Early childhood Cognitive development PDF

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Development over the life span...

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Thinking During Early Childhood 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

Thinking During Early Childhood Piaget • Symbolic thought • •

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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: Preoperational Thought 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: Preoperational Thought Piaget described four limitations of preoperational thought that make logic difficult until about age 6 • 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: Preoperational Thought • Static reasoning – Characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young child thinks that nothing changes. Whatever is now has always been and always will be.

• 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: Preoperational Thought Conservation and logic • Conservation •

Principle that the amount of a substance remains the same (i.e., is conserved) when its appearance changes.

Piaget: Preoperational Thought

Piaget: Preoperational Thought Piaget: Preoperational Thought 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: Social Learning 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 and more skilled members of society

Mentors • • •

Present challenges Offer assistance (without taking over) Add crucial information

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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: Social Learning Overimitation •

Tendency of children to copy an action that is not a relevant part of the behavior to be learned

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Common among 2- to 6-year-olds when they imitate adult actions that are irrelevant and inefficient

Vygotsky: Social Learning Words are the mediator between brain potential and comprehension. • Language advances thinking – Internal dialogue or private speech – Social mediation

• Words enable many children between 2 and 6. – Using one-to-one correspondence – Remembering time and dates – Understanding sequence

Cognitive Understanding Words, Don’t Fail Me Now • •

Could you describe how to tie shoes? The limitations of verbal tests of cognitive understanding are apparent in many skills.

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.

Children’s Theories Theory of mind • •

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Involves person's theory of what other people might be thinking Is slow to develop but typically beginning in most children at about age 4 Can be seen when young children try to escape punishment by lying

Theory of Mind A person’s 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 seldom occurs before age 4. Better with Age?

Could an obedient and honest 3year-old become a disobedient and lying 5-year-old? 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.

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Context and experience are relevant. Context and culture matter.

Brains at Work 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. 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 Listening and Talking Strategies and experiences to support literacy learning • • • • •

Code-focused teaching Book reading Parent education Language enhancement Preschool programs

Language Learning 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

Language Learning two languages •

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Lower school achievement, diminished self-esteem, and inadequate employment if child not English proficient Young bilingual children site both languages in the same areas of their brains.

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Adult second language learners usually show different activation sites for each language and are slowed down.

Mastering English: The Younger, the Better Of all the school children whose home language is not English, this is the proportion who, according to their parents, speak English well. Immigrant children who attend school almost always master English within five years. Language • How and why • Position one: Young children who are taught two languages might become semilingual, not bilingual, at risk for delayed, incomplete,

and possibly even impaired language development • Position two: Soon after the vocabulary explosion, children who have heard two languages since birth usually master two distinct sets of words and grammar, along with each language’s pauses, pronunciations, intonations, and gestures. Proficiency is directly related to how much language they hear. Which position do you support? Language 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

Early Childhood Education Homes and schools • •

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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.

Changing Times Early Childhood Education Child-centered programs •

Stress children's natural inclination to learn through play rather than by following adult directions.

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Encourage self-paced exploration and artistic expression. Show the influence of Vygotsky, who thought that children learn through play with other children and through cultural practices that structure life.

Early Childhood Education

Child-centered programs • Montessori schools emphasize individual pride and accomplishment, presenting literacy-related tasks (such as outlining letters and looking at books). • Reggio Emilia approach involves a famous program of earlychildhood education that originated in the town of Reggio Emilia, Italy; it encourages each

child's creativity in a carefully designed setting. Early Childhood Education 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

Early-Childhood Teachers’ Observed Classroom Practices 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.

Early Childhood Education

Intervention programs: Head Start • Most widespread early-childhood 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; ten years later, early gains were found to fade Early Childhood Education Bilingual education •

Successful strategies vary depending on child, home background, and national values.

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Programs containing English and Spanish instruction are more successful that immersion.

Intervention 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 •

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40 states sponsor public education for young children—although usually only for low-income 4-year-olds. Leading state is Oklahoma Only four states have high-quality programs (Alabama, Alaska, North Carolina, Rhode Island)....