Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, the student should be able to complete the following goals:

Describe characteristics of physical development in early childhood, including brain development and patterns of growth.

Characterize early childhood growth and examine contributing influences.

Discuss gross and fine motor skill development in early childhood.

Discuss drawing as an example of emerging physical and cognitive development and address changes in its attractiveness for children.

Describe features of preoperational thought and provide examples of each.

Outline the limitations of preoperational thought.

Examine challenges to Piaget.

Discuss the components of and changes seen in the development of a child's theory of mind.

Outline McGhee's developmental stages of humor.

Describe preschool programs based on the ideas of Piaget and Montessori.

State the goals of Project Head Start, describe components of the program, and cite results of follow-up studies.

Give the ages and stages of Brown's theory of language development, along with their key features.

Define whole language and explain how the whole language concept works.

Identify and provide examples of the rules of language usage.

Examine the pattern of language development in early childhood, including language irregularities, word order, and mastery of meaning.

Use the case of Genie as a framework for discussing the relative strength and vulnerability of speech development.

Discuss bilingualism in education and different bilingual education programs.

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