Week 5. Childhood part 1.

General Overview

What age range does childhood cover?

From about 2 to 12 years old, often divided into early childhood (2–5 years) and middle childhood (6–12 years).

General Overview

What are the main areas of development in childhood?

Physical, cognitive, and language development.

Physical Development

Q3: How much do children typically grow between ages 2 and 6?

They grow about 3 inches in height and gain 1–2 kg per year.

Physical Development

Q4: What physical changes occur during early childhood?

Bones strengthen and widen, muscles develop, and movements become more coordinated.

Physical Development

Q5: By what age is the brain about 95% of its adult weight?

By age 6.

Physical Development

Q6: What key brain developments occur during childhood?

• Continued myelination (faster neural transmission)

• Synaptic pruning (elimination of unused connections)

• Prefrontal cortex growth (better planning and self-control)

• Lateralization (left hemisphere: language; right hemisphere: spatial skills)

• Corpus callosum strengthens connections between hemispheres

🧠 Motor Skills

Q7: What are gross motor skills?

Movements involving large muscles, such as running, jumping, and climbing, requiring coordination and balance.

🧠 Motor Skills

Q8: What are fine motor skills?

Precise movements using small muscles, such as writing, drawing, tying shoelaces, and using utensils.

🧠 Motor Skills

Q9: Why are fine motor skills important?

They are essential for independence and everyday activities.

Cognitive Development

Q10: What are the key cognitive developments during childhood?

Improvements in learning, memory, attention, reasoning, and language; movement through Piaget’s preoperational and concrete operational stages.

Cognitive Development

Q11: How does attention span change with age?

It increases gradually:

• 2 yrs → 4–10 mins

• 3 yrs → 6–15 mins

• 4 yrs → 8–20 mins

• 5 yrs → 10–25 mins

• 10 yrs → 20–50 mins

• 12 yrs → 24–60 mins

Cognitive Development

What factors influence attention span?

Interest, stimulus type, fatigue, hunger, time of day, distractions, and boredom.

Piaget’s Cognitive Stages

What are Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development?

• Sensorimotor

• Preoperational

• Concrete Operational

• Formal Operational

Preoperational Stage (2–7 years)

Q14: What is the main feature of the preoperational stage?

Rapid language acquisition and development of symbolic thought (use of symbols, pretend play).

Preoperational Stage (2–7 years)

Q15: What is egocentrism?

Difficulty seeing things from another person’s perspective.

Preoperational Stage (2–7 years)

What is animism?

Belief that inanimate objects have human-like traits or feelings.

Preoperational Stage (2–7 years)

What is transductive reasoning?

Jumping from one idea to another without logical connections.

Preoperational Stage (2–7 years)

What is centration?

Focusing on only one aspect of a situation while ignoring others.

Preoperational Stage (2–7 years)

What are the two sub-stages of the preoperational stage?

• Preconceptual (2–4 years): use symbols but not logically.

• Intuitive (4–7 years): improved understanding but still limited logical reasoning.

Concrete Operational Stage (7–12 years)

What is the concrete operational stage?

A stage where children develop logical reasoning for concrete objects and events.

Concrete Operational Stage (7–12 years)

What new abilities appear in the concrete operational stage?

• Conservation: quantity stays the same despite changes in shape.

• Classification: ability to organize objects logically into groups.

• Transitivity: understanding relationships among elements.

• Seriation: ordering items by quantity or size.

• Decentration: considering multiple aspects of a problem.

• Reversibility: recognizing that actions can be undone or reversed.

Concrete Operational Stage (7–12 years)

What is the main limitation of this stage?

Thinking is still concrete, not yet abstract or hypothetical.

Language Development

Q23: How does language progress during childhood?

From two-word phrases to complex sentences with proper grammar.

Language Development

How many words does the average 6-year-old know?

Around 14,000 words, though it varies with exposure and stimulation.

Language Development

What conversational skills do children develop by this stage?

Understanding turn-taking, staying on topic, and using proper grammar and syntax.

What are the main developmental focuses in childhood (2–12 years)?

• Physical: growth, brain development, motor coordination.

• Cognitive: reasoning, memory, attention span, logic.

• Language: vocabulary expansion and conversational ability.