The Classroom Learning of Children - Research Paper Example

Project This research aims at highlighting the issues that affect the room learning of children. Variousissues that affect a child’s learning will be explained and will be bring out how a child is affected socially, emotionally, culturally and intellectually as he/she interact with the various factors in the environment. The research will also explain how the home setting, community, cultural, school, peer and other factors like social media and multi-media. Introduction According to Bucholz & Sheffler (2009), a class room environment should be very conducive and should create a sense of comfort. This sense of comfort enhances the learning and cooperation of the children. Young children should be handling with care to ensure that they are not nervous in the class. To do this, the classrooms are painted and colored to make attractive to children. The classroom should also be neat and organized. A neat environment ensures that learning materials are place in their expected areas and hence accessible to the children. This also ensures that the children are safe and secure and can’t hurt them (p.2). Body There are various factors that affect the way children learn in the classroom environment. They include the child’s, family, community peer and how they relate with factors like social, emotional, cultural and intellectual factors. According to de Serf (2002), the family can affect the way children learn in classroom. a child whose parents are financially independent is very likely to have a good classroom experience as opposed to those whose parents don’t have the financial resources. This is because such parents can afford to buy books and reading materials to the young leaner. Consequently such a child will perform better because they have more resources at their disposal (p.2). Secondly, parents who spend more time with their children knows what is happening in their children’s life and will also e interested in knowing how they are performing in school. Consequently children whose parents spend quality time with them will tend to perform better in class since the parents provide the mentorship role to their children as opposed to the parents who don’t spend quality time with their children (De Serf, 2002, p.3). De Serf (2002), goes on to say that children who come from a family headed by a single mother and those which both parents are biological parents of the child are more likely to perform better than those which have step parents. This is because both parents provide stability to the child’s life. Consequently this is transferred to the child’s classroom learning behavior whereby they perform better in class (p.4). Socially, De Serf (2002) says that there is a tendency of having more uneducated African American children as compared to the Caucasian counterparts. He says that in the USA, the minority groups do not receive education due to the various issues that affect them socially like poverty. Consequently, the children from the African American families have poor living conditions. These factors affect the children learning as they affect their going to schools. Poverty also makes the parents to take their children to schools offering low quality education as opposed t those parents who are not poor. The main source of poverty is joblessness and it often leads to crime and other social evils. This affect the classroom learning of children negatively and that is why children that come from Caucasian families tend to perform better in class as compared to the children of African American origin (p.5-6). He also continues to say that children who come from families whose parents have achieved a high education level are more likely to perform better in classroom environment as compared to the children who children whose parents are not as highly educated. This information was uncovered from data on research conducted on the same issue (De Serf, 2002, p.7). The reason attributed to this is the fact that such parents know value for education which means they are more likely to push their children and offer conducive learning environment for their children. De Serf (2002) says that study shows that Family income is another factor that affects the child’s classroom learning abilities. When the income increases, this means that the family can afford more learning resources and vice versa. Income increase also leads to more spending which means that the child can be afforded other luxurious things like toys which may affect the child’s classroom learning abilities negatively. This is to say that income increase is a two way traffic when it comes to the child’s learning environment as it can either positively influence classroom learning ore negatively influence it (p.9). Family size also affects the class room learning of children. This is because a big family means fewer resources are allocated to the children in the family. Consequently the children will have few structures that will be allocated for each child’s education. This will negatively influence how the child classroom learning is. Fewer resources mean that the child has few learning resources. It is therefore important for families to plan their families to ensure that the children receive the best care which will enhance the child’s classroom learning behavior (p.10.). According to Ndlovu, S. (2013) cultural practices also play a huge role in the child’s classroom leaning. In Zimbabwe for example, the social cultural contexts and cultural traditions of rural Zimbabwe are more rural than urban. However due to colonization, the way of life of the Zimbabweans was affected a bit. Majority of the population remains rural and this mainly affects the classroom education of children since they still practice their cultural practices . This cultures are revered to the point that they can’t be done away with . the culture of the Zimbabwean people (Ndebele) is all about discipline and high moral values. Obedience takes center stage when it comes to the teaching and the children are expected to respect their elders who include the older people in the community, the teachers and even the older children. With this in mind, when it comes to classroom teaching of the children it is important to know that culture dictates that children obey their elders. According to Nusir et al. (2012), Information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the major factors that influencing today’s children classroom learning. ICT tools not only affect the poor people but they also affect the poor people. ICT tools include the cell phones and internet and people uses these daily to research on shopping, getting geographical locations and scientific research. The research is done through the use of computers. Teachers with access to these facilities can enhance the classroom learning of children by researching better on what the children needs when it comes to learning. They go on to say that some countries like Jordan have reformed their education structure such that it is now able to cater for children’s learning needs by offering them ICT facilities to facilitates learning. Consequently, the education level in Jordan has improved and this is attested by the quality results of the international tests of eight graders in mathematics (p.17-18). We can therefore say that children who have access to ICT facilities are more likely to perform better in classroom than those that lack those facilities. Nusir et al. (2012), say that multimedia technology is major reasons why teaching methods are evolving form the traditional face to face methods to more computer-based learning or e-learning systems. These systems offer other better options of teaching and are a break from the traditional teaching methods. They also offer alternatives to teaching methods as well as supplementing the already existing teaching methods. This way children classroom learning is enhanced and effective as they are able to use other learning processes. Multimedia teaching includes the use of animations, videos, and imagery. They can be used alone or mixed when it comes to classroom teaching (Nusir et al., 2012, p.19). It is therefore fair to say that the children who use multimedia in schools have a better learning experience compared to those that don’t have it. Barbour, Barbour & Scully (2005) say that peer groups are influential to the child’s learning and enculturation. As children move from their home and settle in schools and day care facilities they meet other children from different social economic back ground, ethnicity, parent’s occupations and they have to adapt and get accepted by their peer. The relationship that they form among each other is very important as it influences the way the children behaves. This is because these children learn by borrowing from each other. This peer influence and behavior gradually become more powerful and the children get more bonded to each other. This bondage is more influential than that of parents and it is therefore conclusive that the way the children relate with their peer can greatly influence their class room learning as it also forms part of their socialization. In conclusion, we can say that children classroom learning is influenced by so many factors. It is therefore important for people to know those factors and know how to plan on the same to ensure that children get the best quality education available. Reference List Bucholz, J.L. (2009). Creating a Warm and Inclusive Classroom Environment: Planning for All Children to Feel Welcome. Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education. Vol. 2(4). Retrieved from: http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1102&context=ejie De serf, M. (2002). The Effects of Family, Social and Background Factors on Childrens Educational Attainment. digital commons. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=econ_honproj Ndlovu, S. (2013)The developmental conditions of classroom teaching and learning in a primary school in Zimbabwe.african journal of teacher education. Vol 3(1). Retrieved from : http://gir.uoguelph.ca/index.php/ajote/article/view/2034/2920 Nusir, S., Alsamadi, I., Al-Kabi & Sharadgah, F. (2012).Studying The Impact Of Using Multimedia Interactive Programs At Children Ability To Learn Basic Math Skills. Acta Didactica Napocensia. Vol 5(2). Retrieved from: http://dppd.ubbcluj.ro/adn/article_5_2_3.pdf Barbour , C., Barbour, N.H. & Scully, P.A. (2005) Peer Group Influence. Retrieved from: http://www.education.com/reference/article/peer-group-influence/ Read More