Child Development and Pedagogy Flashcards

CDP theories of cognitive, social and moral development and learning.

Sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2 years – object permanence develops.
Pre-operational stage: 2 to 7 years – symbolic thought, egocentrism, animism.
Concrete operational stage: 7 to 11 years – conservation, reversibility, logical thinking about concrete objects.
Formal operational stage: 11 years onwards – abstract and hypothetical-deductive reasoning.
Schema: Mental framework for organising knowledge.
Assimilation: Fitting new information into an existing schema.
Accommodation: Changing an existing schema to fit new information.
Equilibration: Balancing assimilation and accommodation to reach understanding.
Piaget's view of the child: An active 'little scientist' who constructs knowledge (constructivism).
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): Gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance.
More Knowledgeable Other (MKO): Anyone with more skill – teacher, peer or parent – who guides the learner.
Scaffolding: Temporary support that is withdrawn as the learner becomes independent.
Term coined by Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976), based on the ZPD.
Private speech: Children talking to themselves to guide their thinking – later becomes inner speech.
Role of culture and language: Learning is social; language and culture shape thinking.
Vygotsky vs Piaget: Vygotsky: learning leads development (social).
Piaget: development precedes learning (individual).
Levels of Kohlberg's theory: Pre-conventional, Conventional, Post-conventional – 3 levels, 6 stages.
Stage 1: Obedience and punishment orientation.
Stage 2: Individualism and exchange (self-interest).
Stage 3: Good boy–good girl orientation (interpersonal relationships).
Stage 4: Law and order orientation.
Stage 5: Social contract orientation.
Stage 6: Universal ethical principles.
Heinz dilemma: Moral dilemma Kohlberg used to study moral reasoning.
Main critic of Kohlberg: Carol Gilligan – argued for an 'ethics of care'.
Thorndike: Trial-and-error learning; laws of Readiness, Exercise and Effect.
Pavlov: Classical conditioning (dog and bell experiment).
B.F. Skinner: Operant conditioning; reinforcement (Skinner box).
Albert Bandura: Social / observational learning (Bobo doll experiment).
Wolfgang Köhler: Insight learning – chimpanzee Sultan (Gestalt school).
Jerome Bruner: Discovery learning; enactive, iconic, symbolic modes; spiral curriculum.
Howard Gardner: Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) – later 8 intelligences.
Bloom's Taxonomy (revised 2001): Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyse, Evaluate, Create.
Erik Erikson: Psychosocial development – 8 stages.
Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of needs.
Alfred Binet: First intelligence test (Binet–Simon scale, 1905).
IQ formula: IQ = (Mental Age ÷ Chronological Age) × 100.
What is cognitive schema?: A mental framework used to organise and interpret experience.
What is adaptation in Piaget's theory?: Adjusting thinking to deal with new experiences.
What are the two processes of adaptation?: Assimilation and accommodation.
What is assimilation?: Fitting new experience into an existing schema.
What is accommodation?: Changing a schema to fit new information.
What is equilibration?: Restoring cognitive balance after new information creates conflict.
What is disequilibrium?: Cognitive imbalance when existing schemas cannot explain experience.
What is organization?: Coordinating schemas into increasingly complex cognitive structures.
What is the sensorimotor stage?: Birth–2 years; learning mainly through senses and actions.
What is the key achievement of the sensorimotor stage?: Object permanence.
What is object permanence?: Understanding that objects exist even when unseen.
What is means-end behaviour?: Using an action deliberately to achieve a goal.
What is deferred imitation?: Repeating an observed action after the model is absent.
What is the pre-operational stage?: About 2–7 years; symbolic thought develops, but logic is limited.
What is symbolic function?: Using words, images or objects to represent something else.
What is egocentrism?: Difficulty understanding perspectives different from one's own.
What is animism?: Attributing life or feelings to non-living objects.
What is artificialism?: Believing natural objects or events were deliberately made by people.
What is transductive reasoning?: Linking specific events as cause and effect without logical justification.
What is centration?: Focusing on one aspect while ignoring others.
What is the concrete operational stage?: About 7–11 years; logical thinking develops for concrete situations.
What is conservation?: Understanding that quantity remains constant despite appearance changes.
What is reversibility?: Understanding that an operation can be mentally undone.
What is decentration?: Considering several aspects of a situation simultaneously.