Helping Children Learn Unit 6 Child Development Brain

Helping Children Learn Unit 6 Child Development

Brain Development • By the time a child is 6 years old the brain is 90% of adult size • Child’s brain is being affected by stimuli

• Stimuli: • Any things that arouse thoughts, feelings, or actions

Hemispheres of the Brain • Right Hemisphere • Spatial relationships, color, designs, and musical skills • Controls motor functions on the left side of the body

Hemispheres of the Brain • Left Hemisphere • Language functions, such as speaking, hearing, and counting • Controls motor functions on the right side of the body

How is intelligence measured? • Achievement tests measure knowledge in content areas • Example: MAP testing • The problem is that a person may not put forth the effort causing low test scores, but may still be really smart

Piaget’s Stages • Sensorimotor • Use all of their senses to explore the world • Learn that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight, which is called object permanence

Piaget’s Stages • Preoperational • Age 2 -7 • Become interested in things and people around them • They have irreversible thinking – can’t put evidence together to form a conclusion

Piaget’s Stages • Preoperational Cntd. • Learn classification – sorting or arranging items by common qualities • Centering – will only classify objects one way • Seriation – arrange items in order by size, number, date, etc. • Pretend and fantasize • Think symbolically – see an object for what it represents

Piaget’s Stages • Stage of concrete operations • Ages 7 -11 • Can think about actions without actually doing them • Learn conservation – objects keep the same weight, area, and number or amount when they are moved or rearranged

Piaget’s Stages • Stage of concrete operations • Reversibility – think about an object and change their mind about it • Think about other people’s point of view

Piaget’s Stages • Stage of formal operations • Adolescence to adult • Can think abstractly and hypothetically • Example can think about prices without real money • Understand right and wrong

Piaget’s Stages • Stage of formal operations • Can think about what might have been the cause of something without experiencing it • Solve problems by thinking

Concept Development • by organizing the information they receive from their senses children form concepts, which are general categories of objects and ideas formed by mentally combining their characteristics

Concept Development • Concepts are categorized in different ways • Classification – group objects together based on a similar characteristic • Example: all four legged animals are dogs

• Concepts are categorized in different ways • Shape and size – children will categorize objects by how big or small they are

• Concepts are categorized in different ways • Number and quantity – how many crackers they have and they can also put numbers in order from 1 to 10

• Concepts are categorized in different ways • Time – children don’t understand most time concepts until age 5 • At age 3 a child understands “wait a minute” • At age 4 a child can understand future time

Cognitive Activities • Memory • Recognition – ability to realize that one has seen something before • Recall – ability to remember something that one has experienced or learned before • Curiosity – children will ask “why? ” • Provides knowledge at exactly the moment the child is ready to absorb it

Cognitive Activities • Imagination • Evidence of increasing cognitive development • Pretend play • Creativity • Ability to produce something original and unique • Artistic expression

Cognitive Activities • Reasoning and problem solving • Reasoning – ability to think logically, to make judgments, and to form conclusions • Use reasoning for the problem solving process

Language Development • Two parts • 1 st part: productive language or the ability to speak • 2 nd part: receptive language or the ability to understand words written and spoken by others

Productive Learning • Develop productive language by imitating the speech of family members and others

Trial and Error in Early Speech • Children will make many mistakes before getting all of their language correct • Don’t laugh! • Try to correct their mistakes nicely so they can learn!

Being Bilingual • Speak two languages • Children learn languages very quickly – so it’s easy to teach them two languages at a time

Learning to Read • Nervous system must be developed • Usually begin in first grade • Don’t push because this could lead to continuing failure!

Stimulating Cognitive Development • Children should participate in activities that stimulate their mind allow to try new things, take them outside • Explore physical world –

talk and listen to children, use simple sentences to give instructions, and be descriptive so they hear how words are used • Learn new words –

• Read books • Read to them • Ask them questions as you read Supervise TV • Limit amount of TV watched and what shows are watched • There is no participation to TV, so they don’t learn how to interact with others

• Use computers • Allow to experiment with computers • Provide extra activities • Trips • Go to library • Take them to work!