OEP 101: EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY LECTURE FOUR DEVELOPMENT OF A CHILD
OEP
101: EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
LECTURE
FOUR
DEVELOPMENT
OF A CHILD
Main concepts
Developmental
psychology is the scientific study of how and
why human beings change over the course of their life. Originally
concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to
include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire
lifespan. Developmental psychologists aim to explain how thinking, feeling and behavior
change throughout life. This field examines change across three major
dimensions: physical development, cognitive development, and socio-emotional
development.
There is a clear
distinction between ‘growth’ and ‘development’ as used in psychology.
Both concepts are based on the fact that during life span individuals are
progressing from one stage to a higher stage.
Growth:
is
used when the changes are quantitatively, ie. An increase or decrease in numbers.
A good example is height and weight of a child. In normal circumstances
children’s height and weight increases as they progress in years. We expect two
years old to be shorter and lighter at this age relative to when they will be
in primary school.
Development:
is
used for qualitative changes. Development is progressive
acquisition of various skills (abilities) such as head support, speaking,
learning, expressing the feelings and relating with other people. These are not
directly observable but infer some changes within the individual have taken
place. A good example is language development. At birth children cannot talk
however around two years they begin to speak. Language spoken at the age of two
is qualitatively inferior relative to
the language used at four or at ten. The changes manifested in language don’t
mean that the brain has changed but rather some reorganization has taken place
that account for the differences between the stages.
Development a child
(students) can be looked at three main areas which are: physical, cognitive and psychosocial.
These areas are interrelated and develop simultaneously. There is quite
variation in rate of development as in some group of students of the same age
and in the same age in the class and all still growing you find some of them
are taller while others are shorter, some are heavy and others are not so
heavy, some have language development while others have not. There are also
some developmental variations within the individual himself/herself. Some may grow
fast in terms of weight but more slowly in height. The implication is that
students of the same age are similar in some aspects and different in others.
The periods of child
development are classified by psychologists into four periods. Notice that, there
is variation on the onset and end of the periods. The periods are:
a)
Infancy:starts
from birth to 18 to 24 months. It is characterized by :
-
Total dependence on the caregivers at
the beginning
-
Development of sensorimotor coordination
-
Walking
-
Language
-
Thinking and
-
Learning
b)
Early childhood:starts
at the end of infancy and extends to 2.5 to 6 years.Early childhood (usually
defined as birth to year 8) is a time of tremendous physical, cognitive,
socio-emotional, and language development. Sometime this is called preschool
period. The child is more self-sufficient and has developed some skills related
to improved sensorimotor coordination.
c)
Middle to late childhood:extends
from 6 to 11 years. Most of children in this stage are in primary schools
(elementary schools). They have developed self-control and acquire primary
skills of learning such as reading, writing and math.
d)
Adolescence:begins
around 11 years and extends to between 18. This is a transitional period from
childhood to adulthood that is characterized by rapid body changes that
includes the development of sexual organs functions. Also individuals in this
stage seek self-independence. Most complete primary school at this stage, and
most of secondary school students are in this period.
ROLE OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT ON
THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS
In
development there is a constant interaction between nature and environment
(nurture). The nature component involves the biological processes that
start at conception i.e. genetic inheritance formed by the combination of genes
of the sperm and those in the ova. The conception process has a major role in
determining the rate of growth of the body in terms of weight and height; and
the development of brain, motor skills and body changes caused by hormones.
Also, there are some human potential that are genetically programmed, including
the learning processes, language development and motor coordination.
The
environment (nurture) includes
physical and social surroundings. Physical environment is essential for the
survival of the individual, his/her development in general and learning
process. Some studies have indicated that children who had severe kwashiorkor experienced learning
difficulties later in schools (Galler, et al, 1987), and those exposed to lead
later on in life experience physiological problems (Patrick, 2006). In
physically stimulating environments children were found to be more developed
language wise than those in less stimulating environment (UNESCO, 1987). Social
environment in form of child’s relationship with other people has great
influence on the socio-emotional processes of the child i.e. emotional and
personality changes of the child.
As
a teacher, you are part of the environment and your aim is to enhance learning
and the full development of the students’ abilities and you need to avoid being
source of deterring learning potential of the students.
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT DURING CHILDHOOD
Brain
is the major organ of cognitive processes. The brain is divided into different
parts that are involved in different aspects of cognition and learning.
The brain has two
halves; called cerebral hemisphere, which
are connected by corpus callosum (The corpus callosum is a
thick band of nerve fibers that divides the cerebral cortex lobes into left and
right hemispheres. It connects the left and right sides of the brain allowing
for communication between both hemispheres).
The two spheres appear
to be identical but there are some differences in their functions. Cerebral lateralization is the
specialization of the functions of each sphere of the brain. The right
hemisphere controls the left side of the body while the left hemisphere
controls the right side of the body. So, if you are right handed you are left
lateralized, if left handed you are right lateralized. For most people speech
is localized in the left hemisphere. Nonverbal processes such as spatial
perception, visual activities and emotions are predominantly localized in the
right hemisphere.
However, studies show
that the brain is more complicated than that since both atmospheres to some
degree are involved in all activities. Complex functions such as logic and
creativity involve both spheres of the brain.
The brain has four
lobes. Frontal lobe has functions for motor activities and thinking; temporal
lobe has functions for hearing; parietal lobe has functions for body
sensations; and occipital lobe has functions for vision. The brain lobes are as
seen in the diagram below.
In describing cognitive
development Jean Piaget (1896-1980) a Swiss psychologist while working with the
results of IQ tests of children he noticed that young children’s answers are
qualitatively different from those given by older children. He believed that
children are actively constructing their world as they respond to what they
see, touch or test. For him the way human respond to the environment is not
learned but an inherit method of intellectual functioning i.e. a function that
is there since birth.
Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development has four major stages with sub-stages in each stage. Here
come some important concepts before discussing the Piaget’s stages.
·
Schema
is
a concept or an organized pattern of thoughts or behavior that one organized
unit. Riding a bicycle is a scheme
(behavior); picture of a dog or a dog is a scheme;
and teaching is a scheme (a complex
one). Schemes help us to organize and make sense of our world.
·
Adaptation
is a psychological mechanism used by children to use and adapt schemas in a new
experience. This mechanism has two processes, namely assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilationoccurs when a child
incorporates new knowledge into existing knowledge i.e. taking in new objects,
events and concepts into the existing schemas. Accommodation occurs when we are changed by what enters into our
mental structures. So, through assimilation we transform the environment to fit
into preexisting cognitive structures while accommodation changes our cognitive
structures in order to accept something new from the environment.
·
Equilibration
is
a concept developed by Piaget that describes the cognitive balancing of new
information with old knowledge.
...... Equilibration involves
the assimilation of information to fit with an individual's own existing mental
schemas and the accommodation of information by adapting it their way of
thinking.
·
Organization
is
when bring together isolated behaviors or ideas into a single more complex
behavior or concept. This leads to have smooth functioning cognitive system.
The above processes are
fundamental on how children understand their world and adapt it in their mental
structures.
All children follow the same
sequence but at different rate.
Piaget’s stages
1. The sensorimotor stage
This stage extends from
birth to 2 years. The term sensorimotor imply that during this stage the child
explores his world by using sensory experiences such as seeing, hearing and
touching. It is by coordinating these experiences that the child develops the
first schemas and it is the basis of the beginning of cognitive development.
At this stage child’s
responses are through reflex actions i.e. unlearned, innate reflexes such as
sucking anything he/she touches or grasping any object he touches to his palm
of hand.
This stage is then
sub-divided into three parts known as primary
circular reaction dealing with deliberately repeated actions involve only
body e.g. sucking (involves fingers and mouth). The second is secondary
circular reaction in which children develops behaviors like holding an object
and coordinate several actions to achieve something. The third one is called
tertiary circular reaction between 12 and 18 months whereby a child starts
experiment with things e.g. deliberately dropping things to see what will
happen.
During this stage a
child forms the first schemas through assimilation and accommodation in
adapting to his/her world. It is the beginning of the organization process.
Development of language (associating sounds with objects or events) is another
important aspect in this stage.
Also, they develop
sense of object permanencei.e. objects continue to exist even when out
of sight. Before then children do not look for objects that are removed or
obstructed out of visual field, cannot be seen, heard or touched. The sense of
object permanence is very significant since the child’s world becomes organized
and predictable. Furthermore, in this stage the child becomes aware that he/she
can be the cause of an action. Also, due to development of mobility the child
is able to explore objects that are far and consequently new mental abilities.
At this stage children
learn to walk, meaning they gain the ability to access the environment around
them. Before walking they had to depend on others to bring items to them, now
they can move around to the object and explore their surroundings. So in
sensorimotor stage children learn through use of senses, actively exploring
their environment.
Touch the palm (the central. region of the front of the hand) ofa child less than 12 months old and
observe his/her reactions.
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2.
Preoperational stage
This stage extends from
2 to 7 years. According to Piaget operations
are actions that we perform mentally including knowing an object, thinking and
manipulating ideas. A good example is when we compare things mentally to
discover their similarities and differences. So, in preoperational stage the
child is not yet able to manipulate things mentally through s/he has started to
use language. In this stage a child’s mental functioning is mainly characterized
with the use of symbols.
The child gains the
mental ability to represent an object that is absent, a demonstration of thinking.
The use of language expands rapidly; they engage in pretending plays whereby an
object (let’s say a piece of wood) may represent a house, a car or person. In
the play they assume that the innate objects (not endowed with life or spirit )are alive and conscious, referred to as animism
(is the belief that everything has a soul or spirit).
Another characteristic
of this stage is egocentrism (is the inability to differentiate between self and
other. ...). this is the inability to know and recognize that other people see
objects from their point of view and instead they think that the other person
is seeing the object as s/he is seeing it from his/her position.
Because of this
characteristic a child at this stage may need company of other children but
normally each one engage in his/her own play and monologue.
Do not waste your
time forcing a child in this age to see things from your point of view.
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Centration refers
to child’s tendency of concentrating and focusing on only one aspect of an
object and disregarding the other aspects although they are important features
of the object.
Children in
preoperational stage also lack conservation i.e. the ability to realize
that properties of an object remain the same although its shape might change.
For adults a volume of liquid remains the same even when put into a container
of different shape or size. Due to lack of conservation a child thinks that
water poured into a narrow container is more than when it was in broad
container. This is caused by irreversibility i.e. the child being
unable to reverse mentally the procedures or his/her thinking.
Therefore, in this
stage of preoperational children learn by experiencing real objects in their
surroundings. They use symbols and images in constructing knowledge about their
world. Children are egocentric and cannot understand other people’s point of
view.
3.
Concrete Operational Stage
This stage extends from
7 to 11 years. In this stage children overcome the limitations of the
preoperational stage by using reasoning that involves concrete operations i.e.
they can deal with real concrete situations but are unable to deal with
abstract situations.
The child now has
establishes conservation since s/he can reverse mental actions and take into
account several aspects of the object or event instead of focusing only on one
aspect.
Egocentric thinking
diminishes too. A child in this stage makes addition by counting real things,
mostly fingers. The problem comes when the sum is more than ten and they are
wearing shoes! This is why children at this stage seem to carry bottle tops in
a string to school for making calculations.
This stage is
characterized by a number of behaviors like:
Classification i.e.
to sort out things from a big group and put them in sets or categories based on
their similarities. Also, they have the ability to know an object can be
classified into different groups, eg. one woman at the same time can be a
daughter, mother, sister, wife and grandmother.
Seriationthis
is an ability lacking in the preoperational stage where children cannot compare
more than two objects at the same time. Due to seriation they can reason about
relationships and come up with logical conclusions (transitivity). They can conclude that object “C” is taller than
object “A” upon realization that “B” is taller than “A” and “C” is taller than
“B”.
Spend some time in
lower classrooms in a primary school i.e. standard one and two. Make
observations of the characteristics of children in preoperational stage.
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4.
Formal Operational stage
This is the fourth and
last stage in Piaget’s cognitive theory. It starts at about 11 and 12 years
(during adolescence). In the previous stage a child is only able to conduct
concrete operations by using real objects. However, in this stage the
adolescent demonstrates the ability to think in abstract, idealistic and
logical ways. They solve problems presented to them verbally and they can
express themselves without relying on concrete objects.
One of their
characteristics is that they can differentiate the real from the possible and
can think about the future. They have developed hypothetical-deductive reasoning whereby
they think abstractly in systematic manner that involves developing hypothesis
and means of testing them.
In their plans they
gather all possible information and study possible combinations of solving the
problems.
IMPLICATIONS
OF THE THEORY TO TEACHERS
·
Teachers have knowledge on developmental
psychology especially on cognitive development.
·
Teachers get to understand that children
are mentally qualitatively different from adults and among themselves depending
on their cognitive stage of development (individual variations)
·
Enable teachers to recognize and understand
that children’s answers are not ‘wrong’ or ‘weird’ (weird -a miujiza, sio
kawaida; -a kuogofya, -a ajabu, mtu mwenye tabia ya pekee.
) but statements indicating the state of their mental functions.
·
Guide teachers to observe the mental
functions of their students basing on important key factors.
·
Help the curriculum developers to
develop the curriculum that suit the learners with their environment and level
of cognitive development.
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