The Developing Person Through the Life Span 8e by Kathleen Stassen Berger

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The Developing Person Through the Life Span 8e
by Kathleen Stassen Berger

• Chapter 9- Early Childhood
• Cognitive Development

PowerPoint Slides developed by Martin Wolfger
and Michael James Ivy Tech Community
College-Bloomington Reviewed by Raquel Henry Lone
Star College, Kingwood
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Piaget and Vygotsky

• Piaget Preoperational Thought
• Preoperational means before (pre) logical
  operations (reasoning processes).
• The childs verbal ability permits symbolic
  thinking.
• Language frees the child from the limits of
  sensorimotor experience.

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Piaget and Vygotsky

• Four Limitations of Preoperational Thought
• Centration- a young child focuses (centers) on
  one idea, excluding all others.
• Egocentrism- self-centeredness
• Focus on appearance- a thing is whatever it
  appears to be
• Static reasoning- belief that the world is
  unchanging
• Irreversibility- what is done cannot be undone

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Piaget and Vygotsky

• Conservation- The principle that the amount of a
  substance remains the same (is conserved) when
  its appearance changes.

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Piaget and Vygotsky

• Animism- Belief that natural objects and
  phenomena are alive.
• Children simultaneously hold rational and magical
  ideas.

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Piaget and Vygotsky

• Vygotsky Social Learning
• Every aspect of childrens cognitive development
  is embedded in the social context.
• Guided participation- process by which people
  learn from others who guide their experiences and
  explorations (mentor).

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Piaget and Vygotsky

• Zone of proximal development (ZPD)-Vygotskys
  term for the skillscognitive as well as
  physicalthat a person can exercise only with
  assistance, not yet independently.
• Scaffolding- Temporary support that is tailored
  to a learners needs and abilities and aimed at
  helping the learner master the next task in a
  given learning process.

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Language as a Tool

• Private speech- The internal dialogue that occurs
  when people talk to themselves (either silently
  or out loud).
• Social mediation- Human interaction that expands
  and advances understanding, often through words
  that one person uses to explain something to
  another.

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Childrens Theories

• Theory-theory- The idea that children attempt to
  explain everything they see and hear using
  theories
• Theory of mind- A persons theory of what other
  people might be thinking.
• In order to have a theory of mind, children must
  realize that other people are not necessarily
  thinking the same thoughts that they themselves
  are.
• That realization is seldom achieved before age 4.

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Language

• Language is pivotal to every kind of cognition in
  early childhood.
• Early childhood is a sensitive period, the 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.

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Language

• Fast-mapping
• The speedy and sometimes imprecise way in which
  children learn new words by tentatively placing
  them in mental categories according to their
  perceived meaning.

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Language
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Language

• Basic Grammar
• The grammar of a language includes the
  structures, techniques, and rules that
  communicate meaning. Word order and word
  repetition, prefixes and suffixes, intonation and
  emphasisall are part of grammar.
• Overregularization- The application of rules of
  grammar even when exceptions occur, making the
  language seem more regular" than it actually is.

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Learning Two Languages

• Young bilinguals site both languages in the same
  areas of the brain but keep them separate when
  speaking, not so in adults
• Pronunciation is hard to master after childhood
• Balanced Bilingual fluent in two languages, not
  favoring one over the other

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Early Childhood Education

• Child-Centered Programs
• Stress childrens natural inclination to learn
  through play rather than by following adult
  directions.
• Show the influence of Vygotsky, who thought that
  children learn from other children and through
  cultural practices that structure life.
• Montessori schools emphasize individual pride and
  accomplishment, presenting literacy-related
  tasks.
• Reggio Emilia approach- A famous program of
  early-childhood education that originated in the
  town of Reggio Emilia, Italy it encourages each
  childs creativity in a carefully designed
  setting.

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Early Childhood Education

• Teacher-Directed Programs
• Stress academic subjects taught by a teacher to
  an entire class.
• 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.

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Early Childhood Education

• Intervention Programs
• Project Head Start- The most widespread
  early-childhood education program in the United
  States, begun in 1965 and funded by the federal
  government.
• At first, the program was thought to be highly
  successful at raising childrens intelligence
  ten years later, early gains were said to fade.