Chapter 9: Cognitive Development in Preschool Children MODULES 9.1 Cognitive Processes 9.2 Language 9.3 Communicating with Others 9.4 Early Childhood Education Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Module 9.1 Cognitive Processes LEARNING OBJECTIVES Name the distinguishing features of thinking during the preoperational stage. Discuss how children’s information processing improves during the preschool years. Explain why Vygotsky viewed development as an apprenticeship. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada Piaget’s Account Preschoolers are in Piaget’s preoperational stage. Children can use symbols but there are many weaknesses in their thinking: egocentrism, centration, and appearance as reality. Improved biological theories and theory of mind. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada Three-Mountains Task Conservation Tasks Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Information-Processing Perspectives on Preschool Thinking During the preschool years, children become better at regulating their attention. Autobiographical memory originates in the preschool years. Preschoolers’ counting follows 3 basic principles. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development Zone of proximal development: difference between what one can do alone and with assistance. Scaffolding: matching the amount of assistance to the learner’s needs. Private speech: comments intended to regulate own behaviour. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada Module 9.2 Language LEARNING OBJECTIVES Describe the conditions that help preschoolers expand their vocabularies. Understand how children progress from speaking single words to complicated sentences. Discuss how a child acquires the grammar of the child’s native language. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Encouraging Word Learning Talk more, but with not at children. Asking children questions while reading fosters identification of meaning of new words. Bilingual children learn language as rapidly as monolinguals. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

The Effect of Asking Children Questions Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

From Two-Word Speech to Complex Sentences Speech is often telegraphic in 1-year-olds. Gradually by 2-years of age add grammatical morphemes. Rule-based so errors of overregularization occur. “Wug” Stimuli Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

How Children Acquire Grammar Language input is important but more than just imitation because children’s speech has its own grammar. Neural circuits in the brain allow children to infer grammar of the language they hear. Semantic bootstrapping hypothesis: children rely upon word meaning to discover grammatical rules. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Module 9.3 Communicating with Others LEARNING OBJECTIVES Explain when and how children learn conversational turn-taking. List the skills required to be an effective speaker. Describe what is involved in becoming a good listener. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada Taking Turns Even before children speak, parents model turn-taking. By age 3, children know this is a key rule. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada Speaking Effectively Toddlers’ first conversations are about themselves. Preschoolers adjust their speech based on the age of the listener and the context. Understand that when listeners misunderstand, speakers need to do something, such as repeating what they said. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada Listening Well Preschoolers often don’t detect ambiguities in messages or assume they understand the speaker’s intent. Preschoolers are more likely to believe confusing statements or statements that contradict their beliefs when told by a parent instead of a peer. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Module 9.4 Early Childhood Education LEARNING OBJECTIVES Identify how the aims of preschool programs are best achieved. Explain how effective Head Start programs are. Discuss whether television can be used to educate preschool children. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Varieties of Early Childhood Education Preschools and daycare centers may not be the same. Goal of child-centered programs is to educate the whole child. Academic programs follow an explicit curriculum to achieve academic goals. Many programs based on Piagetian ideas. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Preschool Programs for Economically Disadvantaged Children Children from low-income families benefit from programs, such as Head Start, that foster healthy development. In general, children in Head Start are less likely to repeat a grade, less likely to be in special education and more likely to graduate from high school. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Using TV to Educate Preschool Children 3-year-olds who watch Sesame Street, now called Sesame Park in Canada, regularly have larger vocabularies later. Viewers of shows that stress prosocial behaviour, such as Mr. Dress-Up, are more likely to act prosocially. TV watching does not lead to decreased attention span, mixed findings regarding impact on creativity. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada Conclusions During the preschool years, children form a theory of mind- a naïve understanding of connections between thoughts, beliefs, and behaviour. Vygotsky viewed cognitive development as a collaboration between a novice child and more skilled teachers who scaffold children’s learning. As children move beyond two-word speech, they begin to master questions, negation, and other more complex sentence forms. Although early childhood education programs vary in the structure of the curriculum, all anchor teaching in play. The contents of TV programs can influence children’s development. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada