2. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Cognition: all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Jean Piaget ( )
Piaget DID NOT believe that a child’s mind was a mini-adult mind
Believed that cognitive development is shaped by errors; a struggle to make sense of our experiences as children

3. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Jean Piaget’s Terminology:
1) Schema: a mental representation or map of the environment or world based on experience.
A concept or framework that organizes & interprets information
Mental molds into which we pour our experiences so that the maturing brain can continually build upon concepts
Example: If Bob points to a picture of an apple and tells his child, “that’s an apple,” the child forms a schema for “apple” that looks something like the picture
2) Assimilation: an attempt to integrate new information into an existing schema.
Interpreting a new experience in terms of an existing schema
Example: Bob’s child might see an orange & say “apple” because both objects are round
3) Accommodation: the modification of an existing schema into a new one.
The process of adjusting/modifying a schema
Example: When Bob corrects his child, the child might alter the schema for apple to include “round” and “red”

4. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.

5. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.

6. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Sensorimotor Stage
Birth to 2 years
Description of Stage
The use of senses & motor abilities to learn about the world/ interact with objects in the environment
Developmental Phenomena
Object Permanence (unfolds gradually)
The awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived
Critical step in developing language & abstract thought
Stranger Anxiety
Fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
Separation Anxiety
Anxiety displayed by infants when they are separated from their caregiver.

7. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Sensorimotor Stage

8. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Sensorimotor Stage
Criticisms of Stage
Piaget believed that children in the sensorimotor stage are incapable of thinking – no abstract concepts or ideas
Recent research suggests that children in the sensorimotor stage can both think and count
Babies can…
Understand basic laws of physics
“Count” (Karen Wynn)

9. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Sensorimotor Stage

10. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Preoperational Stage
2 to 7 years
Description of Stage
Children learn to use language as a means of exploring the world; however, they are not yet capable of logical thought
Too young to perform mental operations; lack conservation
Conservation: understanding that despite an apparent change in size/shape/length, the substance remains constant. (this understanding occurs toward the end of the preoperational stage)

11. Examples of Conservation

12. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Preoperational Stage
Developmental Phenomena
Pretend Play
Animism: the belief that inanimate objects share human characteristics, such as feelings.
Artificialism: the belief that events of nature are man-made
Egocentrism: understanding the world through the child’s own perspective; the inability to see the world through another’s perspective. Only apparent for first few years of this stage; research shows that by around age five the child should no longer be egocentric.
Example
“John, do you have a brother?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his name?”
“Jim.”
“Does Jim have a brother?”
“No.”

13. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Preoperational Stage
Theory of Mind
4 to 5 years
People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states – about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict
Seek to understand…
Why their playmate is angry…
Why their sibling will share…
Why their parent would buy a toy…

14. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Preoperational Stage
Theory of Mind
Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states — beliefs, intents, desires, emotions, knowledge, etc to oneself, and to others, and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one's own.
A child without theory of mind, would assume that Sally…
A child with theory of mind, would assume that Sally…

15. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Preoperational Stage
Criticisms of Stage
Judy DeLoache (1987) found that children as young as 3 are able to use mental operations & think symbolically
When shown a model of a dog’s hiding place, a 2 ½-year-old could not locate the stuffed dog in an actual room, but a three year old could…

16. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Concrete Operational Stage
7 to 11 years
Description of Stage
Children become capable of logical thought processes; physical, concrete, touchable reality; lack abstract thinking
Developmental Phenomena
Conservation
Reversible thinking
Mathematical transformation
Seriation: the process of putting objects into a series (smallest to largest) or putting objects that share similar characteristics (such as color or size) into the same category.
Reversibility: understanding that concepts can be reversed and remain the same.
Developmental Limitations
Abstract thinking
Freedom, peace, love, etc.

17. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Formal Operational Stage
12 years to adulthood
Description of Stage
The adolescent becomes capable of abstract thinking
Developmental Phenomena
Abstract logic
Hypothetical thinking
“If women were in charge of countries, would there be fewer wars?
Potential for mature moral reasoning

18. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Formal Operational Stage
12 years to adulthood
Description of Stage
The adolescent becomes capable of abstract thinking
Developmental Phenomena
Abstract logic
Hypothetical thinking
“If women were in charge of countries, would there be fewer wars?
Potential for mature moral reasoning
Personal Fable: an individual’s belief that he or she is invincible and will not be harmed in any instance; he or she also believes that his or her ideas and opinions are unique.
-the term “personal fable” was first coined by David Elkind, not Jean Piaget. However, because personal fable is displayed during adolescence, Piaget’s formal operational stage, it is important to note it here.
Imaginary Audience: the belief that everybody is looking at one, who is on a stage for others to see.
-the term “imaginary audience” was also coined by David Elkind. However, because it is displayed during adolescence, Piaget’s formal operational stage, it is noted here.

19. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Globally influential; however, today’s researchers believe the following…
Development is a continuous process
Children express their mental abilities & operations at an earlier age
Formal logic is a smaller part of cognition

20. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Lev Vygotsky ( )
Stressed the importance of social interactions with other people, especially highly skilled children or adults, in the child’s cognitive development
Proposed that one’s cognitive functioning is influenced by one’s culture. It is this interaction that produces a culturally specific way of thinking (cognition). A child can learn more difficult tasks at an earlier age than was proposed by Piaget if he or she has the aid of someone older.

21. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Lev Vygotsky ( )
Scaffolding
Process in which a more skilled learner gives help to a less skilled learner, reducing the amount of help as the less skilled learner becomes more capable
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
The difference between what a child can do alone and what the child can do with the help of a teacher

22. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Lev Vygotsky ( )
Example
If Jenny can do math problems at a 4th grade level on her own, but can work up to a 6th grade level with the help of a teacher, her ZPD is two years
If Suzy can do math problems at a 4th grade level on her own, but can work up to a 5th grade level with the help of a teacher, her ZPD is one year – not as great as Jenny’s

23. 47.1 – Describe how a child’s mind develops from the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers.
Lev Vygotsky ( )

24. 47.2 – Explain how autism spectrum disorder affects development.
Autism Spectrum Disorder: a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.
ASD is caused by poor communication among brain regions that normally work together. People with ASD are said to have an impaired theory of mind.