WEEK 3

Question 1

5 domains of development:

Answer 1

• Physical
  -Cognitive
  -Psychosocial
  -Emotional
  -Linguistic

Age Periods: Prenatal; infancy; early childhood; middle childhood; adolescence

Question 2

Piaget (1896-1980)

Answer 2

• First to propose a theory of cognitive development
  -Cognitive development; how a child learns to think/ use language

Question 3

Development of the theory:

Answer 3

noticed:
-children’s thinking different from adult thinking
- children of similar ages make similar mistakes
- proposed cognitive development occurs in stages
- constructivist theory: child has an active role

Question 4

Key aspects of Piagetian theory:

Answer 4

• Schemas
  -Adaptation
  -Assimilation
  -Accommodation
  -Equilibrium

Question 5

Piaget’s stage theory

Answer 5

4 main stages:
1. Sensori-motor
2. Pre-operational
3. Concrete operational
4. Formal operational

Question 6

1. Sensori-motor stage

Answer 6

Behaviours:
Birth-2years

-Learns through sense
-Learns through reflexes
- Manipulates materials
-Thought and language begins

Question 7

2. Pre-operational stage

Answer 7

2years- 7 years

Behaviours:
-Ideas based on perception
-Over-generalise based on limited experience
-Focus on one variable at a time; ‘centration’
- Yet to acquire logical thinking

Question 8

Pre-operational stage behaviours

Answer 8

• Egocentrism
• Rigidity of thought
• Limited social cognition
  -Become more imaginative
  -Display animism

Question 9

3. Concrete operational stage

Answer 9

7years-12 years

Behaviours:
- Form ideas based on reasoning
- Limit thinking to objects and familiar events
-can conserve
- no longer egocentric

Question 10

4. Formal operational stage

Answer 10

12 years +

Behaviours:
- Think conceptually
-Think hypothetically
-Abstract thought
-Applying logic
-Advanced problem solving

Question 11

Object Permanence

Answer 11

*Understanding about objects’ existence
Objects tied to infants awareness of them

Question 12

Piaget: changes in cog development areas

Answer 12

• Appearance reality distinction
• Spatial cognition
  -Conservation
  -Class inclusion
  -Transitive inferences
  -Perspective taking

Question 13

education

Answer 13

• Piaget influential in educational psychology and schooling
  -child-centred learning
  -Children can only learn when at the right stage
• child learns alone ‘ little scientist’

Question 14

Problems with Piaget

Answer 14

1. Experimental concerns: three mountains, conservation tasks
2. Theoretical concerns: socio-cultural critiques (Vygotsky, Bruner)

Question 15

overview

Answer 15

+inspirational insights into cog development
- lack of detail about pp’s or success rates
- Fails to explain why transition occurs
- Overlooks cultural factors involved in change

Question 16

Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Answer 16

-Russian psychologist
-Devised socio-cultural theory of development
-personal and social experience cannot be separated
-Development driven by social interactions

Question 17

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Answer 17

“The distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p.86)

Question 18

Bruner (1915-2016)

Answer 18

-NYU
-Development and extensively tested Vygotsky’s ideas
-Role of scaffolding/ child-centred learning

Question 19

Scaffolding (wood 1976)

Answer 19

1. Recruitment
2. Reduction of degrees of freedom
3. Direction maintenance
4. Marking critical features
5. Demonstration

Question 20

Education

Answer 20

• Scaffolding to assist children in earning
• Joint construction of knowledge ‘collaborative learning’
  -Importance of language