development - willingham

Question 1

knowledge and skill

Answer 1

knowing facts helps when building skills of problem-solving and reasoning
knowledge can free up space in working memory
when learning and developing skills, you must first have the knowledge

Question 2

what does willingham suggest about knowledge

Answer 2

if you have knowledge, you have more processing power which can help understanding of a problem

Question 3

importance of practice and effort

Answer 3

practice and effort enable us to master knowledge and skills
practice enough to do things automatically
practice is not enough, you must repeat the skill many times and keep up with it
this leaves enough working memory to learn new things

Question 4

importance of building knowledge

Answer 4

short-term memory and practice, which involves rehearsal
it then goes into long-term memory, where it must be reviewed and practiced in order to remember it

Question 5

importance of building skills

Answer 5

problem solving and creative thinking are skills a child needs to learn (working memory)
skills need to be developed so that they become automatic and don’t use space in working memory

Question 6

strategies to support cognitive development

Answer 6

use problems that are new but within student’s ability
understand stage of development when panning activities but also that the abilities are variable
consider that factors other than developmental level (ie misunderstanding)

Question 7

strategies to support physical development

Answer 7

practice and effort would improve motor skills
think about what skills are needed and the order
use conscious effort and practice in that order to make automatic

Question 8

strategies to support social development

Answer 8

build decentration ability
demonstrate appropriate behaviour through social learning
help control impulsive behaviour
encourage practice and self-regulation (can come from nature and nurture factors)
delay giving a reward to encourage child to keep working

Question 9

motor skills

Answer 9

actions that involve muscles and brain processes, resulting in movement

Question 10

social learning

Answer 10

learning by observing and copying others

Question 10

decentration

Answer 10

being able to separate yourself from the world and take different views of a situation, so not being egocentric

Question 11

self-regulation

Answer 11

limiting and controlling yourself without influence from others

Question 12

strengths of willingham’s theory (x3)

Answer 12

• practical applications to promote child development
• draws on many areas of cognitive science
• repacholi and gopnik (1997) support willingham’s theory

Question 13

weaknesses of willingham’s theory (x2)

Answer 13

• did not emphasise the importance of individual differences in learning (eg some traits are inherited to an extent)
• not really one singular theory that can be tested by data collection