3. +
Intellectual Development
In some ways, the intellectual sophistication of 3-year-olds is
astounding.
Their creativity and imagination leap to new heights, their
language is increasingly sophisticated, and they reason and
think about the world in ways that would have been impossible
even a few months earlier.
4. +
Piaget’s Stage of Preoperational
Thinking
Piaget saw the preschool years as a time of both stability and great
change. He suggests that the preschool years fit entirely into a single
stage of cognitive development—the preoperational stage—which lasts
from the age of 2 years until around 7 years.
Preoperational stage During this stage, children’s use of symbolic
thinking grows, mental reasoning emerges, and the use of concepts
increases
5. +
Piaget’s Stage of Preoperational
Thinking
At this stage, children are not yet capable of operations:
organized, formal, logical mental processes.
It is only at the end of the preoperational stage that the ability to
carry out operations comes into play.
Symbolic function According to Piaget, the ability to use a mental
symbol, a word, or an object to represent something that is not
physically present
6. +
The Relation Between Language and
Thought
Symbolic function is at the heart of one of the major advances that
occurs in the preoperational period: the increasingly sophisticated use
of language.
Piaget suggests that language and thinking are tightly interconnected.
Even more important, the use of language allows children to think
beyond the present to the future.
7. +
Centration: What You See
Is What You Think
Centration The process of concentrating on one limited aspect of
a stimulus and ignoring other aspects
Preschoolers are unable to consider all available information
about a stimulus. Instead, they focus on superficial, obvious
elements that are within their sight.
These external elements come to dominate preschoolers’
thinking, leading to inaccuracy in thought.
8. +
Conservation: Learning That
Appearances Are Deceiving
Conservation The knowledge that quantity is unrelated to the
arrangement and physical appearance of objects
Preschoolers can’t understand that changes in one dimension (such
as a change in appearance) does not necessarily mean that other
dimensions (such as quantity) change.
The lack of conservation also manifests itself in children’s
understanding of area.
9. +
Incomplete Understanding
of Transformation
Transformation The process whereby one state is changed into another
Children in the preoperational period are unable to envision or recall
successive transformations.
Basically, they ignore the intermediate steps.
10. + Egocentrism: The Inability to Take
Others’ Perspectives
Egocentric thought Thinking that does not take the viewpoints of
others into account
Egocentric thought takes two forms: the lack of awareness that
others see things from a different physical perspective and the
failure to realize that others may hold thoughts, feelings, and
points of view that differ from theirs.
Egocentrism lies at the heart of several types of behavior during
the preoperational period.
11. +
The Emergence of
Intuitive Thought
Intuitive thought Thinking that reflects preschoolers’ use of
primitive reasoning and their avid acquisition of knowledge about
the world
In the late stages of the preoperational period, children’s
intuitive thinking has certain qualities that prepare them for more
sophisticated forms of reasoning.
Children also begin to show an awareness of the concept of
identity.
12. +
Evaluating Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive
Development
Clearly, children are more capable at an earlier age than Piaget’s
account would lead us to believe.
Piaget tended to concentrate on preschoolers’ deficiencies in
thinking, focusing his observations on children’s lack of logical
thought.
By focusing more on children’s competence, more recent theorists
have found increasing evidence for a surprising degree of capability
in preschoolers.
13. +
Information-Processing Approaches
to Cognitive Development
Information-processing approaches focus on changes in the
kinds of “mental programs” that children use when
approaching problems.
For many child developmentalists, information-processing
approaches represent the dominant, most comprehensive, and
ultimately the most accurate explanation of how children
develop cognitively.
14. +
Preschoolers’ Understanding of
Numbers
Researchers using information processing approaches to cognitive
development have found increasing evidence for the sophistication of
preschoolers’ understanding of numbers.
The average preschooler is able not only to count, but to do so in a
fairly systematic, consistent manner.
15. +
Preschoolers’ Understanding of
Numbers
By the age of 4, most are able to carry out simple addition and
subtraction problems by counting, and are able to compare different
quantities quite successfully.
16. +
Memory: Recalling the Past
Autobiographical memory Memory of particular events from one’s own
life
Preschool children’s recollections of events that happened to them
are sometimes, but not always, accurate.
Scripts Broad representations in memory of events and the order in
which they occur
17. + Forensic Developmental
Psychology: Bringing Child Development
to the Courtroom
Forensic developmental psychology focuses on the reliability of
children’s autobiographical memories in the context of the
legal system.
It considers children’s abilities to recall events in their lives
and the reliability of children’s courtroom accounts where they
are witnesses or victims.
Children’s memories are susceptible to the suggestions of
adults asking them questions.
19. +
Information-Processing Theories in
Perspective
According to information-processing approaches, cognitive
development consists of gradual improvements in the ways people
perceive, understand, and remember information.
Its reliance on well-defined processes that can be tested, with relative
precision, by research is one of the perspective’s most important
features.
Yet information-processing approaches have their detractors, who
raise significant points.
20. + Vygotsky’s View of Cognitive Development:
Taking Culture
Into Account
Vygotsky viewed cognitive development as a result of social
interactions in which children learn through guided
participation, working with mentors to solve problems.
Children gradually grow intellectually and begin to function on
their own.
Vygotsky contends that the nature of the partnership between
developing children and adults and peers is determined largely
by cultural and societal factors.
21. + The Zone of Proximal Development
and Scaffolding: Foundations of Cognitive
Development
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) According to Vygotsky,
the level at which a child can almost, but not fully, comprehend
or perform a task without assistance
Scaffolding The support for learning and problem solving that
encourages independence and growth
22. + The Zone of Proximal Development
and Scaffolding: Foundations of Cognitive
Development
The process of scaffolding not only helps children solve specific
problems, but also aids in the development of their overall
cognitive abilities.
23. +
Evaluating Vygotsky’s Contributions
Vygotsky’s ideas represent a consistent theoretical system
and help explain a growing body of research attesting to the
importance of social interaction in promoting cognitive
development.
Vygotsky’s melding of the cognitive and social worlds of
children has been an important advance in our understanding
of cognitive development.
25. +
The Growth of Language
During the preschool years, children’s language skills reach
new heights of sophistication.
By the end of the preschool years, they can hold their own with
adults, both comprehending and producing language that has
many of the qualities of adults’ language.
26. +
Language Development During the
Preschool Years
Syntax The combining of words and phrases to form
meaningful sentences
By the time a preschooler is 3, the various combinations reach
into the thousands. (Table 9-3)
29. +
Growing Speech Capabilities
Fast mapping The process in which new words are associated
with their meaning after only a brief encounter
Grammar The system of rules that determine how thoughts can
be expressed
Young preschoolers are correct in their grammatical
constructions more than 90% of the time.
30. +
Private Speech and Social Speech
Private speech Spoken language that is not intended for others
and is commonly used by children during the preschool years
Pragmatics The aspect of language relating to communicating
effectively and appropriately with others
Social speech Speech directed toward another person and
meant to be understood by that person
31. +
How Living in Poverty Affects Language
Development
Research has found that the type of language to which children
were exposed was associated with their performance on tests
of intelligence.
The greater the number and variety of words children heard, for
instance, the better their performance at age 3 on a variety of
measures of intellectual achievement.
32. +
How Living in Poverty Affects Language
Development
Family income and poverty have powerful consequences for
children’s general cognitive development and behavior.
33. +
Early Childhood Education: Taking
the Pre- Out of the Preschool Period
Developmentalists have found increasing evidence that
children can benefit substantially from involvement in some
form of educational activity before they enroll in formal
schooling.
When compared to children who stay at home and have no
formal educational involvement, those children enrolled in good
preschools experience clear cognitive and social benefits.
34. +
The Varieties of Early Education
Child-care centers
Family child-care centers
Preschools
School child care
35. +
The Effectiveness of Child Care
Most research suggests that preschoolers enrolled in child-care
centers show intellectual development that at least matches
that of children at home, and often is better.
Similar advantages are found for social development.
High-quality care provides intellectual and social benefits, while
low-quality care not only is unlikely to furnish benefits, but poor
programs actually may harm children.
36. +
The Quality of Child Care
The major characteristics of high-quality include the following:
The care providers are well trained.
The child-care center has an appropriate overall size and ratio
of care providers to children.
The curriculum of a child-care facility is carefully planned out
and coordinated among the teachers.
The language environment is rich, with a great deal of
conversation.
37. +
The Quality of Child Care
The caregivers are sensitive to children’s emotional and
social needs.
Materials and activities are age appropriate.
Basic health and safety standards are followed.
38. +
Preparing Preschoolers for
Academic Pursuits: Does Head Start
Truly Provide a Head Start?
Whether Head Start is seen as successful or not depends on
the lens through which one is looking.
Preschoolers who participate in Head Start are better prepared
for future schooling than those who do not take part.
Traditional programs such as Head Start are not the only
approach to early intervention that has proven effective.
39. +
Are We Pushing Children
Too Hard and Too Fast?
According to Elkind, U.S. society tends to push children so
rapidly that they begin to feel stress and pressure at a young
age.
Developmentally appropriate educational practice Education
that is based on both typical development and the unique
characteristics of a given child
40. +
Learning From the Media:
Television and the Internet
Television—and, more recently, the Internet and computers—
play a central role in many U.S. households.
Computers are also are becoming influential in the lives of
preschoolers.
41. +
Controlling TV Exposure
The American
Academy of Pediatrics recommends
that until the age of 2, children watch no television,
and after that age, no more than 1 to 2 hours of
quality programming each day.
One
reason for restricting children’s viewing of
television relates to the inactivity it produces.
As
they get older and their information-processing
capabilities improve, preschoolers’ understanding
of the material they see on television improves.
42. +
Sesame Street: A Teacher
in Every Home?
Formal evaluations of Sesame Street find that preschoolers
living in lower income households who watch the show are
better prepared for school, and they perform significantly higher
on several measures of verbal and mathematics ability at ages
6 and 7 than those who do not watch it.
On the other hand, Sesame Street has not been without its
critics.
44. +
Cognitive and Language
Development
During this period, children’s cognitive abilities broaden, and
they become increasingly able to understand and master
complex skills.
At the same time, though, their thinking is still not fully adultlike.
45. +
Piagetian Approaches to Cognitive
Development
From Piaget’s perspective, the preschooler thinks
preoperationally.
This type of thinking is largely egocentric, and preoperational
children lack the ability to use operations—organized, formal,
logical mental processes.
46. +
The Rise of Concrete Operational
Thought
Concrete operational stage The period of cognitive
development between 7 and 12 years of age, characterized by
the active and appropriate use of logic
Decentering The ability to take multiple aspects of a situation
into account
47. +
The Rise of Concrete Operational
Thought
However, once concrete operational thinking is fully engaged,
children show several cognitive advances representative of
their logical thinking.
Still, they remain tied to concrete, physical reality and have
difficulty with abstraction.
48. +
Piaget in Perspective: Piaget Was
Right; Piaget Was Wrong
Piaget’s approach was quite successful in describing
cognitive development.
At the same time, though, critics have raised justifiable
objections to his approach.
Piaget underestimated children’s capabilities, as well as the
age at which cognitive abilities emerge.
49. +
Information Processing
in Middle Childhood
According to information-processing approaches, children
become increasingly sophisticated in their handling of
information.
Like computers, they can process more data as the size of their
memories increases and the “programs” they use to process
information become increasingly sophisticated.
50. +
Memory
Memory The process by which information is initially recorded,
stored, and retrieved
Through encoding, the child initially records the information in a
form usable to memory.
Proper functioning of memory requires that material that is
stored in memory must be retrieved.
During middle childhood, short-term memory capacity improves
significantly.
51. +
Memory
Metamemory An understanding about the processes that underlie
memory that emerges and improves during middle childhood
School-age children’s understanding of memory becomes more
sophisticated as they grow older and increasingly engage in
control strategies.
Similarly, children in middle childhood increasingly use
mnemonics.
52. +
VYGOTSKY’S APPROACH TO COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT AND CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Vygotsky’s approach supports the practice of children actively
participating in their educational experiences.
Several current and noteworthy educational innovations have
borrowed heavily from Vygotsky’s work.
Reciprocal teaching is a technique to teach reading
comprehension strategies.
53. +
Language Development:
What Words Mean
The linguistic sophistication of children, particularly at the start
of the school-age period—still requires refinement to reach
adult levels of expertise.
54. +
Mastering the Mechanics
of Language
Vocabulary and mastery of grammar continues to increase
during the school years at a fairly rapid clip.
By the time they reach first grade, most children pronounce
words quite accurately.
School-age children may have difficulty decoding sentences
when the meaning depends on intonation, or tone of voice.
56. +
How Language Promotes
Self-Control
The growing sophistication of their language helps school-age
children control their behavior.
Children may use “self-talk” to help regulate their own
behavior.
The effectiveness of their self-control may grow as their
linguistic capabilities increase.
57. +
Bilingualism: Speaking
in Many Tongues
Bilingualism The ability to speak two languages
With bilingual instruction, students are able to develop
a strong foundation in basic subject areas using their
native language.
An alternative approach is to immerse students in
English as quickly as possible.
Bilingual students often have greater metalinguistic
awareness, understanding the rules of language
more explicitly, and show great cognitive
sophistication.
58. +
Schooling Around the World: Who
Gets Educated?
In the U.S., as in most developed countries, a primary school
education is both a universal right and a legal requirement.
Children in other parts of the world are not so fortunate.
In almost all developing countries, fewer females than males
receive formal education, a discrepancy found at every level of
schooling.
59. +
What Makes Children
Ready for School?
Delaying children’s entry into school does not necessarily
provide an advantage and in some cases may actually be
harmful.
Ultimately, age per se is not a critical indicator of when children
should begin school.
Instead, the start of formal schooling is more reasonably tied to
overall developmental readiness, the product of a complex
combination of several factors.
60. +
Reading: Learning to Decode the
Meaning Behind Words
Reading involves a significant number of skills, from low-level
cognitive skills (the identification of single letters and
associating letters with sounds) to higher level skills (matching
written words with meanings located in long-term memory and
using context and background knowledge to determine the
meaning of a sentence).
61. +
Reading Stages
Development of reading skill generally occurs in several broad
and frequently overlapping stages (Table 12-1).
Stages 0 to 4 span birth through beyond eighth grade
63. +
How Should We Teach Reading?
According to proponents of code-based approaches to reading,
reading should be taught by presenting the basic skills that
underlie reading.
In contrast, some educators argue that reading is taught most
successfully by using a whole-language approach.
A growing body of data suggests that code-based approaches
are superior.
64. +
Educational Trends:
Beyond the Three Rs
Elementary school classrooms today stress individual
accountability, both for teachers and for students.
As the U.S. population has become more diverse, elementary
schools have also paid increased attention to issues involving
student diversity and multiculturalism.
65. +
Multicultural Education
Multicultural education Education in which the goal is to help
students from minority cultures develop competence in the
culture of the majority group while maintaining positive group
identities that build on their original cultures
Cultural assimilation model The view of American society as a
“melting pot” in which all cultures are amalgamated
66. +
Multicultural Education
Pluralistic society model The concept that American society is
made up of diverse, coequal cultures that should preserve their
individual features
Bicultural identity The maintenance of one’s original cultural
identity while becoming integrated into the majority culture
67. +
Should Schools Teach Emotional
Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence The set of skills that underlie the
accurate assessment, evaluation, expression, and regulation of
emotions
Goleman argues that emotional literacy should be a standard
part of the school curriculum.
68. +
Should Schools Teach Emotional
Intelligence?
Programs meant to increase emotional intelligence have not
been met with universal acceptance.
Still, most people consider emotional intelligence worthy of
nurturance.
69. +
EXPECTATION EFFECTS: HOW
TEACHERS’ EXPECTANCIES INFLUENCE
THEIR STUDENTS
Teachers treat children for whom they have expectations of
improvement differently from those for whom they have no such
expectations.
Teacher expectancy effect The phenomenon whereby an
educator’s expectations for a given child actually bring about
the expected behavior
70. +
EXPECTATION EFFECTS: HOW
TEACHERS’ EXPECTANCIES INFLUENCE
THEIR STUDENTS
These communicated expectations in turn indicate to the child
what behavior is appropriate, and the child behaves
accordingly.
71. +
Homeschooling: Living
Rooms as Classrooms
Homeschooling is a major educational phenomenon in which
students are taught, by their parents, in their own homes.
Homeschooling clearly works, in the sense that children who
have been homeschooled generally do as well or better on
standardized tests as students who have been educated
traditionally.
72. +
Homeschooling: Living
Rooms as Classrooms
In addition, their acceptance rate into college appears to be no
different from that of traditionally schooled children.
Critics of homeschooling argue that it has drawbacks.
73. +
Intelligence: Determining
Individual Strengths
Intelligence The capacity to understand the world, think
rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with
challenges
The difficulty in defining intelligence stems from the many paths
followed over the years in the quest to distinguish more
intelligent people from less intelligent ones.
Intelligence tests
74. +
BINET’S TEST
Binet’s pioneering efforts in intelligence testing left several
important legacies.
Mental age The typical intelligence level found for people of a
given chronological age
Chronological (physical) age A person’s age according to the
calendar
Intelligence quotient (IQ) A score that expresses the ratio
between a person’s mental and chronological ages
75. +
Measuring IQ: Present-Day
Approaches to Intelligence
Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (SB5) A test that
consists of a series of items that vary according to the age of
the person being tested
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISCIV) A test for children that provides separate measures of
verbal and performance (nonverbal) skills, as well as a total
score
76. +
Measuring IQ: Present-Day
Approaches to Intelligence
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition
(KABC-II) An intelligence test that measures children’s ability
to integrate different stimuli simultaneously and step-by-step
thinking
77. +
WHAT IQ TESTS DON’T TELL:
ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF
INTELLIGENCE
Fluid intelligence Intelligence that reflects information
processing capabilities, reasoning, and memory
Crystallized intelligence The accumulation of information, skills,
and strategies that people have learned through experience
and that they can apply in problem-solving situations
78. +
WHAT IQ TESTS DON’T TELL:
ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF
INTELLIGENCE
Triarchic theory of intelligence The belief that intelligence
consists of three aspects of information processing: the
componential element, the experiential element, and the
contextual element
79. +
Group Differences in IQ
Although the questions on traditional IQ tests are not so
obviously dependent on test takers’ prior experiences, our
examples, cultural background, and experiences do have the
potential to affect intelligence-test scores.
Many educators suggest that traditional measures of
intelligence are subtly biased.
80. +
Explaining Racial
Differences in IQ
The issue of how cultural background and experience influence
IQ-test performance has led to considerable debate among
researchers.
The debate has been fueled by the finding that IQ scores of
certain racial groups are consistently lower, on average, than the
IQ scores of other groups.
The issue is important because of its social implications.
81. +
The Bell Curve Controversy
Herrnstein and Murray argue that the average 15-point IQ
difference between Whites and African Americans is due
primarily to heredity rather than to environment.
In short, most experts in the area of IQ were not convinced by
The Bell Curve contention that differences in group IQ scores
are largely determined by genetic factors.
82. +
The Bell Curve Controversy
Today, IQ is seen as the product of both nature and nurture
interacting with one another in a complex manner.
83. +
Below the Norm: Mental
Retardation (Intellectual Disability)
Mental retardation (intellectual disability) A significantly
subaverage level of intellectual functioning that occurs with
related limitations in two or more skill areas
Although limitations in intellectual functioning can be measured
in a relatively straightforward manner using standard IQ tests, it
is more difficult to determine how to gauge limitations in
adaptive behavior.
84. +
Degrees of Intellectual Disability
Mild retardation Intellectual disability with IQ scores in the
range of 50 or 55 to 70
Moderate retardation Intellectual disability with IQ scores from
around 35 or 40 to 50 or 55
Severe retardation Intellectual disability with IQ scores that
range from around 20 or 25 to 35 or 40
Profound retardation Intellectual disability with IQ scores below
20 or 25
85. +
Above the Norm: The
Gifted and Talented
Gifted and talented Showing evidence of high performance
capability in intellectual, creative, or artistic areas, in leadership
capacity, or in specific academic fields
Acceleration The provision of special programs that allow gifted
students to move ahead at their own pace, even if this means
skipping to higher grade levels
86. +
Above the Norm: The
Gifted and Talented
Enrichment Approach through which students are kept at grade
level but are enrolled in special programs and given individual
activities to allow greater depth of study on a given topic
