Assignment
farie20
LA255PreschoolDevelopment.pptxPreschool Development
Physical Development
Age 2: Avg height is 36 inches, avg weight is 25-30lbs
Age 6: 46 inches and 46 lbs on average
Lose their guts, become more adult-like in proportion
Muscles and bones become stronger
Inner ear infection risk
Nutrition
Preschoolers need less nutrition, not growing as fast
Variety of foods is important
Slow introductions
Getting children involved in food preparation helps
Health
Children are disgusting and will get about 20-30 colds or minor infections from ages 3-5
Runny noses
Sniffles
Coughs
Benefits
Empathy
Knowledge of their bodies
Learn what causes sickness
Develops immune system
Injuries
Children are basically have no idea what things will hurt them
Children are more at risk of being injured than any other age group
Childproofing is required
Brains
Children’s brains are larger than adults, comparatively
Brains are 90% the size of adult brains, but 30% total size of adults
Myelin growing like woah- faster cognitive growth
Corpus callosum- connection between right and left side of brain
Lateralization- different hemispheres do different things
Attention Span
Doesn’t fully develop until age 5
Associated with the Reticular Formation
Myelination helps
Gross Motor Development
By age 3- jumping, hopping on one foot, skipping, running, using stairs
4/5- throw with accuracy, ride bikes, climbing, learn to stop and turn suddenly, running jumps
Gender differences due to socialization and muscle strength
Girls tend to be more coordinated, boys jump higher and run faster
Fine Motor Development
Drawing, letters, fork skills develop
By age 5- pretty solid skills, can hold pencil properly, draw things that look like things
Handedness
Children start out ambidextrous
Can show preference for one side of body at 7 months
By end of preschool years, usually right or left-handedness develops
90% Right Handed
Preoperational
More symbolic thinking- understand toys represent other real objects
No formal, logical process – they would be bad scientists
Language develops substantially
Can use future and past imagination
Conservation
Number- 6/7
Mass/substance- 7/8
Length- 7/8
Area -8/9
Weight -9/10
Volume -14/15
Preschooler thoughts
Egocentrism- preschoolers fail to recognize perspectives different than their own
No idea that their behavior impacts others
Intuitive thoughts- no logic, just kind of think they know everything
Just starting to put together cause and events
Develop concept that things have an identity or consistency
Critiques of Piaget
He only observed a few children
He only observed, did not experiment, could not verify these abilities in younger children
Information Processing Findings
Autobiographical memory is developing, use scripts for common events
Memories are over-simplified
Attention span improves
Vygotsky
Cognitive development is the result of social development
Culture and society shape how we think
Zone of Proximal Development
Scaffolding- process used to facilitate new learning
Language Development
Syntax- rules for combing words and phrases
Grammar
Fast mapping
Speech
Private Speech, preschoolers talk to themselves, what purpose does that serve?
Pragmatics- conversation rules, socially acceptable phrases
Social speech- speech meant for another person
Socioeconomic Influences
Low income parents speak to their children less than professional parents
13 million fewer words by age 4.
Strong correlations between exposure to language and tests of intelligence
Television
American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO TV before age 2.
Inactivity
Can’t follow it anyway, not stimulating
Preschoolers can’t sort out fantasy from reality
Television
American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO TV before age 2.
Inactivity
Can’t follow it anyway, not stimulating
Preschoolers can’t sort out fantasy from reality
Except Sesame Street
Produces better readers, more vocabulary, better math skills
