123
Learning Objectives: Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
• Describe Piaget’s preoperational stage and the characteristics of preoperational
thought
• Summarize the challenges to Piaget’s theory
• Describe Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
• Describe Information processing research on attention and memory
• Describe the views of the neo–Piagetians
• Describe theory–theory and the development of theory of mind
• Describe the developmental changes in language
• Describe the various types of early childhood education
• Describe the characteristics of autism
