animism | Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action
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centration | Focusing of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others
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conservation | Awareness that altering an object's or a substance's appearance does not change its basic properties
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egocentrism | Inability to distinguish between one's own perspective and that of another person
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myelination | Process by which the axons of nerve cells are covered and insulated with a layer of fat cells which increases the speed at which information travels through the nervous system
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operations | Internalized sets of reversible mental actions that allow children to do mentally what before they could do only physically
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social constructivist approach | Emphasis on the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction
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theory of mind | Awareness of one's own mental processes and the mental processes of others
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zone of proximal development (ZPD | Vygotsky's term for tasks too difficult for children to master alone but that can be mastered with assistance
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