1. Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

2. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Piaget’s Preoperational Stage Ages 2 to 7 Gains in mental representation Make-believe play/Social Pretend Play Make-believe play/Social Pretend Play Dual representation Dual representation

3. Benefits of Make-Believe Play  social pretend play (sociodramatic play):  interactions last longer, show more involvement, and draw more children into the activity in a more cooperative manner.  Make-believe strengthens sustained attention, logic, memory, reasoning, and creativity. 4 year old “Lunch Lady”

4. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Dual Representation Viewing a symbolic object as both object and symbol Mastered around age 3 Adult teaching can help provide lots of maps, photos, drawings, make-believe playthings, etc. provide lots of maps, photos, drawings, make-believe playthings, etc. point out similarities to the real world. point out similarities to the real world. © Fred Goldstein | Dreamstime.comFred GoldsteinDreamstime.com

5. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2011 Limitations of Preoperational Thought

6. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Egocentrism Failure to distinguish others’ views from one’s own Figure 9.1 Piaget’s three-mountains problem. Each mountain is distinguished by its color and by its summit. One has a red cross, another a small house, and the third a snow-capped peak. Children at the preoperational stage respond egocentrically. They cannot select a picture that shows the mountains from the doll’s perspective. Instead, they simply choose the photo that reflects their own vantage point.

7. Who do you see? Who do I see?

8. Animistic Thinking Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities, such as thoughts or wishes © Hieng Ling Tie | Dreamstime.comHieng Ling TieDreamstime.com

9. Animistic Thinking

10. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Piagetian Conservation Tasks Figure 9.2

11. Appearance as Reality Preoperational children cannot distinguish between appearance and reality. Belief that an object’s appearance tells what the object is really like. Eg: They think if people look happy, they are really happy. Eg: They think if people look happy, they are really happy. “Dog” or cat “Dog” or cat

12. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Piagetian Class Inclusion Problem Figure 9.3

13. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Children’s Questions: Catalyst for Cognitive Development Majority of children’s questions are information-seeking (not requests). Provides precise knowledge when children need it Provides precise knowledge when children need it Content related to cognitive development Content related to cognitive development Context shapes questions. Context shapes questions. Adults seem to formulate answers based on children’s maturity. Adults seem to formulate answers based on children’s maturity.

14. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Educational Principles Derived from Piaget’s Theory  Discovery learning  Sensitivity to children’s readiness to learn Developmentally appropriate practice Developmentally appropriate practice  Acceptance of individual differences © Monika Adamczyk | Dreamstime.comMonika AdamczykDreamstime.com

15. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Children’s Private Speech Piaget called “egocentric speech” Vygotsky viewed as foundation for all higher cognitive processes Helps guide behavior Used more when tasks are difficult, after errors, or when confused Used more when tasks are difficult, after errors, or when confused Gradually becomes more silent Children with learning and behavior problems use longer Children with learning and behavior problems use longer

16. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Relationship of Private Speech to Task Difficulty Among 5- and 6-Year-Olds Figure 9.5

17. Social Origins of Early Childhood Cognition  Intersubjectivity  Scaffolding: temporary framework  Guided participation © Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.comMonkey Business ImagesDreamstime.com

18. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2011 Time Developmental Gains Zone of Proximal Development Potential Development Actual Development

19. Vygotsky’s Theory and Early Childhood Education Vygotskian classrooms promote assisted discovery. Teachers guide children’s learning with explanations and verbal prompts. Teachers guide children’s learning with explanations and verbal prompts. Peer collaboration is also emphasized. Peer collaboration is also emphasized. Challenges to Vygotsky’s theory: Verbal communication is not the only way new information is mastered. Verbal communication is not the only way new information is mastered. Little said about how basic motor, perception, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills contribute to higher cognitive processes. Little said about how basic motor, perception, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills contribute to higher cognitive processes.

20. Scaffolding Writing Process “Tools of the Mind”

21. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Information Processing Improvements in Attention Sustained attention (extended engagement) increases sharply between 2 and 3½ years. Frontal lobe growth Frontal lobe growth Increasingly complex play goals Increasingly complex play goals Adult scaffolding Adult scaffolding Planning improves try different strategies/see how they work

22. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Gains Between Ages 3 and 7 in Performance on Tasks Requiring Children to Inhibit an Impulse and Focus on a Competing Goal Figure 9.6

23. Attention Deficiencies Salient vs. relevant dimensions Eg: flashy clown giving directions to solve problem, what happens? improves by 6-7 yrs

24. Attention Deficiencies Planfulness of attention Eg: comparing two complex pictures Haphazard comparison strategy Don’t examine all the details before judging

25. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Memory in Early Childhood Recognition better than recall Beginnings of memory strategies Limited by working memory Limited by working memory Familiar events remembered as scripts © Darren Baker | Dreamstime.comDarren BakerDreamstime.com More elaborate with age More elaborate with age Elaborative style best Elaborative style best Adults help with autobiographical memories. Adults help with autobiographical memories.

26. 02:43 PBS Scientific American Frontiers “Changing Minds” Example of a False-Belief Task False-Belief TaskFalse-Belief Task Awareness of mental life: infancy to age 3 Mastery of false beliefs: around age 4 Figure 9.8

27. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Early Literacy and Mathematical Development Preschooler’s understanding occurs before practical usage. Emergent literacy Emergent literacy “Read” but don’t understand symbolism “Read” but don’t understand symbolism Gradual mastery of functions and phonological awareness Gradual mastery of functions and phonological awareness More informal experiences contribute to earlier and better literacy.

28. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reading Readiness Skills at Kindergarten Entry by SES Figure 9.10

29. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Early Childhood Mathematical Reasoning Builds on informal knowledge Ordinality Order relationships between quantities Order relationships between quantitiesCardinality Last number when counting is the total. Last number when counting is the total.Estimation © Kszott | Dreamstime.comKszottDreamstime.com

30. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Individual Differences in Early Childhood Mental Development Factors Home environment Quality of child care, preschool, or kindergarten Child-centered versus academic Child-centered versus academic Early intervention programs Early intervention programsTelevision Educational TV Educational TV © Serhiy Kobyakov | Dreamstime.comSerhiy KobyakovDreamstime.com

31. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Types of Preschool and Kindergarten Child-centered programs: Teachers provide activities from which the children select and most of the day is devoted to play. Academic programs: Teachers structure children’s learning through formal lessons, often using repetitive drills (an approach that can undermine motivation and well-being, especially for low-SES children). Montessori education: Child-centered approach with equal emphasis on academic and social development

32. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Early Intervention for At-Risk Preschoolers Project Head Start Parent involvement essential Parent involvement essential Long-term benefits: Better early school achievement Better early school achievement Less special education and grade retention Less special education and grade retention More high school graduation, college enrollment More high school graduation, college enrollment Advantages still evident at age 40 Jumpstart for Young Children provides extra enrichment.

33. Some Outcomes of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project on Follow-up at Age 27 and Age 40

34. Vocabulary Development in Early Childhood  Fast-mapping  3yos: 900-1000 words; 3 word sentences easily  4yos: 4-6000 words; 5-6 word sentences  5 yos: 5-8000  6yos: @ 10,000 words  Mutual exclusivity bias  Word refers to whole object © Barbara Reddoch | Dreamstime.comBarbara ReddochDreamstime.com

35. Vocabulary Development in Early Childhood, cont’d  Syntactic bootstrapping  Learn grammar rules of language; listen to how people put sentences together; verbs  “Where daddy is going?”  “He boughted it.”  Inventing own words  Eg: “grassman”  Eg: “bustrain”  Eg: “hotowel”  Eg: “antmeal” © Barbara Reddoch | Dreamstime.comBarbara ReddochDreamstime.com

36. Grammar Development in Early Childhood Basic rules Overregularization: applying rules without appropriate exceptions Overregularization: applying rules without appropriate exceptions Eg: “boughten,” “runned,” “flied” Eg: “boughten,” “runned,” “flied” "Mom! I syruped my pancakes!" Complex structures Explaining grammatical development Semantic bootstrapping Semantic bootstrapping Relying on word meanings to figure out grammatical rules Relying on word meanings to figure out grammatical rules © Hongqi Zhang | Dreamstime.comHongqi ZhangDreamstime.com

37. Morphology rules This is a wug. Now there is another one. There are two of them. There are two _____.

38. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Children Using a New Verb in the Subject- Verb-Object Form After Hearing It in Another Construction Figure 9.13

39. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Conversation Around age 2, preschoolers begin to master pragmatics. Presence of sibling helps. Presence of sibling helps. Adapt language to social expectations by age 4 Adapt language to social expectations by age 4 Telephone talk improves significantly from ages 4 to 8. Telephone talk improves significantly from ages 4 to 8. Take turns, be clear, pay attention Take turns, be clear, pay attention

40. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Supporting Language Learning in Early Childhood Recasts: restructuring incorrect speech into correct form Expansions: elaborating on children’s speech © Nyul | Dreamstime.comNyulDreamstime.com

41. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Supporting Language Learning in Early Childhood Expansions: elaborating on children’s speech Role of adults: Listening attentively Listening attentively Elaborating on what children say Elaborating on what children say Modeling correct usage Modeling correct usage Stimulating children to talk further Stimulating children to talk further © Nyul | Dreamstime.comNyulDreamstime.com