1. Piaget

1. preoperational thought-what preschool children are unable to do cognitively

1. concentration-focus on one aspect of a situation while excluding all the other alternatives (ex: father is a daddy, not a brother)
2. appearance-based (ex: boy refusing to wear a pink shirt because he is not a girl)
3. static-reasoning-world is unchanging; if there is a change, it is a complete change and sudden)
4. irreversibility-fail to recognize that reversing a process produces the condition that existed before the transformation

1. preschoolers focus on appearance and ignore transformations

1. liquid
2. number
3. matter
4. length

1. Vygotsky

1. cognitive growth is a social activity that is enhanced by older children, parents, teachers, etc.

1. present new challenges for learner
2. offer assistance during difficult task
3. provide instruction
4. encourage and motivate child

1. scaffold-structured participation in learning activities to foster emerging capabilities
2. verbal interaction is essential for intellectual growth

1. private speech — self-talk preschoolers use when thinking out loud, to review, explain to others, and to decide what to do next
2. social mediation-words that provide a bridge from the preschooler’s current understanding to what is almost understood

1. What Children Think

1. Memory

1. seldom try to retain bits of information in memory
2. don’t know how to recall past experiences

2. memory enhancement

1. scripts-skeletal outlines of familiar sequence of events
2. asking specific questions
3. visual reminders

3. special experiences promote long term memory

1. experience so repetitive that a script is formed
2. distinct experience that occurs only once (ex: natural disaster)

1. children as a witness to a crime

1. provide very accurate details of what happened, but have trouble recalling who was involved
2. preschoolers respond untruthfully to misleading questions
3. provide a structured sequence to enhance memory
4. children can sometimes give false information to a script that makes sense to them (especially when there is a long duration between the event and recollection)

1. Theory of the mind- understanding of the human mental processes

1. Beginning to understand mental processes

1. can distinguish between mental phenomena and physical events
2. appreciate how mental phenomena can arise from life experiences
3. mental phenomena are subjective
4. people have differing opinions and preferences
5. beliefs and desires can influence human actions
6. emotions can come from physical events and goals/expectations

1. By 3-6 years of age mental phenomena may not reflect reality
2. Influences of culture and context on theory of mind

1. Does brain maturation or does experience strengthen the mind?

1. age has a powerful effect
2. verbal proficiency
3. sibling relationship encourages the learning process
4. culture

1. Language

1. Vocabulary

1. language explosion

1. mind develops categories to chart the meaning of various words
2. fast mapping-hear word once or twice before defining through categorization with other words
3. 5 year olds can learn any word as long as it explained and used in context

1. language difficulties

1. abstract nouns — "government"
2. metaphors and analogies
3. names of colors
4. comparisons
5. relationships of place and time- "tomorrow"

1. grammar

1. children were asked questions
2. the group that had their answers rephrased correctly advanced more in grammar

1. overregularization-seems logical to apply the rules of grammar, but produce incorrect speech

1. speech is corrected after hearing the proper form multiple times

1. Preschool Education

1. characteristics of programs that benefit the child the most

1. low child-teacher ration
2. trained staff with credentials in early childhood development
3. curriculum with a emphasis on cognitive development
4. learning spaces for constructive and organized play