The Growing Years

THE GROWING

YEARS

THE GROWING YEARSA insight into childrens minds

CONTENTS PAGE

Timeline

The Infant Brain

Jean Piaget

Children’s Drawings

Lev Vycogsky

Children’s Drawings

John Bowlby

Children’s Drawings

Albert Bandura

Children’s Drawings

Noam Chomsky

Recent Research

1-2

3-4

5-10

13-18

19-20

21-26

29-34

35-36

37-40

41-44

27-28

11-12

TIMELINE

Jean Piaget Cognitive Theory

Lev Vycogsky Social Development Theory

John Bowlby Attachment Theory

1896 1896 1907

Over the last century, the psychology of early childhood has become a major subject of study. Many theorists argue different things. Researchers have argued that children develop skills only gradually, others that many of our mental attributes are innate. The timeline shows a handful of theorists studing the infant mind.

1

Noam Chomsky Acquisition Theory

Albert Bandura Social Learning Theory

Recent Research

19281925 1950

2

Brainstem

Spinal Cord

Medulla

Pons

Temporal Lobe

Frontal Lobe

Cerebrum

Parietal Lobe

Occipital Lobe

Cerebellum

3

Brainstem

Spinal Cord

Medulla

Pons

Temporal Lobe

Frontal Lobe

Cerebrum

Parietal Lobe

Occipital Lobe

Cerebellum

Every baby suffers from something we call Infantile Amnesia. The brain erases everything

from the mind meaning we don’t have any memories from when we were a baby.

The first two years of a baby’s life are described as formative. The baby’s brain changes the most

between 12 and 24 months.

The brain can be both simple and complex. Building blocks are cells called neurons, which

transmit information in terms of electrical pulses down the cable. This is the simple side of the

brain. The complexity comes in with the number of neurons and connections we have.

There are about ten thousand billion neuron’s, which connect to the brain. These are not present

at birth. They help determine the different functions on the brain.

4

THE INFANT BRAIN

JEAN PIAGET1896 - 1980

Stage one

Stage three

Stage four

5

Stage two

Jean Piaget was a French-speaking, Swiss developmental psychologist. Piaget was known for

studying the hidden side of children’s minds.

Before Jean Piaget was born in 1896, people thought that a child’s mind was a blank slate. They thought

they learnt anything they were taught.

Piaget was a wonderful observer of children. He believed that children construct their own

intelligence and their own brain. He believed that when children interact with the world, they change

the way their brains are structured. The brain adapts to the world around them. Piaget didn’t have the

knowledge to understand the child’s brain. He studied only the mind.

To understand his theory he completed a number of experiments. His son was playing with a ball and it ran under a chair. His son looks around the room

for it but can’t see it. He carries on playing with something else. Does this mean that his son thinks

the ball has disappeared? This experiment let to numerous other people from around the world

trying them out.

In older children aged 3-4, Jean Piaget would get two glasses. One tall and skinny, the other short and

fat. He filled the short glass up with water and he poured that into the tall glass. He asked the children if there was more water now it was in the tall glass. The young children believed there was more water

in the tall glass.

6

COGNITIVE THEORY

JEAN PIAGET

Sensori-Motor Preoperational

Piaget came up with four stages of development to show a childs development. Sensori-Motor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational. It has been thought that some children pass through these stages at a faster rate.

This is the first stage of Jean Piaget’s theory. It starts at birth and carries on until the age of two. The child’s behaviour in this section is solely based on perception. They rely on objects seen in that moment. For example, the ball experiment explained on the previous stage.

This is the second stage of the cognitive theory. They enter this stage at the age of two and don’t progress to the third stage until they are six or seven. Their thinking abilities are broadening and they are starting to think and talk outside their simple experiences. They are able to use language to describe images and words about certain objects. They are also able to expand their playtime by playing mummies and daddies or doctors and nurses.

3a-2b (a=10 b=4)= 3(10) - 2(4)= 30 - 8= 22

7

Concrete Operational Formal Operation

This is the third stage. This stage starts at the age of seven and ends at the age of 12. Their thinking develops and shows signs similar to adults. It is limited to real-life situations only. They now have the ability to think logically about certain things. They are able to recognize that their thoughts might be different to the others around them. They can finally classify objects by number, mass, and weight.

This is the final stage of the Piaget’s theory of development. This starts at 12 and carries on through adulthood. Children begin to show signs of using real situations as a form of thought. They have the ability to develop advanced mathematical skills like percentages, fractions and algebra.

3a-2b (a=10 b=4)

= 3(10) - 2(4)= 30 - 8= 22

8

Jean Piaget

9

The Study of child Intelligence

10

Year 1 - Tree 11

Year 6 - Tree 12

LEV VYGOTSKY1896-1934

13

Vygotsky was born in 1896 and was part of the Russian Empire. Vygotsky was a pioneer of

psychology; he contributed much important research to the field. His extensive research into cognitive

development has lead his theory to be one of the most important of it’s kind.

Vygotsky believed children’s thinking is affected by their knowledge of the social community (which is

learnt from either technical or psychological cultural tools). He also suggested that language is the most

important tool for gaining this social knowledge; the child can be taught this from other people via

language. He defined intelligence as ‘the capacity to learn from instruction’, which emphasises the fact

there is a requirement for a more knowledgable other person or ‘teacher’.

According to Vygotsky’s theory, children can do more with the help and guidance of an adult or other more experienced person than they can do by themselves.

The Zone of Proximal Development defines skills and abilities that are in the process of developing. The

ZPD is the range of tasks that one cannot yet perform independently, but can accomplish with the help of a more competent individual. For example, a child

might not be able to walk across a balance beam on her own, but she can do so while holding her mother’s

hand. Since children are always learning new things, the ZPD changes as new skills are acquired.

14

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

This is the second Level of Vygotsky’s theory. This means what the child could potentially be capable of things with help from other people or ‘teachers’. For example writing their name by themselves.

This is the first level of Vyhotsky’s theory. This describes what the child is capable of doing without any help from others.

LEV VYGOTSKY

Present Level Potential Level

15

Description

Current Development

Beyond reach at present

Potential Development

The gap between level 1 and 2 is described as this zone of proximal development. He believed that through help from more knowledgable people, the child can potentially gain knowledge already held by them. However, the knowledge must be appropriate for the child’s level of comprehension. Anything that is too complicated for the child to learn that isn’t in their ZPD cannot be learnt at all until there is a shift in the ZPD. When a child does attain their potential, this shift occurs and the child can continue learning more complex, higher level material.

Beyond reach at present

16

Lev Vygotsky

17

1978

18

Year 1 - House 19

Year 6 - House 20

Yes

No

NoInconsistantly No

Is the attachment figure sufficiently attentive and responsive?

The child now feels security, love and self-confidence ...

a hierarchy of attachment behaviors develop due to increasing fear and anxiety ...

... the child becomes preoccupied with the attachment figure, clinging on and being anxious.

... the child becomes defensively avoidant of contact and appearsindifferent about separation and reunion.

... and is now playful, less inhibited, smiling, explorative and sociable

JOHN BOWLBY1907-1990

21

Yes

No

NoInconsistantly No

Is the attachment figure sufficiently attentive and responsive?

The child now feels security, love and self-confidence ...

a hierarchy of attachment behaviors develop due to increasing fear and anxiety ...

... the child becomes preoccupied with the attachment figure, clinging on and being anxious.

... the child becomes defensively avoidant of contact and appearsindifferent about separation and reunion.

... and is now playful, less inhibited, smiling, explorative and sociable

Bowdly was born in 1907 and was a psychoanalyst and believed that mental health and behavioural

problems could be attributed to early childhood. John Bowbly proposed one of the earliest theories of social

development.

He suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.

He belived Babies are born with the tendency to display certain innate behaviours which are called social releasers, which help ensure proximity and

contact with the mother or mother figure. For example crying or laughing.– these are species-specific

behaviou rs.

John Bowlby worked as a psychiatrist in a Child Guidance Clinic in London, where he treated many emotionally disturbed children. This experience led

Bowlby to consider the importance of the child’s relationship with their mother in terms of their social, emotional and cognitive development. Specifically, it shaped his belief about the link between early infant

separations with the mother and later maladjustment, and led Bowlby to formulate his attachment theory.

22

ATTACHMENT THEORY

This is the first stage of the attachment theory. Ideally, the child can rely on his caregiver for comfort at times whenever he feels threatened, frightened or in danger. For example, if a child is given a toy that he doesn’t like, he’d cry and his mother would remove the toy and hug the child so he would stop crying.

John Bowlby explained the dynamics of long-term relations between human beings. The theory states that an infant must have a relationship with at least one primary caregiver in order to benefit the child’s social and emotional development.The theory has four key components

This is the second stage of the theory. Here, the caregiver gives a good and reliable foundation to the child as he goes on learning and sorting out things by himself. For example, a child would ask questions to his mother about why his dad got sick and can’t play with him at the moment.

Secure BassSafe Haven

JOHN BOWLBY

23

Proximity Maintenance Separation Distress

This is the third state. This means that the child aims to explore the world but still tries to stay close to his care giver. For example, a teenager discusses peer problems with his mother.

This is the final stage of Bowlby’s theory. This means that the child becomes unhappy and sorrowful when he becomes separated from his caregiver. For example, an infant cries loudly when his mother leaves for work.

24

John Bowlby

25

Attachment Theory

26

Year 1 - People 27

Year 6 - People 28

ALBERT BANDURA1925

29

30

Albert Bandura was born in Canada in 1925. He was well known for his theory of how children learn.

Bandura believed that children learn from copying others. In society children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family,

characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school.

He believed children pay attention to some of these people and encode their behavior. At a later time they

may copy the behavior they have observed. They may do this regardless of whether the behavior is

‘gender appropriate’ or not but there are a number of processes that make it more likely that a child

will reproduce the behavior that its society deems appropriate for its sex.

First, the child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as similar to itself. Consequently, it is more likely to imitate behavior

modeled by people the same sex as it is.

Second, the people around the child will respond to the behavior it imitates with either reinforcement or punishment. If a child imitates a modell’s behaviour

and the consequences are rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behaviour. If parent sees a

little girl consoling her teddy bear and says “what a kind girl you are”, this is rewarding for the child and makes it more likely that she will repeat the behaviour. Her

behaviour has been reinforced

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

31

In his famous Bobo doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated that children learn and imitate behaviors they have observed in other people. The children in Bandura’s studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll. When the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate the aggressive actions they had previously observed.

Bandura noted that external, environmental reinforcement was not the only factor to influence learning and behavior. He described intrinsic reinforcement as a form of internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment. This emphasis on internal thoughts and cognitions helps connect learning theories to cognitive developmental theories. While many textbooks place social learning theory with behavioral theories, Bandura himself describes his approach as a ‘social cognitive theory.’

Intrinsic ReinforcementObservational Learning

Bandura believed that there was three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. He thought that the first idea is that people can learn through observation. Next is the idea that internal mental states are an essential part of this process. Finally, this theory recognizes that just because something has been learned, it does not mean that it will result in a change in behavior.

ALBERT BANDURA

32

He believed that observational learning demonstrates that people can learn new information without demonstrating new behaviors. Not all observed behaviors are effectively learned. Factors involving both the model and the learner can play a role in whether social learning is successful. Certain requirements and steps must also be followed. The following steps are involved in the observational learning and modeling process: Attention, Retention, Reproduction and Motivation.

In addition to influencing other psychologists, Bandura’s social learning theory has had important implication in the field of eduction. Today, both teachers and parents recognize the importance of modeling appropriate behaviors. Other classroom strategies such as encouraging children and building self-efficacy are also rooted in social learning theory.

The Modeling Process Final Motivation

AlbertBandura’sTheory

Environmental Factors

Personal Factors

Behaviour

Albert Bandura

33

Bandura (1986)

34

Year 1 - Dog 35

Year 6 - Dog 36

Italia

n

German

French

English

NOAM CHOMSKY1928

37

Italia

n

German

French

English

Chomsky was born in 1928 and is an American Linguistic. He is well known for his theory but also as

a philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, historian, political critic, and activist.

Chomsky was interested in the mind, the thoughts and the ideas. He believed that you could study the

mind without the brain being involved.

Chomsky believes that children couldn’t learn from the environment alone. It had to be structured from grammar. He believes that when a child is born, they are born with grammar hard-wired in. Fragments of

adult behaviour are already inside the baby’s brain. As the baby grows up and starts to learn things, the fragments inside the brain fuse together. This is how

we understand numbers etc. Chomsky says ‘It’s as if the child’s brain is a CD player already set to play

the language; when the CD for a certain language is inserted, that is the language that the child learns.’

Chomsky also believes that every child has a language acquisition device, which encodes the major principles

of a language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain. Children have then only to learn new

vocabulary and apply the syntactic structures to form sentences. Chomsky believed that a child could not possibly learn a language through copying alone because the language spoken around them is highly

irregular. Adult’s speech is often broken up and even sometimes ungrammatical.

38

ACQUISITION THEORY

Noem Chomsky

39

Verbal Behavior (1957)

40

41

Babies don’t start moving on their own until they are nine months. They have to learn how to move and understand what they are doing. The information has to go into the brain for them to

learn.

Touching and manipulating objects is very important. This was recognised by Jean Piaget.

They like to see new things happening. This is why they watch humans a lot of the time. Babies watch

anything that can move e.g. a dog. The actions of a human moving trigger something in the baby’s

brain, which makes them eventually move by themselves.

In the last 5-10 years the brain can be measured using the imagery method. The chemical signal

of a baby’s brain can be measured by putting sensors onto the scalp. The signal is clean because most babies don’t have hair. This is an easy way of

looking at the baby’s brain.

At about two years of age children understand their surroundings and where they are.

42

RECENT RESEARCH

43

Another method is the eye tracking device. This helps show what the babies are learning but also the focus of

attention.

From these methods we have learnt that babies know their own name by four months. This is in the steam of sound when someone speaks. In the first year of learning, a baby’s brain specializes sounds that only

matter to them. These sounds go from 600 to around 45.

The connections over time get strengthened or weakened depending on what the baby hears. For

example, a mother’s voice. This is a strong voice and is heard all the time. This connection will strengthen

but sounds in the background will weaken. This is how the sounds are lost. The same thing can happen in face recognition. A six-month-old baby will look at a familiar

monkey’s face. The baby will then recognize that one face out of a bunch of monkeys. Adults don’t do this

unless they are experts. They lose this skill as they grow up.

There are 600 basic phonetic sounds which babies become accustom to. By the way the brain is built babies can recognize all these sounds at birth, e.g.

sucking.

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Designed by Stacey Reeve © 2012

With Thanks to Kingston Primary School Children

in year 1 (aged 5 and 6 ) and year 6 (10 andd 11) for

the production of the drawings