comment on 2 things you learned from this chapter of the
Cognitive development
ece 124 chapter 9
Piaget
-Preoperational intelligence
• Cognitive development between the ages of about 2 and
6
• Includes language and imagination
• Suggests logical, operational thinking is not yet possible
at this stage
Piaget: Symbolic Thought
• Major accomplishment of preoperational intelligence
• Allows a child to think symbolically, including
understanding that words can refer to things not seen and that an
item can symbolize something else
• Helps explain animism
Piaget: Animism
- Involves belief that natural objects and phenomena are
alive
- Is related to egocentric reasoning
- May be involved with rational as well as irrational
ideas
Piaget: Obstacles to Logic
-Centration
• Includes characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a
young child focuses (centers) on one idea, excluding all others;
may include egocentrism
-Focus on appearance
• Characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young
child ignores all attributes that are not apparent
Piaget: Static Reasoning
-Characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young
child thinks that nothing changes. Whatever is now has always been
and always will be
Piaget: Irreversibility
-Characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young
child thinks that nothing can be undone. A thing cannot be restored
to the way it was before a change occurred.
PIaget: Conservation and Logic
Conservation
• Principle that the amount of a substance remains the same
(i.e., is conserved) when its appearance changes.
Piaget:COnservation
All characteristics of preoperational thought are evident in
classic conservation task errors. -Young children fail to
understand conservation of liquids because they focus (center) on
what they see (appearance), noticing only the immediate (static)
condition
. -It does not occur to them that they could reverse the
process and re-create the liquid's level of a moment earlier
(irreversibility).
Limitations of Piaget's Research
- Piagetian conservation tasks require words.
- Modification of tasks resulted in better performance of
younger children.
- Piaget underestimated cognition during early
childhood.
Vygotsky
• Vygotsky: Social learning - Every aspect of children's
cognitive development is embedded in the social context. ]
• Apprentice in thinking
- Someone whose intellectual growth is stimulated and directed
by older, more skilled members of society
• Mentors
- Present challenge
s - Offer assistance (without taking over)
- Add crucial information
- Encourage motivation
Vygotsky: Social Learning
• Guided participation - Process by which people learn from
others who guide their experiences and explorations
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD) - Skills that a person
can exercise only with assistance, not yet independently
• Scaffolding - Temporary support that is tailored to a
learner's needs and abilities and aimed at helping the learner
master the next task in a given learning process
Vygotsky: Overimitation
- Tendency of children to copy an action that is not a
relevant part of the behavior to be learned
- Common among 2- to 6-year-olds when they imitate adult
actions that are irrelevant and inefficient
- Universal trait of young, socially motivated children
Vygotsky: Language as a Tool
• Words are the mediator between brain potential and
comprehension.
-Language advances thinking.
• Internal dialogue or private speech
• Social mediation
• STEM curricula
• Executive function development
Children's Theories: Theory-theory
- Children attempt to explain everything they see and
hear.
- Children develop theories about intentions before they
employ their impressive ability to imitate.
Theory of Mind
-Involves a person's theory of what other people might be
thinking
-Is slow to develop but typically begins in most children at
about age 4 -Can be seen when young children try to escape
punishment by lying
Theory of Mind
• This is a person's theory of what other people might be
thinking.
• To have a theory of mind, children must realize that other
people are not necessarily thinking the same thoughts that they
themselves are.
• This realization seldom occurs before age 4.
Brain and Context
What strengthens theory of mind in young children? -Child's
ability to develop theories correlates with the maturity of the
prefrontal cortex and with advances in executive processing.
-Context and experience are relevant.
-Context and culture matter.
Language Learning
Language is pivotal to every kind of cognition in early
childhood.
• Early childhood is a sensitive period or best time to master
vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
• The average child knows about 500 words at age 2 and more
than 10,000 at age 6.
• Comprehension is always greater than production.
Language Learning
• Vocabulary explosion -Vocabulary builds quickly and
comprehension greater than production -Verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
conjunctions, and many nouns mastered
• Fast-mapping -Speedy and sometimes imprecise way in which
children learn new words by tentatively placing them in mental
categories according to their perceived meaning
Words and the Limits of Logic : Logical extension
- Closely related to fast-mapping
- Occurs when children use words to describe other objects in
same category
Acquiring Grammar
-Grammar of a language
• Structures, techniques, and rules that communicate
meaning
• Word order and word repetition, prefixes and suffixes,
intonation and emphasis
-Overregularization
• Application of rules of grammar even when exceptions
occur
• Makes language seem more "regular" than it actually is
Learning two languages
- Lower school achievement, diminished self-esteem, and
inadequate employment result if a child is not proficient in
English
. - Young bilingual children site both languages in the same
areas of their brains. - Adult second language learners usually
show different activation sites for each language and are slowed
down.
- Bilingual brain may provide some resistance to
neurocognitive disorder.
Language losses and gains
-Language shifts
• Becoming more fluent in the school language than in their
home language
-Balanced bilingual
• Being fluent in two languages, not favoring one over the
other
• Occurs if adults talk frequently, listen carefully, and
value both languages
Effective Strategies and Experiences
• Code-focused teaching
• Book-reading
• Parent education
• Language enhancement
• Preschool programs
Early Childhood Education
• Homes and schools: Quality matters ]
- If the home educational environment is poor, a good
preschool program aids health, cognition, and social skills.
- If a family provides extensive learning opportunities and
encouragement, the quality of the preschool is less crucial.
• Judging quality
- Cannot be adequately judged by program name or sponsorship
or professional assessment
- Teacher-child interaction correlates with learning.
Early Childhood Education
Child-centered or developmental programs -Stress children's
natural inclination to learn through play rather than by following
adult directions -Encourage self-paced exploration and artistic
expression
-Often show the influence of Piaget or Vygotsky, who thought
that children learn through play with other children and through
cultural practices that structure life
Child-centered programs
- Montessori schools emphasize individual pride and
accomplishment, presenting literacy-related tasks (such as
outlining letters and looking at books).
- The Reggio Emilia approach involves a famous program of
early-childhood education that originated in the town of Reggio
Emilia, Italy; it encourages each child's creativity in a carefully
designed setting.
Teacher-directed programs
-Stress academic subjects taught by a teacher to an entire
class
-Help children learn letters, numbers, shapes, and colors, as
well as how to listen to the teacher and sit quietly
-Make a clear distinction between work and play -Are much less
expensive, since the child/adult ratio can be higher
Learning from One Another
Every nation creates its own version of early education.
• In this scene at a nursery school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
note the head coverings, uniforms, and distance between the
sexes.
Intervention programs: Head Start
- Most widespread earlychildhood education program in the
United States
- Begun in 1965 and funded by the federal government -
Initially, the program was thought to be highly successful at
raising children's intelligence; 10 years later, early gains were
found to fade.
Long-Term Gains from Intensive Programs
• Long-term gains -Early intervention is effective if it is
sufficiently intense with effective teachers.
• Evidence -Perry (High/Scope) -Abecedarian -Child-Parent
Centers
Long-Term Program Effectiveness
State programs
-As of 2014, 40 states sponsor public education for young
children—although usually only for low-income 4-year-olds.
-Programs are increasing, but almost half of 4-year-olds and
most 3-year-olds are not in any education program.
-Spending per child has decreased; there is less
child-centered and more teacher-directed education.