Psychology GCSE

• The brain is the organism in your head made up of nerves that process information and control behaviour
• Forebrain is the anterior part of the brain the hemispheres and central brain structures
• Mid Brain is the middle section of the brain forming part of the central nervous system
• Hind Brain is the lower part of the brain that includes the cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata
• Cerebellum is the area of the brain that controls physical motor movements
• Medulla Oblongata connects the upper brain to the spinal cord and control involuntary automatic responces
• Neural connections are links formed by messages passing from one neuron to the next
• when the foetus is 3-4 weeks old a long tube developes which divides into 3 sections; the forebrain, hindbrain and midbrain
• At 5 weeks old the forebrain and the hindbrain split into 2 cavities. The forebrain splits into an anterior and posterior cavity. The hindbrain splits in the middle
• Cerebellum develops at 6 weeks in the foetus
• A year after birth the cerebellum is 3x its size
• the medulla oblongata is formed at 2 weeks as a foetus.
• From birth to 3 years old there are 700-1000 new connections forming every seconds
• The brain doubles in size in the first year and reaches 80% by 3 years old
• The sensorimotor stage occurs from birth - 2years. Infants use theri senses and movements to get information about the world around them
• In the sensorymotor stage they learn by using the 5 senses and linking them to objects they use
• At 6 months old, they develop object peremence
• At the end of the stage, the child has a sense of themselves and them existing sepreately from the world
• Symbolic Function stage is from 2-4 years. The child starts imitating others and using objects as symbols. They use objects to represent different objects. They are egocentric and only see the world from their own perspective. Animism is also present where the belive inanimate objects are alive
• The intuitive thought stage is from 4-7 years. Children start to reason by asking questions wanting to learn more. Centrism is present. conservation is not yet acheived. Irreverisbility is present.
• The concrete operational stage occurs from 7-12 years. Children begin to apply rules and strategies to help their thinking and use objects to aid their learning. They have difficulty with abstract ideas like morality. The abilities present at this stage are, Seriation, Classification, Reversibility, Conservation and decentration.
• Seriation is the process of sorting objects ( like into size)
• Classification is naming and identifying objects according to size or appearence
• Conservation is when the child know that the legth, quantity, shape or number are not related to how the object looks.
• Decentration is the ability to take multiple views of a situation
• The formal operational stage is from 12+. Children's thinking is about controlling objects and events in the world. The child thinks about more than 2 things. They realize that events have a sequence. They realize that they and others exist separately in the world.
• Piagets theory has been applied to education: His theory suggets that childrens actions and interactions affect their thinking and that they cannot do certain things until they reach a certain stage.
• Young children are egocentric so they cannot take on the viewpoint of teachers. Therefore they might not do as thier told due to thier lack of understanidng.
• Symbolic play is when children play using objects and ideas to represent other objects and ideas
• Egocentrism is the inability to see the world from anyother viewpoint but their own
• Animism is beliving that objects that are inanimate are alive
• Morality is genreal pricipals of what is right and wrong.
• A schema is a mental representation of the world based on a n individuals experince
• How to help Sensorymotor development: Children are treated as individuals and learns from their five senses and provided with lots of stimulation to build schemas. Sining and rythm can stimulate children and help in language development. Exploring with the mouth and with different textures is valuable for learning exposing children to different shapes and sounds
• To help the preoperational stage: Children are seen as little scientist and therefore build ideas through experimenting with reality. Children are encourgaed to learn by discovery through interacting with their environment. Models and visual aids are used to help keep learning short
• To help concrete operational stage: Teachers can ask students to concentrate on more than one aspect of an issue.
• to help formal operational stage Children are encouraged to discuss abstract ideas and be asked complex questions involving mental reasoning.
• What are the implications for teaching: Robert Slavin (2005) suggested that

  • There should be a focus on the child's thinking rather than what they can do---> process is more important
  • Discovery learning I s required and children must be able to engage freely with their environment
  • Teachers should acknowledge that children do not think like adults and they develop at different rates
• Assimilation :Incorporating new experiences into existing schemas.
• Accomodation : When a schema has to be changed to deal with a new experience.