Santrock Life-span development 16th edition slides.

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LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
Sixteenth Edition
Chapter 7
Physical and
Cognitive
Development
in Early
Childhood
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prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

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prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Body Growth and Change (1 of 2)
• Height and weight
– Average growth is 2.5 inches and 5 to 10 pounds
per year during early childhood
– Growth patterns vary individually
– Two most important contributors to height
differences
 Ethnic origin and nutrition
– Growth hormone deficiency: Absence of growth
hormone produced by the pituitary gland to
stimulate the body to grow

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Motor Development (1 of 3)
• Most preschool children are more active than
they will ever be at any later period in the life
span
• Gross motor skills
– Simple movements at age 3
– More adventurous at age 4
– Hair-raising risks at age 5

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Motor Development (2 of 3)
• Fine motor skills
– Still clumsy at 3 years
– Improved fine motor coordination at 4 years
– Body coordination by 5 years

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Motor Development (3 of 3)
• Perceptual development
– Age 3-4 years - Detection of boundaries between
colors
– Age 4-5 years - Children can focus their eyes and
sustain their attention effectively on close-up
objects

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Sleep
• Recommended sleep - 11-13 hours each night
without interruption
• Disorders - Narcolepsy, insomnia, and
nightmares
• Sleep problems and negative outcomes
– Attention problems
– Worse school readiness
 more so with increased screen time
– Being overweight
– Social problems

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Nutrition and Exercise (1 of 2)
• Overweight young children
– Serious health problems in early childhood
– Strongly influenced by caregivers’ behavior
– Categories for obesity, overweight, and at risk for
being overweight
 Determined by body mass index (BMI)
– U.S. has second highest rate of childhood obesity

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Nutrition and Exercise (2 of 2)
• Malnutrition in young children from low-income
families
– 11 million preschool children are experiencing
malnutrition
– Biggest problem is iron deficiency anemia
• Exercise should be a daily occurrence

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Cognitive Changes
• Piaget’s preoperational stage
• Vygotsky’s theory
• Information processing

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Piaget’s Preoperational Stage (1 of 3)
• Preoperational stage
– Piaget’s second stage
– Ages 2 to 7 years
– Children represent the world with words, images,
and drawings
 Form stable concepts and begin to reason
 Cognitions are dominated by egocentrism and magical
beliefs

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Piaget’s Preoperational Stage (2 of 3)
• Operations: Reversible mental actions that allow
children to do mentally what they formerly did
physically
• Symbolic function substage: Child gains the
ability to mentally represent an object that is
not present
– Egocentrism: Inability to distinguish one’s own
perspective from someone else’s
– Animism: Belief that inanimate objects have
lifelike qualities and are capable of action

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Piaget’s Preoperational Stage (3 of 3)
• Intuitive thought substage: Children use
primitive reasoning and want to know the
answers to questions
– Ages 4-7 years
• Centration and the limits of preoperational
thought
– Centration: Centering attention on one
characteristic to the exclusion of all others
– Conservation: Altering a substance’s appearance
does not change its basic properties

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The Three Mountains Task

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Piaget’s Conservation Task

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Vygotsky’s Theory
• Children think and understand primarily through
social interaction
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD): Range of
tasks that are too difficult for the child alone but
that can be learned with guidance
• Scaffolding - Changing the level of support

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Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal
Development

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Vygotsky’s Theory (1 of 3)
• Language and thought
– Children use speech to communicate socially and
to help them solve tasks
– Private speech - Use of language for self-
regulation
– Inner speech becomes their thoughts
– More private speech = more social competence

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Vygotsky’s Theory (2 of 3)
• Teaching strategies - Vygotsky’s theory can be
applied to education
– Assess child’s ZPD
– Use the child’s ZPD in teaching
– Use more-skilled peers as teachers
– Place instruction in a meaningful context
– Transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas

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Vygotsky’s Theory (3 of 3)
• Evaluating Vygotsky’s theory
– Social constructivist approach: Emphasizes social
contexts of learning and asserts that knowledge
is mutually built and constructed through social
interaction
– Criticism
 Not specific enough about age-related changes
 Does not describe how changes in socio-emotional
capabilities contribute to cognitive development
 Overemphasized the role of language in thinking

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Comparison of Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s
Theories (1 of 2)
Sociocultural
Context
Strong emphasis Little emphasis
Constructivism Social constructivist Cognitive constructivist
Stages
No general stages of development
proposed
Strong emphasis on stages (sensorimotor,
preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
operational)
Key Processes
Zone of proximal development,
language, dialogue, tools of the
culture
Schema, assimilation, accommodation,
operations, conservation, classification
Role of
Language
A major role; language plays a
powerful role in shaping thought
Language has a minimal role; cognition primarily
directs language
View on
Education
Education plays a central role, helping
children learn the tools of the culture
Education merely refines the child's cognitive
skills that have already emerged
Teaching
Implications
many opportunities for children to
learn with the teacher and more-
skilled peers
Also views teacher as a facilitator and guide, not
a director; provide support for children to explore
their world and discover knowledge

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Comparison of Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s
Theories (2 of 2)
Vygotsky Piaget

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Language Development
• Understanding phonology and morphology
• Changes in syntax and semantics
• Advances in pragmatics
• Young children’s literacy

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Understanding Phonology and
Morphology
• During preschool years, children:
– Become sensitive to the sounds of spoken words
– Produce all the sounds of their language
– Demonstrate a knowledge of morphology rules
 Use plurals, possessives, prepositions, articles,
and verb forms

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Changes in Syntax and Semantics
(1 of 2)
• Fast mapping: Process that helps to explain how
young children learn the connection between a
word and its referent so quickly
• Learn and apply rules of syntax
• Children learn the words:
– They hear most often
– For things and events that interest them
– Better in responsive and interactive contexts
than in passive contexts

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Changes in Syntax and Semantics
(2 of 2)
– Best in contexts that are meaningful
– Best when they access clear information about
word meaning
– Best when grammar and vocabulary are
considered

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Advances in Pragmatics
• Adapt their speech in different settings
• Young children’s literacy
– Positive orientation toward reading and writing
must be developed
– Importance of early language skills
 Phonological awareness
 Readiness for school
 Reading achievement in high school

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Young Children’s Literacy
• Books can be valuable tool
– Use books to initiate conversation
– Use what and why questions
– Encourage children to ask questions about stories
– Choose some books that play with language.

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Early Childhood Education (1 of 2)
• Variations in early childhood education
• Education for young children who are
disadvantaged
• Controversies in early childhood education

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prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Early Childhood Education (2 of 2)
• Education for young children who are
disadvantaged
– Project Head Start: Compensatory program
designed to provide children from low-income
families:
 Opportunity to acquire the skills and experiences
important for success in school
– Controversies in early childhood education
 Curriculum controversy
 Universal preschool education

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Variations in Early Childhood
Education (1 of 2)
• Child-centered kindergarten: Education of the
whole child and concern for his or her physical,
cognitive, and socio-emotional development
• Montessori approach: Child is given freedom
and spontaneity in choosing activities

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Variations in Early Childhood
Education (2 of 2)
• Developmentally appropriate and inappropriate
education
– Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP):
Typical developmental patterns of children and
the uniqueness of each child