Child Development and Learning - Foundation Year Mathematics Portfolio - Literature review Example

Child Development and learning Name: Institution: INTRODUCTION The term cognition is related to mental activity or thinking. Cognition is commonly defined as the mental process of acquiring knowledge including such skills as perception, reasoning, judgment and attention. Cognitive ability is a mental skill required to carry out any activity ranging from the simplest to the most complicated tasks. A cognitive ability describes the mechanism with which we learn, retaining and remembering, problem-solving and concentration and not the knowledge itself. There are different cognitive abilities including: perception, attention, memory, language etc. Researchers explain that cognitive abilities are different with different people depending on age, inborn abilities and practice. The understanding of cognition abilities is very important especially to the teacher during teaching-learning activity because it is the process through which knowledge is passed from the teacher to learner. Many theories and concepts have been developed by different psychologists and philosophers concerning the cognition process (Bee, 2000). Among the popular contributors of the cognition theory are; J. Piaget, B. Bloom and Vygotskian. In this essay, I will be focusing my attention on perception, attention, and language cognitive abilities of foundation year students and year 6 students with reference to the following two mathematics work samples taken from the Australian Curriculum; a) Foundation Year Mathematics Portfolio (December, 2012): Work sample 7: 'Sorting shapes and objects’ b) Year Six Mathematics Portfolio (December, 2012): Work sample 11: 'Probability/Statistics - Spinner mania' Using the above named samples I am going to analyze the mathematics activity for Foundation year students and the mathematics activity for Year 6 students with reference to perception, attention and language. Bloom’s cognitive domain explains that, learning is divided into six main components; evaluation, synthesis, analysis, application, comprehension and knowledge beginning with the most complex to the easiest. Knowledge involves the ability to remember the previously acquired information; of terms; definite facts; methods and processes explaining or describing those specifics; general abstracts in an area including theories, generalization and principles. Gerunds under this category include: describe, define, identify, name, state. Comprehension involves the ability to understand the meaning relating to certain specifics. Gerunds used under comprehension include: classify, describe, estimate, explain, discuss, give examples, show, etc. Application involves the ability to apply knowledge that was previously learned to emerging concrete situations. Application requires learners’ ability to get solutions to problems having one best answer. Gerunds include: administer, assess, apply, calculate, construct, contribute, control, demonstrate, determine, develop, establish, examine, relate, operate, predict, use, prepare, preserve, provide, report, utilize. Analysis portrays one’s ability to break down information into smaller integral constituent parts then examine it in order to understand how such data is organized and later forming appropriate conclusions from intents or motives, infer and providing proofs to certain generalizations. Gerunds here include: outline, break down, categorize, distinguish, contrast, correlate, differentiate, illustrate, recognize, analyze, prioritize and separate. Synthesis: is the ability to be creative i.e. ability to apply learned information in order to come up with original whole. Gerunds here include: adapt, combine, communicate, compile, compose, design, validate, express, generate, formulate, incorporate, substitute, intervene, invent, negotiate, reconstruct, modify, rearrange, reinforce, reorganize, structure. Evaluation: it is the ability to Judge the worth or quality of data with reference to personal feelings, opinions to come up with final product with stated purpose and with no specific right or wrong answer. Gerunds include: judge, compare & contrast, critique, conclude, recommend, interpret, justify etc. Bloom explains cognitive development is systematic in that one can only develop the most complex skill after having first developed other simpler skills. He asserts that total cognitive maturation is achieved only if one has all the six abilities. Vygotskian on the other hand, though he did not complete his theory before he died, uses the social constructivism perspective to explain cognitive development. He explained all knowledge arises from the social or cultural background .He thought that knowledge was social before it became psychological. Terms like scaffolding and zone of proximal development are related to his concepts to explain that a child learns maximum only with aid of a social adult. The assistance given by this adult is what is termed as scaffolding. An example of scaffolding is emotional scaffolding where the competent adult offers emotional support to a learner for example by encouraging him/her after exam frustration or during an illness. The distance between what the learner can learn without assistance and what he/she can learn with the assistance of an expert is what is termed as zone of proximal development. Piaget’s theory of age development generalizes the two above and extends by providing fixed age limits stages of development. The theory is based on constructivist paradigm where a child takes part in development of his/her own self through interaction with the environment. Piaget explains that one develops from birth to adulthood in four developmental stages: The preoperational stage (0-2 years) is the period of attaining total object permanence; the intuitive stage (4-7 years) is a transitional stage linking the pre-operational and concrete-operational stages. The child at this stage portrays traits related to both pre-operational and concrete-operational stages. During the concrete-operational period (7-11) the child reaches concrete awareness of structures and objects. Then at age 11/12 the child undergoes another period of transition to final stage. Formal stage (12 onwards) is the final stage where the adolescent develops ability to understand abstract ideas and their relationship with the concrete object. ANALYSIS OF FOUNDATION YEAR MATHEMATICS PORTFOLIO (DECEMBER, 2012): WORK SAMPLE 7: ‘SORTING SHAPES AND OBJECTS’ Foundation year students - with reference to New South Wales curriculum - normally range between 4-5 years. Piaget’s theory is widely accepted and employed in designing of education curriculum in different parts of the world (Acara, 2013). According to Piaget, a child at this age is in the transitional period linking preoperational stage and the concrete operational stage where the child acquires concrete object and language awareness. Sample 7 of the mathematics portfolio (December 2012) was designed with reference to the mental abilities of children at that age. The curriculum requires the child to be able to compare and group objects with respect to common characteristics, sort shapes and objects and use appropriate language to describe object characteristic. Satisfactory and above satisfactory sample 7 displays student’s ability to recognize objects in different colors, shapes and heights, to compare the objects directly, to sort and classify those that are familiar to more than one characteristic describing the basis of classification using appropriate language that is related to measurement characteristics. This proves the application of Piaget’s constructionist theory in education. Again, employing the assimilation and accommodation concepts of Piaget, it is evident that the learner’s ability to remember to identify and classify those objects was because he/she had earlier interacted with similar objects either in class or at home so that the learner was able to assimilate and accommodate to state of equilibrium. (Bee, 2000) Perception is the ability to recognize and interpret sensory stimuli. The sample 7 shows that the student is able to recognize and interpret light stimulus, that is, Identifying and classifying the objects in terms of their color and shape. Attention skill is also observed by in the student’s ability to sustain concentration and focus on the objects so as to identify their characteristics. Language ability is also observable in the student’s ability to connect language and figures and so describes the objects characteristics. In relation to Bloom’s theorem, identifying and describing objects is part of the first stage of cognitive development (knowledge) while classifying the objects extends to the second stage (comprehension). According to Vygotskian, most of the knowledge displayed by the students was acquired through teacher (expert adult) interaction (scaffolding). The two sample papers shows a difference in fineness where the attribute used to classify the objects in above satisfaction paper (height) is finer than that used in satisfactory paper (shape).There being those other abilities that the student has not yet displayed but which he/she can display after teacher assistance proves the concept of the zone of proximal development. If the test involved two different students, the difference in the two sample papers may be because of their different levels of intelligence or rates of cognitive developments. (Acara, 2013) ANALYSIS OF YEAR 6 MATHEMATICS PORTFOLIO (DECEMBER, 2012): WORK SAMPLE 11: ‘PROBABILITY/STATISTICAL – SPINNER MANIA’ Year 6 students, according to New South Wales education system, are normally 10-15 year old (NSW 2013). Applying Piaget’s theory, these students are in their transitional period from concrete-operational level to formal operational level. Children at this age have acquired permanent object and language concreteness and starting to gain understanding of abstract ideas and concepts. Sample 11 of the mathematics portfolio (2012) was designed - in accordance with students developmental age level – to investigate the students’ ability to make comparisons between observed and expected data results, to compare and interpret all data different data displays, to evaluate second hand data and ability to list and describe probabilities by percentage, decimals or fractions. Above satisfactory and below satisfactory sample 11 shows results of the students’ ability to apply percentages in describing probabilities, understanding the relationship between decimals, fractions and percentages, calculating percentages from the results obtained from a chance event, recording (tallying), presenting and graphically describing the results of the event and their relationship with the expected results. In sample 11, Perception ability of the student comes into play during the observation of the spinner with colors. This includes the student’s ability to recognize the behavior of colors on the spinner and interpreting the results correctly. Language skills, as expected according to sample guidelines, are a measurable aspect. This refers to ones capability to connect figures and symbols and communicating them appropriately. The above satisfaction sample 11 has shown the student’s language ability through descriptions and explanations of the observed results. Attention ability is extensively involved in this sample. Ability to concentrate fully in the chance event in order to obtain results, relate decimals, fractions and percentages, making percentage calculations, data interpretation and tally and graphical presentation. (Acara, 2013) The Piaget theory applies greatly, as observed from the test sample. The paper shows the learner’s concrete awareness of the objects and their application. Since the learner is in the transitional period to the final stage of development, it shows the learner’s ability to relate some abstract and logical knowledge with concrete figures. According to Bloom’s theory the sample shows the students advanced cognitive level. The whole process tests all the skills starting from knowledge up to analysis level. Analysis level requires the student to break down material to work by parts and relating those different parts by first understanding each part. This is shown in the learner’s ability to work out tallying, percentage, fractions and decimal calculations separately. Later the learner shows understanding of their relationship by constructing a graph. According to Vygotskian, teacher interaction (scaffolding) has stimulated the learner’s cognitive development. There is a zone of proximal development created between above satisfactory sample and below satisfaction sample (Bodrova & Leong, 1996). The presentation of the above satisfactory is finer, neater and more correct than that of below satisfaction sample. This may also be due to difference in intellectual abilities of the students and their differences in mental developments or information processing. MOTIVATION Motivation is an inner drive to act towards a certain desire and to keep a focus on achieving a particular goal (Woolfolk, 1998). Motivation is important for learning to take place. However different children have different feelings, interests, attitudes and desires which determine their levels and types of motivation. Motivation can either be Extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is determined by external factors such as money, fame, social acceptance etc. Intrinsic motivation is determined by internal driving factors such as, passion, enjoyment, personal interests etc. For learning to take place effectively, intrinsic motivation is important. This is because internal drives are more persistent, more pleasurable and defines ones character. For a teacher to motivate his/her class, he/she must first understand individual differences of the learners. For instance, the foundation year learners normally have a short concentration span, they are slow to adapt to school routines and timetables. Children have different ways of responding or expressing their immediate feeling. Teachers need to create more time for movement and plays for them since most of their energies at this age are for playing and sleeping. Teachers also need to be sensitive on the behavior of the class. Many react differently depending on the immediate feelings. For instance a child may cry or sleep or misbehave when hungry or lonely. Teachers should also be sensitive to direct children’s motivation by listening to their needs and interests and advising them accordingly. The teacher should take enough time with them to direct and guide them. A teacher should always focus to maintain a lively classroom environment. (Woolfolk 1998) For year six students, they are normally egocentric object minded while some may start to feel transformations to the next stage of development. Girls probably will have started to cross over to adolescence. While every learner needs to be appreciated and asserted that he/she can make it, teachers need to try focusing students motivating factors and utilize them maximally to foster motivating conditions. Commonly at this age, learners are curious and task oriented therefore should utilize this chance to help them in goal setting and mastery orientation. Positive and negative reinforcements are also an important ways of motivating the students. A motivating classroom environment is also an important factor to improve performance. TEACHING METHODS A teacher’s presence in a classroom, as observed by Vygotskian, is very important since he is the control of learning activity. Therefore a teacher should ensure his/her role as a guide is of maximum benefit to the students (Lambert, 2002). Teacher’s method of teaching plays an important part in students’ performance. Learner oriented approaches are better teaching methods as compared to teacher oriented methods. Mathematics subject requires more concentration and involvement therefore a teacher should ensure students are totally involved during lessons. For instance in sample 11, teacher’s demonstration of the chance event in class would be important. Explaining using relevant examples until all the students understand is crucial. Then giving relevant assignment or class work to let them practice is one way of ensuring understanding and retention. Prior color naming demonstration and group shape-modeling would be very important for foundation year students. Involving the whole class also in an activity of measuring and grouping objects, while guiding the problematic students, is also a nice teaching method for the foundation year students. The presence of the teacher during a lesson motivates students in a way as compared to when using another medium of communication. For effective learning to occur, effective communication should prevail between the teacher and the students. Teacher’s audibility, systematic and coherent in delivering the mathematical concepts and theories and use of appropriate fluent language are major skills a teacher should have to enhance a better communication with the learners. CONCLUSION Several differences between cognitive abilities between foundation year and year 6 students can be observed from the above study. Perception abilities for the year six students are more intense as compared to foundation year students, in that, they are expected to do more than just observing colors but observing and interpreting color behavior in a spinner. Their data interpretative ability is more complex as it involves abstract calculations and representations. This proves that their attention abilities are higher and drier than those of foundation years. Evident also from the two samples, language understanding and interpretation is more advanced in year 6 students than foundation year students. All these differences are natural and are explained by more than the few psychologists I have discussed above. As much as individual differences contribute to difference in levels of cognitive development much of it is as a result of the age developmental stage one belong. According to Piaget, The more one interacts with the environment, the more one learns and there are absolute values of cognitive development for certain stages. Therefore, year 6 students are expected to be more mental-wise developed the foundation year students. Reference List NSW. (2013). Australian Curriculum: Work Studies Years 9–10 Draft Shape Paper.Retrieved from http://acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Draft_shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum_Work_Studies_Years_9-10.pdf Acara. (2013). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians and the Shape of the Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/curriculum.html Acara. (2013). Foundation to year 10 curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Mathematics/Curriculum/F-10 Bee, H. (2000). ‘Peers at school age’ and ‘Peer relationships at adolescence’. In The Developing Child (9th Ed). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn Bacon, pp 336-339 Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (1996). 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