...personally directed behaviour that actively engages children. It is very important that early years practitioners have a good grasp on this subject as the developmental usefulness of play for a child is extremely significant. For children, play provides them with the necessary skills to develop: socially, emotionally, physically and creatively. Bruce (2004) explores the fact that play is a valuable tool for children to discover their environment and to learn about why things happen using all of their senses both indoors and outdoors. The hypothesis that will be discussed throughout this essay is how play is important in early development and learning and how it serves both the child’s individual needs and the future society in which they will live in. This will be discussed and explored through reference to historical play pioneers, legislation, policy and guidance and theoretical knowledge on the social, cultural and intellectual perspectives on play. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory Framework (2008), created under the Childcare Act (2006), gives all practitioners across England guidance on a play based approach to learning. Therefore, assuming children do learn by play, practitioners and professionals must deliver planned, purposeful play which has a balance between adult-led and child-initiated activities, as stated by QCA (2007). There should be a wide variety of different play methods that allows them to represent their own learning experiences. These opportunities...
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...“Child Development Theory”1 “Child Development Theory” Ney Brown PSY104: Child and Adolescent Development Instructor: Daniella Atwell August 20,2012 “Child Development Theory” 2 Child development occurs from birth and continues throughout adulthood, and during their life span they go through many different changes, including language, physical growth, and cognitive abilities. Interest in this field has been very important to researchers because they want to know what happens during child development as well as the influences on development. There are a few theorist who have their views on child development and they are Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget. Understanding child development has become very important today as we all want to Know what a child actually goes through during their development, and later on in life because most of these things will affect them later on in life. Many people don’t realize the many different stages a child goes through from birth and into early adulthood. Some of the major ...
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...rather remotely on different aspects of psychology. Among some of Aristotle’s major and famous works namely metaphysics, De Anime; he speaks of the soul which in profound consideration could come to the conclusion that it sounds synonymous with our modern understanding of ‘mind’. Thus psychology was a part of philosophy from the very beginning through it stands independently now. Further long before Aristotle existed; philosophers like Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclites and Parmenides spoke on the same subject even though it was not that much elaborated. Here we cannot forget the contribution made by Plato. He very clearly explains in his dialogues further on this matter. Psychology originated very simply as a result of the development of the metaphysical approach of the people of different times. In sociology it is an acceptable fact that the prevailing circumstances and state of a particular social milieu make a great impact on a particular matter. This impact varies from place to place time to time depending on the social characteristics. By inferences the aforementioned is the reason why there are different schools in psychology. When we analyses it stands to reason that all psychologists were trying to deal with the same matter. They have seen the same problems or the issues with regard to ‘mind’ in different angels. Among all the schools introduced, there are a few that appears bold. They are namely structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic, gestalt’s...
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...Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development Oral stage: Age Range: Birth to 1 Year Erogenous Zone: Mouth * During the oral stage, the infant's primary source of interaction occurs through the mouth, so the rooting and sucking reflex is especially important. The mouth is vital for eating, and the infant derives pleasure from oral stimulation through gratifying activities such as tasting and sucking. Because the infant is entirely dependent upon caretakers (who are responsible for feeding the child), the infant also develops a sense of trust and comfort through this oral stimulation. * The primary conflict at this stage is the weaning process--the child must become less dependent upon caretakers. If fixation occurs at this stage, Freud believed the individual would have issues with dependency or aggression. Oral fixation can result in problems with drinking, eating, smoking, or nail biting. The anal stage: Age Range: 1 to 3 years Erogenous Zone: Bowel and Bladder Control * During the anal stage, Freud believed that the primary focus of the libido was on controlling bladder and bowel movements. The major conflict at this stage is toilet training--the child has to learn to control his or her bodily needs. Developing this control leads to a sense of accomplishment and independence. * According to Freud, success at this stage is dependent upon the way in which parents approach toilet training. Parents who utilize praise and rewards for using the toilet at the appropriate...
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...Human Development & Learning FHT 4 601.2.1-02 During the last few decades, psychologists have put forth many theories regarding cognitive development, especially as it relates to education. Two that I feel align most with my own ideas of how children best learn are the theories of Jean Piaget and Lev S. Vygotsky. They both developed theories that have been accepted throughout the educational arena, and in fact are still taught in education classes to today. They strived to learn and understand the best way, the best age, and the best environment for children to develop their cognitive ability. Before we discuss their theories we first need to define cognitive development. The literal meaning of cognition is “knowing,” defined as the “mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired” (Mcleod, 2007), and development is defined as “orderly and lasting growth, adaptation, and change over the course of a lifetime” (Slavin, 2009, p30). To simplify cognitive development means the acquisition of knowledge that grows, and lasts throughout a life span. Before cognitive development can take place, there must be cognitive learning. Cognitive learning is the process of acquiring knowledge for processing. The acquired knowledge is processed by our brain into higher thinking skills in a, “a series of gradual, orderly changes by which mental processes become more complex and sophisticated.” That is cognitive development, (Slavin, 2009, p31). The first stage...
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...CHILD DEVELOPMENT Principles & Perspectives © 2005 Joan Littlefield Cook Greg Cook 0-205-40028-0 Exam Copy ISBN 0-205-31411-2 Bookstore ISBN Visit www.ablongman.com/replocator to contact your local Allyn & Bacon/Longman representative. s a m p l e c h a p t e r The pages of this Sample Chapter may have slight variations in final published form. Allyn & Bacon 75 Arlington St., Suite 300 Boston, MA 02116 www.ablongman.com Cognitive Development Piagetian and Sociocultural Views CHAPTER PREVIEW Piaget’s Constructivist View of Cognitive Development Vygotsky’s Sociocultural View of Cognitive Development • Piaget as a Child Prodigy • Constructivism and Interaction with the Environment Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • Vygotsky’s Background: The Sociocultural Context for a New Theory • The Role of Speech and Language • Mediation: With a Little Help from Your Friends • The Zone of Proximal Development • Scaffolding: Support during Learning Recent Sociocultural Views of Cognitive Development • Stage 1: Sensorimotor Thought (Birth to 2 Years) • Stage 2: Preoperational Thought (2 to 7 Years) • Stage 3: Concrete Operational Thought (7 to 11 Years) • Stage 4: Formal Operational Thought (Approximately Age 12 and Above) • Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory • Piaget’s Legacy • Situated Cognition • Guided Participation • Thinking as Socially Shared Cognition: Two Heads Are Better than One “Maria wants to pick the best school for her sons, so she...
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...of practitioners in recognising the socio-cultural influences on the development of children In the development of provision for children, traditional developmental theory has been highly influential: Over the years I have become frustrated by the strident emphasis on developmental theory in early childhood education (Walsh 2005:40) Particular relevance has been held concerning constructivist theory and the work of Piaget (1977) and Vygotsky (1978): The academic understanding of learning that underpins current trends in early childhood education are most significantly based upon principles of social constructivism that are drawn from both Vygotsky and Piaget (Anning et al 2008:153) Typically, traditional child development theory is thought to give order and meaning to a child’s progression in terms of physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language development and provides practitioners with a set of normative descriptors from which a child’s development can be measured. However, more recently these notions have been questioned and there has been a growth of theory from a socio-cultural perspective: recent challenges to ways of understanding and living in the world have included issues of difference, identity, culture, intellect, and economy…Early Childhood Educators have responded in various ways to such diversity. Many continue to support the developmentalist notion of the universal child…still others merge a variety of perspectives in efforts to meet the challenges...
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... Dr.AMRUTH G KUMAR ALI USSAIN T Associate professor Dept. of Education Research Scholar, Dept of Education Central University of Kerala Central University of Kerala ABSTRACT As technology use continues its steady growth among contemporary students, both within and outside of the classroom, its impact on academic performance becomes an increasingly important question to address. Cognitive theory and multitasking research strongly support a negative effect while other studies have found little to no effect. This article seeks to explore the impact of modern technologies on the performance potential of learners. It also describes the intellectual and theoretical contributions of great scholars whose scholarly intervention paved the for the advancement of technology in the field of education Key words CONTEMPORARY TECHNOLOGIES, PERFORMANCE POTENTIAL Introduction The role of technology in the field of education has been discussed in a vivid manner. It remains an important issue even today as the debates about the impact of technology on our society, the implications of quick and easy online access to information for knowledge and learning and the effect of technology on young people’s social, emotional and physical development is being analyzed and discussed the educationalists and social scientists. As the report presented by the School of Education in Durham University lead by Steven Higgins (2012) indicates ‘the increasing...
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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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...believed that the only scientific approach to psychology was one that studied behaviors, not internal mental processes. He denied the existence of a mind as a thing separate from the body, but he did not deny the existence of thoughts, which he regarded simply as private behaviors to be analyzed according to the same principle as publicly observed behaviors. B. F. Skinner was one of the most influential of American psychologists. A radical behaviorist, he developed the conditioning idea that behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again. Jean Piaget- Jean Piaget's work had a profound influence on psychology, especially our understanding children's intellectual development. His research contributed to the growth of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, genetic epistemology, and education reform. Albert Einstein once described Piaget's observations on children's intellectual growth and thought processes as a discovery "so simple that only a genius could have thought of it." Sigmund Freud- When people think of psychology, many tend to think of Freud. His work supported the belief that not all mental illnesses have physiological causes and he also offered evidence that cultural differences have an impact on psychology and behavior. His work and writings contributed to our understanding of personality, clinical psychology, human development, and abnormal psychology....
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...Glover and Ronning (1987, p. 14) suggested that educational psychology includes topics that span human development, individual differences, measurement, learning, and motivation and is both a data-driven and a theory-driven discipline. Thus, our definition of educational psychology is the application of psychology and psychological methods to the study of development, learning, motivation, instruction, assessment, and related issues that influence the interaction of teaching and learning. This definition is broad because the potential applications of educational psychology to the learning process are immense! Today educational psychology is a vital discipline that is contributing to the education of teachers and learners. For example, Jerome Bruner, an enduring figure in educational psychology, recently noted the need to rethink our ideas of development, teaching, and learning and the interactions among them. Specifically, Bruner (1996) urged educators and psychologists to see children as thinkers, and stated: No less than the adult, the child is thought of as holding more or less coherent "theories" not only about the world but about her own mind and how it works. These naive theories are brought into congruence with those of parents and teachers not through imitation, not through didactic instruction, but by discourse, collaboration, and negotiation . . . . This model of education is more concerned with interpretation and understanding than with the achievement of factual knowledge...
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...There is one thing even more vital to science than intelligent methods; and that is,the sincere desire to find out the truth, whatever it may be. —Charles Sanders Peirce, Collected Papers, vol. 5 Did You Know . . . Basic Theoretical Issues Issue 1: Is Development Active or Reactive? Issue 2: Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous? Theoretical Perspectives * Theories are never “set in stone”; they are always open to change as a result of new findings? * Children shape their world as it shapes them? * Cross-cultural research enables us to determine which aspects of development are universal and which are culturally influenced? * An experiment is the most definitive way to demonstrate that one event causes another? * The results of laboratory experiments may be less applicable to real life than experiments carried out in a home, school, or public setting? These are just a few of the interesting and important topics we will cover in this chapter. Here, we present an overview both of major theories of human development and of research methods used to study it. In the first part of the chapter, we explore major issues and theoretical perspectives that underlie much research in child development. In the remainder of the chapter, we look at how researchers gather and assess information so that, as you read further in this book, you will be better able to judge whether research findings and conclu- Perspective 1: Psychoanalytic Perspective 2: Learning ...
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...be ongoing into the future as well. In order for us to look at the present and future of anything, we have to ultimately begin start in the past. In the past, we must also understand the meaning of the term cognitive development. Cognitive development is the formation of thought processes, including remembering, problem-solving, and decision-making, from childhood through...
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...thought sought to prove that behavior could be predicted and controlled (Skinner, 1974). They studied how learning is affected by changes in the environment. The constructivists viewed learning as a search for meaning. Piaget and Vygotsky described elements that helped predict what children understand at different stages (Rummel, 2008). Details of both theories illuminate the differences and connections between the behavioral and constructivist theories in relationship to how children learn and how their behavior is affected. How curriculum and instruction work with these theories to promote learning and how educators view learning with respect to both theories are also reviewed. Introduction Many students enrolled in institutions of higher education in the United States have had experience with both face-to-face and online classes. Educational researchers have begun to examine the technological characteristics of online classes which contribute to making online classes equivalent to face-to-face classes in relationship to their pedagogical effectiveness. The growth of online learning has changed the traditional learning environment of brick and mortar E-Leader Manila 2012 classrooms to learning in cyberspace. This environmental change has caused educators to look more closely at the way students’ best experience learning in the 21st century. Behaviorism and constructivism are learning theories which stem from two philosophical schools of thought which have influenced educators’...
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...This paper examines the basis of the need for alternative schooling, outlines the development and evolution of the Montessori method and philosophy, and validates the methodology in research, providing a side-by-side comparison for examination of relative strengths and weaknesses of the program. For 21st century school reformists seeking alternative methods of education or an individualized, child-centered curriculum, Montessori presents itself as an adaptive, hands-on, future-friendly option for the democratic community as it evolves toward offering a full preschool to secondary public program. Keywords: Montessori, constructivism, independence, Dewey, progressive, alternative education Montessori: Evolving Toward a Public Secondary School in the 21st Century Since the time of early philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle and Plato, to whom we can trace the traditional subjects of the common core curriculum, there have been heated political and social debates surrounding the field of education. Rather than being discouraged by their recurrent nature, academic planners and developers must examine these questions anew to refresh our views and test our assumptions about the necessary directions of education in current society. One of the most basic questions at the heart of this discussion is, what are the aims or purposes of education? In order to create an effective program of education, we must work backwards from these desired goals to develop appropriate strategies...
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