1. Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A. 1
Kathleen Stassen Berger
Part III
The Play Years: Cognitive Development
Chapter Nine
Piaget and Vygotsky
Children’s Theories
Language
Early-Childhood Education
2. 2
The Play Years: Cognitive Development
…thinking and learning from age 2 to 6…
…remarkable advances in language and
thought…
…the simple sentence of the typical 2-year-
old that are nonstop, complex outpourings
of a talkative 6-year-old, who can explain
almost anything…
3. 3
Piaget and Vygotsk
…famous for their description of
cognition… the eager learning of
children… are compatible in many
ways…
4. 4
Piaget
• Piaget: Preoperational Thinking
– preoperational intelligence
• cognitive development between the ages
of about 2 and 6; it includes languages
and imagination (in addition to the
senses and motor skills of infancy), but
logical, operational thinking is not yet
possible
5. 5
Piaget
• Obstacles to Logical Operation
– centration
• a characteristic of preoperational thought in
which a young child focuses (centers) on one
idea, excluding all others
– egocentrism
• Piaget’s term for children’s tendency to think
about the world entirely from their own personal
perspective
– focus on appearance
• a characteristic of preoperational though in
which a young child ignores all attributes that
are not apparent
6. 6
Piaget
• Obstacles to Logical Operation
– static reasoning
• thinking that nothing changes: Whatever
is now has always been and always will
be
– irreversibility
• the idea that nothing can be undone; the
inability to recognize that something can
sometimes be restored to the way it was
before a change occurred
7. 7
Piaget
• Conservation and Logic
– conservation
• the idea that the amount of a substance
remains the same (i.e., is conserved)
when its appearance changes
9. 9
Piaget
• Limitations of Piaget’s Research
– Piaget underestimated the conceptual
ability of young children and infants…
• designing his experiments to reveal what
children seemed not to understand,
rather than to identify what they could
understand
• relied on the child’s words rather than the
child’s nonverbal signs in play context
10. 10
Vygotsk
• Vygotsky: Social Learning
– young children can be very sensitive to
the wishes and emotions of others
– young children have social thoughts
11. 11
Vygotsk
• Children as Apprentices
– cognitive development is embedded in a
social context
– curious and observant
– ask questions
12. 12
Vygotsk
• Children as Apprentices
– apprentice in thinking
• a person whose cognition is stimulated and
directed by older more skilled members of
society
– guided participation
• the process by which people learn from others
who guide their experiences and explorations
14. 14
Vygotsk
• Scaffolding
– zone of proximal development (ZPD)
• the skills that a person can exercise only with
assistance, not yet independently
• ZPD applies to the ideas or cognitive skills a
person is close to mastering as well as to more
apparent skills
– scaffolding
• temporary support that is tailored to a learner’s
needs and abilities and aimed at helping the
learner master the next task in a given learning
process
15. 15
Vygotsk
• Language as a Toll
– private speech
• internal dialogue that occurs when people talk
to themselves (either silently or out loud)
– social mediation
• a function of speech by which a person’s
cognitive skills are refined and extended
through both formal instruction and casual
conversation
17. 17
Children’s Theories
• Theory of Mind
– a person’s theory of what other people might
be thinking
– children must realize that other people are not
necessarily thinking the same thoughts that
they themselves are thinking
– the realization is seldom possible before age 4
18. 18
Children’s Theories
• Belief and Reality: Understanding the
Difference
– a sudden leap of understanding occurs at
about age 4
• between age 3 – 6 children come to
realize that thoughts may not reflect
reality
19. 19
Children’s Theories
• Contextual Influences
– maturation of the brain’s prefrontal
cortex appears to be the reason for the
age-related advance in children
20. 20
Language
• is pivotal to cognition in early childhood
• is the leading cognitive accomplishment in
early childhood
• 24-month-olds begin this period with short
sentences and limited vocabulary
• 6-year-olds end it with the ability to
understand and discuss almost anything
21. 21
Language
• critical period
– a time when a certain development must
happen if it is ever to happen
• sensitive period
– a time when a certain type of
development is most likely to happen
and happens most easily
23. 23
Language
• Fast-Mapping
– the speedy and sometimes imprecise
way in which children learn new words
by mentally charting them into
categories according to their meaning
24. 24
Language
• Words and the Limits of Logic
– logical extension
• used to describe other objects in the
same category
• use of available vocabulary to cover all
the territory they want to talk about
25. 25
Language
• Grammar
– grammar of language includes the structure,
techniques, and rules that are used to
communicate meaning
– parts of grammar: word order and word
repetition, prefixes and suffixes, intonation and
emphasis
– overregularization
• the application of rules of grammar even when
exceptions occur, so that the language is made
to seem more “regular” than it actually is
26. 26
Language
• Learning Two Languages
– bilingualism is an asset—a necessity
– language-minority children are at a
disadvantage (not the dominant language of
the nation)
– more likely to:
• do poorly in school
• feel ashamed
• become unemployed as adults
– learning the majority language is crucial
27. 27
Language
– What is the goal of having a second
language?
• research supports that children should learn at
least two languages…the language-sensitive
years of early childhood are the best time
• soon after the vocabulary explosion, young are
able to master two languages—distinct sets of
words and grammar
• Young children have difficulty with pronunciation
in every language, but this does not slow down
their learning of a second language
28. 28
Language
– Bilingualism, Cognition, and Culture
• “Since language is integral to culture,
bilingualism is embedded in emotions of
ethnic pride and fear. This reality
hampers developmental research.”
29. 29
Language
Constant Change
– The basics of language learning…
– explosion
– fast-mapping
– overregularization
– extensive practice
…apply to bilingual learning
– Languages continually change…
– Negro to Black to African American
– hip-hop; e-mail; DVD; spam; blog; cell (phone); rap
(music); buff (in shape)
– other languages are basic English vocabulary – salsa,
loco, amour
30. 30
Early-Childhood Education
– a hundred years ago children had no
formal education until first grade
– today 3 – 5-year-olds in developed
nations are in school
– early educational institutions differ, but
names do not indicate the nature of the
program
33. 33
Early-Childhood Education
• Costs and Benefits
– quality early-childhood education matters
– financial aspects are especially significant
– parents pay the bulk of the cost or preschool in the United
States
– quality child care:
• safety
• adequate space and equipment
• low adult-child ratio
• positive social interaction among children and adults
• trained staff and educated parents
• continuity helps
– “How long has each staff member worked at the center?”
