1. Topic 1 Development Assessment Revision

2. Topic 1 Development Assessment 1
Lesson objectives:
To complete an assessment on Developmental psychology
Revision tips:
Practice repeating or writing out the key information.
Get a partner to test you on the key words.
Read over your notes from lessons to revise the key points.
What do I need to revise:
Early Brain development Pg4
Piagets stages of development and their role in education. Pg5-7.
Piagets theory of cognitive development: Pg 8-9
Piagets Three mountain task pg16-19
Dwecks Mindset Theory and the effects on development.
Gunderrson et al pg20-23

4. Brain
The organ in your head made up of nerves that processes information and controls behaviour
Forebrain
The anterior part of the brain, including the hemispheres and the central brain structures
Midbrain
The middle section of the brain forming part of the central nervous system
Hindbrain
The lower part of the brain that includes the cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata
Anterior
Directed towards the front, when used in relation to our biology
Posterior
Directed towards the back, when used in relation to our biology
Cerebellum
An area of the brain near to the brainstem that controls motor movements (muscle activity)
Medulla oblongata
Connects the upper brain to the spinal cord and controls automatic responses
Involuntary response
A response to a stimulus that occurs without someone making a conscious choice. They are automatic such as reflexes
Neural connections
Links formed by messages passing from one nerve cell (neuron) to another

5. Piaget’s 4 stages of development
The way babies use their senses and movements
Operations - how we reason and think about things

6. Key terms
Cognitive
Thinking, including problem solving, perceiving, remembering, using language and reasoning
Operations
How we reason and think about things
Object permanence
Knowing something exists even if it is out of sight
Symbolic play
Children play using objects and ideas to represent other objects and ideas
Egocentrism
Unable to see the world from any other viewpoint but one’s own
Animism
Believing that objects that are not alive can behave as if they are alive
Centration
Focusing on one feature of a situation and ignoring other relevant features
Irreversibility
Not understanding that an action can be reversed to return to the original state

7. Piaget’s explanation of understanding the world
Piaget said that children develop through adaptation - using assimilation and accommodation to make sense of the world.
They develop their thinking through schemas (plans or frameworks) - schemas are the mental structures around which children can build their knowledge and understanding.

8. Key words Schema/Schemata
Mental representations of the world based on one’s own experiences. The plural of schema is ‘schemata’ though ‘schemas’ can also be used and is more common
Adaptation
Using assimilation and accommodation to make sense of the world
Assimilation
Incorporating new experiences to existing schemas
Accommodation
When a schema has to be changed to deal with a new experience
Equilibrium
When a child’s schemas can explain all that they experience; a state of mental balance

9. Strengths and weaknesses of Piaget’s theory
Piaget’s work has practical applications. For example Discovery learning (the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring).
Some studies have shown that children can do things earlier than Piaget thought, which challenges his ideas.
A child’s background could influence their development and Piaget ignored this. For example Dasen (1994) found that Aboriginal children develop the ability to conserve at a later date than Piaget’s Swiss sample.
Piaget’s research has lead to lots of other research, including experiments (e.g. the three mountains task), to prove the stages he said exist and that children build knowledge through schemas.
Piaget’s data comes from his interviews and observations with children. His interpretations of situations may have been subjective, leading to some bias in his findings.
Piaget’s studies may lack validity, other studies using similar methods but in a more realistic setting have produced different findings.

10. AIM: Three mountain study
To look at the extent to which children of different ages were able to take the view of another person
Children's overall system of putting together a number of different views of what they see.

11. Conclusion Provided evidence for developmental stages.
Showed children in the pre-operational stage were egocentric.
Showed children in concrete operational stage could take a different view from their own.
Make sure you know the aims, procedure, results conclusion, results and evaluation.

13. Key words
Mindset
A set of beliefs someone has that guides how someone responds to or interprets a situation
Ability
What someone can do, such as maths ability or ability to play tennis. Dweck suggests ability can be seen as either fixed and innate or as able to be improved
Effort
When you try to do better using determination
Fixed mindset
Believing your abilities and fixed and unchangeable
Growth mindset
Believing practice and effort can improve your abilities

14. Aim Gunderson et al (2013)
The researchers wanted to know whether:
Children are affected by different types of parent praise given in a natural setting.
Parents give girls less process praise and more person praise than boys
Parents’ use of process or person praise in early childhood influences the child’s view later on

15. Conclusion Gunderson et al (2013)
The researchers wanted to know whether:
Children are affected by different types of parent praise given in a natural setting.
Parents give girls less process praise and more person praise than boys
Parents’ use of process or person praise in early childhood influences the child’s view later on

16. Conclusions
A clear relationship was found between parents’ use of process praise and a child’s later use of and incremental motivational framework (ability being changeable). However the study’s aims were only partially supported as no link was found between parental use of person praise and a entity motivational framework (ability is fixed).
The researchers found that boys received more process praise than girls (boys were praised more for effort and strategy) so there are gender differences in the way each gender is praised.
Also boys tended to have more incremental frameworks than girls, which fits with the findings of other studies that girls tend to attribute failure to ability more than boys do.

17. Evaluation
This study (which was done in a natural setting, in the child’s home) supports Dweck’s study (which was done in an experimental setting). Therefore findings from two different methods - experiment and observation - support one and another and the theory itself. 
Parents may have changed the way they behaved because they were being observed. They may have changed the way they praised their child because they were being watched. The data, therefore, might not be natural, and so may lack validity. 

18. Key words.
Framework
A basic understanding of ideas and facts that is used when making decisions
Person praise
Someone praises the individual rather than what they are doing
Process praise
Someone praises what is being done, not the individual
Entity theory/ motivational framework
A belief that behaviour or ability results from a person’s nature
Incremental theory/motivational framework
A belief that effort drives behaviour and ability, which can change
Ecological validity
The extent to which the findings still explain the behaviour in real life situations