Assignment no 8610.docx
- 1. Conceptualize development. Also discuss the domains and stages of development? evelopment: D
- 2. While growth refers to the physical change that an individual undergoes, development refer to certain changes that occur within the life-span of an individual, that is, from conception till death. It not only involves growth, but also entails disintegration and eventually decay (Death). However, not all change are considered as development. Rather, it applies to those change that appear in orderly ways and are considerable permanent. Most of these changes are qualitative in nature and influenced by context, for examples , change in behavioral , social , moral and intellectual aspect of an individual. Overall these change result in better, adaptive, organized and complex human behaviors. Development has been described in different ways to highlight different aspect. These include: domain of development and stages of development. While the former emphasize the processes that characterize development, the later focuses certain age periods to manage the flow of time across child development. The following sections describe each of them in detail.
- 3. Domain of development: The pattern of child development is generally divided into three broad categories including physical, cognitive and social-emotional development . The physical domain involves biological changes that occur over time . These include changes in body size, proportions, appearance, motor skills, physical health etc. The cognitive domain includes changes in intellectual abilities and skills such as thinking, intelligence, creativity, attention, memory, language etc. whereas, the socio-emotional domain highlights the processes that relate to the change in a child’s relationships with other, feeling emotions, values, beliefs, personality etc. The process of child development is quite complex and requires an interaction of several processes including the physical, cognitive and socio-emotional domain, Overall,
- 4. these domains are interrelated and overlapping. Development, itself is the result of this complex interaction. For example, an advancement in the physical domain (e.g., sitting, crawling, walking) contributes towards cognitive domain (e.g., infants’ understanding of their surrounding), which in turn, influence the emotional and social domain (e.g., adults celebrate their baby’s achievement/actions and feelings/bonds are formed). In this ways, these domains influence and are influenced by each other. It is important to note that the domain of child and human development have been classified into a number of different aspects. For examples, one classification of child development includes different domain such as physical, cognitive , language, social and emotional domain (Child Health Explanation, n. d ), Yet, another ways to classify these domains involves physical, personal, social and cognitive. Nevertheless, these domains are not mutually exclusive. For example, social and emotional development overlaps each other significantly and so, can be classified under socio- emotional development. Similarly, cognitive and language development can be grouped together due to their interwoven nature. This is why, we highlight the three broader domains of child development .we are aware that each other. Stage of development :
- 5. It is believed that an interplay of various domains of development ( as discussed in the above section) generate the different stages of child development. Some of the psychologists have used age to account for the new capacities, transitions and social expectation in children over the course time. The most common classification of child development includes the age periods highlighted in this Table. Stage Age period Characteristics Prenatal period Conception till birth 1. Rapid change 2. Transformation of a single cell into a human body Infancy and toddlerhood Birth up to 2 years 1. Extreme dependency 2. Beginning of intense physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development Early childhood/preschool years 2 to 6 years 1. Self-sufficient 2. Psychological and moral development 3. Considerable expansion in thought and language Middle childhood/ Elementary school years 6 to 11 years 1. Increased responsibility 2. Improved thought processes and athletic abilities
- 6. 3. Mastery of reading, writing and mathematical skills 4. Increased self and social awareness Adolescence 11 to 18 years 1. Transition to adulthood 2. Rapid physical changes 3. Increased autonomy, abstract thinking and reasoning 4. Development of a strong belief system Question No #2 Discuss the physical characteristics of a learner? ANSWER: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNERS It is important to consider the physical characteristics of learners, since their physical need influence the nature of instruction and learning environment. Although children who from an educational group at a school usually share similar physical attributes due to same age and rather similar socio-economic backgrounds, yet growth patterns and physical characteristics may vary with regard to gender and prior
- 7. experiences. This section highlights the physical characteristics of the pre and elementary school children. CHILDREN NEED TO MOVE Children at the pre and elementary school level have an inherent need to move their bodies. It is, thus, difficult for them to remain static with little or no body movement while working on sedentary activity IMPROVED EYE-HAND COORDINATI0N Eye- hand coordination, also referred to as visual motor integration skills, begin to develop during infancy. It controls the hand movement of a child guided by his/her vision. Although this coordination is not sophisticated during infancy, it reaches to the point of near independence during the pre-school years, and continues to improve through middle childhood. IMPROVED BODY COORDINATION Balance and coordination are critical physical attributes which help the child to maintain a controlled body position while performing a task. While the pre and elementary school children show increased body coordination in high energy activities such a running, climbing etc. they can fail easily. it is, thus, important to remain vigilant and ensure safety and injury prevention measures.
- 8. Improved perceptual abilities Although the five basic senses are well developed at birth, the child continues to develop perceptual abilities during pre and elementary school years. these improved abilities help the child to interact with the physical and social world in an effective way. IMPROVED GROSS AND FINES MOTOR SKILL The motor skill development follows the ‘general to specific ‘ growth pattern among children .children tend to develop gross motors well in advance before they start to develop fine motor skills . pre and elementary school children develop better upper body mobility and coordination . they continue develop improved gross motor skills through age 7 and beyond . this results in refined fine motor skills for children which help them to manipulate sharp objects etc with greater precision . the development of fine motor skills is crucial for other activities which require increased physical control and skills such as writing , painting , etc. ACTIVITIES IN SCHOOL Physical activities play a critical role in developing the basic movement skills of children . since it is difficult for children to work for on secondary activities for longer
- 9. duration of time , this section presents some ideas about developing physical activities for children in the pre and elementary school year . these ideas can be modified and expanded in certain other ways to support the physical development of children . Preschool and kindergarten Preschool children are generally aged between three to five years. At this age, children tend to develop sufficient control over their fine motor skill which help them to draw, white, copy shapes and engage in activities that require precise control of hand and body movement. Children at this age learn best through intrinsic interests and physical involvement. Some traditional physical activities for this age level involve running, jumping, hopping, skipping, drawing, coloring, painting, cutting, pasting, gluing, using play dough, rollers, and shape cutter etc. However, teachers caregiver or parents can certain extend this network in some non-traditional ways. This may involve using outside play as a reward for children, free play days, dramatic play, role play sand, wet mud or clay play, college, cooking, building and relaxation play, activities etc. Overall, physical activities that are meaning and enjoyable are more likely to produce positive learning outcomes among young children. Such activities lay the foundation for many
- 10. other skill such as literacy, numeracy, and emotional stability which are needed in later years. ELEMENTARY LEVEL The school age children continue to develop their gross and fine motor skill. With this refinement, they become adept at activities which require precise hand and body control, for example, writing. Daily physical activities should be incorporated into the school routine of elementary school children to maintain active physical development. This can be done in different ways, for example, introducing health and physical education classes and integrating physical activities into other areas of curriculum. Besides physical education classes, there are many other ways in which teachers can engage students in physical activities. These include, for example, allocating some time for physical activities on daily basis, incorporating concepts from other area of curriculum into physical activity time and vice versa, and providing children with hands-on experience as much as possible.
- 11. The overall goals of such activities should be to make children move their bodies at a moderate or rigorous level of intensity for at least 20 minutes during the school time. Some educationists also argue that engaging students in effective physical activities at elementary school is likely to have a positive impact on their overall health and well-being during adulthood by incorporating a life-style change. QUESTION NO#3 What is intelligence? Discuss different issues associated with intelligence in education? ANSWER: DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE The term intelligence has been describe differently by expert with little agreement over what factors or dimensions comprise its structure. This is because it is an abstract and board concept which is not directly measurable like some other human traits such as height, weight etc. Generally, intelligence is thought of a combination of different attributes, for example, the ability to solve problems and adapt and learn from experiences, creativity, and interpersonal skill. Although many expert agree that intelligence has several characteristics, there is a little consensus about the nature of these characteristics.
- 12. Similarly, some agree that these characteristics are closely related to each other; whereas other argue that they are distinct features. Besides, some view intelligence as a single capacity while other believes that it is a collection of loosely related abilities. These varied belief have influenced that theoretical position as well as the measures of intelligence. Theoretical positions There is a continuous debate among psychologists about whether intelligence is composed of a single capacity or a number of specific capacities. Spearman suggested that there is a general ability or intelligence which is responsible for an individual’s overall success in different tasks. For example, people who have good memory and information processing mechanisms are likely to perform better at problem solving tasks. Overall general intelligence includes abstract thinking or reasoning, the capacity to acquire new knowledge and problem solving ability. However, other theories argue that individuals have more than one specific ability, and thus view intelligence as multifaceted. TRIARCHIC THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE: Robert Sternberg proposed that intelligence is composed of three basic components including analytical, creative and practical components. The analytical component deals with a person’s ability to solve problems by analyzing ideas and thinking critically. Creative intelligence refers to
- 13. the ability to combine different ideas to form something novel by thinking outside of the box. Whereas, practical intelligence involve applying knowledge and skills into different kind of environment. Based on the triarchic theory of intelligence, Sternberg further argued that successful intelligence bring success to one’s life within one’s own goals and contexts. GARDNER’S THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE In contrast to that view that intelligence is composed of a signal or a small number of overarching ability, Howard Gardner suggest that an individual may exhibit several types of intelligences. He categorized these intelligence into eight identifiable form and argues that there could be possibly more than these forms. His list of intelligences includes the following: logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Both Gardner and Sternberg emphasize the ability to understand one’s own self and other. Contemporary theorists show considerable interest in student emotional intelligence which enables them to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, express emotional appropriately, monitor their own and other’s emotions and feeling, and allow emotions to guide their thinking and actions. However, they are criticized for
- 14. broadening the concept of intelligence without adequate research based evidence. ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES One of the greatest controversies in the area of educational and developmental psychology is whether intelligence is an inherited ability or whether it can be developed by an individual’s personal and contextual experience. Early psychologist view intelligence as an inherent and fixed capacity which cannot be altered. This view is referred to as an entity view of intelligence. However, other argue that context plays an important role in development intelligence and it can be improved with practice and a supportive environment. This view is known as the incremental view of intelligence. The incremental view of intelligence is popular with the teacher and educationists. Who believe that student’s intelligence and performance can be improved under supportive circumstances. MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE A number of standardized test have been used to measure intelligence. Although these test given information about a rather narrow range of an individual’s capabilities, they are popular with psychologists and educator because they provide a reasonable fair picture of further success. Generally, intelligence test has been divided
- 15. into two broad categories, including the individual and group intelligence test. INDIVIDUAL INTELLIGENCE TESTS The Stanford-Binet test and the Wechsler scales are the two most commonly used individual test to measure intelligence. Alfred Binet constructed a measure of intelligence in response to the French government’s call in 1904. He developed the concept of mental age (M A) which represent a child’s mental development in relation to the other children. His test consisted of 30 items to assess mental processes and behaviors. Later, in 1912, William Stern introduced intelligence quotient (IQ), which represent an individual mental age (MA) divided by chronological age (CA), multiplied by 100. Furthermore, aptitude and achievement test are also used as indicators of an individual’s intelligence. Aptitude tests refer to the person’s potential to perform a particular task in future , whereas achievement test assess the actual knowledge and skill of the person. While the above mentioned test provide appropriate measure for children and adults, there are special test which are designed to measure the infants’ intelligence as well. These include, for example , the Bayley Scales Infant and Toddler Development.
- 16. These scales are suitable for use with infants as young as one month old up to3.5 years. GROUP INTELLIGENCE TEST A rather quick and cost-effective way of measuring students’ intelligence is to conduct the test in a group. This helps to reduce the related expenses and saved time. There are test that are specifically designed for this purpose, for example, the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test and Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT). However, group intelligence test should be used with caution since they have certain limitations. For example they do not allow the examiner to develop rapport and determine the students’ level of anxiety. It is generally suggested that the scores obtained from group intelligence test should be supplemented with the information from other sources. QUESTION NO # 4 What is social development? Why is it important to develop social skills among students? Concept of social development: Social development is an important aspect of child development. It is the ability to form positive and
- 17. pleasing relationships with other, social development includes learning the value, knowledge and skill that enable children to relate to others effectively and to contribute in positive ways to family, school and community. This kind of learning is delivered on to children by three means: directly by parents and teacher; indirectly through social relationships within the family or with friends, and through children’s participation in the culture around them. Through their relationships with other and their developing awareness of social norms, values and expectations, children construct a sense of identity. As children develop socially, they not only learn how to react appropriately in variant of situations but also play role in shaping their relationships. The development of the social and emotional health of the child is important for the development of his appropriate behavior, understanding of life and shift to adulthood. Social emotional development help shape a child into what he will become later in life by teaching proper reactions to emotional matters. Social skills are all about a child’s ability to cooperate and play with others, paying attention to adults and teachers, and making reasonable how to understand and control emotions. Social development : why is it important? Human being are naturally social. Developing skills in this domain increases child’s capacity to be successful at school
- 18. and social and in social life. Development in social skills enhances mental health, success at work, and the ability to be useful citizen. Social skills include variouse abilities such as communication, problem-solving, decision making, self-management, and peer relations. These skills enable an individual to build and maintain positive social relationships with others extreme social behaviors interfere with learning, teaching, and the classroom’s organization. Social competence is related to peer acceptance, teacher acceptance, present success, success, and future success. If a child does not display appropriate social skills, other children does not like him and will not ,make friends with him. Sometime children work hard to display the new and better behaviors they’ve been told to show, but are exclude by others, perhaps due to past reputation or maybe because others don’t like the newly learned behaviors which don’t seem “natural”. At other times, students may still fail because they have difficulty monitoring and controlling their behavior when unexpected reactions occur. Teachers can help students how cope with such special problems and develop adjustment ability in the circle. THEORIES RELATED TO SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
- 19. There are various theorists who given an insight into social development. In the following section you will have a brief introductions of the theories related to the socio-emotional aspect of child development. Edward John Mostyn Bowllby was a British psychologist, and psychoanalyst, renowned for his interest in child development and for his innovative work in attachment theory. According to Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, attachment is a psychologist bond between human. It lasts for a long period of a time. To Bowlby, because of attachment a baby remains connected to his mother. An infant’s attachment to a caregiver work as the basis for all future social development. MARY AINWORTH( 1913-1999) Mary Dinsmore Salter Ainworth was an American child development psychologist. She is known for her work on emotional attachment of infants to their caregiver. She
- 20. worked with John Bowlby in development of attachment theory. Ainworth found four different categories of attachment: securely attached, avoidant-insecurely attached, anxious- ambivalently attached and disorganized-disoriented attached. According to Ainworth, the attachment patterns which are development in infancy and toddlerhood remains fairly established throughout the lifetime. So it important for parents and teachers to focus on the attachment aspect in order to help child to develop positive social relations in future. ERIK ERIKSON (1902- 1994) Erikson provided another important theory related to social development. His psychosocial theory of personality development has eight stages starting from infancy to old age. Erikson emphasize the relationship between the social and emotional domains. He highlighted the importance of interpersonal relationship which play an important role in an individual’s life in resolving a series of conflicts. In infancy, the conflict is trust versus Mistrust. Erikson hypothesized that an infant will develop trust through interaction with a warm, accessible and responsive caregiver or the infant will develop mistrust through interaction with a negative and unresponsive and unavailable caregiver. Consequently, it is this development of trust in infancy that help an individual to
- 21. succeed in the next stage of toddlerhood called Autonomy versus shame and Doubt. If he has the base of trust in a caregiver developed in the first stage, the child is more likely to develop a sense of his independence and control over his own behavior and environment. The next two stages, the development of initative versus Guilt and Industry versus. Inferiority are particularly critical for teachers. Early childhood is often the age when children first being their participation in formal education. Children must learn to inferiority are particular critical for teachers. Early children is often the age when children first being their interest in personal exploration and the use of their imaginations with working with others involved in the same task. LEV SEMYONOVICH VYGORSKY (1896 – 1934) Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was born in western Russia (Belorussia) in 1896. He is a well –known theorist in the areas of social development and education .he claimed that cognitive function are linked to the external (or social) world .Adults and more competent peers guide a child into the social world .Vygotsky explained that children learn in a systematic and logical way as a result of dialogue and interaction with a skilled helped within a zone of proximal development (ZPD). It has two boundaries .the lower- boundaries of the ZPD is activities the learner can do independently with out the help of a teacher or guide .
- 22. similarly ,the upper limit of the ZPD is those learning out comes that the learner could not achieve at this time even with the assistance of a competent teacher or mentor . Scaffolding is another concept for guiding learning presented by Vygotsky scaffolding is the process by which the teacher continuously changes the level of support given to the learner as the learning needs change .A teacher who is engaged in scaffolding to be involved at every step of instruction .Teacher gradually decreases the support to the child while learning a skill .As he observer that the child can perform the skill independently , he stops assisting the child .Both of these concepts are important in describing how a child become socially competent. ALBERT BANDURA (1925) Albert Bandura was born on December 4, 1925 in the provide of Alberta, Canada. He has done a great deal of work on social learning and is famous for his “Social Learning Theory “. According to Bandura, development of social competence depend on three kind of factor ; (1) Behavior children and adults observe within their home or society (2)mental factors such as a student’s own expectation of success, and (3)social factor such as classroom and school climate.
- 23. Bandura’s reciprocal determinism model indicated that these three factor are mutually related. Each factor effect others equally and changes in one factor will result in change in the others. In the classroom, for example, a child’s beliefs about himself and his competence can effect social behavior which, in turn, will have an impact on the classroom environment. At the same time, changes in the classroom that lead to a change in competence will have an impact on self-efficacy. URIE BRONFENBRENNER (1917 – 2005) A Russian American psychologist, Urie Bronfenbrenner was born on April 29, 1917. He is well-known for his Ecological System Theory which presented view about the impact of the environment on human development. Ecological theory started that people develop within a series of environment systems. At the base is Micro-system, which include home, family, neighborhood and school where the individual spends a large part of his time. According to Bronfenbrenner, the school and the classroom represent an important micro-system of social development for children. Meso-system functions as interconnections between the micro-system. Exo-system involves links between a social setting in which the individual does not have an active role and the individual’s immediate context. For example, a child’s experience at home may be influenced by the parents experience at work. Macro-system describes the
- 24. culture in which individuals live. Culture contexts include developing and industrialized countries , socioeconomic status, poverty, and ethnicity. Chrono-system is the deriving of environment events and changes over the life course, as well as socio-historical conditions. Bronfenbrenner’s work advocates the importance of communication and partnership between the family and school in a child’s social development. QUESTION NO #5 Discuss the social skills of elementary level students? SOCAIL SKILL AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL Teacher play an important role at every level of schooling, including elementary schools. In a series of studies from infancy through third grade , positive teacher – child relationship were linked to a number of positive child outcomes .children who have warm , positive relationship with their teacher have a more positive attitude toward school , are more enthusiastic about learning , and achieve more in school . Group skills are particularly important in a classroom setting . Studies suggest that children ‘s behavior in the classroom is
- 25. as important to their school success as their intellectual ability is . Studies tell us that children typically do better in group that consist of peers who share common characteristics . Helping children identify their interests is the first step in guiding them toward joining a group of children who are more like them . Classroom activities to develop social skills Following section will present classroom activities which can be used by a teacher to develop social skills among children at elementary level . ACTIVE LISTENING The most important social skill needed at all level is listening . At listeners show speakers that they are paying attention . they do this through body language and verbal feedback . One popular method of teaching active listening assigns people to one of three roles .A speaker , a listener , and an observer . the speaker is instructed to talk for a few minutes about something important to him . the listener attends quietly , providing cues to the speaker that she is paying attention . When the speaker is finished talking , the listener also repeat back , in her own word , the speaker’s point . The observer’s job is to evaluate the speaker and listener .
- 26. DID THE SPEAKER STAY ON TOPIC ? HOW DID THE LISTENER INDICATE THAT SHE WAS PAYING ATTENTION ? After the observer shares his observation with the other , the player change roles and try again . The blindfolded walk To play this game, create path with hurdles .then assign player to one of two roles .Blinded player will wear blindfold. leader will take blinded player by the hand and attempt to lead them through the course . Talking is encouraged, and, when they are finished, player should reverse their roles . Joining a group Learning Object : To help children find way – to reach other who have similar interests; to increase group inclusion.
- 27. Skills: Making Friend: Ask the children to think of way to find groups they might like to join. suggest that they focus on their individual interest .Brainstorm ideas and write them on the blackboard or a larger sheet of paper . Tell them: throughout their lives, people participate in many different kind of social group: scout troops; sports team and many more. A class is also a kind of group . Your classmate are part of your group experience every day at school . a child ‘s life is filled with different kinds of group . Distribute Activity sheet : Children can write the answer or raise their hands and answer the question aloud .Use their responses as the basis for a discussion about the different aspects of joining a group .