1. Do Now
What are some of the pros and cons of starting very young children in educational opportunities?

2. Physical and Cognitive Development
Unit 9: Developmental
Physical and Cognitive Development

3. Physical Development - Brain
on the day you were born you had most of the brain cells you will ever have
right after birth branching neural networks that eventually allow us to walk, talk, and remember have a huge growth spurt
from ages 3-6 rapid growth in frontal lobes (rational planning)
EX: this explains why preschoolers start to control their attention and behavior
association areas (thinking, memory, language) are the last to develop

4. Continued as the association areas grow mental abilities grow
pathways supporting language and agility grow until puberty and then the excess connections shut down and strengthen others this is known as the pruning process
Maturation
sets the basic course of development, experience adjusts it
EX: reading more picture books my speed up development

5. Physical Development - Motor
for the most part the motor development sequence is universal (roll, sit , crawl, walk)
timing is individualistic

6. Physical Development - Memory
we seldom recall memories that happen before our third birthday. Reason for this being is that areas involved with memory like the hippocampus and the frontal lobe are continuing to mature even through adolescents
Earliest conscious memory = 3.5 years

7. Cognitive Development
Cognition
all the mental activates associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Jean Piaget
Major player in developmental psych
Core idea is that our intellectual progress is a result of our struggle to make sense of our experiences

8. The Maturing Mind
Schemas: are concepts, mental groups of how we organize information
Assimilate: Interpret new info based on concepts we already know
Accommodate: we adjust our concepts to include new info

10. Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development
Children progress through 4 stages
Sensorimotor stage (0-2) – experience world with their 5 senses
Develop object permanence around 9 months
Knowledge that an object is still there even if covered up
Preoperational stage (2-7) – develop language and symbolic thinking
Egocentrism: can only see the world from their perspective
Lack concept of conservation
knowledge that quantity can remain the same when shape or other properties change
Concrete operational stage (7-12) – develop ability to think in a more logical manner
Formal Operational stage (12+) – characterized by abstract reasoning
Approach problems systematically…ruling out possibilities along the way

12. Today Read and discuss Autism on pgs.424-425 Quiz you knowledge Qs 1-4
Begin HW
HW= Qs #5-8 (Social Development)