Chapter 6 discusses early childhood between the ages of 2-6. The features of physical development such as children slimming down for both boys and girls. These are ages in which they grow an average of 12 inches and gain about 5lbs a year. p.130 When my first son began to walk, I started to mark his height on the wall. He is now 15 years old and we continue to mark his growth. I noticed that during his early years, he did have good growth spurt and I believe around 12 years old there wasn’t much development. I did this to all my boys and they are always checking the wall to see if they grew. The growing is not only physical but also brain development. The brain lateralization gets better established. Growing motor skills are also part of the various physical achievements. Before working in a school environment, I did not realize how important motor skills could be. I worked with a student who was in 3rd and was unable to cut paper with scissors. I remember teaching my sons how to utilize scissors by having them cut coupons. At first it was difficult for my youngest to cut paper. Then, I figured out that he needed left handed scissors. It took him a while to learn how to cut straight, but with practice he became better. Another way I helped with motor skills was I let them play with Playdoh. Playdoh is one of the many ways to help improve development. From the ages of 2 to 6, each year the growth and fine motor skills improved. Biopsychosocial influences such as nutrients, disease, psychological and socioeconomics play a role in the body’s growth.
Furthermore, cognitive development is also part of growing. The preoperational period which is the second stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Vygotsky’s theory of social construction help better understand cognitive growing. Early childhood education programs such as head start and early intervention are ways to help in school readiness. The constructivist approach learning is based on the developmental theory instead of behavioral. These are based on an approach impacted by both Piaget and Vygotsky.
Chapter 7 describes middle childhood, how children can assimilate and accommodate various information at this developmental level. Middle childhood is considered from the ages of 5-12 years old. By the age of 8 and 9 years old, these children’ brain is considered full size. They are capable of processing thoughts. My youngest child is 9 years old and I’ve noticed that he is able to problem solve and use his imagination to create his own ideas. For example, when he is playing a football game with his brothers, he is able to argue and state what he feels would be the best play. Another thing that I’ve noticed is that he is able to stand up for himself and realize when he makes mistakes. At this stage children are able to use logical thoughts and are able to reason accordingly with events, objects, and people.
Piaget’s concrete operational stage is the third of the fourth stages of his cognitive development theory. This stage is considered from the ages of 7-11 years old. “Piaget's notion of decentration is the child's ability to concentrate on more than one aspect of a problem or to connect them.” p. 161 This can be related to what I had previously mentioned about my youngest son being able to understand and analyze a play. He understand what it takes to win a football game and call out shots.
It was so funny to see a friend of mine do the chart with her son. Children grow at different phases in life. Her son had not much action until he turn 3. Now that is so much different from my 3 nephews. Two of them right now seniors and over the last four years they have grown taller than they've ever been. It seems like out of nowhere that shut up two or three interests are there over six feet.
ReplyDeleteI look at some of my students I saw the same about some of them. Its like they grow over the summer in amazing amounts. Then you have people like me who stopped growing before they even got to high school.Lol...
I also can agree with you about childrens being able to problem solve and use their imagination in that Middle School age. Like your son our boys played football as well and that is when Nolan begin to use his creativity more. I'll never forget it he was 11 years old and on the field taking charge in a football game. He lead his team to the playoffs that year. The next year when he was in 7th grade he became the QB. This is a great example of Piaget notion of decentration. A child can concentrate on more than one problem at a time.