Cephalocaudal rule
‘Top-to-Bottom’ rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from head to feet
= Head moves before torso, torso before legs
Proximodistal rule:
‘Inside-to-Outside’ rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the center to the periphery
= Babies are good at reaching things and moving their arms before they are able to grasp the object
= Like moving arms than individual fingers
Motor development
0-1 month: Prone, lifts head
2-4 month: Prone, chest up, arm support
2-4 month: Rolls over
3-6 month: Bear some weight on legs
4-7 month: Sits without support
4-10 month: Stands holding on
5-10 month: Pulls self to stand
7-12 month: Walks holding on to furniture
9-13 month: Stands well alone
11-14 month: Walks well alone
13-22 month: Walks up steps
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who pioneered understanding of children’s cognitive development by dividing it up into stages, from primitive knowledge to advanced
= Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years): Stage where they use senses and motor skills
= Pre-operational stage (2-6 years): development of language, symbolic thought, egocentrism
= Concrete operational stage (6-11 years): ability to think logically about concrete (tangible) events and physical objects.
= Formal operational stage (11 years-Adulthood): ability to think abstractly, use logical rules, engage in hypothetical-deductive reasoning, and systematically solve problems without relying on concrete, real-world objects.
Piaget believed that children move from one stage to the next as they gain knowledge about the world
- Children acquire knowledge
= 2. Children organize this knowledge into a schema
= 3. Children acquire new knowledge
= 4. Children add this new knowledge to their existing schema (assimilation)
= 5. Children acquire new knowledge that does not fit within their existing schema
= 6. Children modify their schema to fit this new knowledge (accomodation)
Assimilation and accomodation
Sally learns about living things, she has a pet dog and she’s hitting the dog
Her mom says “Don’t hit the dog, the dog has living feelings and sensitivities”
She learns that living things includes dogs
She goes over to a friend’s house, and she meets her cat
She assimilates this knowledge into her existing living things schema
She takes a field trip to the zoo and sees new living things she’s never met before
She learns to incorporate these new living things into her schema
But then she goes to the kindergarten and smacks a tree really hard
Her teacher tells her “Don’t hit the tree, it’s living”
She has to accomodate/radically change her schema so it’s not just living animals who move, eat, and sleep
= There is not an unambiguous line between assimilation and accommodation according to Piaget. Instead, the difference is in whether children are able to update their schemas (assimilation) or whether they have to re-create those schemas (accomodation)
