By Anthony Wanjohi
Proponents included in
this topic of study are explained and coagulated to bring out the relationship
of the common terms used in the discussion for better understanding.
These include learning and teaching.
Learning: It is a cognitive process of acquiring new
skills, knowledge, behaviors, values, preferences or understanding and may
involve synthesizing different forms of information.(Halt,1983).
B.F. Skinner contributed greatly by looking into the perspective of learning
and development and said that “Learning is not doing; it is changing what we
do. We may see that behavior has changed, but we do not see the changing.
Teaching: Early childhood teaching may be said
to be a strategy. A strategy is defined as, all activities or processes
required to pass information to the learner.(Ayot &Patel ,1992). In a classroom, teaching there
are two main teaching strategies, namely ,teacher centered
teaching and child-centered teaching approaches.
Several theories of child development and
learning have influenced discussions of school readiness. Three theories have
had profound impact on kindergarten readiness practices. These three theories
include the maturationists, environmentalist,
and constructivist perspectives of development (Powell, 1991).
2.1 Maturationist theory
The maturationist theory was advanced by the work of
Arnold Gessell. Maturationists believe
that development is a biological process that occurs automatically in
predictable, sequential stages over time (Hunt, 1969). This perspective leads
many educators and families to assume that young children will acquire
knowledge naturally and automatically as they grow physically and become older,
provided that they are healthy (Demarest, Reisner,
Anderson, Humphrey, Farquhar, & Stein, 1993).
As a psychologist,
pediatrician, and educator in the 1940s, was very much interested in child
development. From his numerous observations of children, he formulated a theory that stated that developmental changes in
a child's body or behavior are a result of the aging process rather than from
learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience. His idea of
maturation was rooted in the biological, physiological, and evolutionary
sciences. As a result, Gesell centered most of his theory on the power of
biological forces, which he felt provided momentum for development to occur. He
and his contemporaries proposed that development follows an orderly sequence
and that the biological and evolutionary history of the species decides the
order of this sequence. Maturation supports the idea that each child's unique
genetic and biological makeup determines the rate of development regardless of
other potential environmental influences.
Environment is a child’s surroundings and every
aspect entailed influences his/her learning. B.F. Skinner and Albert
Bandura contributed greatly to the environmentalist perspective of
development. Environmentalists believe that the child's environment
shapes learning and behavior; in fact, human behavior, development, and
learning are thought of as reactions to the environment. This perspective leads
many families, schools, and educators to assume that young children develop and
acquire new knowledge by reacting to their surroundings.
School readiness, according to the
environmentalists, is the age or stage when young children can respond appropriately
to the environment of the school and the classroom (e.g., rules and
regulations, curriculum activities, positive behavior in group settings, and
directions and instructions from teachers and other adults in the school)
(Satterly,1987). The ability to respond appropriately to this environment is
necessary for young children to participate in teacher-initiated learning
activities. Success is dependent on the child following instructions from the
teacher or the adult in the learning environment. Many environmentalist-influenced
educators and parents believe that young children learn best by rote
activities, such as reciting the alphabet over and over, copying letters, and
tracing numbers. These viewpoints are evident in kindergarten classrooms where
young children are expected to sit at desks arranged in rows and listen
attentively to their teachers. At home, parents may provide their young
children with workbooks containing such activities as coloring or tracing
letters and numbers. When young children are unable to respond appropriately to
the classroom and school environment, they often are labeled as having some
form of learning disabilities and are tracked in classrooms with curriculum
designed to control their behaviors and responses.
There are several factors that were also
observed by different theorists. They contribute to development of the child in
relation to the behaviors he acquires due to environmental factors.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
was a biologist who originally studied molluscs 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 (Wood, 1998). Children’s minds work and
develop enormously influencing educational theory. Their mind grow up and its capacity increases to understand
their world. They cannot undertake certain tasks until they are psychologically
mature enough to do so. Their thinking does not develop entirely smooth but
instead, there are certain points at which “it takes off” and moves completely
into new areas and capability. Piaget’s Key Ideas are Assimilation and
Accommodation.
a) Assimilation: The process by which a person takes
material into their mind from the environment, which may mean changing the
evidence of their senses to make it fit.
b) Accommodation: The difference made to one's mind or concepts
by the process of assimilation.
Stages of Cognitive
Development
Key ideas that are
developed by the stages in cognitive theory which will support assimilation and
accommodation in relation to learning are:
Pre-operational (2-7
years): Here the child learns to
use language and to represent objects by images and words. Thinking is still
egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others. It classifies
objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the red blocks regardless
of shape or all the square blocks regardless of colour.
Concrete
operational (7-11 years): Can think logically about objects and events.
Classifies objects
according to several features and can order them in series along a single
dimension such as size.
Formal operational (11 years and up): Can think
logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically. Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and
ideological problems.
Piaget's approach is
central to the school of cognitive theory known as "cognitive
constructivism": other scholars, known as "social constructivists",such as Vygotsky and Bruner, have laid more emphasis
on the part played by language and other people in enabling children to learn.
Skinner also identified the reactions of a learner
in a given type of environment and drew conclusions. He states that pleasant
experiences (reward) are positive reinforces because they make desired
connections between stimuli and response unlike unpleasant experience
(punishment) are negative reinforces because they make learners to avoid
undesirable responses to stimuli. Further he states that continuous
reinforcement increases rate of learning and lack of any also shapes.
Intermittent reinforcement retains what is learned for long while both pleasant
and unpleasant shape behavior. Lack of acknowledgement of their behavior, they
will likely receive some kind of reinforcement.
The constructivist
perspective of readiness and development was advanced by theorists such as Jean
Piaget, Maria Montessori, and Lev Vygotsky.
Although their work varies greatly, each articulates a similar context of
learning and development. They are consistent in their belief that learning and
development occur when young children interact with the environment and people
around them (Hunt, 1969). Constructivists view young children as active
participants in the learning process. In addition, constructivists believe
young children initiate most of the activities required for learning and
development. Because active interaction with the environment and people are
necessary for learning and development, constructivists believe that children
are ready for school when they can initiate many of the interactions they have
with the environment and people around them. Influenced schools and educators
pay a lot of attention to the physical environmental and the curriculum of
early childhood classroom. Kindergarten classrooms are divided into different
learning centers and fitted with environmentally appropriate materials for
young children. Teacher and adult converse directly with children, meaningful
activities are incorporated into curriculum through children experience, children are engaged by parents in reading
and storytelling activities.
Maria Montessori developed an educational theory where she
combined ideas of scholars with methods she had found in medicine, education,
and anthropology. "We should really find the way to teach the child how,
before, before making him execute a task." She suggested that teachers see
themselves as social engineers; she enhanced the scientific qualities
of education-the Montessori Method (kilpatric, 1971).
In 1907, she started
directing a system of daycare centers for working class children in one
of romes worst neighborhood. The children
entered her program as "wild and unruly". Much to her surprise they
began to respond to her teaching methods. She always held them in the highest
regard and taught her teachers to do likewise. She believed that the learning
environment was just as important as the learning itself. Because of this
belief her schools were often peaceful, orderly places, were the children
valued their space for concentration and the process of learning.she trained thousands of teachers the Montessori
curriculum and methodology around the world (Bentley, 1964).
Today, most researchers have come to understand
child development and the learning process as articulated by the
constructivists. However, this view has not been widely translated into practice.
Many kindergarten teachers and parents still believe that young children are
not ready for school unless they can recite the alphabet, count, and have the
ability to follow instructions from adults.
These theories explain
deeply on how teaching and learning in Early Childhood Education is effective
and the better understanding of one another. The results when incorporated will
definitely bring out a perfect score ever which is helpful to the learner in
his/her entire life.
Bowe, Frank. (2005). Making
Inclusion Work. Merrill Education/Prentice Hall.
Gesell, A. (1940). The first five years
of life. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Halt John, 1983) How Children Learn. UK: Penguin
books.
Hastings. R.P., & Oakford, S.
(2003), Student teachers' attitudes toward the inclusion of children
with special needs. Educational Psychology, page
23, 87-95
Hunt, J.M. (1969). The impact and limitations of the giant of
developmental psychology.
In D. Elkind &
J. Flavell (Eds.), Studies in
cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jean Piaget. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Kavale,
K.A. (2002), Mainstreaming to full inclusion: From orthogenesis to
pathogenesis of an idea. International Journal of Disability,
Development, and Education, page 49, 201-214.
Kilpatrick, W.H. (1971). The Montessori
System Examined, Arno Press Inc.
Montessori, M. (1964). Dr.
Montessori's Own Handbook, Robert Bentley, Inc.
National Association for
the Education of Young Children (N.A.E.Y.C., 1966). Montessori
in Perspective.
Powell, D.R. (1991). Strengthening
parental contributions to school readiness and early school learning (Paper
commissioned by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement). Washington, DC: U.S. Department
of Education.
Praisner,
C. L. (2003), Attitudes of elementary
school principals toward the inclusion of students with
disabilities. Exceptional Children. page 69, 135-145.
Salkind, N.J. (1981). Arnold Gesell and the Maturational Approach. Theories
of
Human Development. New York:
Van Nostrand.
Satterly, D. (1987). Piaget and Education in R.L Gregory (ed.) The Oxford Companion to
the Mind Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Scheyer et
al. (1996). The Inclusive Classroom Teacher Created Materials, Inc. The
Inclusive Classroom.
Wood, D. (1998). How Children Think and
Learn (2nd edition) Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing.
Suggested Citation in APA
Wanjohi,A.M.(2010).Child
Development Theories. KENPRO Publications. Available
online at http://www.kenpro.org/papers/childhood-theory.htm
Access pdf
Click
to access printer friendly pdf format for download.