...Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, and Sigmund Freud. All three of these men have contributed to the world of psychology in ways that have proved to change history and how we study science and even more so the development of children. From the dynamics of the development of the child and adolescent mind to the underlying causes for most adult sexual disorders, the work that these men did throughout their lifetimes proved to produce amazing results for not only managing to turn their names into household names of their time but also going down in history for bringing to one’s attention that which no one had ever dared to touch before. Although the theories contributed by these men are each significant and all are in relation to childhood and adolescent development, they also each possess certain distinct qualities that allow them to stand out beside their creator. According to Jean Piaget, his observations allowed him to gather that children reason and understand differently depending upon age in a manner of progression through a series of cognitive stages and although the rate in which they progress may differ, eventually all children go through these stages in the same order (Flavell, 1963). Piaget used children from infancy to adolescence to carry out his own investigations including his own 3 children. He used research methods including naturalistic observations and clinical interviews and observations. Through...
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... Introduction Throughout the years, there have been many great theorists to contribute to the world of psychology. Three of the most well-known of these theorists are Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, and Sigmund Freud. All three of these men have contributed to the world of psychology in ways that have proved to change history and how we study science and even more so the development of children. From the dynamics of the development of the child and adolescent mind to the underlying causes for most adult sexual disorders, the work that these men did throughout their lifetimes proved to produce amazing results for not only managing to turn their names into household names of their time but also going down in history for bringing to one’s attention that which no one had ever dared to touch before. Although the theories contributed by these men are each significant and all are in relation to childhood and adolescent development, they also each possess certain distinct qualities that allow them to stand out beside their creator. According to Jean Piaget, his observations allowed him to gather that children reason and understand differently depending...
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...Philosophers’ Matrix and Analysis Philosophers | Classroom Engagement | Teaching and Learning | Parent or Community Involvement | Student social or emotional support | Confucius(551-479 BCE) | Cultivation of character, through observation, study and reflective thought. | Rote learning and memorization. | Parents working with child in the home setting continuing the skills of rote learning at home. | Students work asa group, think as a group therefore gaining social and emotional support from one another. | John Locke(1632-1704) | Skills and knowledge are gained by examples and practicing. | Learning by example through motivation simulated by the teacher. Not learning just reading, writing and math, but also virtue and wisdom. | Parents and community leading by example through showing respect and values to all students. | Social and emotional support incorporated through parent and teacher involvement with students. | John Dewey(1859-1952) | Content must be presented in a way that allows the student to relate the information to prior experiences, thus deepening the connection with this new knowledge. | Focus on learning by implementing “hands-on” activities. Strongly emphasizes the teacher’s role as being a “facilitator or guide”. | Encouraged parents to be an active part in their children’s education. | Felt strongly that school itself was a social organization. | Maria Montessori(1870-1952) | Adapt the environment, to link the child through well-thought-out lessons...
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...Children develop in different stages and in different ways. A method that has been used to explore these developmental milestones is observation. Observations involve watching a child for sometime in order to understand how he or she perceives and interacts with the world. attributes physically, cognitively and socially of two children, one male and one female, ages five and ten, respectively. This writer will identify the socio-economic status (SEC), age, gender, ethnic background, and family demographics of each of these children. The two children this writer has chosen come from similar living situations (i.e. they both live with single mothers), but have vast differences in their physical, cognitive, and social development. This paper will examine Erik Erikson's Eight Psychosocial Stages as explained by Dacey, Fiore, Travers (2009) in an effort to explain the noticeable differences in the two children that this writer has chosen to observe. These two children were chosen because they are both being raised in a single parent household, which is something that this writer can relate to, as this writer is a single mother. This writer will also explore the Cognitive Development Approach theories of Jean Piaget and Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Learning in an attempt to further explain the significant differences in these two children. Childhood Observation Theories on Human Development Many psychologists have different...
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...Human Development Mindy Donaldson PSY 280 April 26, 2015 There are quite a few different theories about human growth and development, and why people do the things that they do. In this paper I will discuss and summarize three theories and how each is related to human growth and development, identifying one influential theorist for each. In addition this paper will include many views of the lifespan perspective followed by an explanation of how nature and nurture effect human development. Developmental theory can be defined as a conglomeration of ideas about achieving a good change in one’s society. Such theories draw on a variety of science disciplines and approaches that can provide a framework to understand how and why people evolve throughout their lifespan. Theorists in an attempt to make sense out of their observations try and design concepts that can outline a person’s development throughout life from one’s start as an infant all the way through adulthood (Berger, 2010). The influential theorists in this paper that I will discuss are: Sigmund Freud, John Watson, and Jean Piaget. Psychoanalytic theory is a theory of personality organization and the dynamics of human development that holds that irrational, unconscious drives and motives, often originating in childhood, underlie human behavior (Berger, 2010 p. 17). (Berger, 2010) According to Freud, development occurs over three stages during the first six years of life, each stage being characterized by sexual...
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...education; it is up to parents and teachers to assure a quality education. When we think of a quality education we first look at the one that started it off. Jean William Fritz Piaget was a pioneer in child development who studies were influenced by the observations of his own children. This gave him an interest to study the thought processes of young children. Although his study is criticized by many, Piaget’s theories are used in many classrooms throughout the world. It is Piaget’s belief that people move through stages of development which allow them to think in new and more complex ways. He states that every interaction affects the cognition in every child. He developed a theory of cognitive development that corresponds to his hope for the educational process. He states that each child moves biologically through four stages of development. The first stage is Sensory-motor which is discovered at birth to two; According to Piaget, all humans are born with an innate (inborn, existing from birth) tendency to organize their thinking into structures. These mental structures are known as schemas. Piaget (1952) believed that these stages are universal - i.e. that the same sequence of development occurs in children all over the world, whatever their culture (www.simplypsychology.org). According to Piaget (1958), “assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered”. Between 8–12...
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...Evaluate the contribution psychological research has made towards our understanding of how children from birth to five learn and develop competencies in the processes of observation, problem solving, exploration, experimentation and prediction, thinking and decision making. Introduction The aim of this essay is to evaluate the developmental theories of ‘Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy’ (PSRN) and an ‘Exploration and Investigation’ aspect of ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World’ (KUW) in Foundation stage children. This essay will explore Piaget and Vygotsky and their points of view on PSRN and issues which arise from development and it will consider current research and documents relevant to practice and the implications and recommendations for early years practice. Furthermore key concepts of emergent numeracy, mark making, counting and number development will be explored. The skills of observation, problem solving, exploration, experimentation and prediction, thinking and decision making fall into all six aspects of children’s learning and development and these skills led themselves to science and teaching as well as PSRN on which this essay is going to focus on. Theoretical approaches Piaget’s constructivist theory saw children as actively constructing their knowledge of the world, for themselves, and as being active seekers of solutions to problems (Martin 2007). It could be agreed as practitioners acknowledge the importance of child-led activity as being...
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...Piaget Versus Vygotsky Jean Piaget (1896-1980) and Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) proposed the classical constructivist theories of cognitive development. Although often compared, the concepts differ significantly. Indeed, the purpose of this essay is to argue that Piagetian theory marginalizes the social contribution to intellectual development and that, consequently, the Vygotskian approach offers a more accurate and comprehensive analysis. This paper will begin with an explanation of the theories of cognitive development propounded by Piaget and Vygotsky followed by a definition of constructivist and social constructivist theory. The superiority of Vygotsky’s theory will be established via a critical examination of Piaget’s stages of intellectual development, his perspective on language acquisition, and the methodology of his classic tests. Piaget maintained that cognitive development is a continuous progression of assimilation and accommodation and that these complementary processes lead to adaptation. Knowledge is constructed progressively via a sequence of behaviours or mental operations, what Piaget termed schemas. Piaget proposed that children develop mental representations of the world based on physical or mental actions, which they execute on the environment. These initially reflex behaviours are repeated while intrinsic motivation encourages the child to apply schemas to different situations. Assimilation occurs when the new experience is incorporated into an existing...
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...and it always makes for interesting conversations. In this paper, I will put focus on the psychoanalytic theory, the stages of psychosocial development theory, and the stages of faith theory. I will focus on the three theories because I feel that they are extremely interesting to the growth and development of humans. To be more specific, I want to focus on exactly what the theories are and how they are important and/or related to the human growth and development. As well, I want to focus on at least on theorist who is known specifically for the theory I focus on. I also want to identify the aspects of the life span from that theory’s perspective. Last, but definitely not least, I want to discuss in detail how the heredity and the environment have influence on human development. By the end of the paper, you as the reader, should have a better understanding of the three theories of my choosing and how human development works. Psychoanalytical Theory The first theory related to human growth and development that I want to focus on is the psychoanalytical theory. With this specific theory, the personality organization and the development of the personality dynamics is he focus. Probably the most influential theorist of the psychoanalytical theory is Sigmund Freud. He first laid out the psychoanalytical theory in the nineteenth century but there have been a plethora of refinements since then. “Based on his observations, he developed a theory that described development in terms...
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...Running head: STRUCTURED OBSERVATION OF CONSERVATION A Structured Observation of Conservation Tasks with a Four-year-old Child Cheryl Meyer University of Victoria PSYC 335 – S01 Dr. Ulrich Mueller April 7th, 2005 A Structured Observation of Conservation Tasks with a Four-year-old Child The purpose of this study is to observe the cognitive inability to conserve for a child in the preoperational stage of development. According to the Swiss cognitive theorist Jean Piaget, the preoperational stage refers to the second stage of cognitive development, which spans the years 2 to 7, when children begin to form mental representations yet still lack the ability to think logically (Berk, 2005). Piaget discovered a number of tasks that highlight these limitations of preoperational thought, including his well-known conservation task, which is what I used in my observation-based study. Conservation, or “the idea that certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same, even when their outward appearance changes” (Berk, 2005, p.320), is deficient in preoperational children. This study looks at three particular conservation tasks: the conservation of numbers, substance and continuous quantity. We will observe how a child at the preoperational stage of thinking is unable to conserve in each experiment. Jean Piaget believed in the cognitive-developmental theory, in which children actively discover and manipulate the world around them...
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...I was already scheduled to watch him that day. Over the course of the afternoon I was able to spend a great deal of time observing and rather than interview him, I performed small tests in an attempt to gauge Jonathan’s physical, cognitive and emotional development. Using these observations I was able to learn about his developmental process and see the milestones as noted in our book. Observation of Physical Developmental Milestones Jonathan is curious and very active during my observation. There are several different types of toys surrounding us in the living room. There is a television playing cartoons in the background, which Jonathan periodically stops to look at. Jonathan is teething so he drools quite frequently. After taking some time to fully wake up this morning, his mother Kelly drops him onto the middle of the play space and he is ready to play. To assess Jonathan’s developmental level, I record the gross and fine motor skills that he displays at this time. Gross Motor Development Motor skills are simply actions that involve using muscles in the body. Gross motor skills involve making large movements with the arms, legs, feet and entire body. Sitting, crawling and walking are examples of gross motor skills that can begin to develop as early as seven months, when an infant can begin to sit on his own. Sitting. Jonathan sits up with ease and seems very sure of himself. He does sometimes fall...
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...Ashley Knop Early LCC Paper Nurs 165 Visit February 17, 2009 Submitted February 26, 2009 Ashley Knop Nursing 165 Early LCC Paper Child development is a very complex process that requires great attention and organization. This process has been researched by multiple theorists. Each theorist has a different idea on the stages of development. The two theorists that will be focused on in this paper are Erikson and Piaget. Erikson believes that there are five different stages of development which include; infant (birth-1yr), toddler (1-3yrs), preschooler (3-6yrs), school age (6-12yrs), and adolescent (12-18yrs). Piaget on the other hand believed that there was only four different stages of development which include; infant (birth-2yrs), toddler (2-7yrs), preschooler (7-11yrs), and school-age (11-adulthood). Erikson labels each of his stages differently. The infant stage is labeled trust vs. mistrust and states that this is when the child develops a basic trust in the mothering figure. The toddler stage is labeled as autonomy vs. shame and doubt and this is when the child gains some self control and independence within the environment. The preschool stage is labeled as initiative vs. guilt and this is when the child develops a sense of purpose and ability to initiate and direct their own activities. The School-age stage is known as industry vs. inferiority which means that the child achieves a sense of self confidence by learning, competing, performing successfully and...
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...Introduction Jean Piaget Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a biologist who originally studied molluscs (publishing twenty scientific papers on them by the time he was 21) but moved into the study of the development of children's understanding, through observing them and talking and listening to them while they worked on exercises he set. His view of how children's minds work and develop has been enormously influential, particularly in educational theory. His particular insight was the role of maturation (simply growing up) in children's increasing capacity to understand their world: they cannot undertake certain tasks until they are psychologically mature enough to do so. His research has spawned a great deal more, much of which has undermined the detail of his own, but like many other original investigators, his importance comes from his overall vision. He proposed that children's thinking does not develop entirely smoothly: instead, there are certain points at which it "takes off" and moves into completely new areas and capabilities. He saw these transitions as taking place at about 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years. This has been taken to mean that before these ages children are not capable (no matter how bright) of understanding things in certain ways, and has been used as the basis for scheduling the school curriculum. Whether or not should be the case is a different matter. Piaget's stage theory describes the cognitive development of children. Cognitive development involves...
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...Running Head: LEARNING THEORIES Research Paper: Learning Theories Name Psychology of Learning Learning Theories From the beginning of life, learning is a natural process and continues through humankind’s lifespan. There seems to be an inherent encoding structure from birth seeking to discover new information that invokes learning which empowers one’s ability to adapt to different patterns of behavior. For years various theories have been introduced to explain how people learn. Learning can and does occur in a variety of methods. People may deem learning as experiences that become embedded into their memory having lasting effects. Others may think of learning as how they acquire new information and their ability to apply memory that has been stored overtime. While learning has often been defined in many ways, the basic element in the learning process is how people acquire knowledge and how it is maintained to produce changes in behavior. Learning is the fundamental nature of human functioning. This reflective paper presents a broad scope of theoretical concepts from Gregory Kimble, B.F. Skinner and Jean Piaget. The central focus of this paper is aspects of Albert Bandura’s observational, social learning and social cognitive theories; Bandura’s contributions to psychology; his critics and my personal response to Bandura’s theories. Introduction Many theories throughout the years...
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...W. Lafayette, Indiana Anne Brown Indiana University South Bend South Bend, Indiana David J. DeVries Georgia College Milledgeville, Georgia Ed Dubinsky Purdue University W. Lafayette, Indiana David Mathews Central Michigan University Mt. Pleasant, Michigan Karen Thomas University of Wisconsin-Platteville Platteville, Wisconsin c November 4, 1997 Abstract Over the past several years, a community of researchers has been using and re ning a particular framework for research and curriculum development in undergraduate mathematics education. The purpose of this paper is to share the results of this work with the mathematics education community at large by describing the current version of the framework and giving some examples of its application. Our framework utilizes qualitative methods for research and is based on a very speci c theoretical perspective that is being developed through attempts to understand the ideas of Piaget concerning re ective abstraction and reconstruct them in the context of college level mathematics. Our approach has three components. It begins with an initial theoretical analysis of what it means to understand a concept and how that understanding can be constructed by the learner. This leads to the design of an instructional treatment that focuses directly on trying to get students to make the constructions called for by the analysis. Implementation of instruction leads to the gathering of data, which is then analyzed in the context of the theoretical perspective...
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