• children "operate" on their environment (opperational conditioning)

• learning could be broken down into smaller tasks
• immediate rewards stimulate learning

• children learn by observation and imitation
  (peer learning - peer groups)
• children gradually become more selective in what they imitate

• Maturationists
• believed in a predetermined biological timetable
• normative approach to child study
  (using age-related averages of children's growth and behavior to define what's normal)

10 gradients of growth

(Hall & Gesell)

1. motor characteristics

2. personal hygiene

3. emotional expression

4. fears and dreams

5. self and sex

6. interpersonal relations

7. play and pastimes

8. school life

9. ethical sense ("that's not fair")

10. philosophical outlook

• examines how behavior is determined by a species' need for survival
• roots: Darwin's research
• describes a critical/sensitive period for learning

• Cognitive Development Theory
• children understand their world through their active involvement and interactions
• describes children's understanding as their "schemas" and how they use: assimilation and accomodation

Cognitive Developmental Stages

(Piaget)

Sensori-motor

• birth - 2 years
• infant uses his senses and motor abilities to understand the world

Cognitive Developmental Stages

(Piaget)

Preoperation

• 2 - 7 years
• child uses mental representation of objects and is able to use symbolic thought and language

Cognitive Developmental Stages

(Piaget)

Concrete operations

• 7 - 11 years
• child uses logical operations or principles when solving problems
• "fair or not fair"

Cognitive Developmental Stages

(Piaget)

Formal operations

• 12 years +
• use of logical operations in a systematic fashion and with the ability to use abstractions
• a lot of "because"

• Socio-Cultural Theory
• children are active learners from social environment
• cultural values and customs dictate what to learn
• children learn from expert members of society
• zone of proximal development = where learning occurs

• Ecological Systems Theory
• environment and interrelationships among systems shape a child's development
• environment and biology influence the child's development

Ecological Model

• microsystem - immediate surrounding (parents, school)
• mesosystem - relationships among the entities in the microsystem (ex: parents interaction with teacher)
• exosystem - institutions which affect children indirectly (parent' work setting, mass media, etc.)
• macrosystem - broader cultural values (laws)
• chronosystem changes that occur throughout life (personally-birth of a sibling, culturally-war)

• child's actions are a result of subsystem interaction
• subsystems self-organize to achieve goal
• unique developmental trajectories
• functional goals motivate child's actions
• solutions emerge on the demand at the moment

• perception of the environmet informs actions
• actions provide feedback about movement, performance
• affordance - the fit b/w child and environment
• manipulation - guided by visual, tactile, and kinesthetic input

Functional performances

Flexible synergies

• child first explores diff. movement patterns and then selects a functional synergy
• movement synergies are adaptable
• child's functional synergies are highly adaptable and reliable

1. exploratory activity

2. perceptual learning - chlid exhibits more consistency in patterns

3. skill achievement - selects a pattern that's comfortable and efficient

• children are inherently self-organizing and goal-directed
• when children succes in new tasks, they develop positive self-efficacy
• when they don't succeed - at risk for poor self-efficacy

1. activity level

2. approach or withdrawal

3. distractability

4. intensity of purpose

5. attention span and persistence

6. quality of mood

7. rhythmicity

8. threshold of response

9. adaptability

• Social context
• Cultural context
• Physical context

• spontaneous
• intrinsically motivated
• process focused
• guided by player
• nonserious (unless competitive)
• free from external rules
• active participation

1. Activity (play has no rules; activity has rules)
2. developmental phenomenon
3. experience of state of mind

Forms of Play

• sensorimotor and exploratory (infancy to adolescence)
• constructive (preschool to adolescence; simple to abstract)
• social (infant-mother; continues through life)

• process, experiences, purposes
• way to develop skills for life
• way of working off surplus energy
• contributing to dev. (develop ego function and cognitive skills)

• quality of experience
• attitude - playfulness
• flexibility and spontaneity
• restoring sense of well-being
• exposing oneself to novelty
• seeking short-term diversion
• increasing intensity of involvement
• enjoying ability to master
• novelty

• family
• social
• cultural
• materials
• non-intrusive or scaffolding adults
• scheduling

• work/play, rest/sleep
• 4 rhythms that set human organization

• OB
• multidimensional system
  (exploration, competency, and achievement)
• play - organized human behavior

• exploratory stage (search for rules)
• competency stage (I can do it myself!)
• achievement stage (standards of excellence)

• neurological subsystem
• symbolization subsystem
• language subsystem

• skills
• developmental competencies
• way of child plays (styles)
• narratives

1. movement progresses from primitive reflex patterns to voluntary controlled movements
2. the sequence and rate of motor development are consistent among infants and children
3. low-level skills are pre-reqs for certain high-level skills

• an understanding of object's shape, texture, and mass
• by 2 1/2 years

1. science of play - critical aspect of human development
2. art of play - therapist and child are players

1. functional (doctor)
2. relational (mother, baby)
3. character (TV, movie)
4. roles w/ no specific identity

1. segregation (play times separated from other daily routines)
2. inclusion