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At the end of the discussion, you should be

able to:
Early Childhood •Describe the cognitive, socioemotional, and
physical development of preschoolers
(The Preschooler) •Apply concepts on preschoolers’
Gianina Decano
development in preschool teaching and
childcare

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Read each behavior or remark from children and Read each behavior or remark from children and
decide whether or not this is TRUE of decide whether or not this is TRUE of
preschoolers. preschoolers.
6. Jeline believes that her skin will turn dark if she drinks soda
1. “Someone switched on the thunder,” Mace remarked. (Coke, Pepsi) because these are dark colored.
2. Ingrid silently nods on the phone to answer her Tatay’s question if she
already ate dinner.
7. Ivan cried because the juice was poured in a glass and he
3. Anja said the leaves fell off because the tree shrugged.
wanted it be just inside the juice box.
4. Ozie is presented two identical glasses and asked if the amount of 8. Ingrid chose the gift with the big colorful ribbon rather than the
water is the same. He agreed. The water was transferred to differently one without.
shaped glasses of water and Ozie was asked if the amount of the
water in these two glasses is different. Ozie disagreed.
5. Aya asks a series of “why” questions while her mother is cleaning the
house.

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Cognitive development of preschoolers Preschoolers’ Cognitive Limitations

• Piaget’s Preoperational Stage • Animism
• Symbolic Thinking • Egocentrism
• Able to draw objects that are not present • Unidimensional thought
• Dramatic increase in language use • Irreversibility
• Make-believe play • Easily influenced by striking features
• Intuitive Thinking • Transductive reasoning
• Use primitive reasoning
• Ask many questions

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Language Development Theory of Mind

• Symbolic thinking fuels language, literacy, and dramatic play • Individuals’ thoughts about how mental processes work
• Language skills become increasingly complex especially in (Santrock, 2002)
phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. • Children become aware of the mind at 3 years old and begin using
• Fast mapping – absorbing the meaning of a new word after hearing cognitive terms such as know, remember, think
it in a conversation • Develops between 3-5 years old
• Oddities in preschoolers’ language

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Role of Caregivers in the Cognitive

development of preschoolers
How can caregivers support • For 3-year-olds
• Speak with children as often as possible

the cognitive development of •

•
Add new information to children’s sentences
Teach children to memorize names

preschoolers?
• Provide books for children to read
• Encourage children to repeat a story and discuss ideas
• Encourage interest in reading and writing
• Count objects
• Explain how things happen
• Sing simple songs

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Role of Caregivers in the Cognitive Role of Caregivers in the Cognitive

development of preschoolers development of preschoolers
• For 4-year-olds • For 5-year-olds
• Read aloud each day and encourage children to look at books on their • Add drama to reading sessions
own • Ask them to tell a story
• Sing nursery rhymes with them • Ask what-if questions
• Teach important number and space concepts • Give them opportunities to sort, count, group, match, and sequence with
• Encourage four year olds to participate in your activities (i.e. cleaning the real life situations
house, gardening, etc.) • Take questions seriously
• Encourage learners to count anything of interest

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Key Ideas about Preschoolers’ Cognitive

Language and Social Interaction
Development
• Young children use language both to communicate socially and to • They engage in symbolic and intuitive thinking.
plan, guide, and monitor their behavior in a self-regulatory • Brain connections are made when preschoolers interact with the
function known as inner speech or private speech (Vygostky in environment.
Santrock, 2002)
• Preschoolers’ language development occurs in four areas:
• For Piaget, private speech is egocentric and immature, but phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics
Vygotsky believes that it is an important tool of thought in early
childhood • Vygotsky emphasized that language and social interaction are
important to cognitive development.
• Preschoolers’ cognitive development is marked by the emergence
of a theory of mind.

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Socioemotional Development of the

Self-Concept
Preschooler
• Self-concept – our total picture of our abilities and traits
• Self-concept focuses on observable characteristics
• Changes in self-definition (5-7 shift)
• Self-esteem refers to one’s judgements about one’s worth

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Self-concept of Young Children Gender Typing

• Process of forming gender roles, gender-based preferences, and
Jason, 4 Wei, 4
behaviors accepted by society
“ I am Jason. I live in a big house “I am Wei. I live with my parents,
with my dad and mom. I have an sisters, and grandparents in a • Leads to gender stereotypes
orange kitty and I like to eat big house. I like playing with my • Preschoolers begin to associate certain things like toys, tools,
pizza. I can count up to 30, do sisters. We enjoy walking at the games, jobs, tools, etc.
you want to hear? I can run and park with our grandparents. They • Gender identity – view of oneself as masculine or feminine
I’m really strong. I can lift this are very nice to me even when I
chair, watch me!” (Harter, 1996) forget my manners.” (Wang, • Different spheres of influence determine preschool development
2004) of a gender schema

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Five Perspectives on Gender Development

Theories
Biological
Major Theorists Key Processes
Genetic, neurologic,
Basic beliefs
Many behavioral differences between the
Parten’s Stages of
approach and hormonal
activity
sexes can be traced to biological
differences
Play
Evolutionary Charles Darwin Natural sexual Children develop gender roles in
approach selection preparation for adult mating and
reproductive behavior
Psychoanalytic Sigmund Freud Resolution of Gender identity occurs when child
approach unconscious identifies with sam e-sex parent • Play is the main agenda
emotional conflict
of the preschool years.
Cognitive/Moral Lawrence Kohlberg Self-categorization Once a child learns that he/she is a
Approach boy/girl, child sorts info about behavior by • It has a social dimension.
gender and acts accordingly
Gender Schem a Sandra Bern, Carol Self-categorization Child sorts info about behavior by gender • Developed by Mildred
Lynn Martin based on and acts accordingly based on what a Parten in the 1930s to
processing of culture dictates
cultural info show children’s play
Social Learning Albert Bandura Observation of Child mentally combines observations of behavior.
approach models, gendered behavior and creates own
reinforcements behavioral variations

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Caregiving
Friendship in Preschool
Styles
• Preschoolers become interested in having friends • Diana Baumrind’s model of
• Friendships provide stimulation, assistance, companionship, caregiving styles
social comparison, and affection (Kostelnik, 2010) • Based on a longitudinal
• Learns to practice different social roles study that looked into adult
authority and the
• Foster sense of belongingness and security development of children
during the 1960s

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Among the caregiving styles

identified by Baumrind, which
one is least likely for you to adopt
as a pre-service teacher? Why
not?

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