HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING - Essay Example

This paper explores classroom and family environment and the influence both play in child development. Child Development and Learning 3 Dr. Maurice Elias begins his book, The Educator’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence, by summarizing what parents and community leaders have as goals of what they want children to know and be able to do when they leave school. He states, “This defines what we want our schools to teach.” (Elias, 2006). He offers the following list of what we want young people to be able to do when they leave school. . that since “inner nature is good or neutral, rather than bad, it is best to bring it out and to encourage it rather than suppress it.

” He continues, “If this essential core of the person is denied or suppressed, he gets sick, sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes immediately and sometimes later. All three of the psychologists cited in this paper predict a very negative consequence if a child does not mature Child Development and Learning 4 in the correct chronological sequence. There is consensus among these three psychologists that if a person does not have his needs met (Elias, 2006), if his essential core is denied or repressed (Maslow, 1968), if all of the aspects of what is the education of the whole child aren’t learned, if all eight of the stages aren’t successfully completed correctly and in the proper order, the person can expect to readdress what was missed as problems in the future (Erickson, 1980).

There are long lists of skills and capabilities which educators and psychologists agree children should develop. Here are three skills or personal capabilities that contribute to positive development in a wide range of life’s social roles and responsibilities: Creativity: thinking of, sharing and playing with new or unusual ideas Positive Self Image: valuing oneself and one's achievements Problem Solving: working towards a solution by analyzing a problem and forming strategies Two qualities of a family environment that contribute to development of the skills mentioned above may include the following possibilities.

A family can make it a practice to introduce new opportunities of play, study or work and in that way address all three developmental issues. By carefully selecting the opportunity for creativity in thinking you will be teaching the person