1. Cognitive and Physical Development (Chapter 12)
Second Lecture Outline:
Jean Piaget’s stage theory
Other models
Videotape on preschool cognition (Magna M19)

2. Concrete operational stage
Age 7 until 12; children can manipulate internal representations
Conservation of liquid quantity experiment: children now pass
Conservation of volume: Flubber or silly-putty
“Concrete” because physical demonstrations are needed

3. Formal-operational stage
11 or 12 years of age onward; children can manipulate abstract concepts
Second-order relations: They can understand relationships between relations, e.g., division and multiplication are opposite
Algebra, geometry, ven-diagrams

4. Problems with Piaget’s theory
Development is really continuous, e.g., reading skill
Failing tasks may be because of complexity of materials
Ages may not be accurate
Adults do not always show formal operations: errors in logic are common
Largely biological

5. Lev Vygotsky

6. Vygotsky: Russian psychologist
Environment is critical: children internalize what they see and experience
Zone of proximal development
Capacity
Ability
Ability
Effective teaching
Effective parenting
Mediated learning

7. ZPD for physical activity

8. Information processing approaches
There is gradual change in our ability to process information
Attention Short term memory Long term memory
Changes in encoding, e.g., metamemory, strategy use, metacognition
An advantage is that the model is not domain specific
Maturation and environment important

9. Cognition in later years
Decrease in fluid and increase in crystallized intelligence
Overall changes in information processing, but no net deficits
Wisdom: Insight into human development and life
Greater awareness of what you do not know
Neural plasticity after strokes
Degeneration in Alzheimer’s