COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

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CHAPTER 10

• COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

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COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGESPiagets
Preoperational Stage approximately two to seven
years of age operations are internalized sets
of actions that are highly organized and conform
to certain rules and principles of logic.
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• Symbolic Function Sub-stage two to four years
  of age where the child gains the ability to
  represent an object mentally that is not present.
• Egocentrism feature of preoperational though
  where child is unable to distinguish between
  ones own perspective and that of others.
• Animism second feature of preoperational
  thought where child has belief that inanimate
  objects have lifelike qualities.

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• Intuitive Thought Sub-stage four to seven years
  of age where children begin to use primitive
  reasoning and have many questions this stage is
  characterized by a childs assuredness that she
  is correct in her thinking.
• Centration a focusing of attention on one
  characteristic to the exclusion of all others.
• Conservation the preoperational child has a
  lack of conservation in that he feels an amount
  becomes larger or smaller when it is manipulated.

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Vygotskys Theory of Development described in
three basic principles

1. Childs cognitive skills are understood only when
   developmentally analyzed.
2. Cognitive skills are mediated by words and
   language, which facilitate mental activity.
3. Cognitive skills originate in sociocultural
   background of the child.

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• Zone of proximal development (ZPD) range of
  tasks beyond the mastery of the child but that
  are learned with guidance.
• Scaffolding consistently adjusting the amount
  of guidance to match the students performance
  level.
• Language and thought Language issued for
  self-regulation and is called inner speech, is
  considered an important tool of thought in each
  childhood.
• Teaching strategies based on Vygotskys theory
  Child is challenged through use of ZPD and
  scaffolding to bring her to higher levels of
  performance. Learning should be with skilled
  peers and teachers who monitor the childs use of
  private speech and assess her ZPD, not her IQ.
• Evaluation and comparing Vygotskys and Piagets
  theories Piaget considers inner speech to
  reflect immaturity, not a tool in development.
  Vygotsky is a social constructivist while Piaget
  rejects the impact of social influence and
  believes children construct knowledge through
  transforming and organizing prior knowledge.

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Information Processing Memory plays a key role
in cognitive development.

• Attention In early childhood, a moving away fro
  habituation and dishabituation toward selective
  attention focusing on a specific aspect of
  experience while ignoring others.
• Control of attention Preschool children begin
  to focus their attention specifically (on
  television, for example) versus toddlers who
  wander their attention.
• Salient versus relevant dimensions From
  preschool year to age six to seven there is a
  gradual shift toward attending to relevant
  aspects versus those that stand out and are
  flashy when solving a problem.
• Planfulness A focus on detain when making
  comparisons is found as children grow older.
• Adjusting attention A childs ability to change
  the rate of attention when confronting easy to
  difficult material (i.e., reading).
• Knowledge of attention Preschool versus older
  children do not seem to have control over how to
  focus on a subject in order to remember it.

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EXPECTANT PARENTS

• Confirming the pregnancy Fetal life begins with
  the fertilization of the ovum, with pregnancy
  length calculated from the first day of the
  womans last menstrual period.

The Three Trimesters First initial three
months when prenatal organ systems are formed
physical and emotional adjustment for the mother
Second middle months, continued growth of
fetus, mothers physical adjustment to the
change Third uterus expands, some leg problems
with blood flow, physically exhausting.
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The Expectant mothers nutrition, weight gain,
and exercise are monitored for her health and
that of her baby. Weight gain should be between
2.2 pounds per month and 6.6 (excessive).
Appropriate levels of vitamins and adequate
exercise all contribute to a healthy balance.

• Culture and Prenatal care are also considerations
  that affect the fetus. Industrial countries
  generally have lower numbers of low-birthweight
  babies, with the United States at 7 percent
  however, this is higher among African-American
  infants.

Cultural beliefs also impact prenatal care In
India midwives play a large role in the birthing
process. Other cultures rely on ancient
medicinal practices and/or strong familial
cooperation.