Chapter 9 Cognitive Development in Preschool Children.ppt

Chapter 9: Cognitive Development in Preschool Children 9.1 Cognitive Processes 9.2 Language 9.3 Communicating with Others 9.4 Early Childhood Education Module 9.1 Cognitive Processes LEARNING OBJECTIVES Name the distinguishing features of thinking during the preoperational stage. Discuss how children’s information processing improves during the preschool years. Explain why Vygotsky viewed development as an apprenticeship. Piaget’s Account Preschoolers are in Piaget’s preoperational stage. Children can use symbols but there are many weaknesses in their thinking: egocentrism, centration, and appearance as reality. Improved biological theories and theory of mind. Information-Processing Perspectives on Preschool Thinking During the preschool years, children become better at regulating their attention. Autobiographical memory originates in the preschool years. Preschoolers’ counting follows 3 basic principles. Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development Zone of proximal development: difference between what one can do alone and with assistance. Scaffolding: matching the amount of assistance to the learner’s needs. Private speech: comments intended to regulate own behaviour. Module 9.2 Language LEARNING OBJECTIVES Describe the conditions that help preschoolers expand their vocabularies. Understand how children progress from speaking single words to complicated sentences. Discuss how a child acquires the grammar of the child’s native language. Encouraging Word Learning Talk more, but with not at children. Asking children questions while reading fosters identification of meaning of new words. Bilingual children learn language as rapidly as monolinguals. From Two-Word Speech to Complex Sentences Speech is often telegraphic in 1-year-olds. Gradually by 2-years of age add grammatical morphemes. Rule-based so errors of overregularization occur. How Children Acquire Grammar Language input is important but more than just imitation because children’s speech has its own grammar. N