Physical and cognitive development is rapid during early childhood. According to Piaget, children begin to represent the world through language, images, and drawing during the preoperational stage. Vygotsky sees dialogue as important for language development, and believes language and thought initially develop independently then merge. All mental functions have social origins. Development occurs through zones of proximal development and scaffolding with more skilled individuals. Debate continues around curriculum approaches, with advocates for both child-centered and direct instruction models.

1. Physical and Cognitive Development
in Early Childhood
By: Jeff Price, Christopher Espinal, Agnes Aglourtarh, & Adaku Maduka

2.  Growth in first year follows cephalocaudal and
proximodistal patterns.
 Growth in height and weight is the major physical
change in early childhood.
 An average child grows 2.5 inches in height and
5-7 pounds a year.
 Percentage increase in height and weight
decreases with each additional year.
 The brain and nervous system develop
significantly during infancy and slower during
early childhood.

3. Gross Motor Skills
 At 3 years of age, children enjoy simple
movements such as jumping, hopping and
running.
 At 4 and 5 years of age, children are more
adventurous.
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor coordination such as picking up
objects improves at ages 3 and 4.

4.  What children eat affect their growth and
susceptibility to disease.
 Good nutrition prevents overweight and
obesity.
 Inadequate diet and malnutrition in early
childhood is caused by poverty.
 Good exercise and physical activities promote
healthy growth.
Sleep: Children should get 11- 13 hours of
sleep daily.

5.  Diseases and other health disorders are major
cause of illness during early childhood.
 Vaccines have eradicated many diseases that
once resulted in the death of many young
children.
 Young children’s active and exploratory
nature often expose them to dangers that
cause severe injuries or death.

6.  The 2nd of Piaget’s 4 stages (2 to 7 years of age) comprised of the
Symbolic Function Substage and The Intuitive Thought Substage.
Children begin forming stable thoughts and concepts of what they
used to only do physically. They still don’t perform mental
operations which are reversible.
◦ Symbolic Function Substage (2-4 years old): children are able to mentally
represent an object that is not there i.e. scribbles/drawings and pretend
play. This is limited by Egocentrism - the inability to distinguish between
one’s own prespective and that of others and Animism- the belief that
inanimate objects are capable action.
◦ The Intuitive Thought Substage (4-7 years old): children begin to use basic
reasoning and ask “Why” to figure out how things work yet their ideas are
still very basic and not ready to make the mental jump to “what if”. They
know what they know but not why they know it.
 Children in the Preoperational Stage show a lack of Centration as
shown with Conservation.
◦ Centration: centering of attention on one characteristic to the
exclusion of all others
◦ Conservation: awareness that altering an object appearance does
not change its basic properties i.e. thinking a long strand of clay is
larger than a ball of clay when both were rolled from equal sizes of
clay.

7.  Children’s cognitive development advanced through both social
interaction with more skilled individuals and the tools that
society provides.
◦ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): A range of tasks: the higher limit is the
level too difficult for a child to perform alone without the assistance of an
adult or a more skilled child; the lower limit are the skills reached by a child
working alone. The ZPD identifies the child’s cognitive skills that are maturing;
the skills which may only be accomplished with help.
◦ Scaffolding (linked to ZPD): Reducing the level of support a teacher gives the
child as the child’s new skill ability increases.
◦ Importance of Language and Thought Vygotsky believed language and
thought develop separately and then merge, and all mental functions have
external/social origins.
 Private Speech: children use language to help them work through tasks and self-
regulate their behavior. Piaget saw it as egocentric and immature.
 Children use language 1st to communicate with others then, between 3 & 7 years old,
children make the transition to internal speech
 Internal Speech – achieved when self talk becomes second nature and they are able to
act without verbalizing.
 Vygotsky’s theories of ZPD, using more skilled peers as teachers
and contextual instruction have been successfully integrated into
modern teaching strategies.

8.  Vygotsky takes a Social Contstructivist Approach,
emphasizes the social contexts of learning and
the construction of knowledge through social
interaction. Teachers establish opportunities for
children to learn with the teacher and more
skilled peers. Language plays a major role in
shaping thought.
 Piaget – children construct knowledge by
transforming and reorganizing previous
knowledge. Teachers help children to explore the
world and discover knowledge. Language has
minimal role.

9.  Informational Processing has illuminated research on how
children process information during preschool years and what
are limits and advances in children’s attention, memory &
problem solving.
◦ Attention -focusing mental resources on select information.
◦ Young children develop attention in 2 ways:
 Executive Attention: involves planning, goals & details. Develops as language and
comprehension develops
 Sustained Attention: involves extended engagement with an object or task
◦ Preschooler’s control of attention is limited in 2 ways:
 Salient vs. relevant dimensions: Preschoolers pay more attention to Salient stimuli (stimuli
that stands out) even if it is not relevant. After age 6 or 7 children are better able to
focus.
 Planfulness: Preschoolers use more haphazard comparison strategy when compared to
elementary school age children who are more systematic.
◦ Memory- retention of information is essential to children’s cognitive
development.
 One idea of why short term memory increases during early childhood is because the
speed of processing information improves. At this time memory also becomes more
accurate.
◦ How accurate is memory:
 Age differences in children’s susceptibility to suggestion –preschoolers are more prone
 There are individual differences in susceptibility
 Interviewing techniques can produce distortions

10.  Strategies and Problem Solving:
◦ Adults and older children rehearse and organize information to improve
processing of information.
◦ It is not until about 4 years that child acquire the concept of perspectives –
a single stimulus can be described in 2 different ways.
 The Child’s Theory of the Mind: the awareness of one’s mental process
and the processes of others. From 18 months to 3 years developmental
changes occur.
◦ Perception - By age 2 a child understands that a person will see what’s in
front of their own eyes instead of what’s in front of the child’s eyes. By 3
they realize looking leads to knowing what’s in a container
◦ Emotions- The child can distinguish between positive and negative
emotions.
◦ Desires- Children recognize that if people want something they will try to
get it.
◦ By 5 years, most children understand that people can have different and
sometimes false beliefs. And between 5 to 7 years, children begin to
understand that people’s behaviors do not always reflect one’s thoughts
and feelings.
◦ At age 7 and beyond children realize that people may have different
interpretations of the same event.
◦ In early adolescence children understand that a person can have mixed
feeling about the same event.

11.  Both physical and cognitive development is
very dramatic during early childhood,
including development of language and
information processing.
 According to Piaget, during the
preoperational stage, children begin to
represent the world in words, images and
drawing. Most often, they talk to themselves
in a process called self talk or private speech.
 Vygotsky sees dialogue as an important role
of language in a child’s development.

12.  They learn through the process of zone of
proximal development or scaffolding.
 Language and thought initially develop
independently of each other then merged.
 All mental function has internal and social
origin.

13.  Toddlers move quickly from producing two
words utterances to creating three to four
and five combinations.
 Transition from simple to complex sentences
takes place between two to three.
 Develop sense of morphology after moving
beyond two words utterance.
 Application of syntax during preschool.

14.  Semantic
 Four to five, they develop their own style
 By six, there is language development in
pragmatic.
 Environmental and parental influence is
crucial in the child’s ability to read and write.

15.  The Child-Centered Kindergarten
◦ Experience, Process , and Activities influences child
◦ Importance on Development
◦ Based on Childs need’s
 The Montessori Approach
◦ Freedom; chance to make decisions
◦ Teachers only help when necessary
◦ Pros: Time management and problem solving skills
◦ Cons: No interactions, imaginative play, or creativity

16.  Developmentally Appropriate and
Inappropriate Education
◦ Active learning
◦ Learning more than content
◦ Guidelines
◦ Difficult to generalize, different programs

17.  Project Head Start: government funded
program for low-income families to give
children opportunities
 Head Start  early head start
 Not all created equal, some more focused on
expansion
 Studies show more cognitive and social
development

18.  Curriculum Controversy
◦ Child Centered vs Direct Instruction
◦ Many high-quality programs include both
◦ Experts worry academic approach place pressure to
achieve (no chance to understand or construct
knowledge)
◦ Shouldn’t focus only on cognitive development
 Universal Preschool Education
◦ Fans (Zigler and colleagues): prepare children, less likely
to be held back a grade or drop out, cost savings for
justice services
◦ Critics: gains overstated, no proof that
nondisadvantaged children improve from attending,
young children should be educated by parents