W3L2 - 2 to 7 years – Development of “Tools” for Thought

Question 1

Background information of early and middle childhood - Body

Answer 1

• Growth
  
  • 6 cm per year
• Weight
  
  • 2.25 kg per year
• Muscle mass
  
  • Increase (Boys have a greater number of muscle cells and are typically stronger than girls)
• Baby fat:
  
  • Decreases

Question 2

Development of Gross and Fine Motor Skills

Answer 2

Gross

• Smoother and more coordinated
• Boys usually outperform girls (disappears quickly)

Fine

• Improvement during middle childhood
• Myelination of the central nervous system
• Girls usually outperform boys on fine motor skills (disappers quickly)

Question 3

Background information of Exercise and Sport in growth

Answer 3

• Involvement in daily sport in US schools decreased from 80% (1969) to 20% (1999)
• Contributes to low activity and obesity in children

Question 4

What are some problems with obesity in children

Answer 4

Overweight Children: Risk factor for adult obesity

• Medical: Pulmonary problems, diabetes, high blood pressure
• Psychological: Low self-esteem, depression, exclusion from peer groups

Question 5

What are the conservation tasks

Answer 5

• Numbers (dots spread out)
• Volume (liquid in 2 containers)
• Mass (Flatten)

Question 6

Summary of concrete operatios. What did piaget think about children’s cognition in pre-operational.

Answer 6

• Preoperational: One Focus
• Concrete Operation: Multiple Focus

C (on) C (re) TE + SD

1. ) Egocentricism Decline
2. ) Conservation = Decentration + Reversibility
3. ) Transformations
4. ) Classification
5. ) Seriation
6. ) Deductive reasoning

Question 7

What is element of concrete operation 1: Decline in egocentric-ism

Answer 7

Differentiation of one’s own perspective from the perspectives of others

• Realization that one’s own thoughts and feelings are not necessarily shared by others (ToM-like)

Question 8

What is element of concrete operation 3: transformations

Answer 8

Ability to think and reason about change processes.

Question 9

What is element of concrete operation 4: classification

Answer 9

Multiple classification: ability to classify objects as belonging to two or more categories at the same time.

Question 10

What is element of concrete operation 5: seriation

Answer 10

Ability to sort by sequence

Question 11

What is element of concrete operation 6: deductive reasoning

Answer 11

Draw logical inference on 2 pieces of information

Question 12

What did Piaget use as an index of cognition and why is it flawed?

Answer 12

Piaget showed that children had undeveloped cognition but he looked at abstract ideas as an index

(For e.g., tasks such as beaker are not contextualized)

Question 13

What are 2 nonlinguistic symbols in children. What do these represent.

Answer 13

1. Usage of Symbols as Information
2. Drawing

Question 14

Children non linguistic symbol 1: Using symbols as information. What do they involve and how does maps relate to it?

Answer 14

Involves mastery of symbolic creations of others and creation of new symbolic representations

Maps: Children must acquire dual representation

• Understanding that information can be represented mentally in two ways at the same time:
  
  • Real object
  • Symbol for something other than itself.

Question 15

What does the scale model task in children demonstrate

Answer 15

Dual Representation

• Asked to use a scale model to locate a hidden toy in a room.
• 2.5yo fail; 3 yo ok

Question 16

What is the caveat of scale model task

Answer 16

• Not necessary to form a symbol-referent relationship between the model and the room
• Some children led to believe that the room had been shrunk

Question 17

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing. What are their drawing skills compared to cognitive skills

Answer 17

Common symbolic activity

• Children’s artistic ideas often outstrip their motor and planning (cognitive) capability

Question 18

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Tadpole)

Answer 18

Representation of humans. Universal and common.

Question 19

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Houses)

Answer 19

This child’s drawing relies on some well-practiced strategies, but the child has not yet worked out how to represent complex spatial relationships

Question 20

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Extraordinary)

Answer 20

Nadia good drawing at 4, gone by 25.

Question 21

What are the 3 general categories children normally sort into

Answer 21

1. ) Inanimate objects
2. ) People
3. ) Living Things

Question 22

How do children form categories:

Answer 22

Figure out how things in the word are related to one another is by dividing objects into CATEGORY HIERARCHIES

Question 23

What are category hierarchies. (Subtypes)

Answer 23

1. ) Super-ordinate
2. ) Basic
3. ) Subordinate

Question 24

When do infants form categories. And How?

Answer 24

First months: Perceptual categorization

• Similar appearances
• Based on parts of objects (color, size) rather then on the object as a whole

Question 25

How do infants approaching 2 years form categories?

Answer 25

1. ) Overall shape 2. ) Basis of function, and can use their knowledge of categories to determine which actions go with which type of objects

Question 26

What do infants require to understand to work out categories

Answer 26

* Understanding of category hierarchies * Understanding of causal connections * Both involve knowledge of relations among categories

Question 27

Which category do infants learn first

Answer 27

Basic * Superordinate: No common characteristics * Subordinate: Hard to discriminate

Question 28

What additional category do sometimes infants form

Answer 28

Child-Basic Category (between basic and sub-ordinate "things that roll instead of balls") * Usually with assistance from adults, infants form sub and superordinate

Question 29

How does causal inference help in categoires

Answer 29

Helps children learn and remember new categories * E.g: Hearing that “wugs” are well prepared to fight and “gillies” to flee helped preschoolers categorize novel pictures like these as “wugs” or “gillies.”

Question 30

Do infants have imaginary friends?

Answer 30

63% of children at ages 3-4 and again at 7-8 had imaginary friends (ordinary/fanciful)

Question 31

What is associated and not associated with infants' imaginary friend

Answer 31

Associations: * First-born/Only children * Little TV * Verbally skilful and ToM Not associated with: * Personality * Intelligence

Question 32

What are infants' knowledge of living things

Answer 32

* Fascinated with living things * Demonstrate a variety of immature beliefs and reasoning * Till Age 5: Can't humans are animals * Till Age 7-9: Can't plants are alive * Till Age 10: Can't believe plants and animals serve a purpose * Knowledge of people and non people * 9- and 12-month-olds show surprise when inanimate objects (robot) move on their own * Understood self-produced motion is characteristic of living things * Sophisticated enough to reference invsibile process

Question 33

How do we examine biological processes knowledge in children? Do they understand biological process from other processes?

Answer 33

**Preschooolers**: * Understand that biological processes differ from psychological and physical ones * Extent can be understood by examining ideas about (1) Inheritence (2) Growth (3) Illness

Question 34

infant's knowledge of Inheritance and Heredity

Answer 34

Preschoolers know physical characteristics tend to be passed on from parent to offspring * At times their belief in inheritance is too strong, and they deny the influence of the environment * Essentialism: Living things have an essence inside to make them who they are ("Dogness" in "Dog")

Question 35

infant's knowledge of Growth, Illness, Healing

Answer 35

* Growth is a product of internal processes. * Living things (Plants and Animals) * Internal processes to heal * Understand its limits and that illness and old age can cause death.

Question 36

What is the difference between nativisits and empiricists

Answer 36

**Nativists**: * Born with a biology module (evolutionary) * Spelke (2007) **Empiricists** * Biological understanding comes from personal observations and information they receive from other people and their culture * Piaget