Intellectual Development of the Preschooler

1. Intellectual Development of the Preschooler Unit 4: Preschoolers

2. How Preschool Children Learn • Piaget’s 2nd stage = preoperational change 1. Preconceptional Substage • Children ages two to four are beginning to develop some concepts • Children are able to form a mental image of what they see around them • However, many of these concepts are incomplete or illogical • Children may see different members of the same group as identical.

3. 2. Intuitive Substage • Children sometimes are able to grasp a problem’s solution by how they feel about it. • Children base their solutions on “feeling” their way through problems rather than on logic. • For example, a child standing on the ladder of a slide may say to his or her parent, “I’m taller than you,” because he or she can see over the parent's head. The intuitive preschooler doesn't use logic, such as “I may look taller, but my feet are higher than my parent’s feet; thus I am still shorter than my parent.”

4. Obstacles to Logical Thinking • Most children are still egocentric • Egocentrism = the belief a person has that everyone thinks in the same way and has the same ideas as he or he does. • Egocentrism, in this sense, does not mean children are selfish or too concern with themselves

5. Egocentrism at it’s best… • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sKdDyyanGk

6. New Abilities Emerge • Symbolic Play • Mental Images • Drawing • Language

7. Symbolic Play • Pretend Games • They change things in some way or ways from the real world or dreams • Objects may stand for anything the child wants • Roles may change, too, as the child can take on adult or even animal roles • Leaf = plate • Stuffed Bear = child

8. What is she “playing?”

9. What are they “playing?”

10. What mental images do you have when you hear the following words?

11. CAT

13. THUNDERSTORM

16. FLOWER

20. KENTUCKY

24. Drawing • Preschool children no longer scribble • They now attempt to draw objects and depict their world through drawings • Preschoolers intend their drawings to be realistic • They draw what they think or know about a person, not what is visually accurate • For example: a side view of a goldfish in a drawing may show both eyes and even a smiling mouth. Drawing is a step between symbolic play and mental images • Preschoolers draw first then decide what their pictures represent • As children get older, they decide what to draw, form a mental image then draw!

26. Language • Spoken words are symbols used to represent something. • Words are also more abstract (do not relate to what they represent) compared with many other symbols. • For example, the word car does not look, sound, or move like a car. • Once language abilities develop, the child can exchange ideas with others and thus learn! • Children can also think with words! • Thinking is faster using words compared with actions, too!

27. What Preschool Children Learn • Concepts Children Learn • Physical Attributes • Logical Thinking Concepts • Classifying Objects • Arranging by Size • Understanding Number Concepts • Understanding Spatial Concepts • Understanding Time Concepts • Cause and Effect

28. Physical Attributes • Preschool children develop concepts about: • Size • Shape • Color • Texture • Etc.

29. Preschool children are limited in their thinking about physical attributes. 1. The child may not note the object’s most important features • For example, the child must note a zebra’s stripes to distinguish it from a horse. If the child notes the zebra’s ears, this will not help, horses have similar ears. 2. Preschoolers tend to look at parts of an object, they cannot always mentally “see the whole object. • For example…

31. Classifying Objects • Classifying = the ability to choose an attribute and group all the objects from a set

32. Arranging by Size • Often preschool children cannot arrange objects by increasing or decreasing size, weight, or volume.

33. Understanding Number Concepts • Many preschoolers can count. • However, counting does not show they understand numbers. • For example, a child may be able to count to five, but they may not be able to count out five apples. 1 3 5 2 4

34. Understanding Number Concepts • Once they can count objects successfully, preschoolers still do not completely understand number concepts. • It also requires seeing relationships! • Unlike each object that has its own name, numbers refer to groups. The number does not really refer to just the last object named; but also to the entire group. • a child must mentally see that one is in two and two is in three!

35. Understanding Number Concepts • Preschoolers really struggle with number concepts such as: • Less • Few • Many • Some

36. Understanding Spatial Concepts • Preschool children understand the words: • Up • Down • Left • Right • Under • Over • Here • There

37. Understanding Spatial Concepts • However, until about age five years, preschoolers may not know what is on the other side of a wall in their own homes!

38. Understanding Spatial Concepts • Preschool children also draw they think about space rather than what they see. • Learning left and right from another’s perspective is hard– especially if the person is facing them! • Allowing a child to help set the table, helps them learn these concepts!

40. Understanding Time Concepts • Preschoolers can recall the recent past • Yesterday is recalled but a week or a year ago may be forgotten. • Children link time to events, such as time to eat lunch. • They cannot see time passing. • Morning, afternoon, and seasonal changes are gradual. • For these reasons, time concepts are hard to understand • They are among the last concepts to develop!

41. Cause and Effect • Preschoolers try to understand cause and effect • They ask questions to try to understand • “What causes the rain?” • “What will happen to my dead fish?”

42. Cause and Effect • Preschoolers may assign human qualities to nonhumans, such as plants, animals and objects. • Sometimes they use this to avoid being punished and they say, “My teddy bear left my toys outside!” • Sometimes preschoolers reverse cause and effect. They may say, “Because I’m staying in bed, I am ill.”

43. Language Abilities Increased • Due to egocentrism, sometimes preschoolers do not communicate all the needed information when speaking with others. • They may begin their story in the middle rather than the beginning because they think the listener already knows the beginning! • “She is eating!” Preschoolers assume you know who “she” is. 

44. Articulation of Preschoolers • Most toddlers have some problems making all the sounds in their spoken language. • In the English language, children master sound between ages three and eight years.

46. Vocabulary of Preschoolers • 3 years = 900 words • 4 years = 1,500 words • 5 years = 2,000 words

47. Grammar of the Preschooler • Sentence structure becomes much more complex • Do not seem to notice proper word order

49. STANDARDS What should we teach children in these areas? • English • Math • Gross/Fine Motor Skills • Social Studies • Arts and Humanities • Heath/Mental Wellness • Science

50. PLAYSCHOOL How can we apply what we know to playschool?? List topics that children should learn/practice. How should we approach this teaching?