Development

• Frontal Lobe


  Emotion, Problem Solving, Reasoning.
• Parietal Lobe 


  Sensory Processing.
• Temporal Lobe


  Hearing, Auditory Processing, Speech, Memory
• Occipital Lobe


  Visual Processing
• Cerebellum


  Coordination, Balance, Movement
• Brain Stem


  Autonomic Functions
• Autonomic Functions


  Involuntary bodily functions such as breathing and heart rate.
• Cognition


  The mental processes involved in gaining knowledge including thinking, planning & problem solving.
• Thalamus

  • Located in the centre of the brain.
  • Receives messages from senses and turns them into responses.
• Cortex

  • Mental process (cognition) takes place here.
  • Passes through the thalamus on the way to cortex.
• Cerebellum

  • Located at the back of the brain behind brain stem.
  • Coordinates movement and balance.
  • Receives information from the cortex.
  • Fine-tunes it into motor activity.
• Brain Stem

  • Shaped like a widening stalk.
  • Connects the spinal cord and the brain.
  • Controls autonomic functions.
• Nature


  Idea that our characteristics and behaviour are inherited.
• Nurture


  Idea that our characteristics and behaviour is influenced by our environment.
• Twin Studies

  • Share exactly the same genes
  • If both have the same characteristic, it's evidence that it's due to nature.
  • Studies have shown IQ's of identical twins are very similar, implying nature plays a role in intelligence.
• Newborn Babies

  • Little impact of nurture on a baby before birth.
  • Psychologists have found babies can recognise faces implying nature is responsible.
  • Since babies cannot talk until much later, it's believed that nurture is responsible for language development
• Animals

  • In a study, rats living in groups with a stimulating environment developed bigger brains and had better problem solving skills.
  • Supports role of nurture in early brain development.
• Schema


  Blocks of knowledge that develop in response to our experiences of the world.
• Assimilation


  When new information is added to an existing schema.
• Accommodation


  Changing a basic schema or developing a new schema to cope with a new situation.
• Sensorimotor Stage

  • 0-2 years
  • Children learn through their sense and by doing things.
  • Develop object permanence
• Object Permanence


  Knowing objects still exist even when they're out of sight.
• Investigating Sensorimotor Stage

  • Piaget gave a child a toy to play with, then hid it under a blanket.
  • Children under 8 months didn't search for the toy.
  • Children +8 months did search for the toy.
• Pre-Operational Stage

  • 2-7 years
  • Children are egocentric


  Investigating this:

  • Piaget showed 3 model mountains and placed a doll beside the model.
  • Child had to choose a photo showing what the doll could see.
  • Children under 7 chose a picture showing their own view.
  • Children 7+ chose the one showing the doll's view.
• Concrete Operational Stage

  • 7-11 years
  • Children have developed the ability to conserve.


  Investigating this:

  • Piaget showed children 2 rows of counters.
  • He spread one of the rows out while the child watched.
  • Then the child was asked if there was the same amount of counters in each row.
  • Children under 7 said wasn't.
  • Children 7+ said there were.
• Egocentric


  The inability to see things from another persons point of view
• Conservation


  Knowing the amount of something stays the same, even though, its appearance changes.
• Formal Operational Stage

  • 11+ years
  • Children can problem solve in a systematic way.


  Investigating this:

  • Children were given different lengths of string and weights that could be attached to the string.
  • Child's task was to investigate what factor affected how fast the pendulum would swing.
  • Children under 11 changed both the string and the weights at the same time.
  • Children 11+ would solve the problem systematically.
• One weakness of Piaget's stages is that the age brackets are incorrect. Recent studies have shown babies can develop object permanence before 8 months like Piaget suggested. They also state that egocentric thinking can disappear before the age of 7, and can conserve before this age as well. The studies also suggest that people enter the formal operational stage much later than 11 years old. Therefore, Piaget's theory has low internal validity.
• One weakness of Piaget's stages is the way he collected his data. Piaget used small samples and often his participants were his own children, introducing a bias in his research. The questions were not always standardised and each child was treated differently. Therefore, Piaget's theory has low external validity.
• Piaget's Theory emphasizes the importance of readiness in learning new concepts based on the child's stage of development
• Teaching should be child-centered, allowing children to discover answers for themselves through exploration
• Teaching materials for science and maths should include actual objects that children can manipulate, like string and weights
• Application to Stages:

  • Sensorimotor stage: Provide a stimulating environment with sensory experiments and motor coordination opportunities
  • Pre-Operational stage: Focus on experimentation, such as role-play, to reduce egocentrism
  • Concrete-Operational stage: Give children concrete materials to manipulate
  • Formal Operational stage: Allow children to engage in scientific activities to develop
• One strength of Piaget's theory in education is it has had an enormous effect on primary education in the UK. The Plowden Report (1967) made recommendations for changes to primary education including child-centred approaches to education. therefore, it has high external validity.
• One weakness of Piaget's theory in education is that it suggests practice should not improve performance if a child is not 'ready' but not all research supports this. Bryant and Trabasso (1971) showed per-operational children could do some logical tasks if they were given practice. Therefore, this theory has low internal validity,
• Key Research Study: Hughes(1978) Policeman Doll Study


  Aim:

  • To see if children can see things from another persons point of view at an earlier age than Piaget suggested.
• Key Research Study: Hughes(1978) Policeman Doll Study
• Method:

  • 30 children between 3.5-5 years old participated in the study
  • Children were shown a model with two intersecting walls forming a cross, with a policeman doll placed on it
  • Children were asked to hide a baby doll so that the policeman doll could not see it
  • The policeman doll was placed in different positions and children had to hide the baby doll each time, with the opportunity to try again if they made a mistake
  • Another policeman doll was added, and children had to hide the baby doll so that neither policeman doll could see it
• Key Research Study: Hughes(1978) Policeman Doll Study


  Method Part 2:

  • This process was repeated 3 times using different sections of the grid