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Human Development: Updated, 7/e

James Vander Zanden, Ohio State University
Thomas Crandell, Broome Community College
Corinne Crandell, Broome Community College

Early Childhood 2 to 6: Physical and Cognitive Development

Learning Objectives

After completing Chapter 7, you should be able to:

1

Describe physical growth and motor skill development in early childhood regarding:

rate of growth:

self-stabilizing quality:

impact of coordination:

2

Briefly explain aspects of sensory development of children from 2 to 7 years old.

3

Discuss the role of nutrition in developing children.

4

Describe the implications of changing demographics on children's health.

5

Briefly explain the developing cognitive abilities of children from 2 to 7 years old.

intelligence:

intelligence as a general factor (Binet):

intelligence as a composite of abilities (Spearman):

the two-factor theory of intelligence:

Gardner's 7 intelligences (intellectual profile):

intelligence as a process:

intelligence as information processing:

6

Psychologists have conflicting views about the impact of heredity and environment on intelligence. Briefly describe the following positions:

heredity (nature) is significant:

major findings from studies of identical and fraternal twins:

nurture (environment) is significant:

contemporary scientific consensus:

Bouchard (1990):

Jencks' (1972) gene-environment covariance:

7

Define what Piaget meant by the preoperational period and characterize the thinking of the preoperational child by describing:

use of symbols:

conservation performance:

centering:

state vs. transformational reasoning:

nonreversibility:

egocentrism vs. sociocentrism:

8

Describe critiques of Piaget's work based on the following examples:

talking and communication:

altruistic (prosocial) behavior:

9

Discuss recent research on children's theory of mind.

10

Discuss the conceptual foundations for learning in young children regarding:

causality:

number concepts:

11

List signs of atypical cognitive development.

12

Describe the components of language acquisition.

phonology:

morphology:

syntax:

pragmatics:

13

Define Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

14

Explain the hypothesis of childhood amnesia.

15

Define each of the five major systems of memory.

procedural:

working:

perceptual representation:

semantic:

episodic:

16

Describe the following information related concepts:

recall:

recognition:

facilitation of relearning:

sensory information storage:

short-term memory:

long-term memory:

17

Explain how memory occurs, and distinguish between:

metacognition:

metamemory:

18

Describe rehearsal and categorizing as memory strategies, and discuss the Rossi and Wittrock study.

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