Chapter Two

Front 1

development

Back 1

Orderly and lasting growth, adaptation, and change over the course of a lifetime.

Front 2

continuous theories of development

Back 2

Theories based on the belief that human development progresses smoothly and gradually from infancy to adulthood.

Front 3

discontinuous theories of development

Back 3

Theories describing human development as occurring through a fixed sequence of distinct, predictable stages governed by inborn factors.

Front 4

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Back 4

proposes that a child’s intellect, or cognitive ability, progresses through four distinct stages. Each stage is characterized by the emergence of new abilities and ways of processing information.

Front 5

cognitive development

Back 5

Gradual, orderly changes by which mental processes become more complex and sophisticated.

Front 6

schemes

Back 6

Mental patterns that guide behavior.

Front 7

adaptation

Back 7

The process of adjusting schemes in response to the environment by means of assimilation and accommodation.

Front 8

assimilation

Back 8

Understanding new experiences in terms of existing schemes.

Front 9

accommodation

Back 9

Modifying existing schemes to fit new situations.

Front 10

equilibration

Back 10

The process of restoring balance between present understanding and new experiences.

Front 11

constructivism

Back 11

View of cognitive development that emphasizes the active role of learners in building their own understanding of reality.

Front 12

Piaget’s Stages of Development

Back 12

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

Front 13

Sensorimotor

Back 13

Birth to 2 years. Formation of concept of “object permanence” and gradual progression from reflexive behavior to goal-directed behavior.

Front 14

Preoperational

Back 14

2 to 7 years. Development of the ability to use symbols to represent objects in the world. Thinking remains egocentric and centered.

Front 15

Concrete operational

Back 15

7 to 11 years. Improvement in ability to think logically. New abilities include the use of operations that are reversible. Thinking is decentered, and problem solving is less restricted by egocentrism. Abstract thinking is not possible.

Front 16

Formal operational

Back 16

11 years to adulthood. Abstract and purely symbolic thinking possible. Problems can be solved through the use of systematic experimentation.

Front 17

object permanence

Back 17

Understanding that an object exists even if it is out of sight.

Front 18

conservation

Back 18

The concept that certain properties of an object (such as weight) remain the same regardless of changes in other properties (such as length).

Front 19

centration

Back 19

Paying attention to only one aspect of an object or situation.

Front 20

reversibility

Back 20

The ability to perform a mental operation and then reverse one’s thinking to return to the starting point.

Front 21

egocentric

Back 21

Believing that everyone views the world as you do.

Front 22

inferred reality

Back 22

The meaning of stimuli in the context of relevant information.

Front 23

seriation

Back 23

Arranging objects in sequential order according to one aspect, such as size, weight, or volume.

Front 24

transitivity

Back 24

A skill learned during the concrete operational stage of cognitive development in which individuals can mentally arrange and compare objects.

Front 25

developmentally appropriate education

Back 25

Instruction felt to be adapted to the current developmental status of children (rather than to their age alone).

Front 26

Vygotsky’s views

Back 26

First, he proposed that intellectual development can be understood only in terms of the historical and cultural contexts children experience. Second, he believed that development depends on the sign systems that individuals grow up with

Front 27

sign systems

Back 27

Symbols that cultures create to help people think, communicate, and solve problems.

Front 28

self-regulation

Back 28

The ability to think and solve problems without the help of others.

Front 29

private speech

Back 29

Children’s self-talk, which guides their thinking and action; eventually internalized as silent inner speech.

Front 30

zone of proximal development

Back 30

Level of development immediately above a person’s present level.

Front 31

scaffolding

Back 31

Support for learning and problem solving; might include clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example, or anything else that allows the student to grow in independence as a learner.