What Naturalistic Observation Is - Essay Example

?Naturalistic Observation Naturalistic Observation In relation to Naturalistic Observation,this paper seeks to compare and contrast infancy while engaged in sensory motor play; toddlers engaged in symbolic play in addition to comparing their psychosocial development in each stage. Stages in child development describe the theoretical milestones in child development. This paper focuses on two development stages namely; sensory motor play sub-stage in sensory motor stage and symbolic play in preoperational stage from a general model which is based on the widely acceptable stages of child development. It is, however, important to note that there is a huge variance in terms of what researchers consider being normal, which is driven by a huge variety of cognitive, genetic, physical, cultural, family, nutritional, environmental and educational factors. A number of children reach some if not most of the milestones at varying times from normal. In his research, Piaget came up with four distinct stages in children cognitive development. Sensory Motor Stage was the first stage. This stage occurs in infants from birth up to approximately two years of age. Pre-operational Stage is the second stage, occurring in children who are aged roughly between two to seven years. The third is the Concrete Operational stage. This stage is associated with children between the age of around seven to eleven or twelve years. The fourth stage is the Formal Operations Stage. Adolescents experience the Formal Operations Stage between the age of around eleven or twelve years to sixteen or even more (Piaget, 1952). In the sensory motor stage, a baby’s knowledge about the world and the surroundings is limited to their motor activities and sensory perceptions. This is with regard to observed behavior of children. The infant’s behavior is limited to motor responses, which are caused by ‘sensory stimuli’. The Children utilize inborn abilities and skills such as sucking, looking, listening and grasping and listening so as to learn about their environment. In this period, babies are busy in the discovery of relationships between the environment and their bodies (Piaget, 1952). Scientists have discovered sensory abilities which are well developed in infants. Piaget called this the sensory motor stage since early intelligence manifestations appear from motor activities and the sensory perceptions (Piaget, 1963). Many experiments have proved that infants develop a ‘separate self’ concept, by realizing that the rest of the world is not their extension. Infants develop the concept of causality by realizing that objects can be moved using hands, therefore developing notions of events and displacement. During the later stages of the sensory motor stage, infants develop an ‘object permanence’ concept. Piaget argues that when an object is removed form an infant’s sight, they act as if the object ceases to exist. At around eight months to twelve months, they begin to search for hidden objects, hence the term 'object permanence' (Piaget, 1963). Babies are unable to consider anyone else's needs, wants or interests, and are, therefore, considered to be 'ego centric'. During the Sensory Motor Play, knowledge about objects and the ways that they can be manipulated is acquired. Through the acquisition of information about self and the world, and the people in it, the baby begins to understand how one thing can cause or affect another and begins to develop simple ideas about time and space (Piaget, 1956). Babies have the ability to build up mental pictures of objects around them, based on the knowledge which they develop about what can be done to or with an object (Piaget, 1952). Vast amount of a child’s experience is surrounded with objects. When infants reach the age between eight and nine months, they get more interested in objects. The nature of the object is not relevant, what is important to the infant is the ability to explore an object and see what it can be done with (Piaget, 1963). During the sixth and the twelfth month of the sensory motor stage, children become more focused and begin to repeat actions intentionally so as to trigger responses in the environment. An example is when a child purposefully picks a toy with the intensions of putting it into his mouth. It is during this period the child starts showing intentional actions. He or she may combine schemas with the intention of achieving a certain effect. The child begins to explore the surrounding environment and often tend to imitate observed behavior from other people (Piaget, 1952). It is also during this age that they begin to understand objects recognize and associate certain objects with specific qualities. An example is when a child realizes that a rattle produces sound after shaking (Piaget, 1963). The preoperational stage of child development is experienced roughly between two and seven years of age. The hallmark of this stage is language development. Children do not understand concrete logic at this stage; they cannot manipulate information mentally and are not able to take other people’s point, which is termed as egocentrism (Hughes, 1975). Children increasingly become adept in using symbols at this stage. This is evidenced by increased pretending and playing. An analogy is when a child uses an object in order to represent something else. Playing roles becomes important in this stage. Children more than often tend to play the roles of "daddy," "mommy," "doctor," “teacher” among other characters (Piaget, 1956). Symbolic play sub-stage which is also referred to as pretend play is characterized by socio-dramatic play. It occurs mostly when children learn how to transform certain objects into other objects and then substitute the objects to represent real objects. At 18 months is when this stage starts and then peaks at 4 to 5 years then declines. Between the age of 2 to 4 years, children are not able to manipulate information and transform it to logic. However, they can think in symbols and images (Hughes, 1975). There is advance in mental growth in this stage even though there are limitations like animism and egocentrism. Egocentrism is experienced when a child is not able to distinguish between other people’s perspective and that of their own. A child tends to pick his/her own view of rather than the real view shown to other people. Animism is a belief that objects have qualities which are lifelike and are capable of performing actions (Pellegrini, 1985). Symbolic play is among one the most notable cognitive developments in young children. Symbolic play, together with language and deferred imitation, signal the advanced development of representational thought. Representational thought helps the child with the ability to represent events and objects symbolically. Therefore, symbolic play is an assimilative process to enable children to practice to symbolically represent events and objects. With symbolic play, children progress throughout the play till it is more decontextualized. Substituting objects becomes more abstract with the play becoming more social. Progress is at its peak during pre-school to early years of primary school. It, however, declines in the middle years of childhood. Symbolic play provides a source in development of literacy. Both symbolic play and literacy require the ability to use mental images, gestures and words in representing actual objects, actions or events. From a relational point, symbolic play provides a foundation for development of literacy. First order symbolism, the nature of symbolic play, is related with writing and reading (second order symbolism) because children use similar representations of the mental processes in both. Symbolic play helps children in developing a variety of meanings which in turn help in literacy development (Pellegrini, 1985). In line with psychological comparison, children at the age of between six and twelve months tend to show stranger shyness and after a few months become apprehensive about strangers. Their reflexive behavior changes and many reflexes tend to disappear. When suddenly lowered, they throw out arms to protect themselves (Pellegrini, 1985). During this period, children manipulate objects and explore them by poking. They show awareness to distant objects and respond to hearing tests. They follow simple instructions and recognize objects in reverse. Between the sixth and twelfth month, they develop expressive language by responding to what is said to them (Hughes, 1975). At the age of four, a child likes stories about how things operate and grow. They paint and draw with a purpose, an idea in mind though they encounter problems. Four year olds delight in wordplay and creating ‘silly’ language. They understand the concept of “biggest,” “more,” and “tallest,” etc. They understand the sequence of events like when to get up, have breakfast, going to school among others. At this age, are very good story tellers, friendly, outgoing and at times overly enthusiastic. Their moods can unpredictably and rapidly change; may throw tantrums or sulk over some minor frustrations. Children have imaginary companions or playmates which they tend to share stories and hold conversations with. They tend to exaggerate and bend the truth with claims and made-up stories. They also participate in group activities and cooperate with other kids. They show pride of their accomplishments and seek adult approval where necessary (Piaget, 1963). References Hughes , M. (1975). Egocentrism in preschool children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Edinburgh University. Pellegrini, A.D. (1985). Relations between preschool children’s symbolic play and literate behavior. In L. Galda and A. D. Pellegrini (Eds.). Play, language and stories: The development of children’s literate behavior. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press. Piaget, J. (1963). The Psychology of Intelligence. Totowa, New Jersey: Littlefield Adams. Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1956). The Child's Conception of Space. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. . Read More