forms of content designed to facilitate active and creative use by young children and to encourage social engagement with other children and adults.

Question 28

Early language development

Answer 28

• The characteristics of infant- or child-directed speech include things like higher pitch, elongated vowel sounds, and a happy, musical quality

Question 29

Early language development

Adults role

Answer 29

• Some American research indicates one factor that seems to make a big difference in children’s language capacity is how often adults talk with them. Apparently, quantity counts.
  o Children that hear more and richer language develop greater vocabularies and, in turn, have a better foundation for literacy.

Question 30

What is quality interaction?

Answer 30

Research found that 3-year-olds with stronger language skills had interactions with their mothers that involved:

• Joint engagement: this refers to a child and parent paying attention to and sending messages about the same thing
• Familiar routines: activities that happen in the same way each time are routines, such as meals, bed time routines, and even familiar play activities
• Connectedness: When parents and children connect during interactions, it means they enjoy being together, take turns, and participate equally.

Question 31

• Children who are learning two languages need to continue

Answer 31

continue to learn vocabulary and conceptual skills in their home language because without this continued development in the home language, they will have greater difficulty developing skills in the second language
o Many children whose home language is not the dominant language are well-positioned to become bilingual.
o Research indicates children who learn a dominant language after their home language is established (around age three) are able to acquire full fluency in the dominant language during their preschool and early school years.
o The skill of bilingualism leads to long-term cognitive, social and economic advantages and also, especially in the case of endangered languages, contributes to cultural survival.
o Learning a second or third language is easier in early childhood rather than later

Question 32

• Family literacy research points to the effectiveness of

Answer 32

programs that work with parents, other caregivers and their children.

Question 33

• Reading for Children is a program that

Answer 33

provides a lending library and encourages family members to spend time reading with their young children in a way that makes it not only enjoyable but stimulates conversations and learning.

Question 34

• Children’s growing abilities to connect mathematical ideas

Answer 34

and vocabulary supports their early numeracy development
- Children develop early mathematical understanding when they have experiences that support their understanding of number concepts.

Question 35

What is the progression of numeracy and mathematical understanding that children develop in the early years?
- Infants

Answer 35

can discriminate between two collections varying in numbers and locate objects in space. Often a quantity word, such as ‘more’, is a baby’s first word.

Question 36

What is the progression of numeracy and mathematical understanding that children develop in the early years?
- From age two

Answer 36

or so, children often begin to learn the language and grammar of counting. They memorize the first ten or so counting words as nonsense words with no underlying meaning. They then begin to understand that ‘one’ means one apple while three means more than one and also more than two, gradually building a true understanding of number. Later, children pick up a set of rules to generate higher numbers.

Question 37

What is the progression of numeracy and mathematical understanding that children develop in the early years?
- Between ages two and five

Answer 37

children become increasingly aware of their own thinking about numbers and begin to express it in words. Preschool children are capable of big ideas about numbers and operations, geometry (or shape and space), measurements and patterns (or algebra).

Question 38

What is the progression of numeracy and mathematical understanding that children develop in the early years?
- Understanding shape

Answer 38

means analyzing and constructing shapes and defining their features. Children begin to be able to sort and also build shapes and gradually can verbally explain the differences between and square, a triangle and a circle for example.

Question 39

What is the progression of numeracy and mathematical understanding that children develop in the early years?
- Understanding numbers

Answer 39

involves reasoning about them, making inferences and developing a mental number line, with smaller numbers on the left and spaced further apart than larger numbers on the right. This helps children hold numbers in their mind and manipulate numbers in arithmetic problems as they begin school

Question 40

• As LeFevre has explained, children need to

Answer 40

acquire a “number sense” before they can acquire skills necessary for the mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
o Number sense begins with the ability to see patterns and relationships between numbers. Computation and estimation abilities develop from a foundation of understanding of those patterns and relationships.

Question 41

Four types of mathematical knowledge that children often develop in early childhood.

Answer 41

• Matching:
  • Is the foundation of meaningful counting as children learn that each number is a symbol for a quantity of objects
  • Involves one to one correspondence, to put items together in pairs
• Classifying:
  • Has to do with “sameness”
  • Children develop the ability to put (sort) objects into sets based on similarities
  • A set is any well-defined group of objects or ideas
  • Young children usually sort by colour before they sort by any other characteristic
• Comparing:
  • Has to do with “difference”
  • Children compare items that are opposites before they consider other types of differences
  • Children may compare items based on their qualities/characteristics or the quantity
• Ordering (Seriation):
  • Involves putting three or more objects into a sequence
  • Is the foundation of our number system (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.)
  • Common ways to order:
  o Size (little to big) o Length (short to long)
  o Height (short to tall)
  o Width (thin to thick)
  • Ordering two sets is called double seriation

Question 42

• Researchers have found many local games and songs support

Answer 42

children’s informal understanding of numeracy and mathematics
o Nhodo and Mancala game

Question 43

• Daily environments and experiences with frequent references to quantity and quality relationships and the

Answer 43

use of numbers nurture stronger mathematical understanding

Question 44

• Play is a

Answer 44

spontaneous, voluntary, pleasurable and flexible activity involving a combination of body, object, symbol use and relationships
o in contrast to games, play behaviour is more disorganized, and is typically done for its own sake
o between 3% to 20% of young children’s time and energy is spent in play, and more so in non-impoverished environment

Question 45

• Miller and Almon reported that there is an alarming

Answer 45

decline in play-based opportunities in America Kindergarten classrooms and the negative implications of this change.

Question 46

Continuum of play

Answer 46

• Developed by Dr. Angela.
• This approach includes free play, inquiry play, collaborative play, playful learning and learning games.
• The learning benefits that come from play can propel children forward in profound and important ways

Question 47

• preschool play allows children to develop crucial skills that can help them succeed at school and in the workforce. These skills include

Answer 47

o	Verbal Skills
o	Persistence
o	Investigating
o	Creativity
o	Problem-solving
o	Sharing
o	Confidence

Question 48

2-5 year old’s are especially responsive to

Answer 48

shared play experiences because it helps build their brains for language, thinking and well-being.

Question 49

High quality early childhood education environments offer preschoolers play-based learning that benefits them in three main areas:

Answer 49

1. Language- back and forth conversations with educators and other children expose kids to new vocab
2. Thinking- children are not born with planning and problem-solving skills; these are built through persistence and figuring things out.
3. Well-being- children who play together develop empathy while learning to care for, and negotiate with others.

Question 50

• Five types of play provide children with a variety of learning opportunities and outcomes
  Play continuum

Answer 50

1. Free play: self-directed and uninterrupted by educators, this includes pretend play allows kids to try out emotions and ideas
2. Inquiry play: child-initiated, inquiry play lets kids figure out how something works and express their ideas through drawings, paintings, dance and song.
3. Collaborative play: child and educator-directed, collaborative play involves taking turns, sharing, following rules, negotiating, and compromising.
    Children who engage in this play work together on projects to reach a common goal
4. Playful learning: organized by an educator around a child’s interests and abilities, this planned play focuses on prescribed activities with playful elements.

Question 51

• Free play

Answer 51

child-directed and internally motivated

o Free play appears to be especially beneficial for the development of social competence and self-regulation

Question 52

• Guided play

Answer 52

supported by adults and geared at a specific learning goal
o more influential in the acquisition of academic skills
o By structuring the environment, incorporating learning targets, and/or modifying pre-designed games, parents and educators can enhance young children’s learning opportunities

Question 53

• Children benefit when adults pay

Answer 53

attention to children’s interests; give them time, space and freedom to play; and respect their curiosity.
o Children learn best in nurturing relationships with who care about them and respect their curiosity.

Question 54

• Various aspects that can support and foster children’s

Answer 54

learning are explored, including:
o	Guiding and teaching 
o	Planning environments for learning, and 
o	Creating curriculum frameworks 
Guiding and teaching

Question 55

Play and learning

- Traditional educational approaches emphasize the

Answer 55

the basics and the acquisition of solid skills through structured direct instruction, pre-established learning goals and measurable results.
- Less traditional and more progressive approaches focus on understanding, problem based learning and projects rather than on specific skills and knowledge
- Play is how children experience their world and bring meaning to it.
o Models social framework that builds relationships for life and kindles imagination.
o Stimulates healthy development of children’s brains.
o Children learn more when they play
- Our approach to guiding and teaching is greatly influenced by our view of children.
o If we believe our children to be capable, competent and naturally curious we will respond to them in positive ways that support their development, and create environments for them to thrive.

Question 56

• Educators can guide learning

Answer 56

experiences that are within children’s zone of proximal development.
o Zone of proximal development: refers to the difference between what an individual can do on his/her own and that which s/he can do with help or support from an adult or peer who is more capable.
o Working in the zone of proximal development should be target for each learner.
o Adults can help to bridge or scaffold between the skills a child has and those that he or she can acquire with some assistance.
 When adults do this, they support the children through the problem-solving process, encouraging them to try something new, persist, and find alternative solutions

Question 57

• Medical play

Answer 57

child sized medical equipment can be used in a therapeutic

Question 58

• Supporting emerging literacy

Answer 58

before children can learn to read, they must be able to distinguish sounds within words, recognize letters of the alphabet and connect letters to sounds

Question 59

• Supporting emerging numeracy

Answer 59

cognitive development theorists such as Jean Piaget believe young children gradually build a conceptual framework, which is the basis for mathematical understanding.

Question 60

Math with kids is fun! A good foundation

Answer 60

• Vocabulary – children need to know the words for mathematical ideas, and not just the numbers
• Counting- a 4-year-old might be able to say the numbers up to 30, but chances are he can only think logically about five objects.
• Shape recognition- craft activities are a chance to talk about geometric shapes.
• Comparison- get children interested in comparisons by talking about them- your pants are longer than your shorts
• Sequence- putting things in order is an important mathematical skill.
• Matching and grouping- you can combine matching and grouping with household chores.
• Measuring- children can measure things with their bodies. “How many times can you put your hand across the book?”

Question 61

Reflective practice

Answer 61

Thinking lens: a protocol to approach reflective practice.

Question 62

Planning environments for learning

Answer 62

• The play space, whether it is indoors or outdoors, can provide multi-sensory experiences, information, provocations to explore, meaningful opportunities to use a wide variety of interesting materials and tools, time and spaces to practice and develop skills

Question 63

Creating curriculum

Answer 63

• Curriculum is what educators do and pedagogy is how they do it.
• Emergent curriculum is an approach to program planning in early childhood settings that is becoming a widely respected practice.