ed psych midterm 2026

four main domains of human development

• physical (body changes)

• personal (identity and personality changes)

• social (changes in relationships with others)

• cognitive (changes in thinking)

maturation

• occurs naturally, largely under genetic control (physical development)

  • but very influenced by the resources (ex: the availability of food → the child’s nutritional state)

  • cannot speed up (by good teaching) development beyond what is allowed by physical maturation

learning

• interactions with environment (social development)

• active exploration of environment (social and physical)

• social transmission (watching how others behave and being guided)

nature vs nurture

• genes expressed within an environment

  • neither nurture nor nature function by themselves

  • anything we do is the result of some interaction between heredity and the environment

• how heritable traits are expressed varies by culture and environment

principles of development

• people develop at different rates

  • expectations of specific ages → ages = guidelines (very wide variation around guidelines)

• development is orderly (more apparent with physical abilities)

• development is gradual

  • may have apparent backtracking (when skill isn’t fully in place → mistakes can be made)

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

• children think differently than adults (qualitative change)

• 2 basic tendencies:

  • organization: organize thoughts and behaviour into schemas (blueprints for what we expect things to be like)

  • adaptation: adjust to the environment (always improving schemas)

    • assimilation: assimilate info into existing schemas (new info that fits well into schema → strengthened)

    • accommodation: modify or create new schemas

    • equilibration: schema accurate → expectancy and experience match, requires assimilation and accommodation for balance

    • disequilibrium: mismatch of expectation and experience; uncomfortable

Piaget’s discrete stages of development

• sensorimotor (not covered)

• preoperational stage (2-6/7 years, JK - grade 2):

  • make-believe emerges at 2 (pretend play)

  • semiotic function: ability to think in symbols (numbers and language)

  • egocentric thought (not being able to take someone else’s perspective)

  • one-way logic → failure of conservation (ex: kid thinks cutting a sandwich gives them more)

• concrete operational (7-11 years, grades 3-6)

  • conservation

  • solve concrete problems in a logical manner (for concrete objects/actions, error with abstract ideas)

• formal operational (11 years →, grade 7 →):

  • abstract thought (problems, words, metaphors, satire)

  • transcend concrete situations (social issues, personal identity)

  • adolescent egocentrism (decreases after early adolescence, focus on own thoughts, feelings, concerns)

  • the imaginary audience (everyone’s watching and evaluating you)

implications of Piaget’s theory for education

• orderly, sequential development

• match development stages (instructions must match student’s developmental stage)

• students develop at different rates

• cognitive development is active (child must be actively encountering new info in their environment)

critiques of Piaget’s theory

• troubles with stages (abilities emerge at different times, development continuous → errors over a long period)

• underestimates ability (problem may be with task/instructions not the student)

• excludes cultural and social factors

Neo-Piagetians and info processing

• update stages by combining his ideas with modern info-processing science (brain maturation)

• development of executive function (ex: attention, working memory, planning, problem-solving)

  • mediated by the frontal, prefrontal cortex → last areas to mature

Vygotsky: sociocultural perspective

• 1) activities occur in a social and cultural context

• 2) social interaction is the source of cognitive development

  • ex: Genie - spent all her time in a single room, had no social interactions from a baby to 12 years old → didn’t develop cognitive abilities despite interventions (missed critical periods)

• 3) cognitive skills mediated by language; language is the critical skill

Vygotsky: co-construction

• mental processes are co-constructed:

  • individuals interact → jointly construct solution and knowledge

  • strategy to arrive at solution is social (sharing persectives) and then internalized

• learning involves acquisition and internalizatio of cultural tools (ex: cultural tools for problem solving such as calculators and abacus

Vygotsky: language as the cultural tool

• 1) language to communication with others

• 2) much of our thought is language-based

• 3) private speech guides thought and action

emergence of private speech

• 1) child’s behaviour guided by others

  • parent to child: “do not spill those on the floor”

• 2) child guides behaviour of others

  • child to child: “you no spill”

• 3) child guides own behaviour

  • child to self: “no spill”

progression of private speech

• 1) social communication with self, aloud

• 2) becomes whispers

• 3) silent with lip movements

• 4) internalized as inner speech

• may revert to whispering or lip movements if task is difficult

scaffolding

• older others provide scaffolding (support, guidance for problem-solving)

• co-constructing and internalization is essential for learning from older others

Vygotsky: assisted learning

• assisted learning: guided participation

• decreasing guidance (scaffolding) as ability develops

• goal is for the student to independently complete the task without any teacher help

Vygotsky: learning

• 1) social activity (depends on support from others)

• 2) expansion of zone of proximal development (ZPD):

  • gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance

• 3) language (cognitive development and social interaction mediated by language)

early maturing vs late maturing

• girls:

  • early - sexual activity, school achievement, drug and alcohol use, depression, anxiety, eating disorders

  • late - anxiety about development, fewer problems

• boys:

  • early - social skills, popularity, risk-taking

  • late - initial difficulties, creative, tolerant, perceptive

• issues:

  • cultural differences, limited mixed results, challenges greater for gender non-conforming/non-binary youth

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model

• behave and learn within specific contexts

• nested ecosystems

• relationships reciprocal

• the microsystem: immediate relationships and activities

• the mesosystem: among elements of the microsystems, affect the individuak

• the exosystem: all the systems, even if not direct member

• the macrosystem: societal, cultural elements

parenting styles

• authoritative parents:

  • clear, enforced rules

  • caring, supportive, expectations → high self-esteem, achievement

  • best outcomes

• authoritarian parents:

  • do as you’re told

  • no open affection, cold → low self-esteem, low performance, low self-control, hostile

• permissive (indulgent parents):

  • no guidance or discipline

  • warm, caring

  • leads to immature, self-centered, impulsive → aggressive

• rejecting/neglectful parents:

  • no discipline, no guidance

  • cold, unresponsive → low achievement, low social relationships, high aggression, high risky behaviour, insecure, withdrawn

attachment styles

• attachment: the strong, enduring emotional bond between infant and caregivers

• secure:

  • explore, easily comforted

  • needs appropriately met during early infancy and childhood

  • child feels world is a predictable place → safer

  • increased adjustment to school, independence, social interactions, achievement (children do much better in educational settings)

• insecure:

  • resistant:

    • little exploration → cling to caregiver instead

    • fear, distressed

  • disorganized (avoidant):

    • few signs of attachment (don’t react to caregiver leaving)

    • muted emotions

    • contradictory reactions

aggression

• instrumental: behaviour is to gain access to object/privilege

• hostile: to cause harm to another individual

  • overt - physical (ex: hitting, kicking)

  • relational - relationships (goal is to harm that person’s social and emotional relationships)

• aggressive is learned by family and media

• increased by negative state such as frustration, hunger, stress, physical distress, perceived unfairness

bullying

• grade 4-8:

  • 86% have seen someone bullied

  • at least half have been bullied once

  • 20% cyberbullied

• grade 7-8 - critical developmental age (bullying as a large impact on victim)

• relational bullying:

  • targets social relationships (social exclusion, rumours)

  • can be more damaging than overt + victims less likely to report (think it will make situation worse)

  • can be difficult to detect (teasing common in friends

Erikson’s 8 stages of psychosocial development

• each stage has a specific lasting impact that sticks and has a challenge/crisis that the individual is trying to resolve

• continuum with 2 extremes (most people end up in middle)

• preschool stages:

  • trust vs mistrust (birth - 1 ½): optimism/trust ←> pessimism/mistrust

  • autonomy vs shame and doubt (1 ½ - 3): self-confidence/self-control ←> self-doubt/shame

• initiative vs guilt (3-6):

  • if i do this, am I good or bad?

  • sensitive to modelling

  • child is gaining new abilities quickly and wants to explore

  • unruly, irresponsible ←> guilt, low self-esteem (ruled by concerns of everyone else, putting themselves last)

  • healthiest development is in middle

• industry vs inferiority (6-12):

  • am i competent?

  • focus of individual’s social life shifts from family → peers (requires acquisition of cultural tools so individual can integrate into peer group)

  • competence, self-assurance ←> inferiority, low self-esteem

  • in grades 5 and 6, relationship issues are common

• identity vs role confusion (adolescence → late adolescence/early 20s but some may never resolve):

  • who am i? where am i going?

  • stable self-concept, identity ←> unstable self-concept, confusion

  • adolescents may dramatically change things about themselves → for Erikson, this makes perfect sense as trying out different roles to see how well they fit may be required to find identity

identity

• sense of self

• development more complicated if both dominant culture and one’s own culture are explored

• racial/ethnic pride → better mental health, higher achievement, shorter moratorium

development of personal identity

• initial stage: identity diffusion

  • everyone starts here

  • no decision, not actively exploring aspects of self

• moratorium

  • undecided/in progress

  • exploring different options and trying out different things

• possible endpoints (Marcia):

  • identity foreclosure:

    • identity imposed on them

    • commit to goals, stable sense of self → no further exploration

    • tend to be rigid, intolerate, dogmatic (their views are absolute), low self-esteem

  • identity achievement:

    • made their own choices and now pursing them

    • healthy and comfortable → sense of self is congruent

  • could stay at identity diffusion stage:

    • external locus of control (what’s happening isn’t up to that person)

    • apathetic (no control → not caring about situation)

    • very susceptible to peer pressure/social isolation, low self-esteem

self-concept

• perspectives on ourselves

• cognitive - your self-concept is describing yourself

• general and specific (athletic, artistic, etc)

self-esteem

• evaluative/emotional reaction to our self-concept

• general and specific

• high self-esteem not always good:

  • realistic → achievement and well-being

  • unrealistically high → aggression/defensive if threatened, competitive, failure is damaging

development of self-concept and self-esteem

• school environment:

  • performance experience (ex: are children getting the right help when they’re unsure of how to do something?)

  • social interactions (ex: what do peers say? teachers?)

  • comparison (ex: students comparing marks after tests)

• grade 7-8, high school

  • decreased self-concept/self-esteem, decreased self-efficacy

  • increased link to appearance (more critical)

peer groups

• increasing importance (around age 6, industry vs inferiority)

• norms → rules how to dress, talk, look, interact, what to like

• cliques: small, friendship-based, member similarity, usually stable social environment, most important in grades 6-9

• crowds: loosely organized (ex: jocks, nerds), may/may not interact, association based on stereotypes, most important during early to middle adolescence

intelligence

the ability to acquire and use knowledge

Spearman’s hierarchical model

• general intelligence (g): an innate, single overarching factor that underlies all cognitive tasks and performance

• specific factors (s): narrow, unique skills tied strictly to individual, specific types of tasks (such as musical or mathematical proficiency)

Cattel-Horn-Carroll theory (CHC)

• Three-strata hierarchy:

  • stratum III (g): a single, general intelligence factor sits at the top of the hierarchy, influencing overall cognitive performance

  • stratum II (broad abilities): a middle tier containing around 10-16 broad cognitive domains that partition general intelligence into specific mental operations

    • Cattel-Horn:

      • fluid intelligence: intelligence as info processing, peaks late adolescence

      • crystallized intelligence: intelligence as use of acquired knowledge, increases throughout life

  • stratum I (narrow abilities): the bottom tier containing over 70-80 specific, highly focused skills tied directly to the broad domains

multiple intelligences: Gardner

1. logical-mathematical: reasoning, abstract thinking, calculations, and patterns

2. linguistic: effective use of language, reading, writing, and storytelling

3. visual-spatial: visualizing and mentally manipulating objects in 3D

4. musical: recognizing and creating rhythm, pitch, tone, and melody

5. bodily-kinesthetic: physical coordination, movement, and dexterity

6. interpersonal: understanding others’ emotions, motivations, and feelings

7. intrapersonal: understanding your own feelings, fears, and motivations

8. naturalist: identifying and classifying living things and natural patterns

9. existential: exploring philosophical questions about life, death, and meaning

issues/benefits of Gardener’s model

• issues:

  • many correlated

  • how is this measured?

  • may lead to overly tailored lessons

• benefits:

  • students differ so different abilities → different approaches

  • beyond a single measure of intelligence

Sternberg’s 3 skills theory

• defines 3 distinct types of mental abilities or intelligences:

  • analytic - formal problem solving

  • creative - adapt, deal with novel problems

  • practical - everyday problems

intelligence tests

• The Binet-Simon Intelligence Test (1905):

  • the first practical, standardized intelligence test

  • purpose: identify children who needed extra help or special education, scored mental processes, not just school subjects

  • mental age: score matches a child’s performance against the average ability of peers at the same age

  • intelligence quotient (IQ): mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100

• Stanford-Binet (1916)

• Wechsler (WAIS 1939, WISC 1949)

how heredity impacts IQ scores

• clear heritable component - 50-80%

• interaction with environment - biological (nutrition, prenatal care), social/educational (school quality, SES, parental encouragement)

• reaction range - the genetically determined limits on IQ, while the environment determines where a person falls within that range

emotional intelligence (EI)

• important for social and emotional learning (SEL)

• incorporates perceiving (most basic), using (fit task at hand), understanding, and managing emotions

creativity

• ability to think about a task in a novel way, to generate new ideas

• requires:

  • 1) domain-relevant knowledge, skills

  • 2) creativity-relevant processes, work habits

  • 3) intrinsic motivation, fascination with area

• convergent thinking: generate one answer, conventional tests

• divergent thinking: generate multiple answers

• creative thinking:

  • divergent thinking to generate ideas

  • convergent thinking to organize and structure those ideas

Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)

• make as many different pictures as you can

• scores on:

  • 1) fluency - number

  • 2) flexibility - diversity

  • 3) originality - commonality (an idea is deemed as original if it is generated by <10% of a normative peer group)

learning style and cognitive style

• cognitive style: ways of perceiving, organizing, and using info

• learning style: characteristic way of learning and studying

  • no credible evidence that matching instruction to preferred style improves learning outcomes

exceptional students

• performance outside expected range, above or below

• instruction suitable for majority is inappropriate, special approach is required for these students to reach their potential

inclusion

• inclusion:

  • incorporate exceptional children into standard classes “mainstreaming”

  • inclusion doesn’t equal full integration, inclusion allows specialized settings

• least restriction placement → put student in the most enabling environment (general setting but support as needed)

gifted and talented students

• high competence and levels of creativity

• commitment/motivation (may only be present in single area)

• origins:

  • intense, sustained practice

  • early talent/interest

• social preferences:

  • company of adults/older children

  • may struggle to connect with same-aged classmates → social isolation/playing alone

• emotionally mature and stable (may lead to existential depression at young age)

• impatient with others, may get frustrated when others can’t grasp concepts with their ease

gifted adults

• impatient

• workplace alienation

• underachievement and burnout if not continuously challenged or overwhelmed by own perfectionism

gifted screening

• normally conducted during grades 3 and 4

• identified using:

  • educational assessments

  • individual IQ tests

  • content-specific tests

  • tests of creativity

  • case study approach

• emotional impact of screening: students may experience intense performance pressure, perfectionism, and anxiety due to the “gifted” label

acceleration vs enrichment for gifted students

• acceleration:

  • standard curriculum, accelerated pace

  • age-mismatch less of a problem than predicted

• enrichment:

  • additional more challenging work

  • may involve “pullout” programs - remove gifted students from regular classrooms for a few hours each week to work with academic peers and a specialized instructor

• no evidence that either method is superior

learning disabilities

• one of a number of neurodevelopmental disorders that persistently and significantly has an impact on the ability to learn and use academic and other skills

• specific difficulty:

  • language and reading

  • mathematics

• general difficulties:

  • organizing info

  • attention

  • coordinating behaviour

  • memory

  • social skills

• lifelong disabilities → early intervention required before student gives up

working with students with learning disabilities

• direct instruction:

  • clear frequently explanation, instructions, guidance

  • small steps, frequent practice

  • frequent, immediate feedback

• peer support

• self-regulated learning

Individual Education Plan (IEP)

• a plan for each exceptional student, reviewed and updated yearly, that includes:

  • educational expectations (specific goals)

  • special education programs/services provided

  • progress monitoring methods

  • transition plan, if appropriate

• responsibility: team approach, but the classroom teacher usually makes program-planning decisions and prepares the report card

• benefit of identification: access to additional resources

• concern: labels may cause stigma or self-fulfilling prophecies

early language development

• use over 2000 distinct speech sounds but each language only uses a small subset

• early in infancy, babies can distinguish sounds from any language but between 7-14 months, this ability declines as they lose sensitivty to sounds they’re not regularly exposed to → becomes more specialized in native language

learning language

• biologically predisposed to acquire language through an innate mental capacity

• allows for communication → primary tool for human empathy, culture sharing, and community building

early language development

• joint attention:

  • child and caregiver attend to same object/action

  • helps with naming/description → aids vocab development and comprehension

• child-directed speech (motherese):

  • simplified structure

  • exaggerated tone and high pitched

  • adults, older children

  • cross-cultural

prespeech

• cooing (to 3 months)

  • making vowel sounds like “'oo” and “ah”

  • producing wide range of universal phonemes (all human sounds)

• babbling (4-6 months)

  • response to others’ voices and expressions

  • combining vowels and consonants like
    ba-ba” or “ma-ma”

• 7-11 months

  • restricting phonemes (narrows down to match native language)

  • develops speech-like inflections/jargon

language acquisition

• 10 months: responds to name, babbles, imitates simple sounds and gestures

• 12-18 months: says first meaningful words, builds small vocab of single words

• 18-24 months: uses around 50 words, combining words into two-word phrases → telegraphic speech (short, essential word combinations like “want cookie” or “all gone”)

• 2-3 years: vocab expands to 100-450 words, speaking in 3-4 work sentences

early language development errors

• over-extension: applying a single, specific word to a much broader category of objects/actions/concepts

  • ex: calling all 4-legged animals “doggie”

• under-extension: restricting a general word to a single, highly specific context/object

  • ex: house pet is “dog” but not recognizing other dogs as such

• over-regularize: extending regular grammatical rules to irregular words that don’t follow those rules

  • ex: saying “tooths” instead of teeth

language during school years

• 3-4 years: 4-5 word stories, basic grammar develops, 1000 words

• 5 years: tenses (future, past, present), all essential grammar, 1500+ words

• 6 years: 10,000-20,000 words

language during elementary school

• children develop more advanced language skills including:

  • pronunciation: mastering difficult, later-developing consonant sounds

  • complex syntax: using words like although and because, beyond simple and and but

  • vocab: expanding through reading

  • non-literal language: understanding jokes, riddles, irony, sarcasm, and metaphors

  • abstract language: learning words for mental concepts and academic ideas, beyond concrete objects

pragmatics

• ability to adapt language style and structure based on the social context, listener, and environment

• emerges early

• culturally specific

metalinguistic awareness

• ability to step back from automatic language use and think about, analyze, and evaluate language as an object on its own, separate from its meaning

  • language as a process

  • develops beyond age 5

factors influencing reading development in children

• reading development depends on:

  • decoding: connecting spoken sounds (phonemes) to written letters (graphemes)

  • oral language: vocab, grammar, and understanding spoken stories

  • home environment:

    • modelling: seeing parents read for pleasure makes reading seem valuable

    • access

    • literacy-related play

benefits of multiple languages

• improves cognitive abilities

• metalingustic (easier to grasp grammar and build stronger reading/writing skills)

• easier time learning additional languages

developing multiple languages

• easiest early → brain processes multiple languages in same native region up to age 5

• pronunciation decreases with age

• prior exposure helps when learning in future

• fully bilingual if languages:

  • learned before age 5 \

  • child exposed to both languages across diverse environments

  • exposure is systematic, consistent, and sustained

• with a good quality program:

  • 2-3 years basic (social conversation, daily interactions)

  • 6-9 years academic (textbooks, abstract thinking, critical analysis)

profiles of language learners

• balanced bilinguals: L1 and L2

• monolingual/literate students: L1

• monolingual/preliterate students: literate L1, limited spoken L2

• limited bilingual students: L1, limited academic L2

heritage language and types of bilingualism

• heritage language: a language spoken at home that’s not the dominant societal language; often lost by the 3rd generation as families shift to dominant language

• additive bilingualism: learning a second language while maintaining the heritage language

• subtractive bilingualism: learning a second language at the expense of the heritage language, which may be replaced

• balanced bilingualism: having equal or near-equal fluency and proficiency in both languages

2 approaches to learning English

• immersion: instruction in English with max exposure; aims for rapid transition to English-only instruction

  • most common but students may fall behind in core subjects (ex: math/science) and lose their first language

• native-language maintenance/bilingual learning: maintains and teaches the first language, transitioning to English when possible

  • produces better outcomes but limited by funding, lack of bilingual teachers, and policies favouring English-only instruction