Theories of Child Development and Learning - Book Report/Review Example

Task 2: Theories of child development and learning Active Learner (Piaget) Piaget was a believer in children being active learners, and that naturalcuriosity would cause them to investigate and learn about certain objects, people, and life. My niece is a prime example of an active learner. At age 6 months, she began to crawl. Now, at age two and a half, she is curious to know what is in cabinets. Pulling herself up, she opens the drawers in the bathroom. Her mother's lipstick rolls around, curious, she grabs at the lipstick and trying to find out what it is begins to figure out how to open it. Young Learners Meaningful context in childhood development is giving the child a reason or understanding of what, why, or how they are doing something. An example of meaningful context would be telling a child to place the puzzle piece in a specific spot and why they are doing it. Giving meaning to a task with an explanation will help the child to place the task into a human context, according to Margaret Donaldson. Learning and Barbara Rogoff Barbara Rogoff's work of investigating the teaching and learning processes within family settings and schools is important in the childhood development field. Children in most instances have the same family for life and how they interact within this structure helps determine how they will go out into the world. Praising the child for being an active learner continues into the real world setting - and they will continue to educate themselves because they love it. Scolding a child while they are learning can turn them into a timid and poor student. The child brings learning experiences in family structure to school and eventually to work settings. Children's Social Development While reading Judy Dunn's work about social development in children, three things stuck with me. First, relationships begin early in children, as early as toddler. Second, friendships are emotional support for children, and can help them with learning coping skills to assist through transitions of their life. Lastly, children are away from home and family so much now, that friendships assist with how they view the world, helps them build cognitive and social development skills. The one thing about her work that surprised me was speaking about emotions and their causes with children aids in their understanding how the mind works. Importance of talk Talking to children, not only about emotions but also about everything is important to their learning. Language is part of daily life and ideally incorporated into a child's life before they are born. Piaget stated children adapt to their environment; Bruner considered child development based on social interaction; Vygotsky believed language supports children in higher mental processes and higher intellectual ability; and Rogoff's child development theory foundation is an apprenticeship through family interaction. No matter which theory you read, the spoken language is important to a child's development, both mentally and socially. Task 3: Nature versus Nurture Nature versus nurture is an argument, which has been used as scientific blather for decades. Nature's argument is everything we are we inherit from our parents. Our parents' neurosis is ours and our laugh is just like our mother. Nurture's argument is our environment, people, places and events influence us. Our life is lived by how we react to the world. Each side believes their theory correct, and many studies done to prove their point. Even with all the studies, child development theorists concur nature and nurture interacts to produce a characteristic and specific traits. They work in tandem and not as opposing forces. Children will inherit certain things from their parents - a DNA strand holds many keys to a specific trait, habit, developmental challenge, or even a mental illness. The most frequently used nature versus nurture argument is the origin of homosexuality. Many scientists and theologians believe homosexuals learn how to be gay - no scientific or biological explanation but how they are raised made them "this way." Other scientific studies have also proven homosexuals are born - giving credence to nature's argument with data of a larger hypothalamus being the difference in heterosexual and homosexual men4. Another facet of nature versus nurture is the perceived affect of upbringing. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird5, Arthur "Boo" Radley perceived as a pervert, a killer of cats, though no one has truly seen or witnesses any of these acts. With him being a recluse, everyone imagines because of his upbringing, the way his daddy raised him - his good spirit broken and turned evil. Boo is actually a sweet child. Perceptions taint the way we look at people even when they have done something opposite of the way we have seen them. Sometimes nurturing, or lack thereof, can cause a backlash like with Boo, where they become sweet, kind, and soft-spoken. He did learn certain habits from the abuse at his father's hand - possibly how not to smart-mouth back to an adult (or you'll get a smack). My stance on nature versus nurture is we are genetically predisposed. Everything I am is because of my parents, my lineage and my ancestors. Nurtured to believe certain things, act certain ways, and even speak in a pleasing manner. Some personal attributes I possess are not apparent in my mother and father, such as writing, or love of horses. Where did these come from if my parents do not have them, and have not exposed me to any events where I may have decided I liked or disliked them Generations past, my great-grandmother was a writer, passionate and bold in her prose. While my mother and grandmother did not write any prose, writing is part of me. No one told me about my great-grandmother until after I began writing stories. Not nurtured in this passion at home, but was in school once I found out my ability to writer. There is a genetic code of this trait in my heritage and must believe it is nature - predestined. Task 4: Brain studies Children have always fascinated not only scientists, but also educators in the way they learn; how they learn and what can stimulate their grey matter. Tactics in finding the answers to these questions has stumped and driven both groups yet what they have come up with contradicts their own findings. Neuroscientist study the way the brain works, what parts light up during activities, and what stimuli helps in synapses. However, with all the brain imaging, poking and prodding, they cannot tell us what it has to what the brain retains in childhood, and what pruning is done in adolescence. John Bruer argues interpretation of neuroscience findings by educators of early synapses form quickly in children; critical development periods, and enriching environments are large factors in brain development in children are quick to try new methods without any concrete proof. Helen Penn's studies with the EPPI-Centre and Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre thought the methodologies used were biased and discriminatory in most cases. Her research in childhood development and interventions at certain ages could possibly bring change into children's lives; however, again the proof was not concrete. Many educators and scientists would have you to believe that photographing the brain while learning or stimulating it with "enriched environments" with lots of playthings will tell you if your child is going to be a genius later. I do not believe it. Either you have the ability to learn depending on genetics, or you will not be able to retain things depending on your resolve to learn. If you have a slow reading ability, you can take the time to increase your comprehension and ability; however, you may never be able to understand and use certain words. The synapses for the brain pattern are just not there. You are who you are - and nothing to do with brain stimulation can do it. I do however think that based on a young age; you can gain an appreciation and desire to learn. Though the child may taper off and refuse to learn anymore depending, I believe on the teacher - whether that is a parent or educator. My niece, as I have mentioned before, is a great example. She loves to learn and has great aptitude for retention and a passion to seek out knowledge, even at her age. Is this because of her genetics; or her teacher (mother) who can see her interests and form lessons around them If we took a picture of her brain while she is doing something new, would we see that her brain has many patterns already set In addition, if we did, would this show she would be an Einstein in the future Probably not, it would most likely mean she is a child having fun with butterflies. Parents want the best for their children, and listening to Mozart while they sleep or play with a toy, may or may not increase their ability to learn. Studies are still in their infancy, even at 30+ years, and decades from now we might be able to see who is a genius from birth, and who will struggle with education all their life. Task 5: Evaluating Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theories Visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic (VAK) principles are part of Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory, and are a new craze for childhood development and learning. Schools such as West Grove7 in northern London and Montessori schools in the United States implement new ways of teaching children. They are using the student/child to tell them how to teach, how the child learns, and their natural curiosity to push them into relating to the world. There are many arguments against this teaching method such as: parents, raised to believe school should not be fun but only to learn the basics like mathematics, reading, and writing, will not like their child attending a school who employs the VAK methods. Students will feel confused about what they are to learn, what they are to do all day, and who is the teacher. They will not learn anything because they are playing all day. Parents will be wasting their money to send their child to this school, as they will not learn how to read, write, add or subtract. Learning a foreign language at the age of two is ridiculous since the child will not know how to communicate in this new language until they are older. Information coming from public schools around the world have shown traditional methods of learning are becoming increasingly based around test performance. Children not taught the essentials in order to know it for life; they learn subjects to pass a test in order for funding for the school. Performance based testing on children is, in my opinion, a poor example of a school. However, based on the test scores of children in the West Grove and Montessori schools, the VAK methods work and they are having fun while learning. The niece I mentioned above home schooled in this fashion, essentially dictates where the learning goes based on what interested her. She sees a butterfly in the yard, and based on her interest, her mother prepares lessons around butterflies. Her imagination is growing; she is excited about learning, excelled in reading because she can learn for learning sake, and not forced to test on what she has learned the week before. Her memory retention is exceptional. I have even used this type of learning in a seminar I attended based on our perceptions of money, relationships, and victimization. With integrating visual, auditory and kinaesthetic during the lessons, the information retained on a much deeper level since our bodies hold as much knowledge as our mind. Not only did I have fun at this seminar, I released a number of old patterns from past negative use of VAKs processes. More schools - private, public and home based - should integrate more full brain activities in order to keep the attention of children. I believe by the release of energy, making learning fun, and having children retain knowledge would also help reduce the amount of children on medication. However, that is another argument all together. Children not forced to memorize material to take a test can have fun relating to the world through its own experiences instead of books. With each part of the brain stimulated, a child's abilities to recall, converse, and grow intellectually heighten. Learning becomes fun, enjoyable, and something they will want to do for a lifetime. References cited: 1 Berger, Kathleen Stassen. (2005). The developing person through the life span (6th ed.) 2 Szulc-Kurpaska, Magorzata. (1999). Orbis Linguarum Vol. 13. Child Cognitive Development 3 Dunn, Judy. (2004). Children's friendships: The beginning of intimacy (1st ed.) 4 Henry III, William A. (1993). "Born Gay". Time Magazine 5 Lee, Harper. (1960). To kill a mockingbird. (40th ed.) 6 University of East London (2004) Children's Learning: Current Thinking Module Version 0.05 7 Crace, John. (2000) "Mind games". Guardian Read More