1. Early Childhood Cognitive Development: Chapter 9
Adapted from PowerPoint Slides developed by
Martin Wolfger and Michael James
Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington
Reviewed by Raquel Henry
Lone Star College, Kingwood
Human Development & Learning

2. Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

3. The Imagination of a 3 ½ year old.
3 ½ years old

4. Piaget and Vygotsky Piaget: Preoperational Thought
Preoperational means “before (pre) logical operations (reasoning processes).”
The child’s verbal ability permits symbolic thinking.
Language frees the child from the limits of sensorimotor experience.

5. 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

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

7. Conservation Task <Video

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

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

10. Piaget and Vygotsky
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)-Vygotsky’s term for the skills—cognitive as well as physical—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.

11. Vgotsky’s theory
Social constructivist: emphasized the role of social relationships in the construction of knowledge and skills.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
Scaffolding
3-year old cooks soup <Video link
Within this framework, how would we evaluate children’s abilities? How would we teach?

12. 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.

13. Vgotsky and language
Children don’t just use language to communicate with others, but to help them work out problems.
Speech used for self-regulation is called private speech.
Children must transition (3-7) from external to internal private speech.
Private speech is effective in working through difficult problems, in maintain attention to a problem, and in improving performance.

14. Children’s Theories
Theory-theory- The idea that children attempt to explain everything they see and hear using theories
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 is seldom achieved before age 4.
Add Brain and Context?

15. Theory of mind
T.O.M.: Awareness of one’s own mental processes and that of others.
2-3 years: Children begin to understand 1) perception, 2) emotions and 3) desire and can apply them to others.
4-5 years: Children begin to understand that people can hold false beliefs.
Children often do not realize that mental activity is occurring in the absence of physical inactivity (reading, thinking).
Beyond 5, kids start to understand that the mind is active. Beliefs can be false grows into, there can be multiple interpretations of one thing.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. Language

19. 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 emphasis—all 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.

20. 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

21. Information processing
Focuses on limitations and advancement in children’s ability to attend to the environment, to remember, to develop strategies, to understand their own mental processes and others.

22. Attention
Ability to pay attention improves throughout preschool, however, control of attention is still developing and subject to limitations.
Salient v. relevant dimensions
In early childhood, children are often distracted by dimensions of stimuli that stand out to them.
By 6 or 7, the ability to redirect to relevant dimensions has improved.
Planfulness: Preschoolers lack the ability to systematically consider strategies before making a judgment.
Poor attention regulation is related to peer-rejection and aggressive behavior. Why?

23. Memory What factors contribute to this increase?
Short term memory: AKA working memory
5-7 items (depends largely on time it takes to rehearse)
Can be held for about 30 minutes, or indefinitely with rehearsal
Short-term memory increases during early childhood:
2-3 year olds: 2 digits
7-year old: 5 digits
Between 7-13, there is little improvement: 5-7
What factors contribute to this increase?

24. Memory Long-term memory: Memories that can be stored indefinitely.
Children recall events with increasing detail.
Are there limits to this?
Centration: What is important to them might not be what is important to you.
Suggestibility

25. Vgotsky and education Assess Zone of Proximal Development.
Start at the upper end of the child’s ZPD and decrease assistance as the child becomes more independently able.
Use more-skilled peers as teachers.
Monitor and encourage private speech
Place instruction in a meaningful context.
Do we do these things?

26. Piaget and education Children will learn largely on their own.
Education merely refines skills that children already possess.
Piaget vs. Vgotsky
P would say cognition directs language.
V would say that language often shapes cognition.
P would say we learn b/c we develop.
V would say that we develop b/c we learn.

27. Early Childhood Education
Child-Centered Programs
Stress children’s 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 child’s creativity in a carefully designed setting.

28. Early Childhood Education Models at Work
Inside a Montessori Classroom
Direct Instruction
Whole Brain Learning
Math Dialogue (Vgotsky's Principles)
^These are all video links.

29. 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.

30. 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 children’s intelligence; ten years later, early gains were said to fade.