Chapter 8:

Physical and Cognitive

Development in Early Childhood

McGraw-Hill © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Physical

Changes

• Children’s body growth and change:

– Average growth is 2.5 inches and 5-7 pounds

a year during early childhood

(less for girls than for boys)

– Growth variation due to genetics, nutrition,

prenatal problems, experiences, and SES

– Factors that affect child’s growth:

• Growth hormone deficiency

• Mother smoked during pregnancy

– Brain growth in early childhood is not as

rapid as in infancy – changes occur in neurons

• Changes in child’s brain structure:

– Increase in number and size of nerve endings

– Increased myelination: better focus, coordination

– Increased dopamine concentration and most rapid

growth in frontal lobe during ages 3 to 6 years

– Rapid growth spurt periods and drastic tissue loss

of unneeded cells – brain is always “reorganizing”

• More research is needed to chart connections

between cognitive development, brain structure,

and information processing

Prefrontal cortex

Figure 8.1

The Prefrontal Cortex

This portion of the brain (bright blue) shows extensive development from 3 to 6 years of age and is believed to play important roles in attention and working memory

• Gross motor development in children:

– Simple run-and-jump movements enjoyed at age 3

– Child is more adventurous at age 4

– Child is self-assured taking hair-raising risks at age 5

• Fine motor skills in children:

– Picks up tiniest objects at age 3 but still a little clumsy

– Has trouble building high towers with blocks at age 4

– Has better eye, hand, and body coordination at age 5

– Right-handedness is dominant in all cultures and

appears to be genetically influenced

Figure 8.2

Development of Gross Motor Skills in Early Childhood

37 to 48 months 49 to 60 months 61 to 72 months

•Throws ball underhand

•Rides tricycle 10 ft

•Catches large ball

•With help does forward somersault

•Jumps 12 inches to floor

•Does 3 hops with 2 feet

•Steps on footprint pattern

•Catches bounced ball

•Bounces & catches ball

•Runs 10 ft and stops

•Pushes/pulls a wagon or doll buggy

•Kicks 10-inch ball toward target

•Carries 12 lb object

•Catches ball

•Bounces ball under control

•Does 4 hops on one foot

•Throws ball (44 ft – boys; 25 ft – girls)

•Carries a 16 lb object

•Kicks rolling ball

•Skips alternating feet

•Roller skates

•Skips rope

•Rolls ball to hit object

•Rides bike with training wheels

(Listed in approximate order of difficulty in each period)

Figure 8.3

Development of Fine Motor Skills in Early Childhood

37 to 48 months 49 to 60 months 61 to 72 months

•Approximates a circle in drawing

•Cuts paper

•Pastes using pointer finger

•Builds 3-block bridge

•Builds 8-block tower

•Draws 0 and +

•Dresses and undresses doll

•Pours from pitcher without spilling

•Strings and laces shoelaces

•Cuts following a line

•Strings 10 beads

•Copies figure X

•Opens and places clothespins (one-handed)

•Builds a 5-block bridge

•Pours from various containers

•Prints first name

•Folds paper in halves and quarters

•Traces around hand

•Draws rectangle, circle, square, and triangle

•Cuts interior piece from paper

•Uses crayons appropriately

•Makes clay object with 2 small parts

•Reproduces letters

•Copies 2 short words

(Listed in approximate order of difficulty in each period)

– About 95% of right-handed people primarily

process speech in left

hemisphere of brain

– Left-handers are

• More likely to have reading problems

• More common in musicians, mathematicians,

architects, and artists

• Nutrition in children:

– What is eaten affects skeletal growth, body shape,

and susceptibility to disease

– Average preschooler needs 1,700 calories per day

– Energy needs of individual children of same age,

sex, and size may vary

– Calories from fat should be limited

• Child obesity is

– A serious problem in the United States

– Linked to diabetes, low levels of fitness,

low self-esteem, and iron deficiency anemia

• Leading causes of death in U.S. children are

– Accidents

– Cancer

– Birth defects

– Heart disease

• Of concern for children’s safety today:

exposure to tobacco smoke and its link to

respiratory problems & vitamin C deficiency

Figure 8.4

Main Causes of Death in

Children 1–4 Years of Age

Influenza and pneumonia

Diseases of the heart

Assault (homicides)

12.5

0.8 1.2

2.5 2.8

3.6

Malignant neoplasms

Congenial malformations, deformations, & chromosomal abnormalities

Accidents (unintentional injuries) (Motor vehicle 4.3) (Other accidents 8.2)

Deaths per 100,000 children Figures based on 1999 U.S. survey

• Poor health of children from low SES is of concern

• About 11 million children are malnourished and at

higher risk for diseases and lead poisoning

• UNICEF’s annual reports of “under-5 mortality rate”

– Nutritional health and knowledge of mothers

– Levels of immunization, dehydration, income

– Availability of health services, clean water

– Overall safety of environment and sanitation

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1

Sweden Sierra Leone

Haiti

China

Mexico

Russia

U.S.

Canada

Czech Republic

193 1 38 85 102 121 158 161 178

1990 - 2001

1960 - 1990

Under-5 mortality ranking in 2001

Rankings and Average Annual Percentage Reduction in Under-5 Mortality 1960–2001

Average annual reduction rate (%)

Cognitive

Changes

• A preschooler’s world is creative, free,

and fanciful

– Piaget’s preoperational stage: ages 2–7 years

• Child cannot think without acting

• Operations allow child to mentally rehearse

future physical acts, but thinking is still flawed

• First substage of preoperational thought:

• Symbolic functions include scribbled drawings

representing real objects

• Child at age 2–4, still very egocentric and animistic

Figure 8.7

The Symbolic Drawings of Young Children

“Pelican”

“Nose”

“More eyes”

“Eyes”

“Seal

”

(b)

(a)

(a) 3½-year-old’s

drawing of “a

pelican kissing a

seal” compared

with (b) 11-year-

old’s drawing

which is more

realistic and less

inventive

B C A B C A

Figure 8.8

Piaget’s Conservation Task

Child is asked if (A) and (C) have the same amount of liquid. The preoperational child says “no” and will point to (C) as having more liquid than (A).

Two identical beakers shown to child, and then experimenter pours liquid from (B) into (C)

• Second substage of preoperational thought

– Intuitive thought: child uses primitive reasoning but

is still centric in thought, lacks conservation abilities

• Preoperational child’s inability to mentally reverse

actions applies to numbers, length, volume, and area

• Some claim Piaget’s views were not completely correct

• Between ages 3-5, children exhaust adults with “why”

questions – the questions give clues to the child’s mental

development and reflect intellectual curiosity

Type of conservation

Number Matter Length

Initial

presentation

Two identical rows of objects shown to child

Two identical balls of clay shown to child

Two sticks are aligned in front of child

Manipulation

One row is spaced

Experimenter changes shape of one ball

Experimenter moves one stick to right

Preoperational

child’s answer to

“Are they still

the same?”

“No, the longer row has more”

“No, the longer one has more”

“No, the one on top is longer”

Figure 8.9

Some Dimensions of Conservation: Number, Matter, and Length

• Vygotsky’s theory:

– Zone of proximal development (ZPD):

• Lower limit can be achieved by child alone

• Upper limit can be achieved by child’s skills

with adult guidance and instruction

• Other limits can’t be achieved yet

– Scaffolding involves changing level of support

during a teaching session – close, direct instruction is

reduced

– Language is used for social communication, solving

tasks, and monitoring one’s own behavior

• Vygotsky claims that

– Language and thought develop independently of

each other and then merge

– Child uses language to communicate with others

before she/he can focus on inward thoughts

– Transition to use of internal speech occurs between

ages 3 and 7, and is followed by action without

speaking aloud

• Socially competent children use private speech more

• Piaget: self-talk is egocentric and reflects immaturity

• Research finds private speech is used more in difficult

tasks; users are more attentive and perform better

• Vygotsky’s recommended teaching strategies:

– Effectively assess child’s ZPD

– Use the child’s ZPD in teaching

– Used more-skilled peers as tutors

– Monitor child and encourage private speech

– Place instruction in meaningful context

– Transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas

• Using Vygotsky’s ideas, children from collaborative

schools were more cooperative

Vygotsky

• Strong emphasis

• Social constructivist

• No general stages

• Zone of proximal

development, language,

dialogue, tools of the

culture

•It has a major role in

shaping thought

•It has a central role

•Teacher is facilitator

and guide, not director

Piaget

• Little emphasis

• Cognitive constructivist

• Strong emphasis on stages

• Schemata, assimilation,

accommodation, operations,

conservation, classification,

hypothetical-deductive

reasoning

•It has a minimal role

•It just defines existing skills

•Teacher is facilitator and

guide, not director

Figure 8.11

Comparison of

Vygotsky’s and

Piaget’s Theories

Sociocultural Context

Constructivism

Stages

Key processes

Role of language

View on education

Implications for teacher

• A child’s ability to pay attention changes significantly

during preschool years

• Memory:

– Short-term: one can retain information up to 30

seconds with no rehearsal – memory span increases

(in digits) with age but varies between individuals

– Speed and efficiency of memory process improves

with age and experience

– Young children can remember a great amount of

information when given the right cues and prompts

Figure 8.12

The Planfulness of Attention

J

(b) (a)

J

In 3 pairs of houses, the windows were different.

In 3 pairs of houses, all windows were identical.

By filming the reflection in children’s eyes, one could

determine what they looked at, how long they looked,

and the sequence of their eye movements. Children

under 6 were different from older children in this study.

Figure 8.13

Developmental Changes in Memory Span

In one study: memory span increased from 3 digits at age 2, to 5 digits at age 7, to 7 digits at age 12.

8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

6 2 8 10 Adult 4 12

Age (years)

Digit Span

• The young child’s theory of mind:

– Age 2–3: children begin to understand three

mental states – perceptions, desires, emotions

– Age 4–5: children understand “false beliefs”

and that people can be mistaken

– Only beyond preschool years do children

have a deepening appreciation of the mind

– In middle and late childhood, children

understand beliefs are “interpretive”

Figure 8.15

Developmental Changes in False-Belief Performance

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 10

20

0

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

10

Age (months)

Percentage Correct

Language

Development

• As children develop through early childhood, they

– Grasp the rules of grammar at a rapid rate

– Make all sounds of their language

– Use most parts of speech correctly

– Overgeneralize the rules

– Manipulate syntactic structures

• By age 6, the average child has a speaking

vocabulary of 8,000 to 14,000 words

• At age 6, average child is learning 22 words per

day and understands past, present, and future

Early Childhood

Education

• Variations in early childhood education:

– Child-centered kindergarten: focus on whole child

– Montessori approach: teacher is facilitator, child

has freedom, with emphasis on peer interaction

– Reggio Emilia approach: mostly for special

children in Italy, learning by investigation and

exploration of topics

• Educational practices should be developmentally

appropriate, taking into consideration the uniqueness

of the child

• Project Head Start to help the disadvantaged:

– Federally funded, created in 1965

– Not all programs in the U.S. are equal

– Seeks to intervene where there is a

lack of enriched early childhood

educational experiences

• Issues in early childhood education:

– What should the curriculum be?

– Does preschool matter?

– When is a child ready for school?

30

0

10

40

50

60

70

20

Japan U.S.

Comparison of Japanese and U.S. Parents’

Views on the Purpose of Preschool

Percentage of parents who say that the purpose of preschool is to give children experience in being a member of a group

Figure 8.18

The End