Human Development - Chapter 5

What are some growth patterns covered in chapter 5?

Physical differences.

T or F: Obesity is a serious health concern for children.

True.

What conditions can contribute to wasting/stunting?

Climate change, war, extreme poverty.

When do children develop adult-like body proportions?

Age 6.

T or F: Development of motor skills is influenced by culture.

True, each culture promotes certain motor skills related to cognitive advances.

What are some examples of motor skills prominent in America?

Riding a bike, climbing a ladder, throwing & catching, kicking.

What changes in body size cause enhanced motor skills?

Longer legs and fingers → climbing, balancing, drawing, running, etc.

By age 2, a child’s brain weights _____ % of what it will in adulthood.

75%.

What contributes to the increased weight of the brain during childhood?

Myelin development.

What is myelination?

Fatty coating on axons that protects signals between neurons → speeds up connections.

How does myelination effect children?

Speeds up the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron; quicker thinking.

What is the corpus callosum?

A part of the brain that grows and myelinates rapidly during childhood.

What does the corpus callosum do?

Connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain; allows communication.

What is lateralization?

“Sidedness;” one side dominant for each activity. Left side of the brain controls the right side of the brain vice versa.

What do the right and left side of the brain control?

Right: areas dedicated to emotional and creative impulses, including music, art, and poetry.

Left: analyzes most language and logic.

What does the maturation of the prefrontal cortex during childhood contribute to?

• Sleep becoming more regular.

• Emotions becoming more nuanced and responsive.

• Temper tantrums decrease or subside.

• Uncontrollable laughter and tears are less common.

What is impulse control?"

The ability to postpone or deny the immediate response to an idea or behavior.

What is perseverate?

To stay stuck, or preserve, in one though or action for a long time. The ability to be flexible, switching from one task to another, is beyond most young children.

What is executive function?

The cognitive ability to organize and prioritize the many thoughts that arise from various parts of the brain → anticipation, strategizing, planning behavior.

What are the three foundations of executive function?

• Memory.

• Inhibition.

• Flexibility.

What is the memory emphasized in executive function?

Memory that was seen a minute ago or yesterday, not years ago.

What is inhibition as it relates to executive function?

The ability to control responses, to stop and think for a moment before talking or acting.

What is flexibility in executive function?

Seeing things from another perspective rather than staying stuck in one idea.

T or F: Executive function abilities are more important than vocabulary or factual knowledge during early childhood.

True → better predictor of brain development and school achievement than IQ test scores.

What helps aid executive function?

Regular sleep, good nutrition, exercise, and early education.

What is theory-theory?

Children attempting to explain everything they see and hear by constructing theories.

• Follow the scientific method.

• Developed spontaneously when new evidence appears.

Children do not realize that people think differently than they do as they do not have a theory of mind:

Person’s theory of what other people might be thinking.

When does theory of mind develop within children?

Usually after age 4, siblings and being bilingual help it develop quicker.

Example of children lacking theory of mind: show them a crayon box with candy inside → ask them what their peer thinks is in the crayon box.

They will say that the peer knows that there is candy in there, when they don’t.

How does theory of mind relate to lying?

Children are able to lie easier as they know that a caregiver is unaware of something they’ve done, as opposed to a younger child who believes their caregiver already knows.

T or F: Better development of theory of mind relates to more plausible lies.

True.

What is the preoperational stage in Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

• Stage 2 (2-6yrs).

• Use symbols like words to help them think.

• No reasoning processes.

Egocentrism is a characteristics that develops during Piaget’s preoperational stage. What does it describe?

The inability for a child to see a situation or the world from another person’s perspective.

What is an example of symbolic thought that emerges within the preoperational period?

Animism: a belief that natural objects and phenomena are alive, moving around, and having sensations that are human like.

• Ex. raining clouds are sad.

A child’s logic is limited in four ways. What are they?

• Egocentrism.

• Apperance-focus.

• Static.

• Irreversible.

Why can children ages 2-6 be scared of a movie such as toy story?

Animilism - the toys are alive.

Egocentrism - woody stuck in a crate? I’m stuck in a crate too.

What does static reasoning describe?

Young children’s belief that nothing changes; whatever is now has always been and always will be.

• Parents were never babies and will always look the same.

• Dad cuts off beard? That’s a different person.

What does irreversibility describe?

Young children’s belief that nothing can be undone; a thing cannot be restored to the way it was before the change occured.

• Kid doesn’t want lettuce on sandwich, parent takes it off → child believes it is ruined and cannot be reversed.

What is conservation?

A principle stating that the amount of a substance remains the same when its appearance changes.

• Putting ice cream from a small bowl into a bigger bowl; looks smaller, but same quantity.

According to Piaget, when do children grasp the concept of conservation?

Age 6-7.

Give an example of a child lacking the concept of conservation.

• Two rows of coins each containing 5.

• Spread one row out more.

• Ask the child which has more.

• Child says the more spread out row because it appears longer.

What did Vygotsky believe about social learning?

All of a child’s cognitive development was embedded in the sociocultural context.

According to Vygotsky, how do mentors help a child cognitively develop?

• Present challenges.

• Offer assistance (w/o taking over).

• Add crucial information.

• Encourage motivation.

What is Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD)?

His term for the skills that a person can exercise only with assistance, not yet independently.

• Ex. Riding a bike.

• Important: Cannot include things that are too complex for a child. Calculus is not within a 4 year old child’s ZPD.

What is scaffolding according to vygotsky?

Temporary support that is tailored to a learner’s abilities and needs; aim to help learner master a task in a given learning process.

• Various tools.

• Mentors directly.

• Culture.

• Ex. Holding a bike stable while a child rides → letting them go by themselves with training wheels → holding them steady without training wheels → letting them ride it normally.

What is the vocabulary explosion?

Child going from 200 words (2yrs) to 59,000 words (6yrs).

What is fast-mapping?

Speedy & imprecise way kids learn new words; placement into mental categories according to their perceived meaning.

What is logical extension?

Occurs when a child uses a words to describe other objects in the same category.

• Ex. calling a cow a dalmatian cow because they saw a dalmatian dog.

T or F: Bilingual Children code-switch in the middle of a sentence.

True.

What is overregularization (4yrs)?

Applying grammar rules even when there are exceptions.

• Pluralizing words that don’t need to → toast into toasts.

Is leaning 2 languages bad? Can a child lose their mother tongue if they speak both at once?

Learning 2 languages is a good thing and early childhood is the best time to learn; children are often proficient in both languages, keep home language to avoid a shift.

• Lifelong neurological benefits.

Why does quality matter for early-childhood schooling?

The environment greatly influences a child’s learning trajectory at home, day care, or preschool.

What are child-centered programs?

Programs that emphasize a kids natural inclination to learn through player rather than adults.

• Interactive activities.

• Self-paced exploration and artistic expression.

• Rewards collaboration among students.

• Vygotsky influence - social learning, kids learn from play w/ other children; Piaget - children will discover new ideas given the chance.

Examples: Montessori schools, Reggio Emilia, Waldorf schools.

What are teacher-directed programs?

Programs that stress academic subjects taught by the teacher to the entire class.

• Help children learn letters, numbers, shapes, and colors and how to listen to the teacher and sit quietly.

• Influenced by behaviorism and information processing.

• Rewards individual achievement.

What is the head start intervention program?

• Program promoting literacy and language skills for low-income families with children; focus on poverty alleviation.

  • More teacher directed.

  • Advantage in lifelong vocabulary expansion; contribution to positive later life outcomes.

T or F: High-quality early education is very beneficial and offers lifelong advantages.

True.