(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Chapter 5 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early...
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Transcript of (c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Chapter 5 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early...
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Chapter 5
Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
PowerPoints developed by Nicholas Greco IV, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Physical Development
Growth rate slows in early childhood but it is still the most obvious physical change
Girls are only slightly smaller and lighter than boys during these years
Heads are still somewhat large for their bodies Body fat also shows a slow, steady decline
Girls have more fatty tissue than boys; boys have more muscle tissue
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Variations in Growth
Growth patterns vary individually Much of the variation is due to heredity Environmental experiences are also
involved urban, middle-socioeconomic-status, and
firstborn children tend to be taller than rural, lower-SES, and later-born children
African-American children are taller than white children
(Meredith, 1978)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The Brain Maturation of the brain combined with
opportunities for experience add to emerging cognitive abilities they plan their actions attend to stimuli more effectively show increased language development
Amount of brain material in some areas can nearly double in as little as a yearfollowed by loss of tissue as unneeded cells
are pruned the brain continues to reorganize itself
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The Brain In neurons, the number and size of
dendrites increase Myelination continues
myelination -- process in which axons are covered with a layer of fat cells
it increases the speed and efficiency of information traveling through the nervous system
(Nelson, 2011)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Gross Motor Skills 3 years of age: hopping, jumping, and
running back and forthdelight and pride in showing how they can run
and jump 4 years of age, the same kinds of activities
but more adventurousincreased abilities on steps
Age 5, they are even more adventuresome run hard and enjoy races with each other and
their parents
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Fine Motor Skills
By age 3: have had the ability to pick up the tiniest objects between their thumb and forefinger for some timebut still somewhat clumsy
By age 4: fine motor coordination has improved substantially and becomes much more precise
By age 5: hand, arm, and body all move together under better command of the eye
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Nutrition and Exercise
Eating habits important to development Affects their skeletal growth, body shape,
and susceptibility to disease Exercise and physical activity are also
very important
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Overweight Young Children
Being overweight has become a serious health problem 45 percent of children’s meals exceed recommendations
for saturated and trans fat One-third of children's caloric intake comes from
restaurants Young children’s eating behavior is strongly influenced
by their caregiver’s behavior Need a predictable schedule Model eating healthy food Mealtimes are pleasant occasions Engage in certain feeding styles
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Overweight Young Children
Categories for being overweight or at risk for being overweight are determined by body mass index (BMI)
Percentages of young children who are overweight or at risk for being overweight have increased By age 5
physicians are seeing Type II diabetesoverweight is associated with lower self-
esteem(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Exercise
Routine physical activity should be a daily occurrencePreschool children should engage in 2 hours
of physical activity per dayOne hour structuredOne hour unstructured
Child’s life should be centered around activities, not meals
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Malnutrition Poor nutrition is associated with low income
poor nutrition -- diets low in essential amounts of iron, vitamins, or protein
In the United States, the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program was designed to address malnutrition and provides:Healthy supplemental foodsHealth care referrals Nutrition education for women from
pregnancy and for infants and children up to age 5
WIC serves 7,500,000 participants
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Illness and Death
In the United States, accidents are the leading cause of deathmotor vehicle accidentsdrowningfallspoisoning
Cancer Cardiovascular disease (National Center for Health Statistics, 2009; Modell, 2010)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Safety and Prevention
Influences on children’s safety their own skills and safety behaviors characteristics of their family and home, school peerscommunity’s actions
Figure 5.2 outlines the steps that can be taken in each of these contexts to enhance children’s safety and prevent injury
(Trasande & others, 2010; Sleet & Mercy, 2003)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Parental Smoking An estimated 22 percent of children and
adolescents are exposed to tobacco smoke in the home
Children exposed to smoke are more likely to develop wheezing symptoms and asthma than children in non-smoking homesLinked to young children’s sleep problems
and sleep-disordered breathing
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
World Health Issues
Many deaths could be prevented by a reduction in poverty and improvements in nutrition, sanitation, education, and health services
Dramatic increase in the number of young children who have died because of HIV/AIDS transmitted to them by their parentsthese deaths occur in countries with high
rates of poverty and low levels of education
(UNICEF, 2009, 2010, 2011)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Cognitive Changes
Piaget’s Preoperational Stagefrom approximately 2 to 7 years of age children begin to represent the world with
words, images, and drawings form stable concepts and begin to reason dominated by egocentrism and magical
beliefs Child does not yet perform operations -- which
are reversible mental actions
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Preoperational Thought: Symbolic Function
Substage Between ages of 2 and 4 Child gains the ability to mentally
represent an object that is not present Egocentrism -- inability to distinguish
between one’s own perspective and someone else’s perspective
Animism -- the belief that inanimate objects have life-like qualities and are capable of action
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Preoperational Thought: Intuitive Thought
Substage Between approximately 4 and 7 years of age Begin to use primitive reasoning and ask all
sorts of questions Questions signal the emergence of interest in
reasoning and in figuring out why things are the way they are
“Intuitive” because children seem sure about their knowledge and understanding
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Centration and the Limits of Preoperational
Thought Another limitation of preoperational thought is centration -- centering of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others. centration is most clearly evidenced in young
children’s lack of conservation -- the awareness that altering an object’s or a substance’s appearance does not change its basic properties
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Vygotsky’s Theory
Vygotsky was a constructivist Vygotsky’s social constructivist approach
emphasizes the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interactionZPD -- zone of proximal development scaffolding
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Zone of Proximal Development
Zone of Proximal Development -- Vygotsky’s term for the range of tasks that are too difficult for the child to master alone but that can be learned with guidance and assistance of adults or more skilled children lower limit of the ZPD is the level of skill reached by
the child working independentlyupper limit is the level of additional responsibility the
child can accept with the assistance of an able instructor
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding -- changing the level of support A teacher or advanced peer adjusts the
amount of guidance to fit the child’s current performance when the student is learning a new task, the
skilled person may use direct instruction as the student’s competence increases, less
guidance is given
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Language and Thought According to Vygotsky (1962), children use
speech not only for social communication, but also to help them solve tasks -- children use language to plan, guide, and monitor their behavior language for self-regulation is called private
speechfor Piaget, private speech is egocentric and
immaturefor Vygotsky, it is an important tool of thought
during the early childhood years(Wertsch, 2007)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Teaching Strategies Based on Vygotsky’s Theory
Assess the child’s ZPD Use the child’s zone of proximal
development in teaching Use more skilled peers as teachers Monitor and encourage children’s use of
private speech Place instruction in a meaningful context
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Comparing Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s Theories
Vygotsky’s emphasis on the importance of inner speech in development
The main implication of Vygotsky’s theory for teaching is that students need many opportunities to learn with a teacher and more skilled peers
Piaget’s view that such speech is immature
Implication of Piaget’s theory for teaching is that children need support to explore their world and discover knowledge
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Evaluating Vygotsky
Critics say Vygotsky overemphasized the role of language in thinking
Emphasis on collaboration and guidance has potential pitfallsFacilitators might be too helpful Some children might become lazy and expect
help when they might have done something on their own
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Information Processing
Attention -- the focusing of cognitive resources Executive attention involves planning actions,
allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks, dealing with novel or difficult circumstances
Sustained attention is focused and extended engagement with an object, task, event, or other aspect of the environment
Control of attention Salient versus relevant dimensionsPlanfulness
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Memory Memory -- the retention of information over time
Short-term memory -- individuals retain information for only about 30 seconds using rehearsal (repeating information after it has
been presented), we can keep information in short-term memory for a much longer period
older children are better able to rehearse speed and efficiency of processing information are
important memory becomes more accurate with age
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
How Accurate Are Young Children’s Long-Term
Memories? There are age differences in susceptibility
to misleading or incorrect post-event information
Individual differences in suggestibility Interviewing techniques can produce
distortions suggestible not just about peripheral details
but also about the central aspects of an event
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The Young Child’s Theory of Mind
Awareness of one’s own mental processes and the mental processes of others
Studies view the child as “a thinker who is trying to explain, predict, and understand people’s thoughts, feelings, and utterances”
Children’s theory of mind changes as they develop through childhood
(Harris, 2006; Gelman, 2009; Wellman, 2011)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Theory of Mind Age 2–3, children begin to understand
three mental states:perceptionsemotions desires
Age 4–5, they come to understand that the mind can represent objects and events accurately or inaccurately they realize that people can have false beliefs
-- beliefs that are not true
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Theory of Mind: Beyond Age 5
Not until middle and late childhood do children see the mind as an active constructor of knowledge or processing center
Then they can move from understanding that beliefs can be false to realizing that the same event can be open to multiple interpretations
(Flavell, Green, & Flavell, 2000; Carpendale & Chandler, 1996)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Language Development
Between 2 and 3 years of age children make a transition from saying simple sentences that express a single proposition to saying complex sentences
Children learn the special features of their own language; there are regularities in how they acquire that particular language
(Bloom, 1998; Berko Gleason, 2005)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Understanding Phonology and Morphology
Phonology -- the sound system of a language, including the sounds that are used and how they may be combined
Morphology -- the units of meaning involved in word formation plural and possessive forms of nouns appropriate endings on verbs use prepositions, articles, and various forms
of the verb “to be”Refer to study by children’s language
researcher Jean Berko (1958)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Changes in Syntax and Semantics
Rules of syntax -- the way words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences
Semantics -- the aspect of language that involves the meaning of words and sentences
Pragmatics -- the appropriate use of language in different contexts
(Marchman & Thal, 2005)
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Young Children’s Literacy
Build on what children already know about oral language, reading, and writing
Include language skills, phonological and syntactic knowledge, letter identification, and knowledge about print and its functions
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Variations in Early Childhood Education
Child-centered kindergarten emphasizes the education of the whole child and concern for his or her physical, cognitive, and socioemotional developmentEach child follows a unique developmental
patternYoung children learn best through firsthand
experiences with people and materialsPlay is extremely important in the child’s total
development
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Variations in Early Childhood Education
The Montessori Approach is a philosophy of education in which children are given considerable freedom and spontaneity in choosing activitiesTeacher is facilitator rather than director
Shows the child how to perform intellectual activities
Demonstrates interesting ways to explore curriculum materials
Offers help when the child requests it
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Developmentally Appropriate Education
Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) is education that focuses on the typical developmental patterns of children and the uniqueness of each child
Desired outcomes include:Thinking criticallyWorking cooperativelySolving problemsDeveloping self-regulatory skillsEnjoying learning
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Education for Young Children Who Are
Disadvantaged Project Head Start -- a compensatory
program designed to provide children from low-income families the opportunity to acquire the skills and experiences important for success in school
Evaluations support the positive influence of high-quality early childhood programs on both the cognitive and social worlds of disadvantaged young children
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Controversy Over Curriculum
Currently there is controversy about what the curriculum of U.S. early childhood education should be
Child-centered, constructivist approach along the lines of developmentally appropriate practice versus an academic, direct instruction approach
(c) 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
A Combined Approach Many high-quality programs include both
academic and constructivist approaches Experts like Lilian Katz worry about academic
approaches that place pressure on young children to achieve and don’t provide any opportunities to actively construct knowledge
Programs should focus on cognitive development and socioemotional development, not just on cognitive development
Another controversy is whether preschool education should be instituted for all U.S. 4-year-old children