Exam 3 Flashcards
Body growth (3-6 years)
- slower growth pattern
- height: 2-3”
- weight: 4.5lbs
- Boys grow faster and heavier
- body fat declines
- shape becomes more streamlined
- posture/balance improve
Skeletal growth (3-6 years)
Epiphyses -45 new Teeth -Lose baby teeth (based on genetics) -care of primary teeth is essential -30-60% US preschoolers have some affected teeth
general growth curve
rapid growth during infancy, slower gains
in early and middle childhood, and rapid growth again during
adolescence
asynchronous
body systems differ in their patterns of growth
Brain Development (3-6 years)
-size increases (70% > 90% of adult weight)
-reshaping and refining
(overproduced synapses & myelination of neural fibers leads to synaptic growth/pruining)
-plasticity declines
-rapid growth in prefrontal cortical areas
-lateralization
Lateralization (3-6 years)
- left hemisphere active b/w 3-6 then levels off (thought, language, behavior control – rapidly develop)
- right hemisphere increases steadily (spatial skills gradually development)
Synaptic pruining
loss of synapses by seldom-stimulated neurons, a process returns them to an uncommitted state so they can support future development
Handedness
- reflects dominant hemisphere
- may be genetic basis, by affects by experience
- left handers show no problems verbally or mentally
Advances in brain development
- cerebellum
- reticular formation
- hippocampus
- amygdala
- corpus callosum
Cerebellum (advances)
- aids balance/control
- motor coordination/thinking
Reticular Formation (advances)
alertness/consciousness
Hippocampus (advances)
memory/spatial ability
Amygdala (advances)
- processing emotional information; facial expressions
- memory for emotionally salient events
Corpus Callosum (advances)
- communication between hemispheres
- coordination of movement/integration of thinking
Heredity and Hormones
Growth Hormone (GH): -development of almost all body tissues
GH deficiency
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)
Psychosocial dwarfism
GH Deficiency
- no treatment: 4’4” max height
- with treatment: catch-up growth and normal rate
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone
- Pituitary: thyroid to release thyroxin (CNS)
- Necessary for brain development & body growth
- TSH deficiency: no treatment = mental retardation
Psychosocial Dwarfism
- growth disorder (2-15yo)
- decreased GH secretion, very short stature, immature skeletal age, adjustment problems
Young Children Sleep
- contributes to growth (GH released during sleep)
- total sleep declines ( 12 to 10 hours)
- disrupted or lack of sleep leads to cog. deficits and behavioral problems
Help get to sleep
- regular bedtime (ensures 10-11 hours of sleep a night)
- bedtime ritual
- no TV or computer right before bed
- respond firmly but gently to persistence
- NO sleeping meds
Sleep disorders
- nightmares
- sleepwalking
- sleep terrors
- usually subside w/o treatment
Nutrition
- appetite decreases
- caution to new foods
- need high-quality diet
- nutritionally deficient diet leads to attention/memory issues, poor mental tests, and behavior problems (hyperactivity/aggression)
Encourage good nutrition
- varied & healthy diet
- predictable meals with small portions
- repeated exposure to new foods
- positive/pleasant meals (no pressure)
- avoid restricting foods (focuses attention)
Infectious Disease/Illness and Malnutrition
- well nourished children with ordinary illnesses have no effect on physical growth
- Malnutrition: poor diet suppresses immune system and more susceptible to disease
- disease contribute to malnutrition: illness reduces appetite and diarrhea can cause dehydration
Childhood injuries
unintentional injuries in early childhood is the leading cause of child mortality in industrialized nations
- most common injuries: auto accidents, drowning, and burns
Factors related to childhood injuries
Individual Differences:
- boys more likely to be injured and injuries more severe
- temperament: inattentive, irritable, aggressive, overactive
-Poverty, low education, stress
Societal conditions:
- births to teens not ready for parenthood
- shortage of quality child care
Preventing injuries
- supervision/instruction
- temperament (risk takers vs. avoiders)
- child proof (remove serious dangers in home)
- playground equipment (safe/age appropriate)
- water (extra caution)
- animals (practice safety)
gross motor skills
- balance improves
- gait smooth and rhythmic by age 2
- upper and lower body skills combine into more refined actions by age 5
- greater speed and endurance
fine motor skills
- self-help: dressing, eating, tying shoes
- drawing: writing and painting
Individual differences in motor skills
Genetics: Body Build
- tall/muscular body
- large build/small build
Gender
- boys: better at power & force (jumping, running, throwing)
- girls: better at balance, foot movement (hopping and skipping)
Caregiver Involvement
-channel children into different activities
Practice
Enhance early motor development
every day play
daily routines
play space/ equipment
encourage
advances in mental representation
Language:
- most flexible means of mental representation
- detaches thought from action
Make-believe/Pretend Play:
-children practice and strengthen representational schemes
Make believe play
With age:
- more detached from real-life conditions
- younger: use realistic objects in realistic ways
- older: pretend with less realistic objects
Less self-centered
- Younger: play directed toward self
- older: become detached participant
More complex combinations of schemes
- sociodramatic play
Limitations of pre-operational thought
- cannot perform mental operations
- mental actions that obey logical rules
- thinking is rigid
- egocentric/animistic
- unable to conserve
- lack hierarchical classification
Educational Principles Derived from Piaget’s Theory
- Discovery learning
- discover on own through spontaneous interaction - Sensitivity to readiness to learn
- build on current thinking - Acceptance of individual differences
- play individual activities
- evaluate based on previous development
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Private Speech:
- foundation for all highter cog. processes (attention, memory, planning, problem-solving)
- helps guide behavior (when tasks are difficult, when they are confused)
- Gradually becomes more silent (inner speech)
- children with learning and behavior problems use private speech longer to compensate
Vygotsky theory of education
-assisted discovery
Teacher:
- guides learning with explanation, demonstration
- tailors help to zone of proximal development
Peer Collaboration:
- teach and help one another
Make Believe Play:
- imaginations help children separate thinking from objects
- rules strengthen capacity for self-control
Attention
- sustained attention continues to improve
- inhibition
- planning
Inhibition in Attention
- increased ability to inhibit impulses
- keep mind on a competing goal
- parents who help child maintain focus are more cognitively and socially mature
Planning in Attention
- thinking out a sequence of acts ahead of time
- allocating attention to reach a goal
- children can generate and follow a plan for familiar/simple tasks
- games with rules, patterns, recipes help
Memory
Recognition & Recall:
- Recognition: noticing that a stimulus is identical or similar to one previously experienced
- Recall: generating a mental representation of an absent stimulus
Memory Strategies
- deliberate mental activities that improve remembering
- DO NOT USE rehearsal, organization, elaboration
- Memory strategies: tax limited working memory
Metacognition
- awareness and understanding of aspects of thought
- allows us to interpret and predict behavior
False beliefs
-don’t accurately represent reality > guides behavior
Mastery of false beliefs
- understand another’s mental representation of situation is different from their own
- develops 4-6 years
Theory of Mind
- coherent set of ideas about mental activities
- Metacognition (thinking about thought)
- False beliefs
- Mastery of false beliefs
Child care center
- variety of arrangements for watching children
- most of day is devoted to constructive play
- care in home, caregiver’s home, or center
Preschool
- program with planned educational experiences
- often choose as child care option
Types of Preschool/Kindergarten
- Child centered program
- Academic program
Child centered program
- teacher provides activities and children select
- learning through play
Academic program
- teacher structures children’s learning
- teaching academic skills through formal lessons
Project Head Start
- 1965
- provide 1-2 years of preschool
- nutritional and health service
- parental involvement
Educational TV
- promotes early literacy/math skills and academic progress in school
- higher grades, more books, value achievement
2-6 years old:
-2hr/day
7-11 years old:
- 3.5 hrs/day
-Heavy watching detracts from school success and social experiences
Computers
Word Processing:
- can support emergent literacy
- sustained attention and interest
Games:
-practice basic skills
Programming languages:
-problem solving, metacognition, collaboration
Vocabulary in Early Childhood
2 yr olds: 200 words
6 yr olds: 10,000 words
-learn 5 words a day
- Objects
- Verbs
- Modifiers
Objects (vocab)
- parents point
- label and talk
Verbs (vocab)
-require understanding of relationships between object and action
Modifiers (vocab)
from general (big) to specific (tall)
Syntactic Bootstrapping
- observe how words used in syntax (structure of sentence)
- use syntax to refine word meaning and generalize
Grammar
- subject-verb-object structure by age 4
- overregularization
- complex structures
Overregularization
extend rules to exceptions (“I want somes”; “mouses”)
Pragmatics
-practical, social side of language
2 year old:
-effective conversations: turn taking, face-face
4 year old:
-adjust conversation of fit listener
factors that support language learning
- Recasts
- Expansions
- Exposure to language
Recasts
restructuring incorrect speech into correct form
Expansions
elaborating on children’s speech
Initiative
(vs. Guilt)
- eagerness to try new tasks, join activities with peers
- acts out family scenarios and highly visible occupations
Guilt
(vs. Initiative)
- overly strict superego, or conscience, causing guilt
- related to excessive threats, criticism, punishment
Self Concept (what we think of ourselves)
- attributes, Abilities, attitudes and values
- develop as self awareness increases
foundations of self-concept
-based on OBSERVABLE characteristics
factors contributing to preschooler’s theory of mind
- children use complex sentences with mental state words likely to pass false belief tasks
- cognitive thinking ability
- make-believe play
fast-mapping
- connect words with underlying concept
- begin making educated guesses about word meaning (red cup: red)
Mutual exclusive bias
-words refer to separate (non-overlapping) categories
-every object has only ONE label (or name)
ball is ball- not orb or sphere
Types of Peer Realation
Nonsocial Activity
Parallel Play
Social Interaction
Nonsocial Activity
- unoccupied, onlooker behavior
- solitary play
Parallel Play
- plays near other children with similar materials
- does not try to influence them
Social Interaction
Associative Play:
-separate activities but exchange toys
Cooperative Play:
-orient towards common goral – make believe play
Functional Play
play with toys or objects according to their intended function
-a ball is used for rolling, not biting on
Constructive Play
When children manipulate their environment to create things, they are engaged in constructive play.
Experimenting with materials, they can build towers with blocks, construct objects with miscellaneous loose parts, play in the sand, and draw sidewalk murals with chalk.
Psychoanalytic Perspective
stresses emotional side of conscience development
Social Learning Theory
focuses on how moral behavior learned through reinforcement and modeling
Cognitive-developmental Perspective
emphasizes thinking and reasoning with regard to justice and fairness
Moral Imperatives
- actions that protect rights and welfare
- children react strongly to moral offenses
Social Conventions
- customs determined by social consensus (table manners)
- peers seldom react to violations of social convention
Personal Choice
- up to the individual (friends, hair)
- do not violate rights
- not socially regulated
Proactive Aggression
- act to fulfill a need or desire
- obtain an object, privilege, space or social reward
- unemotionally attack a person to reach a goal
- decreases with age
Reactive Aggression
- angry response to frustration or a blocked goal
- meant to hurt someone
- increases with age
Gender identity
social learning
cognitive-developmental
gender schema
Social Learning (gender)
- emphasizes modeling and reinforcement
- gender typing behacior leads to gender identity
Cognitive-developmental
- focus on children as active thinkers about their social world
- self-perceptions (gender constancy) come before behavior
Gender Schema
combines social learning and cognitive-developmental theories
