Chapter 9- cog development in preschool kids

person's understanding that a situation or fact is counter/ opposite to reality. First demonstrated through kid's engagement with pretend play (as early as age 2) and involves the kid making mental comparisons between real life and an imagined alt situation. Once kids become better able to make judgemtns about veracity of info and engage in activities that are counter to reality ("you be the mom, ill be the dad,") they begin to develop a theory of mind. So naïve psych flourishes in preschool years with kids beginning to reason about how events are related to the world. plays an important role in developing theory of mind.

- Counterfactual thinking:

Characteristics of Preoperational thinking+short sum/ Preschoolers' ability to use symbols represents huge advance over sensorimotor thinking, but preschool kids' thinking is limited compared to school-age kids due to 3 important characteristics of preoperational thought:

- Egocentrism: kid believes all people see the world as they do. ex: kid gestures during phone convo not realizing listener cant see gestures - Centration: kid focuses on one aspect of a problem/ situation but ignores other relevant aspects. Ex: kid pays attention to height of liquid in the beaker but ignores diameter of beaker. - Appearance as reality: kid assumes an object really is what it appears to be. ex: kid mistakes a person wearing a Halloween mask for a "real" monster

a kid's ability to engage in/ a set of cog abilities that enable intentional, self-regulated behaviour. Cog abilities involved= attention, concentration, planning, organizing, and reflecting on one's own thoughts and behaviors.

- Executive functioning:

Cognitive Processes - Once kids enter preschool, much cog development occurs. But preschoolers have much cog maturity to achieve. - 3 perspectives of preschoolers' thinking=

-Piagetian -info processing -Vygotsky

Language - Not long after kids begin to talk, they start combining words to form simple sentences. - 2-year-old has vocab of a few hundred words and speaks in sentences that are __________words long. - End of preschool= 5-year-old has vocab of several thousand words and speaks in sentences that are ______ words long

2 or 3 5 or more

crediting inanimate objects with life and lifelike properties. o Present in 3 ½ year olds. ex: the sun is happy today. Caught up in egocentrism, kid believes objects like the sun think and feel as they do

Animism:

- Defining characteristic of scaffolding that promotes learning=

Giving help but not more than is needed.

- Info processing believes in age related improvements in what (3)=

attention memory counting

people's memory of the significant events and experiences of their own lives. emerges in preschool years. Helps people construct a personal life history and relate their experiences to others, creating socially shared memories

autobiographical memory

narrowly focused thought. Kids have psych equivalent of tunnel vision: concentrate on one aspect of a problem but ignore other equally relevant aspects.

centration

seeing the world from the perspective of self rather than others.

egocentrism

- Vygotsky's term for thought

inner speech

naive theories in what 3 areas=

physics psych bio

- As toddlers and preschoolers, kids form a naïve theory in another area- psych. Adults try to explain to kids why people act as they do and these explanations emphasize that desires or goals cause people's behaviour. Just as naïve physics allows kids to predict how objects act, naïve psych allows kids to predict what? - Theory of mind 3 phases=

predict how people act 1) Earliest phase, common in 2 year olds, kids are aware of desires and often speak of their wants and likes as in "let me see" or "I wanna sit." Also link their desires to their behaviour like "I happy theres more cookies." So by age 2 kids understand they and others have desires and that desires are related to behaviour 2) By age 3, kids distinguish the mental world from physical. Ex: told about one girl who has a cookie and another girl who is thinking one, 3 year olds know only the first girl's cookie can be seen/touched/eaten. Use "mental verbs" like think, believe, remember and forget, suggesting they have a new understanding of different mental states. although 3 year olds talk about thoughts and beliefs, they emphasize desires when trying to explain why people act as they do. capable of lying to cover up bad behaviour. Starting at age 3 kids are able to recognize when they have not done what they were supposed to do but then deny the misbehaviour. although at this young age kids are capable of lying, they aren't sophisticated at it and easily give themselves away when disclosing knowledge obtained by disobedience. 3) Age 4= mental states take centre stage in kids' understanding of their own and others' actions. Kids understand their own and others' behavior is based on their beliefs about events and situations even when those beliefs are wrong. Theory of mind is necessary to a kid's ability to engage in pretend play with other kids.

stage of cog development, spans ages 2-7, marked by kid's use of symbols to represent objects and events. Preschoolers gradually become proficient at using common symbols like words, gestures, graphs, maps, and models.

preoperational stage

comments not directed to others but help kids regulate their own behaviour. Is an intermediate step toward self-regulation of cog skills.

private speech

Appearance as reality. Preschoolers believe an object's appearance tells what the object is really like. Ex: 3 year olds watch with fascination as an older bro puts on ghoulish costume only to erupt in frightening tears when the mask goes on. For preschoolers, the scare face is reality, not just "sibling in a mask" o Confusion between appearance and reality= general characteristic of preoperational thinking. Other exs where appearance and reality conflict= boy angry because friend is being mean but smiles because he's afraid friend will leave if he reveals anger, glass of milk is brown when seen through sunglasses, rubber pizza looks like real food. o Older kids and adults know that appearance can be deceiving: milk looks brown but Is really white. Preoperational kids confuse appearance with reality, thinking milk is brown. o Distinguishing appearance from reality= esp difficult for kids in early years of preoperational thinking. Ex: kids' use of models. A model of a house can be an interesting object in its own right and representation of an actual house. The ability to use scale models develops early in peroperational period. If young kids watch adult hide a toy in full-size room and then try to find the toy in an exact model of the room-3 year olds find it more readily but 2 ½ year olds dont. 2 ½ see the model as an attractive object but not as a model or symbol of the room. Confusion about appeatance and reality is a deep-seated characteristic of preoperational thinking (esp in early years), as are egocentrism and centration. o Study= C and R tried to see if 28 month olds comprehension of graphic symbols (drawings) could be accelerated by early training in how drawings represented actual objects compared with kids who received less training at 32 months. Finding= 28 month olds showed accelerated understanding of graphic symbols, but 32 month olds caught up with them after only one month of training. Finding 2= links between kids' graphic symbol comprehension and their play and language abilities. Findings illustrate important developmental principle: earlier training doesn't always mean better performance later, since more mature kids can catch on to a task quickly due to their more advanced developmental capabilities.

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Centration: Piaget demonstrated centration in his experiments involving conservation. Experiment= wanted to determine when kdis realize that important characteristics of objects stay the same despite changes in their physical appearance. Each begins with identical objects. Then one object or object set is transformed, and kids are asked if the objects are the same in terms of some important feature. Typical conservation problem involves liquid quantity. Kid shown identical beakers with same amount of juice. After kids agree both have same amount of juice, juice is poured from one into a taller, thinner beaker. Juice looks different in tall, thin one- rises higher. The amount is unchanged but preoperational kids clima the tall, thin beaker has more juice. If juice is poured into a wider beaker, they believe it has less. Peroperational kids focus on level of juice in beaker and ignore other factors like width of beaker. If juice is higher after poured, preoperational kids belive there must be more juice than before. Because preoperational thinking over-focuses on one aspect of a situation, these kids ignore the fact that the change in level of jiice is alauwas accompanied by change in diamteret of beaker. Due to centration, they overlook other part of the problem that would tell them the quantity is unchanged. Other conservation problems= preoperational kids focus on only one aspect of the problem. In conservation of number, preoperational kids concentrate on how after transformation, one row of objects appears longer than the other. In conservation of length, preoperational kids concentrate on how after transformation, the end of one stick is farther to the right than the other.

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Children and Fams around the World- Growing up Bilingual - Everyday business in CAN occurs in English or French so kids must learn one of these 2 languages if not reared to either from birth - View used to be bilingualism harmed kids' development. But not true according to psych studies - When kids ages 1 and 2 learn 2 langauges at the same time, they tend to progress slowly at first because they mix words from the 2 languags. But by age 3 or 4 kids can separate the languages and by the time they enter elementary most are as proficient as monolingual kids in both languages. - Bilingual preschoolers are more likely to understand the printed form of a word is unrelated to the meaning of the word. Ex: less likely to believe words denoting large objects (ex: car) are longer than words denoting small objects (spider). - Bilingual kids better understand that words are arbitrary sumbols - Do better on tasks of selective attention and those requiring complex info processing along with fast reaction time - Kids' counting ability was affected by their knowledge of the counting string and by cultural differences in parenting practices. French speaking preschoolers performed more poorly on tasks of rote counting and number recognition but the 2 groups didn't differ in counting of objects. Conclusion= French speaking kids might find it more difficult to master number names than English speakers becaue French speaking parents reported less emphasis on teaching numbers, letters and words than English parents. Thus groups who differ in language might actually be different in terms of other cultural factors that have an impact on performance - Much debate over language of instruction is ethno-political. - Best method of instruction= uses kid's native language and the primary languages of the nation, facilitating both cultural consistency and skill in acquiring the dominant languages. - Success of bilingual programs might depend on the positive multicultural orientation of parents and teachers supporting those programs

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Early Childhood Education - 150+ years ago= educator Froebel argued young kids are like flowers- when cared for properly they blossom and become beautiful. Created first kindergarten- garden of kids- from this philosophy. Believed through play, kids learn what they can do and become - 20th century= same ideas extended to even younger kids and resulted in ECE

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Information-Processing Perspectives on Preschool Thinking - Unlike Piaget's theory, preschool years aren't seen as a separate stage according to info-processing theory. These years are thought to include continued growth of many cog skills. Ex: playing war for kids age 4 involves many skills- knowing numbers 2-10 determining higher card and value of non-numbered cards, etc. all simple for an adult but 4 year old couldn't have played the game when he was 2. Age-related improvements in reasoning and problem-solving abilities can be linked to kids' continuous improvements specifically in speed of info processing and increased retention of info in working memory.

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Memory - Autobiographical memory. · Ex: who was your first-grade teacher? In answering, you search memory. Like answering questions like "what's the capital of Alberta?" except this answer is based on general knowledge you might not have experienced personally; answer to question about your first teacher= based on knowledge unique to your life. - Parents ask Qs+ the style in which they ask those Qs+ richness of kid's vocab impact autobiographical memory= · Autobiographical memory originates in preschool when parents encourage kids to think about the past by asking them to recall recent events. Ex: parent asks 3 year old what games they played at preschool today. In these Qs, parents focus on who, what, where, when and why= how they teach kids what aspects of events are important. Their Qs also emphasize the importance of temporal and causal order in organizing the past · When parents reminisce about events in a highly elaborate way, asking many Qs with new info contained in them and discussing kids' responses extensively, their kids remember those events in more complex detail when they recall them later - Current theory on autobiographical memory= multiple factors have influence over its development, including parental reminiscing style, kids' level of cog development, understanding of self in time, and quality of attachment between parent and kid

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Piaget's Account - Piaget's theory= preschoolers transitioned from sensorimotor to preoperational thinking.

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Preschool Programs for Economically Disadvantaged Kids - Effective preschool ed is esp important for kids who are economically disadvantaged · Without preschool, kids from low-income fams enter kindergarten or grade 1 lacking key readiness skills for academic success- they fall behind peers with these skills - Providing preschool experiences for kids from poor fams= long been part of NA gov policies to eliminate poverty - How effectively programs like Head Start meet the needs of preschool kids= · The nature of Head Start makes this Q hard. No 2 HS programs are alike, so blanket statements about effectiveness of programming in general cant be made. · High-quality HS programs are effective overall. Those that adhere to guidelines like those suggested by Health CAN are successful in many respects. · Kids in HS programs are healthier and do better in school than kids who begin school without it. Ex: HS graduates are less likely to repeat a grade level or be placed in special education classes and they are more likely to graduate from high school. So improved quality of life for participants. - HD and other forms of early childhood programs have operated with Indigenous communities in CAN to varying levels of success. Program can be difficult to implement effectively and often require great negotiation and revision in consultation with community to be effective.

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Private Speech - Kids sometimes talk to themselves while play- private speech - At first kid's behaviour is regulated by speech from others that is directed to them. when kids first try to control their own behaviour/thoughts without others present, they instruct themselves by speaking aloud. Comments not directed to others but instead help kids regulate their own behaviour. As kids gain greater skill, private speech becomes inner speech - If kids use private speech to help control their behaviour, then kids would use it more often on difficult tasks and more often after a mistake than correct answer. = supported predictions in research documenting the power of language in helping kids learn to control their own behaviour and cog - studied private speech with deaf kids. Finding= definite use of private speech in deaf kids' sign language. · Of deaf kids studied, the ones who had deaf mothers used a more sophisticated/ mature form of signed private speech. · Conclusion= findings support Vygotsky's proposition that private speech derives from kid's experience with early forms of social communication

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Scaffolding - Working with master teacher who seemed to know exactly when to say something to help you over an obstacle but otherwise let you work uninterrupted. - Early in learning a new task like cleaning bedroom, an adult provides much directed instruction. But as kid begins to catch on to the task, teacher provides less instruction and only occasional reminders. - Defining characteristic of scaffolding that promotes learning= Giving help but not more than is needed. · Kids don't learn readily when they're constantly told what to do or when simply left to struggle through problems unaided. But when teachers collab with them-allowing kids to take on more of a task as they master its different elements- kids learn more effectively. - Important technique for transferring cog skills from others to kid

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Summary - zone of proximal development: difference between what kids can do alone and what they can do with assistance. Ex: kid makes little progress cleaning his room alone but accomplishes the task readily when a parent provides structure (ex: "start by getting stuff off the floor.") - scaffolding: providing instruction that matches learner's needs exactly- neither too much instruction nor too little. Ex: teacher provides much help when a kid is first learning to distinguish "b" from "d" but provides less help as kid learns the difference - Private speech: speech not directed at others but guides the kid's own behaviour. Ex: kid working on puzzle says to herself, "start by looking for edge pieces."

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Vygotsky's view of cog development as an apprenticeship, a collab between expert and novice= complements the other views (Piaget's theory and info-processing). Vygotsky's work, Piaget's theory and info-processing= provide lens for understanding cog in preschool years.

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Zone of Proximal Development - ex: Ian does most of the work on a puzzle but his dad sometimes correctly orients a piece or finds one Ian needs. When Ian tries to do the same puzzle alone, he can rarely complete it. Difference between what Ian can do with assistance and what he can do alone defines the zone of proximal development - Like how training wheels help kids learn to ride a bike by allowing them to concentrate on aspects of biking other than balance, the adults help kids perform effectively by providing structure, hints and reminders. - zone of proximal development follows from Vygotsky's basic premise that cog develops first in a social setting and only gradually comes under kid's independent control. - Understanding how the shift from social to individual learning occurs brings in the 2nd key contribution= scaffolding. V viewed cog development as collab between novice kid and more skilled teachers who scaffold the kid's learning

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· Egocentrism o ex: when kids stubbornly cling to their own way, they aren't simply being contrary- preoperational kids don't comprehend other people have different ideas/feelings. o Ex: perception of mountain study-kids suppose mountains are seen the same way by all and presume theirs is the only view. o Explains why babies nod while talking on the phone. They assume the person on the other end knows they're nodding. Its part of infant egocentrism and takes time before they realize others don't see the world as they do.

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Using Visual Media to Educate Preschool Kids - 1969= the appearance of program, Sesame Street, designed to use the power of video and animation to foster preschool skills, including recognizing letters and numbers, counting, and building vocab. Program achieved its goals. Preschoolers who watched the show regularly were more proficient at the targeted academic skills and adjusted better to school. Children's TV Workshop, now Sesame Workshop, has helped educate generations of preschoolers though tv production of Sesame Street. - Sesame Street remains effective. Ex: kids who watched frequently at age 3 hard larger vocabs at age 5 than those who watched infrequently. - Kids who watch Tv shows that emphasize prosocial behaviour like Mr. Dress up= more likely to behave prosocially. - what is greater- Impact of viewing prosocial tv programs or impact of viewing televised violence?

review the rest impact of viewing prosocial tv programs is greater

a teaching style that matches the amount of necessary assistance to the learner's needs.

scaffolding

number names must be counted in the same order. A kid who counts in the same sequence- ex: consistently counting 4 objects as "1, 2, 4, 5" shows understanding of this principle.

stable-order principle

a person's naive understanding of the relations between mind and behaviour. Formed by a person's ideas about connections between thoughts, beliefs and behaviour. Moves through 3 phases during preschool years

theory of mind

the difference between a kid's performance with a little help from a person with more skill and the kid's performance without help. Aka difference between what kids. Can do alone and what they can do with assistance.

zone of proximal development

the last number name differs from previous ones in a counting sequence by indicating the number of objects in a set. 3 year olds reveal their understanding of this by repeating the last number name, with emphasis, "1, 2, 4, 8...EIGHT!"

· Cardinality principle:

Vygotsky's Theory of Cog Development - Piaget and neo-Piagetian theorists described kids' developmental journey as one they make alone. Kessen objected to psychs' describing kids as if they live in a vacuum. Pointed out that the practice of seeing the kid as a "unit" of analysis separate from others and culture is a cultural invention that should be avoided - Vygotsky proposed different account of CD · Made 2 primary contributions to psych:

· Influenced by structure and beliefs of eastern European culture- saw development as social relationship through which kids collab with others who are more experienced · Kids rarely make headway on the developmental path alone; they progress when they walk with a skilled caregiver and learning arises from their interactions with each other · Focus on important role socio-cultural support played on kids' physical and intellectual growth in a cultural world (kid no individual explorer). · Died and didn't finish his theory of cog development. But his ideas are influential because they fill gaps in Piagetian/neo-Piagetian accounts. o his socio-cultural theory of cog development- 3 of his most important contributions= zone of proximal development, scaffolding and private speech o his support for a theory of disability.

Extending Piaget's Account: Children's Naïve Theories - Extension of Piaget's account to show infants create naïve theories of physics and bio. Theories= more elaborate in preschool years. Ex: preschoolers' naïve theories of bio include many specific properties linked with animate objects. Many 4-year olds' theories of bio include 5 elements= - These findings clarify what about older preschoolers' naïve theories of bio?

· Movement: kids understand animals can move themselves, but inanimate objects can be moved only by other objects or people. Ex: Shown an animal and toy hopping across a table in the same way= preschoolers claim only the animal can move itself · Growth: kids understand that, from their first appearance, animals get bigger and physically more complex but that inanimate objects don't. Ex: they believe sea otters become larger over time by but teddy bears don't. · Internal parts: kids know the inside of animate objects contain different materials than the insides of inanimate objects. Ex: preschoolers judge that blood and bones are more likely inside an animate object but cotton and metal in inanimate object · Inheritance: kids realize that only living things have offspring that resemble their parents. Ex: asked to explain why a dog is pink- preschoolers believe that some bio characteristic of the parents made the dog pink; asked to explain why a can is pink, preschoolers rely on mechanical causes (worker used a machine), not bio ones. · Healing: kids understand that animate things heal by regrowth and inanimate things must be fixed by humans. Ex: preschoolers know that hair will grow back when cut from a kid's head but must be repaired by a person when cut from doll's they are complex but aren't complete (ex: don't know that genes are the bio basis for inheritance). Preschoolers' theories also include some misconceptions- ex: believe adopted kids will physically resemble their adoptive parents

there must be 1 and only 1 number name for each object counted. A kid who counts 3 objects as "1, 2, a" understands this because the number of number words matches the number of objects to be counted.

· One-to-one principle:

- Charted preschoolers' understanding of counting= placed several objects in front of a kid and asked, "how many?" by analyzing kids' answers to many of these questions, finding= by age 3, most kids mastered 3 basic principles of counting (at least with counting to 5 objects)=

· One-to-one principle: · Stable-order principle: · Cardinality principle:

Communicating with Others - Effective oral communication relies on 3 simple guidelines: - Mastery of these pragmatic skills= lifelong pursuit. Even adults miscommunicate because they don't observe one or more of these rules. But kids grasp many basics of communication early in life

· People should take turns, alternating as speaker and listener · Speaker's remarks should relate to the topic and be understandable to listener · Listener should pay attention and let the speaker know if their remarks don't make sense

- Research indicates that prosocial behaviour can be influenced by tv watching but 2 factors restrict the actual prosocial impact of tv viewing= - We are far from harnessing power of tv for prosocial uses

· Prosocial behaviors are portrayed less frequently in televised shows than aggressive behaviors, so opportunities to learn prosocial behaviours from television are limited · The small number of prosocial programs compete with other kinds of televised programs and other non-tv activities for kids' time, so kids might not watch the few prosocial programs that are televised.