Chapter 8 Quick Quiz

  1. Physical growth during preschool years is characterized by

a. steady growth in height and weight.

b. less chubby and roundish shape.

c. growth in arms and legs and a more adult-like body proportion.

d. all of these answers.

  1. Many of the motor skills and cognitive changes that occur during the preschool years are due to brain development including

a. brain lateralization. c. increased myelination.

b. increased neural connections d. all of these answers.

  1. About 2 a.m. Sammi awoke from a deep sleep with a scream. He was confused and not easily calmed. After some time, Sammi went back to his regular sleep, but in the morning he reported that he remembered none of this incident. Sammi most likely experienced

a. sleep paralysis. c. a nightmare.

b. night terrors. d. sleep apnea.

  1. Selena is concerned that her daughter is not eating as well as she has in the past. Based on what you know about preschool children’s development, you can help to ease her concerns by telling her not to worry because

a. too many preschool children are fat. c. her child’s growth has decreased as well.

b. she can save money on food. d. her child prefers candy to fruit.

  1. Although minor illnesses may be somewhat distressing, they also bring benefits, including

a. building up a child’s immunity. c. allowing the child to better understand his or her body.

b. allowing the child to develop empathy. d. all of these answers.

  1. This form of cancer causes the bone marrow to produce an excessive amount of white blood cells, including severe anemia and, potentially, death. One of the most common forms to strike young children, this is known as

a. leukemia. c. HIV.

b. AIDS. d. lupus.

  1. All of the following are considered psychological maltreatment EXCEPT

a. intimidation. c. humiliation.

b. hitting the child. d. belittling the child.

  1. Generally the activity level of preschoolers is high; all of the following are factors that influence the individual activity level of an individual child EXCEPT

a. child’s temperament. c. enrollment in organized activities.

b. parent’s style of discipline d. cultural expectations.

  1. During the preschool years, gender differences in motor skills become more evident. Boys tend to have greater ______while girls tend to have greater ______.

a. strength; coordination c. flexibility; agility

b. coordination; flexibility d. agility; strength

  1. Children’s artwork progresses through a series of stages during the preschool years. Those stages are

a. scribbling, color, form, objects c. linear, form, color, objects

b. scribbling, shape, design, pictorial d. linear, shape, dimensions, objects


Chapter 8 Quick Quiz Answers

1.  Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: d Page(s): 207, 208 Type: Conceptual

Rationale: Preschool years are characterized by all three of these changes. Height and weight continue to increase, but in a steadier pattern than previously. The body shape changes during this period, moving from a pot-bellied toddler to a leaner 6-year-old while the child’s body proportion becomes much more adult-like, with lengthening arms and legs.

2.  Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: d Page(s): 208, 209 Type: Conceptual

Rationale: During the preschool years the brain continues to develop. Lateralization occurs, differentiating the hemispheres and encouraging handedness. Increasing neural connections and myelination follow from the higher activity levels of preschool children and encourage motor skill development and cognitive spurts.

3.  Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: b Page(s): 211 Type: Applied

Rationale: Sammi has experienced night terrors, an intense physiological arousal that causes a child to awaken in a state of panic. It is often difficult to comfort the child and often he or she cannot remember anything about the incident. Night terrors, less frequent than nightmares, occur in 1% to 5% of children.

4.  Chapter Section: Health and Wellness

Answer: c Page(s): 212 Type: Applied

Rationale: Many parents of preschool children become concerned about their nutrition. Children of this age eat less because they are growing less.

5.  Chapter Section: Health and Wellness

Answer: d Page(s): 212, 213 Type: Conceptual

Rationale: Minor illnesses are really a minor inconvenience when you consider the potential benefits to the child, including building the immune system, developing a better awareness of his or her own body, as well as developing empathy, and teaching children to be more understanding of others.

6.  Chapter Section: Health and Wellness

Answer: a Page(s): 213 Type: Factual

Rationale: Cancer is the most frequent major illness to strike preschoolers, particularly leukemia, a form of cancer in which the bone marrow produces an excessive amount of white blood cells. Due to advances in treatment, today more than 70% of victims of childhood leukemia survive.

7.  Chapter Section: Health and Wellness

Answer: b Page(s): 217, 218 Type: Conceptual

Rationale: Hitting a child, while a form of child abuse, is considered physical abuse. All of the others are forms of psychological maltreatment, which includes overt behavior and neglect. Psychological maltreatment is harm to the child’s behavioral, cognitive, emotional and physical functioning, caused by parents or other caregivers verbally, through their actions, or through neglect.

8.  Chapter Section: Motor Development

Answer: c Page(s): 222 Type: Factual

Rationale: Despite high activity levels, there are significant variations among children and those individual differences are influenced by genetics (individual temperament) and by environmental factors (parental discipline style and cultural expectations).

9.  Chapter Section: Motor Development

Answer: a Page(s): 222 Type: Applied

Rationale: Girls and boys differ in motor coordination. Boys tend to have more strength, but girls have better coordination, particularly with their arms and legs.

10.  Chapter Section: Motor Development

Answer: b Page(s): 225 Type: Factual

Rationale: Children’s art proceeds through the following stages: scribbling, shape, design and pictorial stages.


Chapter 8

Physical Development in the Preschool Years

Multiple Choice Questions

8.1  Two years after birth, the average child in the United States weighs between ______pounds and is close to ______inches tall.

a. 7 to 9; 20 c. 25 to 30; 36

b. 15 to 20; 30 d. 5 to 7; 21

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: Two years after birth, the average child in the United States weighs 23 to 30 pounds and is close to 36 inches tall—around half the height of the average adult.

8.2  Trevor is almost 36 inches tall and weighs between 25 to 30 pounds; he is probably ______years old.

a. 2 c. 5

b. 4 d. 6

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: a Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: Two years after birth, the average child in the United States weighs 23 to 30 pounds and is close to 36 inches tall—around half the height of the average adult.

8.3  Children grow steadily during the preschool period, and by the time they are 6 years old, they weigh, on average, about ______pounds and stand ______inches tall.

a. 36; 36 c. 46; 46

b. 40; 40 d. 50; 50

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: By the time children are 6 years old, they weigh, on average, about 46 pounds and stand 46 inches tall.

8.4  Because of ______, 10% of 6-year-olds weigh 55 pounds or more, and 10% weigh 36 pounds or less.

a. individual differences c. individual nutrition

b. family genetics d. active lifestyles

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: a Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: The average height and weight mask the individual differences, represented by 10% of 6-year-olds weighing 55 pounds or more, and 10% weighing 36 pounds or less.

8.5  Henry weighs about 46 pounds and stands 46 inches tall. Henry is about ______years old.

a. 2 c. 6

b. 4 d. 8

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: By the time children are 6 years old, they weigh, on average, about 46 pounds and stand 46 inches tall.

8.6  On average, during the preschool years, boys start becoming ______and ______than girls.

a. shorter; quicker c. taller; heavier

b. shorter; heavier d. taller; slower

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: During preschool years, boys start becoming taller and heavier, on average, than girls.

8.7  Approximately ______percent of 6-year-olds weigh 36 pounds or less.

a. 10 c. 25

b. 20 d. 30

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: a Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: The average height and weight mask the individual differences, represented by 10% of 6-year-olds weighing 55 pounds or more, and 10% weighing 36 pounds or less.

8.8  The average Swedish 4-year-old is as tall as the average 6-year-old in Bangladesh. The difference in height is accounted for by better ______and ______.

a. nutrition; health care. c. nutrition; physical fitness.

b. eating habits; exercise. d. nutrition; vitamins.

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: a Page(s): 207 Type: Factual

Rationale: Global economies affect the average heights and weights. For example, due to better nutrition and health care, the average Swedish 4-year-old is as tall as the average 6-year-old in Bangladesh.

8.9  In the preschool years, the bodies of children vary not only in height and weight, but also in

a. build. c. hair growth.

b. shape. d. number of teeth.

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: b Page(s): 207, 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: When comparing the bodies of a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old, the bodies vary not only in height and weight, but also in shape. During preschool years, children become less chubby and roundish and more slender.

8.10 Patrick has lost his chubby baby look. His stomach is flat and the size of his head in relation to his body has become more adultlike. Patrick is a(n)

a. late toddler. c. early teenager.

b. late preschooler. d. early adult.

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: b Page(s): 208 Type: Conceptual

Rationale: A 6-year-old (late preschooler) the child has lost his or her potbelly and his or her proportions are quite similar to those of an adult.

8.11 During preschool years the ______moves from a parallel to more angular position. During this time, this may sometimes lead to an increase in the frequency of earaches.

a. eustachian tube c. hammer

b. ear drum d. anvil

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: a Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: The Eustachian tube in the ear, which carries sounds from the external part of the ear to the internal part, moves from a position that is almost parallel to the ground at birth to a more angular position. This change sometimes leads to an increase in the frequency of earaches during the preschool years.

8.12 The ______grow(s) at a faster rate than any other part of the body.

a. legs c. arms

b. brain d. trunk

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: b Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: The brain grows at a faster rate than does any other part of the body.

8.13 By age 5, children’s brains weigh ______of average adult brain weight.

a. 60% c. 80%

b. 70% d. 90%

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: d Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: By age 5, children’s brains weigh about 90% of the average adult brain.

8.14 In 5-year-olds, cognitive skills, as well as motor skills, increase because neural pathways become more connected and ______increases.

a. axon c. myelination

b. soma d. dendrte

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: During this period of rapid brain growth, the amount of myelin, the protective insulation that surrounds the axons of the neuron, increases, which speeds the transmission of electrical impulses along brain cells, and also increases the weight of the brain.

8.15 By the end of the preschool period, the ______, a bundle of nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain, becomes considerably thicker.

a. myelination c. corpus callosum

b. dendrite d. medulla

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: By the end of the preschool years some parts of the brain have undergone considerable growth, including the corpus callosum, which links the two hemispheres of the brain together. It becomes thicker and helps coordinate functioning between the hemispheres.

8.16 The ______hemisphere of the brain develops strengths in nonverbal areas such as comprehension of spatial relationships, recognition of patterns and drawings, music, and emotional expression.

a. left c. right

b. middle d. back

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: During this period of brain development, the two hemispheres become increasingly specialized. Lateralization occurs and the left hemisphere tends to specialize in verbal skills while the right hemisphere develops strengths in nonverbal areas.

8.17 The ______hemisphere of the brain concentrates on tasks that necessitate verbal competence, such as speaking, reading, thinking, and reasoning.

a. left c. right

b. middle d. back

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: a Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: During this period of brain development, the two hemispheres become increasingly specialized. Lateralization occurs and the left hemisphere tends to specialize in verbal skills while the right hemisphere develops strengths in nonverbal areas.

8.18 The process in which certain functions are located more in one hemisphere of the brain than the other is known as

a. plasticity. c. lateralization.

b. hemispherical shift. d. reticular formation.

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: c Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: During this period of brain development, the two hemispheres become increasingly specialized. Lateralization occurs and the left hemisphere tends to specialize in verbal skills while the right hemisphere develops strengths in nonverbal areas.

8.19 For the majority of right-handed individuals, the left hemisphere of the brain concentrates on tasks that necessitate

a. comprehension of spatial relationships. c. emotional expression

b. recognition of patterns. d. verbal competence.

Chapter Section: Physical Growth

Answer: d Page(s): 208 Type: Factual

Rationale: During this period of brain development, the two hemispheres become increasingly specialized. Lateralization occurs and the left hemisphere tends to specialize in verbal skills while the right hemisphere develops strengths in nonverbal areas.