1. Midterm 1 November 13, @ 18:30-20 Places to be announced later
Midterm covers modules 1-8 and 15

2. Infancy and Childhood Physical/Motor Development Cognitive Development
Module 8
Infancy and Childhood
Physical/Motor Development
Cognitive Development
For specific periods of life – we will talk about physical, cogntive and social development (changes).

3. Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development
The brain is immature at birth
As the child matures, the neural networks grow increasingly more complicated
Rapid growth is observed coordination (maturation)
in the frontal lobes
Association areas are the last areas to develop
Developing brain also enables physical coordination
At birth
3 months
15 months
Cortical Neurons
From infancy on – neural hardware and cognitive software develop at the same time.
Neural networks get complex ---
At the same time association areas within the cortex develop – enabling thinking, memory and language formation.
Even though most of the brain cells (nurons) are formed when you are born ---- they were not connected to each other.
Connections of neurons – neural networks – occur through sitmulation.
Esp. Development in the frontal lobe --- rational planning, abstract thinking etc.
Lack of these neural connections actually explain why we have difficulty in remembering our early memories.

4. Infancy and Childhood: Physical Development
Maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in physical coordination & behavior
Sit, stand, walk, run  maturation of the cerebellum
relatively uninfluenced by experience, the sequence of motor/physical devepment is universal.
This biological growth is called maturation.
Cannot perform some of the acts – if not have the hardware developed.
That is why there is in order in many of our processes.
Stand – walk –run --- maturation oıf the nervous system , strength of the neurons etc.
Say nouns first – than adjectives – than build sentences.
Severe deprivation at these stages will retard development
Identical twins usually start sitting up and walking on the same day.
there are individual differences but experience has a limited effect. 4

5. During the First Year Rolls over at 3 months
Sits without support at 6 months
Stands alone at about 11 months
Walks at just over one year old

6. Prop up to get a stronger back6

7. Sit up without support 7

8. Crawling 8

9. Standing supported 9

10. Standing unsupported 10

11. Cruising 11

12. Walking 12

13. Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

14. What is the driving force of cognitive development? Jean Piaget
Mind develops through a series of stages
Cognitive capacity develops through children’s constant trials to make sense of the world.
Mind develops using schemas
a concept or mental framework that organizes and interprets information/experiences
E.g. Animal, dog, love etc.
Famous psychologist who studied children’s cognitive development in 1920s.
Children think /process in different ways than adults.
Children’s cognitive abilities develop through a sequence- a series of stages.
This capacity changes, develops through children’s constant trials to make sense of the world.
Schemas:
mental representations of the world that guide the processes of assimilation and accommodation

15. Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development, J. Piaget
Concept of Assimilation
New cognitive elements are fitted in with old elements or modified to fit more easily
Concept of Accommodation
Restructuring cognitive structures and building new schemas so that new information can fit into them more easily
Our congition develops through creating and differentiating schemas.
Create mental representations of the world and mental adaptations to new observations and experiences.
Assimilation –
New experiences are fitted into already existing schemas.
Accommodation
May sometimes need to change the already existing schemas or form new scemas to incorporate new information
adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

16. Assimilation --- all four legged animals are dogs.
Accomodation – differentiate between dogs and cats.

17. Infancy and Childhood: Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Typical Age
Range
Description
of Stage
Developmental
Phenomena
Birth to nearly 2 years
Sensorimotor
Experiencing the world through
senses and actions (looking,
touching, mouthing)
Object permanence
Stranger anxiety
About 2 to 6 years
About 7 to 11 years
About 12 through
adulthood
Preoperational
Representing things
with words and images
but lacking logical reasoning
Egocentrism
Language development
Concrete operational
Thinking logically about concrete
events; grasping concrete analogies
and performing arithmetical operations
Conservation
Mathematical transformations
Formal operational
Abstract reasoning
Abstract logic
Potential for moral reasoning
Sensorimotor --- experience the world through sensory and motor interactions with objects.
Looking, touching, smelling, tasting etc.
Preoperational – up until school age.
Too young to perform mental operations.
Are egocentric. Can see things from others’ perspectives.
That is why when they hide behind a curtain, they think you also don’t see you.
I don’t see you – I am also invisible.
Stand between you and the TV --- because think that since he can see the TV, you should be as well.

18. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years old)
Key developmental phenomon is
Object permanence (7-9 months).
The awareness that an object continues to exist even when you cannot see or touch it.
Sensorimotor --- experience the world through sensory and motor interactions with objects.
Looking, touching, smelling, tasting etc.
Live in the present: out of sight is out of mind.
Key developmental phenomenon:
Object permanence (7-9 months).
The understanding that an object continues to exist even when you cannot see or touch it.

19. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years old)
Children cannot grasp the concept of conservation.
Understanding that quantities of objects can remain the same even when their shape changes
Preoperational – up until school age.
Too young to perform mental operations.
Are egocentric. Can not see things from others’ perspectives.
That is why when they hide behind a curtain, they think you also don’t see you.
I don’t see you – I am also invisible.
Stand between you and the TV --- because think that since he can see the TV, you should be as well.
Egocentrism:
Allowed to view diorama (3 mountain experiment) from all sides
Seated on one side; doll on opposite side
Shown pictures from various perspectives and asked to identify how things would look to doll
Chose view corresponding to their own point of view
Theory of mind video.
Although egocentric – preschoolers begin forming a theory of mind.
All people are individual beings.
They have their own personalities /minds.
Then can understand what made a playmate sad, mommy angry etc. Also learn how to make parents buy a toy.
Learn how others brain work – and develop strategies. ,
A problem that is observed at this stage – autism – when children fail to develop communication and social relations.
Have difficulty inferring others’ thoughts and feelings.

20. Conservation
the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
Can grasp the meaning of conservation
Change in shape does not mean change in quantity.
Fully gain the mental ability to comprehend mathematical operations.

21. Conservation of Number
Two identical rows of coins
One row is rearranged
“Do the two rows have the same number of coins?”
Fully gain the mental ability to comprehend mathematical operations.

22. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years old)
Children cannot grasp the concept of conservation.
Egocentrism:
Seeing the world from only your point of view; the inability to take someone else’s perspective.
Begin forming a Theory of Mind:
People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states – (thoughts, emotions and beliefs) and that these may be distinct
People with autism have an imparied theory of mind.

23. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years old)
Can understand conservation
Loss of egocentric thinking
Begin to reason logically, categorize objects, but they cannot fully handle abstract reasoning

24. Formal Operations Stage (12 years to adulthood)
Abstract and hypothetical thinking (imagined realities and symbols)
Reason about situations not personally experienced
Search systematically for solutions to problems
e.g., If John is in school, then Mary is in school. John is in school. What can you say about Mary?
Abstract and hypothetical thinking
Understand that ideas can be compared and classified
Reason about situations not personally experienced
Search systematically for solutions to problems

25. Infants may be smarter than Piaget’s conclusions indicate
Baby Mathematics – 5 months
Shown a numerically impossible outcome, infants stare longer (Wynn, 1992)
1. Objects placed
in case.
2. Screen comes
up.
3. Object is removed.
4. Impossible outcome:
Screen drops, revealing
two objects.
4. Possible outcome:
one object.
Today’s researchers see development as more continuous
Infants saw a sequence of events that illustrated addition or subtraction.
Then they saw a correct or incorrect outcome (2-1=2, for example).
The infant looked longer at outcomes that were incorrect.

26. Contemporary Perspectives on Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Cognitive development is probably more continuous
The beginnings of each type of thinking emerge at earlier ages
Social and Cultural Influences
Role of social interactions in cognitive development.
Stimulation, schooling
Cultural differences in Piaget’s stages.
Still, it is helpful for practitioners to think about the stages of cognitive development when dealing with young children
Children are not passive receipients of info.