7eCHAPTER NINE - Outline
Reading Highlights:
chapter overview – 317
Piaget’s preoperational stage – 318-329
mental representations – 318
make-believe play – 318-319
limitations of preoperational stage – 321-322
follow-up research – 323-327
Piaget and education – 328-329
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory – 329-334
Information Processing – 334 - 338
Theory of Mind (Metacognition) – 338-341
emergent literacy and math – 341-346
autism - 342
individual differences - 346-347
preschool and childcare – 348-351
early intervention / Head Start – 349
educational media – 351-353
language development – 354-359
Terms and Concepts:
Preoperational Stage
socio-dramatic play
emergent math / emergent literacy
hierarchical classification
conservation
centration
perception bound
irreversibility
metacognition
Head Start
seriation
egocentrism
animism
cardinality / ordinality
over-regularization
scaffolding
private speech
language rich environment
guided participation
academic vs. child-centered programs
Main Ideas:
 Preschool age children’s increasing ability to pretend is a major characteristic of this
period. Their mastery of mental representation –the use of symbols- is reflected in
their play and in their language development.
 Attention and memory improve in the preschool years, although children this age
cannot use memory strategies.
 Piaget called this stage of cognitive development “preoperational”. He defined it
mainly through its deficits, which he felt made preschool children’s thinking so
different from adult logic.
 Recent research suggests that Piaget underestimated children’s thinking. When they
are dealing with familiar everyday objects and routines, their understanding seems to
be more advanced than Piaget gave them credit for.
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Piaget downplayed the importance of language in cognitive development. Lev
Vygotsky, on the other hand, believed language was the basis for all complex mental
activity. Vygotsky also emphasized learning within a social context. He noted that
children use “private speech” for self-guidance when solving a problem or mastering
a skill.
Information Processing theory focuses on cognitive processes such as memory,
attention and problem solving.
Preschoolers begin to be capable of metacognition, or “thinking a bout thought”.
Children’s awareness of, and understanding of, reading and writing grow steadily
through exposure to print materials. This is the process of emergent literacy. Their
mathematical understanding also grows gradually with exposure to numbers and
mathematical concepts.
What kind of program best supports children’s cognitive development? Piaget’s
work has led to a variety of “hands on” exploratory play programs. On the other
hand, many programs follow the traditional teacher-directed academic model. So far,
research does not show lasting gains from the second approach, and such programs
may cause early burnout.
High quality preschool early intervention programs like Head Start have been shown
to give children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds a good foundation for
learning and school success.
By preschool age, children can really carry on a conversation. Their vocabularies
grow enormously, as does their use of complex grammar. A “language rich
environment” (which includes give and take with more skilled speakers) seems to be
the most important factor in this development.
Berk Chapter 9: Cognitive Development in Early Childhood 6e
Piaget’s Theory: the Preoperational Stage
The Preoperational stage covers ages ____ to ____.
The most important change in cognitive development between children in the
Sensorimotor stage and children in the Preoperational stage is the increase in
______________ _______________________.
One example of this increased ability to mentally represent the world is the development
of ________________, which Piaget called the most flexible means of mental
representation. Nevertheless, Piaget did not think it played an important role in
cognitive development. What did he believe came before words?
____________________________________________________________
A second example of increased mental representation during the preschool years is the
increase in __________-_______________ ____________.
Explain 3 ways that play develops during this period:
1.____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2._____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
3.______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
During make-believe play, children know they are pretending – their talk and actions
show an awareness that play is a ____________________________ activity.
Benefits of Play
Many child development experts now believe that Piaget’s view of play was too narrow.
Children who spend more time in sociodramatic play are seen as more __________
_________________ by their teachers. Many studies suggest that sociodramatic play
also strengthens other abilities – list 5:
____________________________ _____________________________
____________________________ _____________________________
____________________________
(Look at the table on page 320 to see how adults can support opportunities for make
believe play.)
Limitations of Preoperational Thought
Piaget noted the major increase in ability in mental representation in the preoperational
period, but otherwise he focused mainly on what children _________ ___________ in
this period – he said that children in this stage are not capable of mental operations, and
that their thinking is rigid, limited and very influenced by appearances. Understanding
these characteristics is the key to understanding Piaget’s view of this stage.
Here are some characteristics of this stage. Try to define them in your own words:
EgocentrismAnimismCentered (Centration)IrreversibleHere are some other cognitive difficulties that Piaget noted in this stage. Children in the
preoperational stage fail to conserve – this means that they do not understand that the
quantity of a material can remain the same even when the ________________ changes.
Read about 4 conservation tasks in figure 9.2.
Piaget also noted that preoperational children have difficulty with hierarchical
classification – that is to say, they have trouble organizing things into groups and subgroups. See an example of this with the class inclusion flower problem on page 322.
Do you remember doing Venn diagrams in school? This is a similar idea. Design a new
class inclusion problem using something different from flowers:
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
New research suggests Piaget’s theory underestimates children’s logical thinking ability.
What are 2 reasons that Piaget’s problems might have confused children:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Briefly explain how conversation shows us that preoperational children are not as
egocentric as Piaget thought:
________________________________________________________________________
As far as animism is concerned, the text tells us that children actually begin to distinguish
between what is animate or inanimate in infancy, but are sometimes confused when
things are ___________________ or have _____________________________.
Even though preschool aged children do believe in magical beings like fairies, do they
believe that magic can change everyday experience? Yes / No
Magical beliefs decline between ages ____ and _____, as children come to experience
and understand the physical world better.
Piaget’s theory has had a huge impact on education. List and briefly explain 3 principles
of education that derive from his theory:
1. __________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
Young children frequently talk out loud to themselves as they go about their daily
business. Piaget called this _____________ ___________. He explained it thus:
____________________________________________________________________.
Lev Vygotsky disagreed with Piaget. He believed children talk to themselves
because ______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________.
Research supports Vygotsky’s view, so we now call this self-talk _______________
___________.
Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky stressed that children learn from others in a social context.
Research says that children learn best from an adult or an “expert” peer. Name and
define the 2 features that must exist for social interaction to increase cognitive
development:
1.___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
A broader term for scaffolding is guided participation.
(Read the box on page 333 for an interesting look at how culture shapes children’s
learning about work, and their sense of responsibility.)
Information Processing Theory
This theory focuses on changes to the mental strategies and mental abilities of
children of different stages. When we compare preschoolers to toddlers and infants,
we see that preschoolers have improved:
A_____________________________ (Why? ______________________________)
Pl_____________________________
M_____________________________
As preschoolers language, memory and mental representation abilities improve, they
development the ability to think about thinking; this is called ___________________.
Give one example of this from preschool. (Select from the examples in the text on
pages 339).___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Early Literacy and Math Development
We now know that children don’t simply learn to read all at once, but rather that
literacy (learning to read and write) is an emergent process that starts as early as
infancy, and is closely connected to language development. The text says children
construct literacy knowledge through informal experiences – name 2 examples of this
from play or daily life experiences:
1.___________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________
Look at page 343 and list 3 things that children must learn / understand about literacy
in order to become readers:
1.___________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
How could good preschool or child care teachers help parents support a child’s
literacy development?__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Emergent Math
Mathematical learning is also constructed through informal experiences. Through play
and daily life, children begin to grasp important math concepts. Define the following
concepts and give an example of each:
Ordinality_____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Cardinality _____________________________________________________________
Home Environment and Mental Development
List 4 factors affecting intellectual development that might be found in a middle class
home but possibly not in an economically disadvantaged home:
1.____________________________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________________________
3._____________________________________________________________________
4._____________________________________________________________________
Name three possible negative outcomes for children in preschools that stress formal
academics:
1.___________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
What does the research say about the benefits of preschool intervention?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Briefly explain the estimated cost / benefit ratio for society of investing money in quality
early intervention programs:_________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Language Development
Preschoolers learn as many as 5 new words a day! How do they do it? Explain these
terms in your own words:
Fast mapping _________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Syntactic Bootstrapping
______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Children are also learning grammar. Explain these 2 terms in your own words:
Overregularization
_______________________________________________________________________
Semantic bootstrapping
_______________________________________________________________________
Suggest 3 ways adults support children’s language learning during this period;
1.
2.
3.
Practice Quiz #9
1. The teacher is counting the children to go out on the playground, “1, 2…” . As she
points to the second child he says indignantly, “I’m not two, I’m three! I’m a big boy!”
This is evidence of that his thinking is
a. reversible and conserving
b. animistic and magical
c. egocentric and centered
d. static and transformative
2. A teacher in a constructivist classroom (one based on Piaget’s theory of learning) will
a. drill children on correct answers
b. arrange situations that allow discovery learning
c. give children long verbal explanations of concepts
d. all of the above
3. Samantha is putting together a puzzle. As she works, she talks to herself thus: “No,
that’s big, it goes here. This piece is upside down.” Choose the best statement about her
speech:
a. Piaget would say she is trying to communicate clearly to someone else in the room.
b. she is probably repeating what an adult told her.
c. Vygotsky would say that she is guiding herself through the task.
d. all of the above
4. New research in regard to Piaget’s theory suggests that
a. children’s cognitive development may be more continuous, rather than defined by
exclusive stages
b. some of Piaget’s questions contained too much new information for preschoolers to
handle
c. preschoolers’ life experience and culture affects their grasp of concepts
d. all of the above
5. Raji and Lyla are playing in the home center. They have dressed all the baby dolls to
go to daycare. Raji says “I’m going be so late for my job!” Lyla responds “Here honey,
let me take that baby for you.” What is the significance of this play?
a. The girls are trying out their ideas about the adult world and about their future roles
as women.
b. They are stretching their understanding of other people’s points of view as they
attempt to speak in the voices of the characters they are playing.
c. They are practicing the skill of cooperating in a social setting.
d. All of the above
6. Research shows that children whose parents read storybooks to them
a. Are delayed in their ability to read for themselves
b. Have greater success in school
c. Are no different from children whose parents don’t read to them.
d. Are entertained, but receive no lasting advantage from it
7. When asked by the teacher how many chairs are in the book circle, Brendan counts
them and says “We have six.” He is displaying the mathematical concept of
a. cardinality
b. reversibility
c. ordinality
d. ratio
8. Which of the following statements is true about preschools which place a heavy
emphasis on academic learning compared to preschools that are child centered?
a. Children in child centered preschools demonstrate better social skills
b. Academic preschools produce no lasting advantage in academic achievement
c. Children who attend academic preschools are more likely to experience school
burn-out in the elementary years
d. All of the above
9. 4 year old Robbie says, “I runned fast.” This is the result of
a. overregularization
b. expansion
c. ignorance
d. poor grammar modeling by adults
10. Your friend is thinking of hiring an expensive magician to entertain at his son’s
fourth birthday. Your BEST advice to him is
a. to do it because children at that age need entertainment to have fun
b. to have elaborate magic tricks, but save money by doing them himself from a book
c. to splurge on the magician, because kids of all ages love the challenge of figuring
out how magic tricks work
d. to save his money and skip the magic, because children of this age find magic
tricks no more surprising and wonderful than many real life events
Child Growth and Development Video Worksheet (Berk Chapter 9)
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT – AGE 2 ½ to 6
1. PIAGET’S INFLUENCE– Review of all stages
 Piaget believed that the ______________ and _____________ of information
changes as the child matures and has more experiences – not just what or how
much is known
 The quality and number of _______________ increases
2. THE CHILD IN THE PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
 Is capable of ___________ _______________________
 Does not understand __________ ___________ like __________ and _________
 Cannot focus on more than one ________ of a situation
Characteristics of this stage:
 ___________________________________– child perceive events only as she/he
is affected by them and believes that everyone else has the same experience

___________________________________– the child has difficulty with thinking
that requires reversing a process or the order of things

___________________________________– the child experiences life as a series
of separate unrelated events and can’t see the connection between events

___________________________________– is the ability to group objects into
categories based on common features such as color, shape, use. The child in this
stage has difficulty sorting based on two factors at once.

___________________________________– the process of arranging objects
according to quantitative or qualitative differences of some factor. The child at
this stage can construct a small series.

___________________________________– the understanding that the quantity
of an item remains the same even if appearance is changed. Preoperational
children do not understand this - they “fail to conserve”.

___________________________________ – children in this stage have difficulty
separating fact from fantasy. TV programs, cartoons and dreams may seem real.
They may develop fears of scary monsters. They may believe that saying
something makes it true.

___________________________________– children in this stage may believe
that inanimate objects think and have a will of their own

____________________________________– children in this stage value routine
and ritual. They may believe that the ritual ensures a desired outcome (Example:
“I have to put my teddy on this side of the pillow, and my bunny on that side of
the pillow so I won’t have bad dreams.”)
3. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
 There is a major explosion of language between ages __ and __
 Children learn new v_________________ and rules of g_____________. They
spend years mastering the conjugation of verbs.
 There is a major connection between language and _____________.
 At all ages children can ________________more than they can ____________.
 In preschool years, children learn that language can be used to discuss events and
feelings. They become conversationalists.
 Some developmentally normal stuttering may occur, because ________________
__________________________________________________________________
 Children in bilingual homes can master both languages by age three.
 The most important thing for language development is for the child to have
frequent contact with warm caring adults who model good language and talk at a
level and pace the child can understand
Child Growth and Development Video Worksheet (Berk Chapter 9)
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT – AGE 2 ½ to 6
1. PIAGET’S INFLUENCE– Review of all stages
 Piaget believed that the understanding and organization of information changes
as the child matures and has more experiences – not just what or how much is
known
 The quality and number of __schemata_____________ increases
2. THE CHILD IN THE PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
 Is capable of __mental_________ __representation
 Does not understand _logical_relationships like _cause and _effect
 Cannot focus on more than one _aspect_ of a situation
Characteristics of this stage:
 _egocentrism____________________– child perceive events only as she/he is
affected by them and believes that everyone else has the same experience

__irreversibility / lacks reversibility___________– the child has difficulty with
thinking that requires reversing a process or the order of things

___static thought_________________________– the child experiences life as a
series of separate unrelated events and can’t see the connection between events

___classification________________________________– is the ability to group
objects into categories based on common features such as color, shape, use. The
child in this stage has difficulty sorting based on two factors at once.

____seriation_______________________________– the process of arranging
objects according to quantitative or qualitative differences of some factor. The
child at this stage can construct a small series.

___conservation________________________________– the understanding that
the quantity of an item remains the same even if appearance is changed.
Preoperational children do not understand this - they “fail to conserve”.

___magical thinking________________________________ – children in this
stage have difficulty separating fact from fantasy. TV programs, cartoons and
dreams may seem real. They may develop fears of scary monsters. They may
believe that saying something makes it true.

___animism________________________________– children in this stage may
believe that inanimate objects think and have a will of their own

___ritualistic thinking_________________________________– children in this
stage value routine and ritual. They may believe that the ritual ensures a desired
outcome (Example: “I have to put my teddy on this side of the pillow, and my
bunny on that side of the pillow so I won’t have bad dreams.”)
3. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
 There is a major explosion of language between ages 2 and _6_
 Children learn new vocabulary and rules of grammar. They spend years
mastering the conjugation of verbs.
 There is a major connection between language and thinking.
 At all ages children can take in more than they can express.
 In preschool years, children learn that language can be used to discuss events and
feelings. They become conversationalists.
 Some developmentally normal stuttering may occur, because thoughts come
faster than they can be expressed.
 Children in bilingual homes can master both languages by age three.
 The most important thing for language development is for the child to have
frequent contact with warm caring adults who model good language and talk at a
level and pace the child can understand