1. Intellectual Development of the Preschooler
Unit 4: Preschoolers

2. How Preschool Children Learn
Piaget’s 2nd stage = preoperational change
1. Preconceptional Substage
Children ages two to four are beginning to develop some concepts
Children are able to form a mental image of what they see around them
However, many of these concepts are incomplete or illogical
Children may see different members of the same group as identical, such as all collies as Lassie.

3. 2. Intuitive Substage
Children sometimes are able to grasp a problem’s solution by how they feel about it.
Children base their solutions on “feeling” their way through problems rather than on logic.
For example, a child standing on the ladder of a slide may say to his or her parent, “I’m taller than you,” because he or she can see over the parent's head. The intuitive preschooler doesn't use logic, such as “I may look taller, but my feet are higher than my parent’s feet; thus I am still shorter than my parent.”

4. Obstacles to Logical Thinking
Most children are still egocentric
Egocentrism = the belief a person has that everyone thinks in the same way and has the same ideas as he or he does.
Egocentrism, in this sense, does not mean children are selfish or too concern with themselves

5. New Abilities Emerge
Symbolic Play
Mental Images
Drawing
Language

6. Symbolic Play Pretend Games
They change things in some way or ways from the real world or dreams
Objects may stand for anything the child wants
Roles may change, too, as the child can take on adult or even animal roles
Leaf = plate
Stuffed Bear = child

7. What is she “playing?”

8. What are they “playing?”

9. Mental Images
Mental Images = Symbols of objects and past experiences that are stored in the mind.
1. Private and Internalized (thought about only)
2. Mental images are not exact copies of real objects and experiences, but they do relate to the real world.
For example….

10. What mental images do you have when you hear the following words?

11. CAT

13. THUNDERSTORM

16. FLOWER

20. KENTUCKY

24. Drawing Preschool children no longer scribble
They now attempt to draw objects and depict their world through drawings
Preschoolers intend their drawings to be realistic
They draw what they think or know about a person, not what is visually accurate
For example: a side view of a goldfish in a drawing may show both eyes and even a smiling mouth. Drawing is a step between symbolic play and mental images
Preschoolers draw first then decide what their pictures represent
As children get older, they decide what to draw, form a mental image then draw!

27. Language Spoken words are symbols used to represent something.
Words are also more abstract (do not relate to what they represent) compared with many other symbols.
For example, the word car does not look, sound, or move like a car.
Once language abilities develop, the child can exchange ideas with others and thus learn!
Children can also think with words!
Thinking is faster using words compared with actions, too!

28. What Preschool Children Learn
Concepts Children Learn
Physical Attributes
Logical Thinking Concepts
Classifying Objects
Arranging by Size
Understanding Number Concepts
Understanding Spatial Concepts
Understanding Time Concepts
Cause and Effect

29. Physical Attributes Preschool children develop concepts about: Size
Shape
Color
Texture
Etc.

30. 1. The child may not note the object’s most important features
Preschool children are limited in their thinking about physical attributes.
1. The child may not note the object’s most important features
For example, the child must note a zebra’s stripes to distinguish it from a horse. If the child notes the zebra’s ears, this will not help, horses have similar ears.
2. Preschoolers tend to look at parts of an object, they cannot always mentally “see the whole object.
For example…

33. Classifying Objects
Classifying = the ability to choose an attribute and group all the objects from a set

34. Arranging by Size
Often preschool children cannot arrange objects by increasing or decreasing size, weight, or volume.

35. Understanding Number Concepts
Many preschoolers can count.
However, counting does not show they understand numbers.
For example, a child may be able to count to five, but they may not be able to count out five apples. 1 3 5 2 4

36. Understanding Number Concepts
Once they can count objects successfully, preschoolers still do not completely understand number concepts.
It also requires seeing relationships!
Unlike each object that has its own name, numbers refer to groups. The number does not really refer to just the last object named; but also to the entire group.
Thus, a child must mentally see that one is in two and two is in three!

37. Understanding Number Concepts
Preschoolers really struggle with number concepts such as:
Less
Few
Many
Some

38. Understanding Spatial Concepts
Preschool children understand the words: Up
Down
Left
Right
Under
Over
Here
There

39. Understanding Spatial Concepts
However, until about age five years, preschoolers may not know what is on the other side of a wall in their own homes!

40. Understanding Spatial Concepts
Preschool children also draw they think about space rather than what they see.
Learning left and right from another’s perspective is hard– especially if the person is facing them!
Allowing a child to help set the table, helps them learn these concepts!

42. Understanding Time Concepts
Preschoolers can recall the recent past
Yesterday is recalled but a week or a year ago may be forgotten.
Children link time to events, such as time to eat lunch.
They cannot see time passing.
Morning, afternoon, and seasonal changes are gradual.
For these reasons, time concepts are hard to understand
They are among the last concepts to develop!

43. Cause and Effect Preschoolers try to understand cause and effect
They ask questions to try to understand
“What causes the rain?”
“What will happen to my dead fish?”

44. Cause and Effect
Preschoolers may assign human qualities to nonhumans, such as plants, animals and objects.
Sometimes they use this to avoid being punished and they say, “My teddy bear left my toys outside!”
Sometimes preschoolers reverse cause and effect. They may say, “Because I’m staying in bed, I am ill.”

45. Language Abilities Increased
Due to egocentrism, sometimes preschoolers do not communicate all the needed information when speaking with others.
They may begin their story in the middle rather than the beginning because they think the listener already knows the beginning!
“She is eating!” Preschoolers assume you know who “she” is. 

46. Articulation of Preschoolers
Most toddlers have some problems making all the sounds in their spoken language.
In the English language, children master sound between ages three and eight years.

47. Age Sound Word Examples
3 Years M N P H W
monkey, hammer, broom, nails, penny, lion, pig, happy, cup hand, doghouse, window, bowl
4 Years B K G F
boat, baby, tub, cat, chicken, book, girl, wagon, pig, fork, telephone, knife
5 Years Y NG D
yellow, onion, fingers, ring, dog, ladder, bed
90% of all preschool children master these sound by the given age!

48. Vocabulary of Preschoolers
3 years = 900 words
4 years = 1,500 words
5 years = 2,000 words

49. Grammar of the Preschooler
Sentence structure becomes much more complex
Do not seem to notice proper word order

50. Grammar at
Three Years
Four and Five Years
The -ing verb ending used.
Rolling, Falling
Past tense for regular verbs (-ed) used.
Rolled, Walked
Past tense for some irregular verbs.
Sank, ate
The –s for making plural used.
Cars, dolls
The –’s for possessive used.
Bob’s, Daddy’s
Longer, more complex sentences
Lengthen their sentences by using clauses, conjunctions, and prepositions.
May still find the word order of questions confusing.

51. Thinking Further…
Why do adults sometimes confuse preschoolers’ egocentrism with selfishness? What, if anything, might an adult say or do to help these children develop a less egocentric point of view?
How can a preschool teacher who has many dramatic play, art and literature/language activities justify these intellectual and not “just play” activities?