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Chapter 5Physical and Cognitive Development in the

Early Childhood (Pre-School) Years

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Development during the Preschool Years

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Physical Development

Girls slightly smaller and lighter than boys during these years [next]

Body fat also shows a slow, steady decline

Environmental experiencesurban, middle-SES, and firstborn children tend to be taller than rural, lower-SES, and later-born children

Brain material in some areas can nearly double in a year [next]

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Relative growth of synapses and dendrites

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Physical Development: Height & Weight

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Motor Development: 2-3 Years

• Less tripping• Running, Hopping, Jumping • Walk up and down stairs alone• Balance on one foot for a few seconds; stand on tip

toes• Can throw and kick balls• Can walk on a balance beam

Gross Motor

Fine Motor• Can “draw,” including copying lines and circles• Can cut with scissors• Can string beads (supervised!) or popcorn• Can take things apart and put them back together

(e.g., jars, lids, toys, boxes, stacks)

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Nutrition: Feeding the Preschooler

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Weight and HealthCategories determined by body mass index (BMI)

More overweight young childrenBy age 5

Type II diabetesassociated with lower S-E

More fruit juice associated with higher incidence ofType II diabetes

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Diabetes Prevalence

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Health & Illness During the Preschool Years

The majority of children in the United States are reasonably healthy.

Average American child > common cold is the most frequent (and most severe) illness.

Poor nutrition associated with low income

Nutrition linked to cognitive and physical growth

Underfed children > often less supervised, less stimulated, and less educated

Health Problems in Elementary School

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Dangers that Preschoolers FaceHigh levels of physical activity (they can get around on their own now).

Poison, drowning in tub (~350/yr)/pools (~250/yr), falls, burns (2nd most common among preschoolers)

falls

poisoning

Boys have higher injury rates.

Economic and ethnic differences

Poverty = 2x higher risk

Cultural differences in supervision, gender roles

Head injury is leading cause of death for preschoolers

Motor vehicle accidents account for 38% (2011), but…

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Socioeconomic Status

Health status of children correlates with income

“Approximately 11 million U.S. preschool children are malnourished and have lowered resistance to diseases”

(Howell, Pettit, & Kingsley, 2005; Ramey, Ramey, & Lanzi, 2006) (Olson, Tang, & Newacheck, 2005)

How are data collected?

Prevention (worldwide): reduce poverty; nutrition; sanitation; education; health services

In 2009 census, only 21 million under 5 total.

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Handedness  Historically, left-handers were forced to write with their right hand

Origin of handednessgeneticright-handedness is dominant in all cultures

Left-handers more likely to have reading problemstend to have better visual-spatial skills

Left-handedness more common than expected among mathematicians, musicians, architects, and artists

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Motor Development: 4 - 6 Years

• Rides a tricycle• More coordinated hopping, jumping, skipping• Throw and catch balls• Swing on a swing with pumping• Climbs ladders; uses slide independently• Runs around obstacles seamlessly• Skates• Jumps rope• More or less accident prone?

Gross Motor

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Motor Development: 4 - 6 Years

Fine Motor

• Can “copy” figures• Can cut with scissors on a line• Brushes teeth; combs hair, washes, dresses• Prints letters and numbers• Establishes hand preference• Laces and then ties shoes• Colors within lines• Cuts and pastes• Uses mouse on computer accurately

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Cognitive Changes: Intellectual Development

Begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings Use of concepts; mental reasoningEgocentrism and magical beliefs Child does not yet perform operations > reversible mental actions Characterized by symbolic thinking

Piaget’s Preoperational Stage: 2 to 7

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Hart and Risley (1995)

Economic level a significant factor inamount of parental interactions

types of language children were exposed to

kinds of language used.

Poverty related to lower IQ scores by age five.

The longer children live in poverty, the more severe the consequences.

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Piaget’s Preoperational Stage

CENTRATION - concentrating on one limited aspect of a stimulus and ignoring other aspects.

Demonstrated centration by experiments with CONSERVATION

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Egocentric ThoughtThe inability to take the perspective of others; takes two forms:

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Preoperational Thought: Intuitive Thought SubstageB/T ~4 and 7

Primitive reasoning and many questions

Questions signal the emergence of interest in reasoning and in figuring out why things are the way they are

“Intuitive” b/c children seem sure about their knowledge and understanding

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Critics of Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development

(revisited)Piaget underestimated capabilities. Cognition develops in a continuous manner, not in stages. Training can improve performance in conservation tasks. Focused too much on the deficiencies of young children's thought.

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Vygotsky’s TheorySocial constructivist approach

ZPD -- zone of proximal development scaffolding

Which child has a larger ZPD?

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Do improved language abilities in preschoolers lead to improvements in thinking ability, or is it the reverse?

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Differential Language Exposure

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Teaching Strategies Based on Vygotsky’s Theory

Assess the child’s ZPD

Use ZPD in teaching

Use more-skilled peers as teachers

Monitor and encourage children’s use of private speech (Private speech facilitates learning)

Place instruction in a meaningful context

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Comparing Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s Theories

Vygotsky’s emphasis on the importance of inner speech in development

Students need many opportunities to learn with a teacher and more-skilled peers

Piaget’s view that such speech is immature

Children need support to explore their world and discover knowledge

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Review Page 151/134

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Criticizing Vygotsky

Overemphasized role of language in thinking

Emphasis on collaboration and guidance has potential pitfalls: Facilitators might be too helpful

Some children might become lazy and expect help when they might have done something on their own

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Information-Processing Approach

Attention -- the focusing of cognitive resources

Memory -- the retention of information over time  

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(1) Understanding of Numbers

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Early childhood and TV

• 40% of 3-month-olds• 90% of 2-yr-olds• median age > 9 mos

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TelevisionHow does television affect cognitive dev’t of preschoolers?

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Television: learning from the media?

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ECE

Three-quarters of children in U.S. are enrolled in

some kind of care outside the home.

What makes for successful ECE?

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Is Head Start Successful?

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Head Start Funding

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