Development

• Brain development


  1. Neural tube develops at 3-4 weeks old

  2. Brain splits into forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain
• Main brain areas


  • Forebrain
  • Midbrain
  • Hindbrain
• Role of forebrain


  Responsible for higher order processing
• Role of midbrain


  Responsible for sensory information
• Role of hindbrain


  Responsible for movement, linked to spinal cord
• Role of medulla


  Involved in processing involuntary responses e.g. breathing
• Role of cerebellum


  Involved in motor movement e.g. walking
• Piaget's stages of cognitive development


  • Sensori-motor
  • Pre-operational
  • Concrete operational
  • Formal operational
• Sensori-motor stage


  • Reflex actions
  • Object permanence
• Pre-operational stage


  • Capable of symbolic play
  • Egocentric
• Concrete operational stage


  • Able to converse quantity
  • Able to put things in order
• Assimilation


  Adding information to current schema
• Accommodation


  Changing a schema due to a new experience
• Strength of Piaget's theory


  • Can support school children by knowing when to introduce particular skills
• Weakness of Piaget's theory


  • Uses an artificial mountain which may not represent real life
• Piaget and Inhelder found children were egocentric up to age 7, but by 9 could select the doll showing another's viewpoint
• Strength of Piaget and Inhelder's study

  • Highly controlled, can be repeated
• Weakness of Piaget and Inhelder's study


  • Not like something children would do in real life, lacks ecological validity
• Mindset


  A set of beliefs someone has that guides how they respond to a situation
• Types of mindset


  • Growth mindset
  • Fixed mindset
• Strength of Dweck's mindset theory


  • Can help parents encourage children to learn by praising effort
• Weakness of Dweck's mindset theory

  • Doesn't account for children who put in effort but can't progress
• Gunderson et al's study found boys received more praise than girls
• Gunderson et al's study found a correlation between process praise and growth mindset, and between growth mindset and motivation
• Strength of Gunderson et al's study


  • Carried out in natural environment of child's home
• Weakness of Gunderson et al's study


  • Parents knew they were being observed so may not have reacted naturally
• Willingham's learning theory


  Knowledge precedes skill, and practice and effort are important for skills becoming automatic
• Knowledge precedes skill


  You can't ride a bike without knowing the facts/knowledge of how the pedals work and brakes
• Strength of Willingham's theory


  • Teachers can use it to help children develop skills through practice
• Weakness of Willingham's theory


  • Doesn't account for biological differences in learning
• Morality


  A standard of right and wrong
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development


  • Pre-conventional (up to 9 years old, focused on punishment and reward)
  • Conventional (teenagers and adults, care about others' views and being seen as good)
  • Post-conventional (10% of population, believe rights of others more important than laws)
• Strength of Kohlberg's theory


  • Supported by his own research on 72 Chicago boys
• Weakness of Kohlberg's theory


  • Story used was artificial, lacks ecological validity