Piaget's Preoperational Stage Overview

Visualizing The Lifespan - Chapter 5: Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

• Chapter Outline:
  • Physical Development
    • Nervous System
    • Skeletal System
    • Muscular System
  • Cognitive Development
    • Piaget's Preoperational Stage
    • Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development
    • The Information-Processing Perspective
    • Language Development
  • All the Systems Working Together
    • Play
    • Early-Childhood Education
    • Health & Safety Concerns

Physical Development - Learning Objectives

• Identify brain development during early childhood.
• Describe skeletal growth processes.
• Explain how gross and fine motor skills improve during preschool years.

Growth in Early Childhood

• Between ages 2 and 6, the average Canadian child gains 2.7 kg and 5-8 cm annually.
• Individual growth variations are based on heredity, socioeconomic status (SES), nutrition, ethnicity, and culture.

The Nervous System

• Neuronal pruning occurs more slowly.
• The brain gains 20-25% of adult weight.
• Increased brain size and weight result from more connections and myelination.
• Increased connections lead to more complex thinking and movement.
• Myelination allows neurons to communicate faster.
• Preschoolers react faster and have improved hand-eye coordination
• Corpus callosum connects hemispheres, allowing better communication and coordination.
• Lateralization- the process where hemispheres take on specific functions
  • Right Hemisphere - controls left side of body, involved in perception of emotion
  • Left Hemisphere - controls right side of body, plays dominant role in language
• Handedness- the preference to use one hand for tasks

The Skeletal System

• Most obvious changes in bones include: length, width, and hardness.
• Ossification is the process by which cartilage transforms into bone.
• Ossification occurs from infancy through adolescence.
• Genetic and environmental factors (nutrition, physical activity, and food choices) impact bone growth.
• Deficiencies in key nutrients can negatively affect bone growth.
• WHO recommends adequate calcium intake and exposure to sunlight (Vitamin D) for healthy bone growth.
• Deficient diets can lead to skeletal disorders like stunting (chronic growth retardation), which is linked to poor cognitive development, education, and health issues later in life.

The Muscular System

• As bones change, muscles become stronger, thicker, and more complex.
• Improvements in gross and fine motor skills are evident.
• Small muscles control fine motor skills (e.g., fingers).
• Large muscles power gross motor skills.

Motor Skill Milestones

• Motor skills improve due to enhanced stability, muscle complexity and growth and myelination of the CNS.

Cognitive Development - Learning Objectives

• Explain children's thinking during Piaget's preoperational period.
• Summarize Vygotsky's ideas about children's cognitive development.
• Describe information-processing theory in early childhood.
• List key changes in language development during early childhood.

Piaget's Preoperational Stage

• Piaget's second stage of cognitive development (ages 2-7).
• Children begin thinking symbolically.
• Language allows for making sense of the world.
• Perception is centered on immediate events.
• Children may overlook sequential steps (e.g., getting from point A to point B).
• Symbolic function (ages 2- 4): ability to use language and symbolize one item with another.
• Intuitive thought (ages 4- 7): desire to know how things work and why, coming up with intuitive explanations
• Features of preoperational thinking:
  • Centration: focusing on one aspect or dimension of an object.
  • Conservation: understanding that key physical properties of an object do not change even if the appearance changes.
  • Egocentrism: centered in one's own frame of reference.
  • Animism: belief that inanimate objects have human characteristics.
  • Irreversibility: understanding that actions can be reversed.

Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development

• Social world influences cognitive development.
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): range of tasks a person cannot independently accomplish but can do with support.
• Optimal learning occurs within the ZPD.
• Guided participation: a process where an experienced individual helps a less experienced person learn.
• Scaffolding: a type of guided participation that supports less-experienced individuals through complex tasks. Support decreases as the individual's skill increases.
• Emphasized the role of language in cognitive development.
• Language drives the internalization of cognitive rules and thinking.
• Private speech: a language process for children to help perform tasks, and over time, internalizes this process.

Information-Processing Perspective

• Uses the analogy of the mind as a computer.
• Children develop understanding of beliefs, desires, and emotions.
• Emergence of a theory of mind: ability to understand that others have different thoughts and perspectives.
• Understanding that others can hold false beliefs.
• Theory of mind is required for knowingly telling a lie.
• Cross-cultural studies demonstrate theory of mind and false beliefs are universal.
• Children in various cultures show understanding of false beliefs.
• Attention improves through recognizing important features of problems.
• Improved performance on problem-solving tasks.
• Memory improves during early childhood.

Language Development

• Early childhood is a time of significant language development.
• Children learn word meanings, how to properly structure sentences, and use language socially.
• Vocabulary increases rapidly during early childhood.
• "Vocabulary spurt" or "naming explosion" refers to the rapid vocabulary increase.
• 2-year-olds can speak 500-600 words.
• Over 12,000 words by school age
• Grammar development includes learning grammar rules and overgeneralization, or applying grammar rules in inappropriate cases
• Pragmatics: social use of language; children can adjust language based on the listener. Children speak more politely to adults than peers.
• Categorization- process for language organization
• Fast mapping- quick understanding of new words from context
• Language Acquisition Device- innate mechanism for language processing
• Brains are biologically "prewired" to learn new words

All the Systems Working Together

• Physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional systems are interdependent and interact.
• Interactions can be observed through play, education, and health.

Early-Childhood Education

• Most Canadian children attend centre-based programs (preschools or nursery) before Kindergarten.
• Significant variation in time spent and educational settings.
• Types of educational contexts include churches, public schools, independent non-profit organizations, for-profit settings, and Head Start programs.
• Effective educational practices include having small classes, low teacher-to-student ratios, qualified teachers with training in early education, and making parents active partners in their children’s education.
• Inclusive early childhood education involves ensuring learning and development for all children.
• Addressing special needs like Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) requires increased awareness, early interventions, family advocacy, and inclusion in regular classroom settings.

Early-Childhood Health Concerns

• Access to healthy foods and exercise allows children to learn and grow safely.
• Obesity, unintentional injury, and lead poisoning affect health throughout life, and concerns are most prevalent during early childhood.
• Growing percentages of overweight or obese children in Canada.
• BMI (body mass index) is used to assess weight status.
• BMI at or above the 95th percentile indicates obesity.
• Obesity increases through childhood.
• The CDA suggests a combination of diet and activity interventions are most effective.
• Family intervention is also needed to encourage proper nutrition, preparation, and exercise to prevent obesity
• Health issues like unintentional injuries and lead poisoning are prevalent in early childhood and need to be addressed.
• Lead poisoning causes irreversible brain damage and needs to be addressed via improved education of lead poisoning risks, dangers, and exposure prevention.

Additional Information

• Play: Different types of play exist including social and cognitive. Mildred Parten categories play by social functions- non-social, parallel, associative, and cooperative. Another approach is categorized by cognitive functions- functional, constructive, symbolic, games with rules.
• Play: Play offers benefits for children such as practice physical, cognitive, and social-emotional skills, releasing energy, mental and physical increases in muscle flexibility, cognitive abilities and emotional maturity, and allowing for creativity.