Development

• brain stem 


  highly developed at birth

  connects to brain and spinal cord

  controls autonomic functions
• cerebellum 


  matures late

  near the top of the spinal cord

  co- ordinates sensory and motor
• Thalamus

  deep in brain

  information hub - receives and sends signals from the brain
• Cortex

  Very thin

  thinking and processing

  4 areas in each hemisphere
• roles of nature and nurture

  smoking - can lead to smaller brains of baby

  infections - in the womb measles can lead to hearing loss

  voices - babies learn to recognise the mothers voice
• nature - inherited
• nurture - environmental influences
• Piaget's theory

  theory

  stages

  schemas

  Assimilation

  Accommodation
• schema = mental structure that contain knowledge, they become more complex through assimilation and accommodation
• assimilation - adding new info to existing schema
• accommodation - receiving new info that changes our understanding so a new schema is formed
• strengths for Piaget's theory

  • research evidence - many studies have been conducted to test Piaget's theory and has helped improve the understanding of children's thinking
  • real-world application - this theory has changed class room teaching to make it more activity based
• weaknesses for Piaget's theory

  • the sample used middle class Swiss children so the theory may not be universal
• Conservation = the ability to realise that the quantity remains even though the appearance of the object/objects has changed (different glasses, tall small)
• who conducted the naughty teddy study?

  McGarrigle and Donaldson
• naughty teddy study aimed to see if the change in the row of counters would help younger children conserve
• what was the method of the naughty teddy study ?

  • 80 children, 4-6 years old form Scotland
  • introduced to 2 rows of counters of different colours
  • naughty teddy would push some counters into the other line so one looked greater than the other
  • the researcher would ask them 'is there more in row A or B?'
• results for the naughty teddy study

  • 33/80 gave the correct answer when the change was deliberate
  • 54/80 gave correct answer when change was accidental
• conclusion for the naughty teddy study

  • this study shows that traditional ways to test conservation underestimated children's abilities
  • However there is a difference between the age in children where primary did better overall
• strengths to the naughty teddy study

  • it challenges Piaget's theory, and that his method or questions could have confused the children, this helps refine his theory
• weaknesses of the naughty teddy study

  • the sample was from one school in Scotland which makes it lack validity
  • children may conserve because they might not have noticed a change since they were distracted by the teddy