1.3 theoretical perspectives in lifespan development

Jean piaget

stages of development focus in changes in thinking that children from infancy through adolescence experience via maturation

Maturation

leaned on nature side of debate, the older a child is the more they understand the world

schemes

organized pattern of behavior, reflex to behavior based on experience, building blocks for cognitive functioning

adaptation

accommodation creates and reshapes cognitive structures of schema which helps assimilate new knowledge, interacting with environment influence schemes,

assimilation

operate in environment from existing mental structures or ideas, integrating new knowledge to exsisting schemas

accommodation

mental representations change in response to learning and interacting with our environment

Piaget’s cognitive stages

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

sensorimotor

birth and 2 years, understand their world as physical interactions/ representations. things that can be touches or thrown, chewing

preoperational period

2 and 7 years old, understand world as symbols and physical actions. gestures and imagery, waving

concrete operational period

7 and 11 years old, mental operations; internalized abstract and reversible actions. stimulations on mental model and manipulated freely categorizing flowers

formal operational period

11 and 15 years, ability to perform mental operations and expand scope of content of operations. evaluating likelihood of something represented by mental operation and comparing them

constructivism

piaget, learning/ building process Childs internal model or reality, absorbing knowledge, moral behavior, religious ideals and non egocentric ideas. consequences and motivations for behaving morally

lev vygotsky

knowledge and culture is constructed in individuals immediate social environments and shaped and interpret by individuals use of language. students accomplish in conjunction with teachers guidance

children younger than 7 shown row of squares and circles of equal quality, first identified they were equal quality, when squares made a longer row children thought more squares

because of lack of reversible mental operations developed in concrete operational stage

experiment with 5 asters and 2 tulips, children under 8 claimed more asters than flowers

can not yet categorize the world into schemas of related objects and concepts

teachers approach should follow students search for invariant rules

not heavy handed approach where they walk students through rules or become detached from students development

information-processing theory

likens the human brain to computer, humans manipulate information, not connected to any stages

ethological theories

biological focusing on animal behavior, Konrad Lorenz. geese imprinting whoever is there when the geese hatch they follow

bromfenbrenner

5 systems that influence environmental development. chronosystem, macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, microsystem

chronosystem

historical changes over time

macrosystem

cultural values and laws

exosystem

parents workplace

mesosystem

connections between microsystems

microsystem

family and schools