Chapter 10 Intellectual Development During The First Year Section 1: Understanding Intellectual Development (pages 292 to 303) Section 2: Helping Babies

Chapter 10Intellectual Development

During The First Year

Section 1:Understanding Intellectual Development

(pages 292 to 303)

Section 2:Helping Babies Learn

(pages 304 to 311)

Objectives: Section 1: Understanding Intellectual

Development Give examples of signs of intellectual growth in

infants Describe how a baby learns. Identify and give examples of Piaget’s stages of

learning.

Section 1: Understanding Intellectual Development

Introduction: Babies grow and develop especially rapidly

during the first year of life. Along with his or her physical, emotional, and social development, a young baby experiences rapid intellectual development.


Learning Abilities During the First Year: Right from birth, babies have a number of

capabilities. Newborns can: Hear See Taste Smell Feel


Learning Abilities During the First Year: By the age of one year, the baby has learned how to:

Move to a desired location by creeping, crawling or walking. Understand some words and perhaps even say a few

words. Make his or her wants known, primarily by gestures Play simple games, such as peek-a-boo Handle objects skillfully and manipulate them – put one

object inside another, for example


The Mind Body Connection: Newborns learn about the world primarily through

their senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.

For babies, as for all humans, information is transmitted from the senses through the nerves into the central nervous system, which consists of the spinal cord and the brain.

The sensory information moves through the spinal cord into the brain.


The Mind Body Connection: The brain is the key to intellectual development. The brain receives and interprets the messages from the

body. In an infant, the brain gradually develops the ability to

send messages to the body, telling the body what to do. Keep in mind, that in the beginning, newborn responses

are physical reflexes, not controlled physical responses to stimuli.


Now let’s take a look at the BRAIN… The brain is divided into distinct sections, each controlling

specific functions. The chapter focuses on six areas which are: Cerebrum Cerebellum Spinal Cord Brain Stem Thalamus Pituitary Glan …


Cerebrum: Receives information from the senses and directs motor

activities. Controls such functions as speech, memory, and problem

solving. Most of these activities occur in the outer layer of the cerebrum

called the cortex. Cortex: outer layer of the brain, which permits more complex

learning. In infants, the cortex is more clearly developed than it was at birth allowing the infant to begin more complex learning.

Once the cortex develops, perception in infants improves. Perception: learning through the senses.


Cerebellum: Controls muscular coordination and balance.


Spinal Cord: Transmits information and messages to and from the

brain.


Brain Stem: Controls involuntary activities such as breathing, heart

rate, and blood pressure.


Thalamus: Connects the spinal cord and cerebrum. Controls expression of emotions.


Pituitary Gland: Secretes hormones that regulate growth, metabolism,

and sexual development.

Section 1: Understanding Intellectual Development Piaget’s Theories

Jean Piaget: Swiss psychologist, died in 1980; had

remarkable influence on what we know about how children learn.

His theories of learning and the research they inspired have help us better understand and appreicate infants and children.


While investigating the development of intelligence, Piaget found that children’s responses fell into patterns according to their age.

This timetable seemed to control the development of intellectual skills.

Piaget believed it suggested that the capacity for logical thought is not learned, but is determined – along with such characteristics as eye color, and sex – in the genes. These capacities do not mature, however, until they are used.


Children cannot be forced by parents or teachers to develop understanding any faster then their abilities mature.

This is why, in nearly every case, it is a waste of effort to try to teach a two-year-old to read.

On the other hand, children who do not get the chance to apply their developing abilities and test their limitations may never reach their full intellectual ability.


According to Piaget, learning stages appear in the same order in all children.

What differs is the ages at which the stages develop, although average ages can be given.


Piaget identified four major periods of development and assigned them names: Sensorimotor Period Preoperational Period Concrete Period Formal Operations Period


Sensorimotor Period: First stage – birth to two years. Babies learn primarily through their senses and their own

actions. Baby is completely egocentric: thinking only about

themselves. Around 10 months, develops concept of object

permanence: understanding of the fact that objects continue to exist even when they are not in sight.


Sensorimotor Period: Can be broken down into six stages:


Stage 1: Birth to one month Practices inborn reflexes. Does not understand self as a separate person

Stage 2: Combines two or more reflexes Develops hand-mouth coordination


Stage 3: Acts intentionally to produce results. Improves hand-eye coordination.

Stage 4: Begins to solve problems. Finds partially hidden objects. Imitates others.


Stage 5: Finds hidden objects. Explores and experiments Understands that objects exist independently.

Stage 6: Solves problems by thinking through sequences. Can think using symbols. Begins imaginative thinking.


Preoperational period: Second stage: two years to seven years old Children thing about everything in terms of their

own activities and in terms of what they perceive at the moment.

Example: Since their intellectural development is not fully developed, children may believe that the moon follows them around or that dreams fly in through the window at night.


A child at this stage may think that 8 ounces of water becomes more to drink when it is poured from a short, wide glass into a gall thin glass.


In the preoperational period, children begin to understand abstract terms like love and beauty.

Concentration is limited to one thing at a time.

A child cannot think about both pain and the softness of a kitten at the same time as an example.


Preoperational Period Children tend to solve problems by pretending or

imitating, rather than by thinking the problems through.

For example, if a toy has been broken or the water has been left running, a young child may blame the mistake on an imaginary friend, saying with complete conviction.

During this period, children may not even be aware of what is real and what is make-believe.


The Concrete Operations Period: Third stage of learning – ages 7 to 11. Children are able to think logically but still learn

best from direct experiences. When problem solving, children still rely on

actually being able to see or experience the problem. Some logical thinking is possible.


Concrete Operations Period: Children understand that pouring water from one

container to another does not change the amount of water.

They can also comprehend that operations can be reversed. For example, substraction will “undo” addition, and division is the reverse of multiplication.

During this stage, children also learn to make more complex categories, such as classifying kinds of animals or types of foods.


Formal Operations Period. Fourth stage of learning – 11 to adulthood. Children become capable of abstract learning. Able to think about what might have been the

cause of an event without really experiencing that cause.

Can problem solve just by thinking.

Formal Operations Period. Allows adolescents to make more realistic future

plans and goals. Do not automatically accept everything that they

read or hear. Able to think things through critically and

logically. Can form ideals and understand deeper, less

obvious meanings or subtle messages.


Piaget’s theories have been criticized by some for setting boundaries of learning stages too rigidly, however,

His work revolutionized our understanding of child development.

His focus was on the intellectual development of infants an area of study previously ignored.


Piaget’s research provides important research that developmental theorists continue to use today.


Piaget’s work shows that adult intelligence has its origins in infancy.

However, his work also shows that attempts to impose adult ideas or understanding on children are bound to fail.

Older children can use symbolic and abstract thinking however, younger children can only process information in concrete terms … must see or experience to understand.


Heredity versus Environment. Child is born with their total genetic

potential. Environment impacts to what extent this

intellectual potential is developed.

This concludes information covered in Chapter 10, Section 1.

Documents

Chapter 10 Intellectual Development During The First Year Section 1: Understanding Intellectual Development (pages 292 to 303) Section 2: Helping Babies