My learning journal
Week 1, Chapter 1 (History, theory and applied directions)- 28/2/2012
This chapter contained a lot of information that I had not really considered before reading it. First of all, the question of whether development is continuous or discontinuous was quite puzzling. I had never considered development in this way and when I think back to my own development and to that of others, it is difficult to decide which it would be. Also, the question of nature vs. nurture is one that I have considered before, though I believe both factors play a role in development.
When I read about ‘resilient children’ I immediately recognized myself as being one of these. I was amazed at the accuracy with which the book described the course of my childhood – a divorce between parents, a strong relationship with grandparents and good support from schools and community. This fact made me realise that childhood psychology is not just an individual and random phenomena, and that plenty of research has been done in this field.
I recognised Freud’s psychosexual stages, as this is something that I have studied before. The alternatives to this theory; Erikson’s, Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s were also quite interesting and probably more accurate, I thought. I can see that this would be a difficult field to study but I was surprised at the accuracy that they had achieved when thinking back to my own childhood and to children I have seen since. The concept of evolutionary developmental psychology was one that I also found to be quite relevant and interesting. I am a strong believer in the theory of evolution and I have often found that this may explain many traits of babies and youngsters, like instinctively holding their breath when underwater and having an abnormally strong hand grip.
Putting components of all these theories together seems to result in the ecological systems theory. This seemed most accurate because it encompasses all of the factors influencing a child, while also being much less specific. I think taking a broad view of child development is much easier, however focusing on the psychological and cognitive development of a child is probably more relevant to specific practices and in guiding teaching. Obviously wide-scale views are also useful in some ways but at the end of the day there can be no one theory that serves as a universal guide to child development. As with all animals, human development cannot be predicted exactly but having all of these theories and research certainly helps to give some general guidelines.
Week 1, Chapter 5 (Physical growth)– 1/3/2012
Much of this chapter was just revision for me; however I have always found the subject of child development quite fascinating. The fact that children’s body size and proportions can be influenced by their ethnic backgrounds was quite interesting for me and is an interesting evolutionary adaptation, given that human beings have only been on this earth for a relatively short period of time. The fact that there can be so much noticeable hereditary variation between different countries and continents is quite fascinating for me.
The development of the brain is another topic that is interesting for me, as well as the associated development that results for the individual. Especially interesting was the ‘programmed cell death’ where the brain is able to destroy neurons to make way for new synapses forming and also ‘synaptic pruning’, where neurons that are rarely used can lose their synapses. I think an understanding of brain function may well be useful when teaching young children, as the teacher would be able to imagine the stage of development that the child is at and use this to guide their teaching.
Childhood nutrition was another topic that I consider to be important, as I feel the diet of most average families is nowadays inadequate. I was not surprised to read the statistics that showed a large proportion of parents giving their children fast food and allowing them to watch 3 or more hours of television each day but still found this quite disappointing. I wonder how people can go on gaining weight without taking any action and then watching their children become obese and have the same attitude. In my opinion, this is very selfish behaviour that will undoubtedly lower the quality of life for the children.
Most of the information regarding puberty and adolescence was quite familiar to me and reminded me of my own life during that time. I found the statistics on teen pregnancies quite surprising, as I didn’t realise that it was as common as the numbers suggest.
From this chapter it is clear that child development is a major factor when teaching or designing a curriculum. Understanding the different phases of development that children are going through would be a key issue for teachers in order to teach successfully and to provide sufficient knowledge that is relevant to the child. Also, understanding the problems that children may be facing at different times would allow schools and teachers to support and educate children in regards to these issues.
Week 2, Chapter 6 (Cognitive development) – 6/3/2012
It’s clear now that Piaget’s theory is one that is worthy of consideration, and to me it seems quite accurate. Piaget’s ideas of ‘schemes’ (organised ways of making sense of experience) that lead to adaptation and accommodation seem quite realistic and definitely fit with what I have learned in the past and even what I am still learning. During the sensorimotor stage, I found it interesting that babies develop the ability to find hidden objects, which makes me think that the discontinuous model of development may indeed be correct. Also, the fact that babies will make the ‘A-not-B search error’ supports this view and suggests that there is some development that has not yet occurred in the brain, possibly because the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex do not fully develop for around 1 year after birth. The concept of dual representation also seems to support this, with children under 2 rarely being able to use an object with an obvious use for anything else.
I was surprised how early deferred imitation, categorisation and problem solving develop in infants. This is another thing that I had not really thought about beforehand but something I now see as being quite relevant in understanding cognitive development. Similarly, the importance and complexity of make-believe play was surprising, though I can now see how important this is for the child and how it can show a child’s level of development. Particularly interesting was how this relates to children being able to see things from the perspective of others; another developmental trait I had not thought about.
I found most of the other developments outlined by Piaget to follow quite naturally from those of early childhood. I think my own awareness of what I was able to do during school may have had some impact on this, as well as my own reflections on middle primary children. I agree with Piaget in many respects, especially that children should be encouraged to discover things for themselves early on. I still question, however, the development of stages and I think this a simplistic view to take of psychological development. While it is clear that brain growth and development allow for new skills, outlining the progress of a child in stages seems to ignore the thoughts and discoveries of the child that lead to each new stage. I much prefer a continuous view of development, where milestones are reached but only as a result of continued development before and after.
The ‘core knowledge perspective’ related well to the evolutionary developmental psychology outlined in chapter one. While it is obviously hard to prove, I think it is definitely feasible that children are born with an innate ability to learn basic concepts easily.
Vygotsky’s ‘Sociocultural theory’ definitely struck a chord with me in terms of the ‘zone of proximal development’. Though I did not realise the exact process until now, the method of exploiting the ZPD and using scaffolding is how I have conducted all of the teaching I have done. His mention of ‘Reciprocal teaching’ was something I recognised as a very effective learning strategy that I have been a part of in the past. While Vygotsky’s theory did not mention anything about heredity and biology as influences on development, his theories on teaching and about the differences in culture are definitely the most comprehensive. As far as a practical guide to teaching in regards to child development goes, Vygotsky’s theory is the best so far.
Week 2, Chapter 12 (Moral development) – 8/3/2012
Morality is something I have often considered as only being partially explained by evolution. I have often wondered what causes the feeling of guilt in humans and whether this is an inherited trait or one that needs to be developed (as Piaget and Kohlberg suggest). From the readings on this topic it seems that it a bit of both; simialr to the ‘nature vs. nurture’ argument. I recently saw a study of ‘psychopathic’ children (those who are fearless and care little for others’ emotions) where a lack of activity in the region of the cerebral cortex associated with empathy, suggesting there is a bilogical reason for this. I have no doubt, however, that parenting and childhood experiences also play a huge role in this.
I was surprised to read the statistics relating to corporal punishment and also somewhat dissapointed. I have always considered corporal punishment to be rather immoral, though effective if used gently and sparingly. I was not surprised to see the correlation between corporal punishment and child aggression, as this is a likely progression in my view. In my experience in life and my learnings so far it seems that having a warm parental relationship is the best strategy when promoting positive childhood development. Positive discipline seems to me to be the best approach.
I found Kohlberg’s stages to be quite plausible when thinking back to my own development. It was interesting that the stages seemed to correlate highly with age, suggesting there is a natural progression of morality for all people, regardless of their background. Once agin, this begs the question of why we feel this way. The fact that most children begin to understand things from another’s perspective and can consider the concept of do unto others as you would have them do unto you suggests it may just be a result of our own heightened perception of the world around us.
Finally, I was surprised to see how early children can separate moral imperatives versus social conventions. On thinking about this I realized that many parents try to tie desirable social conventions to moral imperatives to try and get their children to do as they wish. For example, my parents often laid a ‘guilt trip’ on me about what my grandad (who they knew I had plenty of respect for) would think of my messy room, messy hair, etc. For me it was ‘right’ to show grandad I was also a repsectful person, so I would do what my parents asked eventually. Simialrly, it was surprising to see that justice, particularly distributive justice emerges as young as 4. I suppose this could have evolutionary links, like the need to share resources within a family or group of primates to allow all to survive, though it could easily be the opposite; taking as much as possible to ensure one’s own survival.
Week 3, Chapters 7&8 (Cognitive development & Intelligence) – 13/3/2012
To me, the ‘store model’ shows quite simply how the human mind operates. I thought this showed quite well how children’s abilities are able to improve and change with age and as the respective components of the model become more developed and advanced. I would not have been able to come up with such a simple model for this system but now it see it like this it is much easier to study each individual component. Similarly, Siegler’s ‘Model of Strategy Choice’ makes it easy to see the development that children (and adults) follow as they encounter problems. I found I identified straightaway with this model.
The development of memory in this chapter fitted quite logically with the chapters on cognitive and moral development. I was not surprised to see that many children remember the ‘gist’ of things better than remembering things verbatim. I would imagine this concept contributes to a child’s accumulated knowledge of morality, a concept that cannot really be remembered as any particular thing as such, similar to metacognitive knowledge.
Discussion about intelligence also follows quite logically from this, as it follows that intelligence would only increase as memory capacity and cognitive ability are increasing. The idea of ‘emergent literacy’ showed me that young children are much more intelligent than I had thought, and that they learn at a relatively rapid rate. ‘Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences’ was also quite surprising, in that I found it was very accurate (based on my observations). Just as it is stated in the evolutionary developmental psychology ‘core knowledge perspective’, it seems that children can often be predisposed to learn certain things more easily. I think this would be a key model for identifying student’s talents and then building on those and relating them to other subjects in order to show the relevance of student knowledge and keep students stimulated. From this biological perspective, it seems that fluid intelligence would more likely be a biological trait, while crystallized intelligence would more likely have been learned. The correlation of IQ levels between identical twins also seems to support the biological basis for intelligence.
I also strongly agree with the theory of heritability of high IQ being higher under advantaged rearing conditions versus disadvantaged rearing conditions. I think this is a key deficiency that the government is currently trying to address with their ‘closing the gap’ strategy to improve the performance of children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Similarly, I believe in the ‘Environmental Cumulative Deficit Hypothesis’, which is simply states that this condition worsens the longer the child is exposed to it. It is not surprising that governments have long looked to improve living and learning conditions for children when they are very young to try and improve their success later in life.
Week 3, Chapter 9 (Language development) – 16/3/2012
Expanding on the biological theory of intelligence and cognition, language seems to be another trait that is inherently present in all humans. The fact that animals are unable to learn language past that of a pre-school child, and that there are specific areas in the brain for language and speech suggests this is a specifically human trait, and that language is natural for all humans. As with intelligence and cognition, it seems that the first years of life are a particularly significant time for language development, though this period may extend to puberty and the end of brain lateralization for language.
Language development seems to go in leaps and bounds, starting as early as 6 months. I think parents play a key role in this, as children are clearly extremely sensitive to the language they hear in these first years. I was surprised that by grade 5 the average student already has 40,000 words in their vocabulary. I think this is directly related to memory development, with more words and phrases being stored all the time as the memory grows. I was not surprised to see the positive influences of reading on language development; this is something I will always advocate for students.
In regards to grammatical development; I believe students learn from hearing phrases and observing others’ speech. I think the same is true for conversational abilities. I think that in order for children to develop good speech, there needs to be good examples of speech offered to them by parents and teachers. As with the ‘zone of proximal development’ I think that introducing new and more complex words to students all the time will gradually add to their conversational ability and result in metalinguistic awareness, after which the student will be able to teach themselves much more through their own interest and experimentation.
The concept of bilingualism is another interesting one, one that I wish I had been a part of during my schooling. Reading about the ease with which young children can learn two languages concurrently made me jealous of how hard it was for me to learn a second language later in life. I think this would be an excellent practice for schools, but one that would not be easily implemented, or well received, perhaps. The role of learning another language also rests with the parent, I believe, as children will more likely learn another language if they are exposed to it often. Week 4, Chapter 10 (Emotional development) – 19/3/2012
The first thing that struck me in this topic was the definition of ‘emotion’: “A rapid appraisal of the personal significance of the situation, which prepares you for action” (Berk, 2006). I dont see this as a good definition, though I am sure I could not come up with a definition without using the word ‘emotion’. I suppose it is a moot point since anyone old enough to discuss emotion would already have a good idea of what it is. The second thing that struck me with this chapter was the effect that emotions can have on the health of a child. The study of cortisol levels in saliva clearly showed there is a definite relationship here, so I now realise just how important emotional wellbeing is to children.
The early emotions that children show all seemed fairly understandable from an evolutionary point of view and all seem to relate to their immediate caregivers and personal satisfaction. I was surprised, however, by the fact that children learn emotional responses to certain events, effectively learning emotion. This then opens the door for cultural influences on emotion, which explains why people of certain cultures are typically similar in their mannerisms and personality. Likewise, children develop a strong attachment to their caregivers and imitate their emotional responses. This would explain why children develop simialr traits to their parents and tend to have similar values. From this, I could imgaine that severing a close attachment between a child and adult would have terrible consequences for a child. Also, for a child to have no-one to become attached to, such as in an orphanage, would be equally disastrous for the shild’s development.
The process of emotional self-regulation took me back to chapter 7, where I could imagine this would follow on from cognitive inhibition. This same process seems to be possible (to some extent) with temperament, where children can show ‘effortful control’; suppressing a response in favour of a diferent, more adaptive one. I suppose this would be the development of what most people call ‘maturity’.
Week 5, Chapter 13 (Development od sex differences and gender roles) – 27/3/2012
During my time at school I often wondered whether the gender difference existed because of social pressures or because the students chose to persue the subjects that were most interesting to them. It seems that it may have been a combination of both, from reading this chapter, though biology does seem to be a major factor. The study of 'David' the boy who was raised as a girl was the most fascinating thing I have read so far. The fact that his masculine traits could not be suppressed clearly shows how gender can dictate a child's interests.
I think it is unfortunate that we live in a society where there are such defined roles for males and females and it seems that mothers can make the most difference. As children supposedly learn about gender from their mothers, perhaps a different approach could give the child a more open-mind when it comes to gender typing. Once children are at school, it seems the teachers also have a role to play. This was one thing I admired about my year 12 teachers; they never mentioned any gender differences and I found it made for a much more comfortable learning environment. As a teacher I think I would follow this example.
While I can see that boys and girls often have different abilities, I think it wold be best to ignore this in ost ways as a teacher to try and create an equitable learning environment. I don't think there is any advantage of creating gender typing and that it is best left to the students and their parents to deal with this.
Week 6, Chapter 14 (The family) – 2/4/2012
The evolutionary origins of the family group were interesting to read about, as was the statistic that only 3 percent of birds and mammals form families. This suggests that either humans are indeed a more advanced race or that families are simply not effective at enhancing survival for other species. I can see that, as hunter gatherers, families would provide a safety net if food was scarce and would offer much more protection of young while also promoting effective learning from other family members.
Modern families obviously have different purposes, though large families and extended-family households seem to me to be the best in terms of child development. I think that by always having different family members present; children are exposed to different personalities from an early age and could well develop greater communication skills. Children could grow to appreciate personal differences better and also learn more from a wider variety of close family members. Also, this arrangement would ensure that children were always cared for, giving the parents more freedom.
As far as parenting goes, the authoritative style is clearly best. I have observed time and again how ineffective the authoritarian style of parenting is and I have often wished to tell people “that is not a good way to go about things!”. I especially agree with the ‘control’ aspect of this; making demands but explaining why these are reasonable and also avoiding any physical punishment. I think physical punishment is quite barbaric and only highlights the parent’s inability to talk things over with their children.
Having experienced my parents divorcing in childhood and also reading this chapter, it seems that maintaining some sort of relationship between parents is the key to having well adjusted children. If both parents are still able to communicate in a friendly manner and avoid involving the child in their negative relations then the child will be able to cope much better, it seems. Likewise, an easygoing and warm second parent is much more likely to gain acceptance from the children.
This chapter seems to relate to teaching in the sense that an authoritative style of teaching will reap the greatest benefits. By listening to children, explaining why the things they are learning are important and providing a warm and stimulating atmosphere, children will be much more likely to withhold the information being conveyed and regard is as being important. Also, it is clear that there will be a diverse range of students that come from a variety of family backgrounds in each classroom that must be accounted for.
Week 6, Chapter 15 (Peers, media and schooling) – 5/4/2012
This chapter seemed to re-state what was written in chapter 10; children who have a warm parental relationship see that as a base from which to form other relationships and discover new horizons. It seems that most, if not all children develop peer relations that then aid their development. These relationships also seem to change with time as the child develops and puts different demands on these interactions.
Based on my own experiences, I was surprised by the accuracy of ‘peer acceptance’ outlined in this chapter. The further sub-categories also seemed accurate and I was particularly surprised to read that neglected children are still usually well-adjusted and are not less socially skilled than the average child. This goes to show that these children choose to be the way they are and do not necessarily want for a different status.
The information on television viewing, especially TV violence, was not surprising to me. The information showed that TV can be very useful for children’s development (slow-paced storylines, promoting good values, etc.) but that excessive TV viewing is usually quite damaging. As a parent, I would try and avoid TV viewing altogether or at least make sure the shows my child was watching were educational and definitely non-violent. The fact that children cannot see the ‘selling’ power of commercials until around 8 years of age was also surprising and something that would definitely have consequences for the individual later on.
Likewise, computer usage can be extremely beneficial or similarly damaging. As a teacher I would definitely make use of computers but I would do so in a way that would not allow students to stray from the task while still keeping things relevant. I think that with the rise of computers it would now be impossible to ignore them in any teaching context, so it would be much better to embrace the technology.
As far as teaching goes, I think the most successful philosophy would be one of constructivism or social-constructivism. This approach has always appealed to me because it encourages students to think for themselves and solve problems. This approach encourages procedural knowledge that can then be applied to a range of situations. As a teacher, this is something I would always advocate.
This chapter contained a lot of information that I had not really considered before reading it. First of all, the question of whether development is continuous or discontinuous was quite puzzling. I had never considered development in this way and when I think back to my own development and to that of others, it is difficult to decide which it would be. Also, the question of nature vs. nurture is one that I have considered before, though I believe both factors play a role in development.
When I read about ‘resilient children’ I immediately recognized myself as being one of these. I was amazed at the accuracy with which the book described the course of my childhood – a divorce between parents, a strong relationship with grandparents and good support from schools and community. This fact made me realise that childhood psychology is not just an individual and random phenomena, and that plenty of research has been done in this field.
I recognised Freud’s psychosexual stages, as this is something that I have studied before. The alternatives to this theory; Erikson’s, Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s were also quite interesting and probably more accurate, I thought. I can see that this would be a difficult field to study but I was surprised at the accuracy that they had achieved when thinking back to my own childhood and to children I have seen since. The concept of evolutionary developmental psychology was one that I also found to be quite relevant and interesting. I am a strong believer in the theory of evolution and I have often found that this may explain many traits of babies and youngsters, like instinctively holding their breath when underwater and having an abnormally strong hand grip.
Putting components of all these theories together seems to result in the ecological systems theory. This seemed most accurate because it encompasses all of the factors influencing a child, while also being much less specific. I think taking a broad view of child development is much easier, however focusing on the psychological and cognitive development of a child is probably more relevant to specific practices and in guiding teaching. Obviously wide-scale views are also useful in some ways but at the end of the day there can be no one theory that serves as a universal guide to child development. As with all animals, human development cannot be predicted exactly but having all of these theories and research certainly helps to give some general guidelines.
Week 1, Chapter 5 (Physical growth)– 1/3/2012
Much of this chapter was just revision for me; however I have always found the subject of child development quite fascinating. The fact that children’s body size and proportions can be influenced by their ethnic backgrounds was quite interesting for me and is an interesting evolutionary adaptation, given that human beings have only been on this earth for a relatively short period of time. The fact that there can be so much noticeable hereditary variation between different countries and continents is quite fascinating for me.
The development of the brain is another topic that is interesting for me, as well as the associated development that results for the individual. Especially interesting was the ‘programmed cell death’ where the brain is able to destroy neurons to make way for new synapses forming and also ‘synaptic pruning’, where neurons that are rarely used can lose their synapses. I think an understanding of brain function may well be useful when teaching young children, as the teacher would be able to imagine the stage of development that the child is at and use this to guide their teaching.
Childhood nutrition was another topic that I consider to be important, as I feel the diet of most average families is nowadays inadequate. I was not surprised to read the statistics that showed a large proportion of parents giving their children fast food and allowing them to watch 3 or more hours of television each day but still found this quite disappointing. I wonder how people can go on gaining weight without taking any action and then watching their children become obese and have the same attitude. In my opinion, this is very selfish behaviour that will undoubtedly lower the quality of life for the children.
Most of the information regarding puberty and adolescence was quite familiar to me and reminded me of my own life during that time. I found the statistics on teen pregnancies quite surprising, as I didn’t realise that it was as common as the numbers suggest.
From this chapter it is clear that child development is a major factor when teaching or designing a curriculum. Understanding the different phases of development that children are going through would be a key issue for teachers in order to teach successfully and to provide sufficient knowledge that is relevant to the child. Also, understanding the problems that children may be facing at different times would allow schools and teachers to support and educate children in regards to these issues.
Week 2, Chapter 6 (Cognitive development) – 6/3/2012
It’s clear now that Piaget’s theory is one that is worthy of consideration, and to me it seems quite accurate. Piaget’s ideas of ‘schemes’ (organised ways of making sense of experience) that lead to adaptation and accommodation seem quite realistic and definitely fit with what I have learned in the past and even what I am still learning. During the sensorimotor stage, I found it interesting that babies develop the ability to find hidden objects, which makes me think that the discontinuous model of development may indeed be correct. Also, the fact that babies will make the ‘A-not-B search error’ supports this view and suggests that there is some development that has not yet occurred in the brain, possibly because the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex do not fully develop for around 1 year after birth. The concept of dual representation also seems to support this, with children under 2 rarely being able to use an object with an obvious use for anything else.
I was surprised how early deferred imitation, categorisation and problem solving develop in infants. This is another thing that I had not really thought about beforehand but something I now see as being quite relevant in understanding cognitive development. Similarly, the importance and complexity of make-believe play was surprising, though I can now see how important this is for the child and how it can show a child’s level of development. Particularly interesting was how this relates to children being able to see things from the perspective of others; another developmental trait I had not thought about.
I found most of the other developments outlined by Piaget to follow quite naturally from those of early childhood. I think my own awareness of what I was able to do during school may have had some impact on this, as well as my own reflections on middle primary children. I agree with Piaget in many respects, especially that children should be encouraged to discover things for themselves early on. I still question, however, the development of stages and I think this a simplistic view to take of psychological development. While it is clear that brain growth and development allow for new skills, outlining the progress of a child in stages seems to ignore the thoughts and discoveries of the child that lead to each new stage. I much prefer a continuous view of development, where milestones are reached but only as a result of continued development before and after.
The ‘core knowledge perspective’ related well to the evolutionary developmental psychology outlined in chapter one. While it is obviously hard to prove, I think it is definitely feasible that children are born with an innate ability to learn basic concepts easily.
Vygotsky’s ‘Sociocultural theory’ definitely struck a chord with me in terms of the ‘zone of proximal development’. Though I did not realise the exact process until now, the method of exploiting the ZPD and using scaffolding is how I have conducted all of the teaching I have done. His mention of ‘Reciprocal teaching’ was something I recognised as a very effective learning strategy that I have been a part of in the past. While Vygotsky’s theory did not mention anything about heredity and biology as influences on development, his theories on teaching and about the differences in culture are definitely the most comprehensive. As far as a practical guide to teaching in regards to child development goes, Vygotsky’s theory is the best so far.
Week 2, Chapter 12 (Moral development) – 8/3/2012
Morality is something I have often considered as only being partially explained by evolution. I have often wondered what causes the feeling of guilt in humans and whether this is an inherited trait or one that needs to be developed (as Piaget and Kohlberg suggest). From the readings on this topic it seems that it a bit of both; simialr to the ‘nature vs. nurture’ argument. I recently saw a study of ‘psychopathic’ children (those who are fearless and care little for others’ emotions) where a lack of activity in the region of the cerebral cortex associated with empathy, suggesting there is a bilogical reason for this. I have no doubt, however, that parenting and childhood experiences also play a huge role in this.
I was surprised to read the statistics relating to corporal punishment and also somewhat dissapointed. I have always considered corporal punishment to be rather immoral, though effective if used gently and sparingly. I was not surprised to see the correlation between corporal punishment and child aggression, as this is a likely progression in my view. In my experience in life and my learnings so far it seems that having a warm parental relationship is the best strategy when promoting positive childhood development. Positive discipline seems to me to be the best approach.
I found Kohlberg’s stages to be quite plausible when thinking back to my own development. It was interesting that the stages seemed to correlate highly with age, suggesting there is a natural progression of morality for all people, regardless of their background. Once agin, this begs the question of why we feel this way. The fact that most children begin to understand things from another’s perspective and can consider the concept of do unto others as you would have them do unto you suggests it may just be a result of our own heightened perception of the world around us.
Finally, I was surprised to see how early children can separate moral imperatives versus social conventions. On thinking about this I realized that many parents try to tie desirable social conventions to moral imperatives to try and get their children to do as they wish. For example, my parents often laid a ‘guilt trip’ on me about what my grandad (who they knew I had plenty of respect for) would think of my messy room, messy hair, etc. For me it was ‘right’ to show grandad I was also a repsectful person, so I would do what my parents asked eventually. Simialrly, it was surprising to see that justice, particularly distributive justice emerges as young as 4. I suppose this could have evolutionary links, like the need to share resources within a family or group of primates to allow all to survive, though it could easily be the opposite; taking as much as possible to ensure one’s own survival.
Week 3, Chapters 7&8 (Cognitive development & Intelligence) – 13/3/2012
To me, the ‘store model’ shows quite simply how the human mind operates. I thought this showed quite well how children’s abilities are able to improve and change with age and as the respective components of the model become more developed and advanced. I would not have been able to come up with such a simple model for this system but now it see it like this it is much easier to study each individual component. Similarly, Siegler’s ‘Model of Strategy Choice’ makes it easy to see the development that children (and adults) follow as they encounter problems. I found I identified straightaway with this model.
The development of memory in this chapter fitted quite logically with the chapters on cognitive and moral development. I was not surprised to see that many children remember the ‘gist’ of things better than remembering things verbatim. I would imagine this concept contributes to a child’s accumulated knowledge of morality, a concept that cannot really be remembered as any particular thing as such, similar to metacognitive knowledge.
Discussion about intelligence also follows quite logically from this, as it follows that intelligence would only increase as memory capacity and cognitive ability are increasing. The idea of ‘emergent literacy’ showed me that young children are much more intelligent than I had thought, and that they learn at a relatively rapid rate. ‘Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences’ was also quite surprising, in that I found it was very accurate (based on my observations). Just as it is stated in the evolutionary developmental psychology ‘core knowledge perspective’, it seems that children can often be predisposed to learn certain things more easily. I think this would be a key model for identifying student’s talents and then building on those and relating them to other subjects in order to show the relevance of student knowledge and keep students stimulated. From this biological perspective, it seems that fluid intelligence would more likely be a biological trait, while crystallized intelligence would more likely have been learned. The correlation of IQ levels between identical twins also seems to support the biological basis for intelligence.
I also strongly agree with the theory of heritability of high IQ being higher under advantaged rearing conditions versus disadvantaged rearing conditions. I think this is a key deficiency that the government is currently trying to address with their ‘closing the gap’ strategy to improve the performance of children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Similarly, I believe in the ‘Environmental Cumulative Deficit Hypothesis’, which is simply states that this condition worsens the longer the child is exposed to it. It is not surprising that governments have long looked to improve living and learning conditions for children when they are very young to try and improve their success later in life.
Week 3, Chapter 9 (Language development) – 16/3/2012
Expanding on the biological theory of intelligence and cognition, language seems to be another trait that is inherently present in all humans. The fact that animals are unable to learn language past that of a pre-school child, and that there are specific areas in the brain for language and speech suggests this is a specifically human trait, and that language is natural for all humans. As with intelligence and cognition, it seems that the first years of life are a particularly significant time for language development, though this period may extend to puberty and the end of brain lateralization for language.
Language development seems to go in leaps and bounds, starting as early as 6 months. I think parents play a key role in this, as children are clearly extremely sensitive to the language they hear in these first years. I was surprised that by grade 5 the average student already has 40,000 words in their vocabulary. I think this is directly related to memory development, with more words and phrases being stored all the time as the memory grows. I was not surprised to see the positive influences of reading on language development; this is something I will always advocate for students.
In regards to grammatical development; I believe students learn from hearing phrases and observing others’ speech. I think the same is true for conversational abilities. I think that in order for children to develop good speech, there needs to be good examples of speech offered to them by parents and teachers. As with the ‘zone of proximal development’ I think that introducing new and more complex words to students all the time will gradually add to their conversational ability and result in metalinguistic awareness, after which the student will be able to teach themselves much more through their own interest and experimentation.
The concept of bilingualism is another interesting one, one that I wish I had been a part of during my schooling. Reading about the ease with which young children can learn two languages concurrently made me jealous of how hard it was for me to learn a second language later in life. I think this would be an excellent practice for schools, but one that would not be easily implemented, or well received, perhaps. The role of learning another language also rests with the parent, I believe, as children will more likely learn another language if they are exposed to it often. Week 4, Chapter 10 (Emotional development) – 19/3/2012
The first thing that struck me in this topic was the definition of ‘emotion’: “A rapid appraisal of the personal significance of the situation, which prepares you for action” (Berk, 2006). I dont see this as a good definition, though I am sure I could not come up with a definition without using the word ‘emotion’. I suppose it is a moot point since anyone old enough to discuss emotion would already have a good idea of what it is. The second thing that struck me with this chapter was the effect that emotions can have on the health of a child. The study of cortisol levels in saliva clearly showed there is a definite relationship here, so I now realise just how important emotional wellbeing is to children.
The early emotions that children show all seemed fairly understandable from an evolutionary point of view and all seem to relate to their immediate caregivers and personal satisfaction. I was surprised, however, by the fact that children learn emotional responses to certain events, effectively learning emotion. This then opens the door for cultural influences on emotion, which explains why people of certain cultures are typically similar in their mannerisms and personality. Likewise, children develop a strong attachment to their caregivers and imitate their emotional responses. This would explain why children develop simialr traits to their parents and tend to have similar values. From this, I could imgaine that severing a close attachment between a child and adult would have terrible consequences for a child. Also, for a child to have no-one to become attached to, such as in an orphanage, would be equally disastrous for the shild’s development.
The process of emotional self-regulation took me back to chapter 7, where I could imagine this would follow on from cognitive inhibition. This same process seems to be possible (to some extent) with temperament, where children can show ‘effortful control’; suppressing a response in favour of a diferent, more adaptive one. I suppose this would be the development of what most people call ‘maturity’.
Week 5, Chapter 13 (Development od sex differences and gender roles) – 27/3/2012
During my time at school I often wondered whether the gender difference existed because of social pressures or because the students chose to persue the subjects that were most interesting to them. It seems that it may have been a combination of both, from reading this chapter, though biology does seem to be a major factor. The study of 'David' the boy who was raised as a girl was the most fascinating thing I have read so far. The fact that his masculine traits could not be suppressed clearly shows how gender can dictate a child's interests.
I think it is unfortunate that we live in a society where there are such defined roles for males and females and it seems that mothers can make the most difference. As children supposedly learn about gender from their mothers, perhaps a different approach could give the child a more open-mind when it comes to gender typing. Once children are at school, it seems the teachers also have a role to play. This was one thing I admired about my year 12 teachers; they never mentioned any gender differences and I found it made for a much more comfortable learning environment. As a teacher I think I would follow this example.
While I can see that boys and girls often have different abilities, I think it wold be best to ignore this in ost ways as a teacher to try and create an equitable learning environment. I don't think there is any advantage of creating gender typing and that it is best left to the students and their parents to deal with this.
Week 6, Chapter 14 (The family) – 2/4/2012
The evolutionary origins of the family group were interesting to read about, as was the statistic that only 3 percent of birds and mammals form families. This suggests that either humans are indeed a more advanced race or that families are simply not effective at enhancing survival for other species. I can see that, as hunter gatherers, families would provide a safety net if food was scarce and would offer much more protection of young while also promoting effective learning from other family members.
Modern families obviously have different purposes, though large families and extended-family households seem to me to be the best in terms of child development. I think that by always having different family members present; children are exposed to different personalities from an early age and could well develop greater communication skills. Children could grow to appreciate personal differences better and also learn more from a wider variety of close family members. Also, this arrangement would ensure that children were always cared for, giving the parents more freedom.
As far as parenting goes, the authoritative style is clearly best. I have observed time and again how ineffective the authoritarian style of parenting is and I have often wished to tell people “that is not a good way to go about things!”. I especially agree with the ‘control’ aspect of this; making demands but explaining why these are reasonable and also avoiding any physical punishment. I think physical punishment is quite barbaric and only highlights the parent’s inability to talk things over with their children.
Having experienced my parents divorcing in childhood and also reading this chapter, it seems that maintaining some sort of relationship between parents is the key to having well adjusted children. If both parents are still able to communicate in a friendly manner and avoid involving the child in their negative relations then the child will be able to cope much better, it seems. Likewise, an easygoing and warm second parent is much more likely to gain acceptance from the children.
This chapter seems to relate to teaching in the sense that an authoritative style of teaching will reap the greatest benefits. By listening to children, explaining why the things they are learning are important and providing a warm and stimulating atmosphere, children will be much more likely to withhold the information being conveyed and regard is as being important. Also, it is clear that there will be a diverse range of students that come from a variety of family backgrounds in each classroom that must be accounted for.
Week 6, Chapter 15 (Peers, media and schooling) – 5/4/2012
This chapter seemed to re-state what was written in chapter 10; children who have a warm parental relationship see that as a base from which to form other relationships and discover new horizons. It seems that most, if not all children develop peer relations that then aid their development. These relationships also seem to change with time as the child develops and puts different demands on these interactions.
Based on my own experiences, I was surprised by the accuracy of ‘peer acceptance’ outlined in this chapter. The further sub-categories also seemed accurate and I was particularly surprised to read that neglected children are still usually well-adjusted and are not less socially skilled than the average child. This goes to show that these children choose to be the way they are and do not necessarily want for a different status.
The information on television viewing, especially TV violence, was not surprising to me. The information showed that TV can be very useful for children’s development (slow-paced storylines, promoting good values, etc.) but that excessive TV viewing is usually quite damaging. As a parent, I would try and avoid TV viewing altogether or at least make sure the shows my child was watching were educational and definitely non-violent. The fact that children cannot see the ‘selling’ power of commercials until around 8 years of age was also surprising and something that would definitely have consequences for the individual later on.
Likewise, computer usage can be extremely beneficial or similarly damaging. As a teacher I would definitely make use of computers but I would do so in a way that would not allow students to stray from the task while still keeping things relevant. I think that with the rise of computers it would now be impossible to ignore them in any teaching context, so it would be much better to embrace the technology.
As far as teaching goes, I think the most successful philosophy would be one of constructivism or social-constructivism. This approach has always appealed to me because it encourages students to think for themselves and solve problems. This approach encourages procedural knowledge that can then be applied to a range of situations. As a teacher, this is something I would always advocate.