Module 4 (psyc 140)

Module 4 (psyc 140) Physical development in early children ... Important gross motor skills that are normally accomplished in early childhood include throwing a ball, hopping, catching a ball, running, and kicking a ball fine motor skills usually accomplished at this time include cutting paper, pasting, pouring, building blocks, lacing, cutting along a line, printing a name, tracing, and coloring True or False: there are wide ranges of what is typical motor development. Each child develops differently, and there is usually no cause for concern unless a child is substantially behind the recommended ranges. True the overlap in the age guidelines, which points to the _____________ ___________________ of motor development. continuous nature Age: 2-3 years Gross Motor Fine Motor Can jump. Can throw and catch a ball, although the upper body remains rigid. Can zip and unzip. Can use a spoon. Age: 3-4 years Gross Motor Fine Motor Can walk upstairs, alternating feet on each step.Can walk downstairs leading with one foot.Can throw and catch a ball (although catching usually involves trapping the ball against the chest) Can use child scissors. Can fasten and unfasten large buttons. Age: 4-5 years Gross Motor Fine Motor Can walk upstairs and downstairs, alternating feet.Can catch a ball with hands Can use a fork well. Can cut on a line using scissors Age: 5-6 years Gross Motor Fine Motor Can skip. Can ride a bicycle with training wheels Can tie shoes. Can copy some numbers and basic words. Other physical changes include the types of brain development mentioned in Module 3 A primary type of neural growth during early childhood is the further development of connections between neurons. These connections take place where? at the synapse or space between neurons. Additional brain development occurs in early childhood. First, _______________ begins. myelination myelination some neurons become insulated with a layer of fat. This fat layer essentially serves as lubrication to speed up messages being relayed among neurons. This process takes many years, and it has a direct impact on the thinking process of young children What process has a direct impact on the thinking process of young children? myelination What begins to occur simultaneously as myelination takes place? synaptic pruning synaptic pruning occurs when under-utilized synaptic connections between neurons die away while important ones become strengthened. What process continues throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, resulting in a more efficient adult brain? synaptic pruning Cognitive development in early children ... The Preoperational Stage second stage of Piaget's cognitive developmental theory "Operations" are mental activities, such as adding and subtracting. According to Piaget, the Preoperational Stage takes place between the ages of what? 2 and 7 Why is it termed "pre-operational"? because children at this age aren’t fully internalizing their actions, according to Piaget. stage as being very flawed and yet crucial to future development. What are the two substages in the Preoperational Stage? symbolic function and intuitive thought. symbolic function (ages 2 to 4) continues skills begun with the establishment of object permanence. children continue to develop in their abilities to mentally represent objects that are not right in front of them. are working toward abstract thought, but they are not quite there yet, according to Piaget. Egocentrism young children can be rather selfish "egocentrism" as Piaget uses the term does not refer to selfishness. It instead refers to a problem with taking another person's perspective or point of view. Piaget classically illustrated this through the Three Mountains Task three mountain task created to study egocentrism; a child sits facing a table that holds three large mounds of sand, a doll is placed at the opposite side of the table and the investigator asks the child how the mountains would look to the doll True of False: it is evident that children are not born with the ability to take another's perspective. true Animism. refers to a child's belief that inanimate objects can have human-like qualities, such as feelings. lines between reality and imagination are blurred in early childhood. Children at this age are prone to believe in magical thoughts intuitive thought. second substage (ages 4 and 7) children start to develop reasoning ability process includes the desire to know answers to many questions! However, young children are prevented from engaging in highly rational thought because of this feature: centration. centration involves focusing all attention on one feature of an object. In doing so, the young child may miss the "big picture" as well as any other feature of the object. What is an example of centration in a young child? a young child’s difficulty with conservation conservation refers to what? the understanding that the physical properties of substances or objects do not change if merely the appearance is altered. Just because an object looks different doesn't mean it's substantially changed. using beakers filled with liquid (to test conservation of liquid). how did Piaget famously test conservation? using beakers filled with liquid (to test conservation of liquid). What is an example of how Conservation of matter can be tested? by forming two balls with equal amounts of clay one of the balls of clay was flattened no clay was taken away from the first ball researcher asks a Preoperational child, "Which ball has more?" Often, the child says, "The first one has more because it is longer." Thus, the child did not conserve matter; he fails to understand that there cannot possibly be more matter in the first ball because nothing was added to it or removed from the second one. Piaget concluded that the reason why young children have difficulty conserving matter is because they are too focused on one feature: the height of the ball, for example. Thus, centration prevents conservation. How do we know piaget's theory has greatly influenced early childhood education; although, these features are not universally accepted in education? Because three features of Piaget's theory now influence how teachers are trained to work with young children. What are the three features of Piaget's theory that now influence how teachers are trained to work with young children? 1. Since children's abilities naturally unfold, teachers should be aware of a child's readiness to learn. It may be detrimental for teachers to try to rush acquisition of a skill if the child is not ready. 2. Learning through exploring the environment, or discovery learning, is an ideal learning model. 3. It is important to recognize individual differences in learning. Rather than comparing a child's progress to national norms, a Piagetian model would instead compare a child's current progress to previous development. educational implications of Piaget's Preoperational Stage ... Who was another theorist who has greatly impacted both eastern and western early childhood educational models? Lev Vygotsky How did Lev Vygotsky differ from Jean Piaget with regard to his theory of cognitive development? Piaget: -approached development from a biological/ maturational perspective -did focus on independent learning Vygotsky: -instead emphasized that cognitive development always occurs in a social context. -his concepts incorporate social interaction. -did not focus on independent learning and instead considered what learning could be accomplished collaboratively with others. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) Vygotsky's concept of the difference between what a child can do alone and what that child can do with the help of a teacher or guided by an expert. What can be used to achieve more skill and competence? scaffolding can be used scaffolding involves the teacher/expert offering changing levels of support as the child's competence increases. -- means that early on the adult may guide a student every step of the way. Later on, however, the teacher doesn't need to offer much support since the student can now do much of the task on her own. Socioemotional development in early children involves a) gender b) parenting styles Gender refers to the social dimensions of being male or female (one's sex refers to biological dimensions). During early childhood, young children accumulate information about what girls are like and boys are like both biological and social influences play integral roles in gender development key influences in gender 1. Biological influences. 2. Social Influences. 3. Cognitive influences. 1. Biological influences The 23rd pair of chromosomes determines how our sex and sex hormones (such as estrogens and androgens) influence the development of sex characteristics. Differences in brain structure and function are being noted in neuroscience research. 2. Social Influences From birth, others may treat girls and boys differently. This can occur accidentally, such as by being more protective of toddler girls and more accepting and even encouraging of rough behavior from boys. 3. Cognitive influences Children obtain knowledge from the world about gender and incorporate this into their own understanding. They may choose to imitate stereotypical gender behaviors. Gender schema theory states that children have a desire to conform to societal standards and therefore may tune their attention and behavior to act in ways in keeping with their respective gender. gender is another prime example of what kid of interaction? genotype-environment interaction gender constancy children develop the knowledge that one's sex remains the same even if outward appearance changes (that is, excepting sexual reassignment surgery). Prior to developing gender constancy, a toddler might think that a woman can turn into a man if she cuts her hair short! What is the one thing that parents and teachers often agree upon involving gender socialization in early childhood? how to find ways to help promote children's optimal cognitive development, and the issue of what toys are accessible (and permissible) for children to play with has a direct impact on this type of development. Authoritarian Level of Responsiveness: low Level of Demandingness: high Parenting styles Authoritarian Authoritative Permissive Neglectful Authoritative Level of Responsiveness: high Level of Demandingness: high Permissive Level of Responsiveness: high Level of Demandingness: low Neglectful Level of Responsiveness: low Level of Demandingness: low Important dimensions to be considered while categorizing parenting styles include how responsive (appropriately affectionate, communicative, and responsive to children) and demanding (setting limits, discipline) the parents are. Who developed an extremely infl