Assessment number:

3 of 5

Assessment title:

AT3: Report

Name:

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Date:

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Part A: For each theory students are required to document Three examples of how these theories would be seen in use in practice.  An explanation of how each example specifically links to the theory also needs to be included.

Arnold Gesell – Maturation

1.    Two different students with same age of 4 years might have different developmental patterns according to their heredity. Example: one might understand the concept of sharing or playing cooperatively with friends while the other might be more interested in being conversational with friends during early childhood education in school. So designing different activities for both will encourage their development process.

2.    A student in school is four years old and has good imaginative play. While the other student of same years is too rough and cry too readily during playtime with the other mates. Designing the activities accordingly could lead to improved learning abilities of students.

3.    One student of 4 years is more spontaneous and play better with another child outside rather than indoors while the other student is shy and is either cranky or moody. Designing both indoor and outdoor games to suit all children would imply better growing environment in school.

Bronfebrenner – Bio-Ecological

1.    A teacher asking a question with a pre-determined answer would enhance the students’ learning by engaging them with the environment.

2.    A teacher asks a pre-school to associate the alphabet with the sound is an example of a molecular act under the Bronfebrenner’s theory that could reinforce repetition amongst the child but would appear meaningless in child’s eyes.

3.    A teacher is asking an open-ended question from the child without a pre-set answer would mean that the student is being engaged into a molar activity by the teacher.

Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky – Cognitive

1.    During show and tell, one pre-school child might consider the ball to be used for rolling while the other child who brought the ball in class might associate ball with throwing. No-one is wrong in this scenario as ball can be used for throwing and rolling both but as each child has different cognitive approach, they would only associate ball with the activity that they like the most.

2.    Teacher at pre-school promoting exploration and discovery activities through giving puzzles to the children while distributing them into groups. The teacher would evaluate the educational progress of child in comparison with its previous development instead of basing it on normative or average performance of same-age peer groups.

3.    A whole language classroom approach in the literacy class is also a practical example where this strategy is used. Students might begin with the open library where they can select pictorial books in which they are interest in and use their own judgement about the characters and shapes used in the book. The results of each student choice are displayed visually in classroom that will further enhance the development mechanism of the students.

Howard Gardner – Theory of Multiple Intelligences

1.    The theory of multiple intelligences can be applied for each of the eight different intelligences. In a classroom setting, the teacher can improve verbal-linguistic intelligence (word smart) by using digital resources like electronic libraries, word games and word processing for persuading students in using words like “please”, “thankyou” and “sorry”.

2.    For improving the spatial intelligence (picture smart), the teacher can use the Legos, clay or playdough for making objects and improving the child’s motor skills and virtual receptive skills at early childhood.

3.    The musical intelligence (music smart) can be enhanced by using background music (soft music) when describing a kitten, puppy, duckling or other animals. Using their sounds can improve their listening skills as well as feel & process information through sounds more effectively.

Erik Erikson – Psychosocial

 1.    Accepting the students’ mistakes in classroom as a result of attempting some activity can enhance and boost their morale. A teacher can guide a pre-school student in fixing a broken toy or playdough to make them feel more confident in their abilities while attempting activities on their own.

2.    Cleaning for a spilled over water during painting session can teach pre-schoolers that there is a life beyond the mistakes and help them in improving their morale and confidence level.

3.    Redoing an activity with the student like palm paintings or play dough shaping can make students feel accomplished and motivated instead of scolding or punishing them for not being able to do the task correctly.

Part B:

Students are required to respond to the following questions:

Discuss in detail.

Why do you think it is important as an early childhood educator, that you have an understanding and ability to apply theory into practice while working with children?

As an early childhood educator, it is important to understand the theories related to child development so that the skills and behaviour of children can be predicted easily (Odom, 2016). Child development is the basic foundation upon which the early childhood education is based. In order to be able to support the child’s growth, development and learning, it is imperative for the early childhood educators to apply various theories practically (Hargraves, 2011). Each theory has its own objective that can vary between developing psychomotor skills, cognitive abilities, linguistic development or socio-emotional skills. Without having prior knowledge of the early childhood developmental theories by Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, the early educators might fail to understand the developmental needs and phases of children (Brooks, 2004). The quality teachers are the ones who can understand and apply the developmental theories for improving various skills of the students in the classroom (Epstein, 2014).

The understanding of child development is a vital ingredient for putting the developmentally appropriate theories into practice while dealing with children. The ability to apply the developmental theories at classroom practice can provide the rich and meaningful educational experiences for the children and families at early childhood (Dunkel & Harbk, 2017). The ultimate goal for having prior knowledge and ability to apply the right developmental theory as an early childhood educator can help the children in facilitating the acquisition of social-emotional competencies and promoting the family-specific attitudes for supporting children’s’ learning and development (Wang, 2015). In short, it is imperative for the early childhood educators to apply certain developmental theories during home-visiting, child care, preschool and/or kindergarten to enhance children’s learning across cognitive, communicative, social-emotional and the behavioural domains. By applying certain theories practically, the early childhood practitioners can achieve great outcomes that are the ultimate measures of successful professional development skills.

How would you use your understanding of Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial theory to support and enhance the development of children’s self-esteem and self-identity?

Self-esteem and self-identity are two main concepts coined by Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial theory (Dunkel & Harbk, 2017). For improving the self-esteem, as an early childhood educator, tasks can be arranged in such a way that the students will know that they have been successful in completing them. For limiting the feelings of inferiority, the teacher can play down the comparisons and encourage cooperation and self-competition amongst the pre-schoolers (Cvencek, Greenwald, & Meltzoff, 2016). With younger preschool children, the teachers can allow plenty of opportunities where the pre-schoolers can get to play freely and do experiments. This would encourage their development of autonomy and reduce the self-doubt possibility amongst the children. By permitting use of initiative during various activities, the pre-schoolers would get a sense of accomplishment and self-motivated (Bakken, Brown, & Downing, 2017).

Similarly for improving the self-identify development amongst young pre-schoolers, the teachers can enhance the sense of positive identity amongst pre-schoolers by recognizing them as individuals and praising them for their accomplishments frequently (Bakken, Brown, & Downing, 2017). One example of such kind is to encourage socializing amongst different pre-schoolers so that particular students who lack recognition from their peers due to ineptness or other abrasive qualities can feel included and attached with their peers. Complimenting good choices and encouraging cause-and-effect thinking can improve the self-esteem of the pre-schoolers as they’ll feel motivated in finding solutions to problems themselves. Helping students in identifying their own strengths and weaknesses will also develop confidence and help them in focusing on goals and strengths. Training in hygiene and cleaning might also increase the pre-schoolers confidence and self-sufficiency skills.

For developing self-esteem in pre-schoolers, the teachers can start responding to individuality of each student (Dunkel & Harbk, 2017). Moreover, including the cultural aspects and experiences in the content of teaching can improve the self-identity and esteem of pre-schoolers effectively. It is important for early childhood educators to give a warm and nurturing environment to pre-schoolers for developing their deep sense of basic trust so that they develop a healthy personality. Letting children use their imaginations during free play time can stir in the belief in them that active questioning, curiosity and initiative are treated as virtues.  So, designing the activities where imagination and initiative are supported, can improve the self-esteem and self-identity amongst pre-schoolers.

Explain the factors based on what you have learnt from your research into the theories and how they can influence a child’s emotional and psychological development and how this can be applied in your role as an educator.

As an early childhood educator, it is important to understand and get a grip on several theoretical concepts regarding child development (Swin, 2019). Various factors are important when it comes to child’s emotional and psychological development. Many researchers and educators have researched different aspects of development mechanism in early childhood (Tudge & Vargas, 2016). For instance, the Piaget’s theory advocates that development is a biological process while Vygotsky outlines the role of social and cultural scaffolding in the development of pre-schoolers (Woolfolk, 2004). Finding appropriate support in social context by a child who faces a problem that is little above his individual solving can promote his mental development. Moreover other factors like experience, initiatives and research are seen as key factors in building social construction of knowledge amongst pre-schoolers (Woolfolk, 2004).

According to the theory by Bronfenbrenner, the exosystems and macrosystems can influence the growth and development of children in early childhood (Tudge & Vargas, 2016). The educators are required to understand the culture beliefs and lifestyle of the children so that they can support the learning mechanism of the children effectively. Apart, from culture, the exosystems would include parents’ workplace and their home life and interests evolving around the children. The mesosystem are also required to be understood by the early childhood educators that include the understanding of neighbourhood and peer groups. For developing intellectually, emotionally, morally and socially, a child needs the sense of self-esteem, self-identity, participation, motivation and ability to take initiatives. In order to motivate the children and aid them in participating from early childhood, the educators must be able to understand the individual personality and apply knowledge gained practically (Hargraves, 2011).

It is evident from research that the early childhood educators must be able to apply the theoretical knowledge concerned with development of children so that they can arrange activities accordingly that suit the environment. Teachers should also apply concept of rewarding the children instead of punishing them by using the theories of Erik Erikson, Jean Paiget and Howard Garden. Under all these theories, the focus is on allowing students to take initiative and learn by sensory abilities like hearing, touching etc (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). All of these methods can enhance students’ experience and boost their morale for better learning at young pre-school time.

Explain your understanding what the links between social, physical, psychological and cognitive development that occur for a child’s development.

Social, physical, psychological and cognitive all are four developmental domains that are inter-linked with each other (Kenny, Hill, & Hamilton, 2016). When we talk about how children grow over time, we are simply referring to the progress of their development that is intertwined into these four basic domains. The cognitive development is the way that explains how children grow intellectually while the social development is the child’s ability to interact with students and adults  (Kenny, Hill, & Hamilton, 2016). Emotional development refers to the process with which the children cope with anxiety and stress while the psychological development includes the ways with which the child resolves the conflicts arising from younger ages (Kenny, Hill, & Hamilton, 2016). Based on the development theories, each child move from infancy to old age while his social, psychological and physical development corresponds to each other.

Physical, cognitive and social development is closely linked with each other. For example, if a child fails to achieve the basic milestone of physical development, he might be seen as a difficult learner who might also fail to master the complex cognitive processes as compared to typical other pre-schoolers. As a result of this, he might feel demotivated and avoid socializing with the peer groups  (Kenny, Hill, & Hamilton, 2016). Similarly, it is believed that the tasks used for assessing mirror neuron systems include imitation tasks and action understanding tasks. Both of these tasks also contribute towards development of cognitive behaviour and social behaviour of students.

It is also considered that the child’s development is affected substantially due to the way he interacts with the environment  (Kenny, Hill, & Hamilton, 2016). Change in one domain can impact the other developmental domain in many ways. For instance, for a child in pre-school who is given more opportunities to actively engage with objects might have enhanced social and motor skills as compared to the child who only have passive experience with non-social objects. Furthermore, the kids who crawl and walk as an infant might tend to have more social and language skills as compared to the other kids (Iverson, 2010). Overall, several researchers predict that the different developmental domains might be interlinked but the underlying mechanism is entirely dependent on each individual child  (Kenny, Hill, & Hamilton, 2016).

Another example is of the child with developmental disorder like autism or developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Children with these developmental disorders might exhibit poor social skills, poor postural control, difficulties with fine motor and grasping skills and inability to interact and communicate socially. Hence, physical development is proven to be associated with psychological, social and cognitive development in many cases.