California Preschool Learning Foundations - ECEZero2Three ...

ior; and spontaneously self-correct
to better maintain compliance with
those rules (Bronson 2000; Kopp
1982; Kopp and Wyer 1994)
• Developing skills for behavioral
and attentional self-control, which
enable preschool children to gradually
attain a greater ability to deliberately
focus attention; sit still for
longer periods; manage transitions
in the daily routine more easily;
cooperate in games that require
specific responses at particular
times (e.g., “Hokey Pokey”); and be
less fidgety and distractible (Zelazo
and others 2003)
• Developing capacities for cooperation
and a sense of responsibility in
relation to others, which cause older
preschoolers to have a more conscientious
commitment to complying
with group procedures (sometimes,
spontaneously correcting other
children who fail to comply), often
anticipating the procedures before
being reminded by the teacher, and
acting in a manner that helps the
group to function better (Kochanska
and Thompson 1997; Thompson and
others 2006)
• Developing event knowledge, which
enables the older child to understand
and predict the ordinary routines
of the classroom schedule;
manage transitions in the routine
well; and cooperate with new activities
when they are initiated by the
teacher, especially when preparatory
tasks for the activity are required
(e.g., getting ready to paint at an
easel) (Hudson 1993; Narratives from
the Crib 1989; Nelson 1993).
• Developing social and emotional
understanding, which enables older
children (with a more advanced
“theory of mind”) to better coordi-
California Department of Education • Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1
nate their own desires, needs, and
interests with those of others, which,
in turn, facilitates older children’s
capacities to collaborate on group
activities as well as to play harmoniously
with peers (Harris 2006;
Thompson 2006)
• Developing self-awareness, which
enables preschool children to
identify themselves not just as individuals
in a classroom but also as
members of a group, and prompts
older preschoolers to strive to make
the group work better in shared
activities (Harter 1999, 2006;
Thompson 2006)
The purpose of delineating a new
substrand for group participation,
therefore, is to indicate how these
different developmental achievements
assemble in a manner that enables
older preschool children, because of
this developing constellation of skills,
to be more constructive group participants
than are younger children. In
this respect, therefore, the whole (of
these advances for classroom conduct)
is truly greater than the sum of the
developmental parts.
Cooperation and Responsibility
Because of the moral development
theories of Piaget (1965) and Kohlberg
(1969), young children were, for many
years, believed to be motivated primarily
by rewards and punishments in
their cooperation with adult standards.
This belief was consistent with the
traditional view that young children
are egocentric in considering the needs
of others in relation to their own. During
the past several decades, however,
a new view of the early growth of cooperation
and responsibility—studied
under the term “conscience develop-
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SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT