OEP 101 Module Topic Two (Two lectures)

OEP 101 Module Topic Two (Two lectures)

Title: Development of a Child

Content:

·       Role of heredity and environment development on individual’s  learning

·       Continuous and discontinuous theories of development

·       Development of physical development during childhood

·       Cognitive development during childhood

·       Socio-emotional (psychosocial) development during childhood

·       Development of self

Introduction:

In this Topic we look at students as they grow and develop in relation to learning. Remember that you need to have knowledge of your students so as to be an effective teacher. How can you teach students whom you don’t know? Child development knowledge equips you with the understanding of your students who are at different stages of development so that you can appropriately teach them. Also, you may stay with the same students for a long period of time in which some developmental changes will definitely be occurring. You need to notice these changes and respond to them accordingly.

Objectives:

At the end of this topic the student will be able to:

·        Identify hereditary and environmental factors which underlie learning ability

·        Distinguish between continuous and discontinuous theories of development.

·        Describe the physical, cognitive and psychosocial development of school children.

·        Identify the diversity in the classroom.

Body

MAIN CONCEPTS

Let’s start by describing the concepts “grow” 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. This process and stages are characterized by changes. Grow is used when the changes are quantitative, i.e. an increase or decrease in numbers. A good example is height and weight of students. In normal circumstances children’s height and weight increases (read grow) 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. 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.

In this lecture we look at the development of the students in three main areas i.e. physical, cognitive and psychosocial. These areas develop simultaneously and are, as mentioned before, interrelated. As you have noticed on the development of students there is quite a variation in rate of development. In a group of students of the same age and in the same class and all still growing you find some of them are taller while others are shorter for their age, some heavy and others not so heavy, some have language that is well advanced for their age while for others their language is below that of the normal age group. Also, there are 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, as mentioned above, there is variation on the onset and end of the periods. These periods are:

·        Infancy: starts from birth to 18 to 24 months. It is characterized by total dependence on the caregivers at the beginning. During this period a child begins to develop sensorimotor coordination, walking, language, thinking and learning.

·        Early childhood: starts at the end of infancy and extends to 5 or 6 years. Sometimes this is called preschool period. The child is more self-sufficient and has developed some skills related to improved sensorimotor coordination.

·        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 i.e. reading, writing and math.

·        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 STUDENT

In development there is a constant interaction between nature and environment or 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 processes 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 includes physical and social surroundings. Physical environment is essential for the survival 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.  

 So, we see that some of the potentials are determined by heredity; and the influence of environment on heredity either enhances or deters student’s learning process.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT DURING CHILDHOOD

We all know that the 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. Here we only identify some of the major parts. Before that, bear in mind that we don’t fully understand how the brain functions and there are debates going on about the biological bases of learning.

The brain has two halves, called cerebral hemispheres, which are connected by corpus callosum. 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 has functions for vision.

The development of the brain is not fully understood. Neurons, (nerve cells) grow by increasing in size and in number. A process known as myelination, whereby the neurons are covered by an insulating material, increases the size of the brain and the speed at which messages travel through the nervous system (Santrock, 2004). Myelination in the areas related to focus and attention is not complete until the end of late childhood, explaining why students below this stage have problem remaining focused on one task for a long time.

In describing cognitive development we will use the theory proposed by Jean Piaget (1896-1980), a Swiss psychologist. Originally he was trained in the field of biology and philosophy. While working with the results of IQ tests of children he noticed that young children’s answers were 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 we 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. They are major since in each stage there are sub-stages.  However, before looking at them let us define some key concepts of the theory:

·        Schema is a concept or an organized pattern of thoughts or behaviour that form one organized unit. Riding a bicycle is a scheme (behaviour); 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. Assimilation occurs 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. Encountering a situation that does fit into our mental structure creates disequilibrium i.e. a conflict in trying to understand the new situation. The process of resolving the conflict through assimilation and accommodation is known as equilibration.

·        Organization is when we bring together isolated behaviours or ideas into a single more complex behaviour 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. With this knowledge we now look closely at the four stages of cognitive development. These stages are in a specific sequence, each indicating children as having a distinct way of thinking. The differences between the stages are qualitative in nature rather than being quantitative i.e. differences are not based on “what” or number of ideas a child has but on “how” a child thinks. So, in the sequence of cognitive development in the following stage the thinking process is more complex and accurate than in the previous stage. These stages are called sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations.

The sensorimotor stage

This extends from birth to 2 years. The term sensorimotor imply that during this stage the child explores his world by use of 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 the beginning of this stage the child’s responses are through reflex actions i.e. unlearned, innate reflexes such as sucking anything that touches the mouth or grasping any object that touches the palm of the hand.  Through these reflex actions the child becomes aware of sensations caused by these actions and uses them to adapt to the world. At this sub-stage, known as primary circular reaction, most of the deliberately repeated actions involve only the body e.g. sucking (sucking involves fingers and mouth).  Later on, the reactions involve object outside the child himself/herself (secondary circular reaction) e.g. holding an object (use of hand and the object). Then they coordinate several actions to achieve something. Between 12 and 18 months a child starts to experiment with things e.g. deliberately dropping things to see what will happen (Tertiary circular reaction).  

So, it is during this stage that the 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 the sense of object permanence i.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 s/he 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.

 In this stage they 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.

Preoperational stage

The 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 although 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, car or person. In the play they assume that the innate objects are alive and conscious, referred to as animism.

Another characteristic of this stage is egocentrism. This is 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. A child sitting in front of the room looking at object in the middle of the room thinks that a person looking at the same object from the back of the room has the same view of the object as himself/herself (the child’s view). Ever heard of a child saying that the moon is following him/her? Because of this characteristic child at this age may need company of other children but normally each engage in his/her own play and monologue.

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. Give a child in this stage a collection of similar objects but with different colours and shapes and tell her/him to put them in groups. Most likely s/he will form groups by focusing only on the colours of objects and ignore their shapes. 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.

So we have seen that in preoperational stage 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.

Concrete Operations 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 established 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!  I think you have seen children of this age carrying small sticks, or bottle tops in a string to school for making calculations.

One of the characteristics of this stage is 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 that an object can be classified into different groups, e.g. one woman at the same time can be a daughter, mother, sister, wife and grandmother.

In this stage a child can arrange things according to their relative sizes e.g. from shortest to the tallest or from the smallest to the largest or vice versa. Given ten sticks of different heights they are now able to arrange from the shortest to the tallest. This is seriation, 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”.

Formal Operations 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 a 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 problem.  

IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY TO TEACHERS

·        We have to acknowledge Piaget’s contribution to developmental psychology, especially on cognitive development. His theory demonstrates that pupils are actively involved in their learning. This is proven so by the concept adaptation, organization, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration among others.

·        Piaget’s theory implies that children are mentally qualitatively different from adults and among themselves, depending on their cognitive stage of development. They are always adapting to their world, and the environment is also affecting their mental structures. The role of the teacher is to understand the mental functioning of students and create an environment that facilitates assimilation and accommodation.

·        We need to recognize and understand that children’s answers are not ‘wrong’ or “weird” but statements indicating the state of their mental functions. Just imaging your reactions to students’ answers before being introduced to Piaget’s theory!

·        Much of Piaget’s theory is based on observation he made on his own three children. We can observe the mental functions of our own children and students by knowing the important things to look for. Children’s drawings, symbolic plays and answers should tell you something about cognitive level of development and the appropriate tasks to be given to respective ages. Don’t take the children’s responses casually but rather have critical analysis on them.

·        The curriculum and learning tasks for the children should be based on the cognitive developmental stages of the students. Teaching should make the students move on to the next stage gradually. According to Huitt (1997) in teaching preoperational pupils, teachers have to use concrete properties, and visual aids to illustrate lessons; instructions should be short of using combination of words and actions; give them physical practice with facts and skills and encouraging them to manipulate objects that can change in shape while maintaining a constant mass. For those in concrete operations the above suggestions should be continued, but for children at a higher levels teachers, should include activities requiring students to deal with more than two variables at once, and also giving them opportunities to classify and group objects and ideas on increasingly complex level; and present them with problems which require logic, analytical thinking to solve. For those beginning to use formal operations give them an opportunity to explore many hypothetical questions and always encouraging them to explain how they solve problems.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Language is significant in the learning process. It is used in storing information in the memory; communicating between learners and teacher and among learners; and also in demonstrating that learning has taken place in form of writing, reading and speaking. In short, language is paramount in teaching and learning processes. Language changes in an individual’s development have to be taken into account when dealing with students. Development of language makes it possible for a child to interact with the people around him/her.

Just what is language? Language is more than verbal communication. All languages have three main properties, namely semantic, displacement, and productivity. Semantic means the words represent an object or event, displacement means the words represent objects that are not present in space and time; productivity implies that language has limited vocabulary but can make an infinite combination of words to present ideas. 

In developing language one also needs to eventually adhere to the following rules:

·        Phonology  is the system of using sounds to make words. It determines the way sounds are combined in a sequence that has a specific meaning.

·        Syntax refers to  the way words are combined to make meaningful phrases. In the statement “the lion ate the zebra” you know who ate who or who was eaten by whom. Rearrangement of these words makes the statement to have a different meaning or sometimes meaningless. Have you ever heard of a zebra that ate a lion!

·        Pragmatics involves the use of language in a socially correct way i.e. knowing how to participate in conversation using proper language that takes into consideration the social context prevailing.  

Language development stages

Language development involves acquiring the ability to listen and speak.  Before we look on the stages let’s discuss a little about environment and language development. Noam Chomsky (1957) stated that humans are biologically programmed to learn language since all children in all parts of the world, and although living in different environments, develop in more or less in the same rate and the sequence or steps involved are the same. He believes language is very complex that children do not just copy from their parents. It is difficult or impossible to teach children to speak; they start to speak at a given stage of development. Does this mean that environment has no role on child’s language development? The answer is definitely no. Firstly, the language one develops is that of the care givers (internalizing speech they hear). The quality of language spoken reflects that of people around the child. The vocabulary of children at the age of three who have been living in poverty stricken conditions is much lower than that of middle income families (Farkas, 2001).  So, language development is a result of inheritance; and environment has a great influence on the variation of the quality of children’s language.

Piaget believed that language development is based on the existing cognitive structure of the child and differs qualitatively in each of the four cognitive stages of development. In the previous section we saw that language starts to develop in the later part of sensorimotor stage, indicating the ability to connect sounds and objects; and representation of world in language form. In the preoperational stage children use egocentric speech i.e. communication is from their point of view, they can have a monologue and speak to anyone. In the concrete operations stage it is the beginning of the verbal understanding related to concrete conditions. In the formal operations level the adolescent’s language is free from concrete situations and has an ability to express abstract issues. 

Newborn babies use crying and fussing as means of communication i.e. conveying the message that s/has a need that needs to be attended. Between 3 months and 6 months babbling develops when the child makes sounds that resemble speech. By age of 12 months they produce sound patterns that indicate the child has started to associate certain sounds and objects. Between 12 and 18 months first words are spoken referring to specific objects or event. Normally the first words are nouns that may refer to many objects and actions related, for example the word “mama” in one situation means presence of mother, in another “mother come”, and while in another setting it means “where is mother?”

By the end of two years the child’s vocabulary increase to more than 200 words and uses two-word combinations, a sign of acquiring morphology rules. In the beginning of third year they use plural, past tense and some prepositions. The use of rules is not yet perfect since they apply some rules incorrectly, e.g. by overgeneralization when they say “mama” instead of “lady”. Also in the third year they can talk about things that are not around in terms of time and space (displacement). Now they can talk about things that happened before or that are expected in the near future.

Language develops rapidly between 3 years and 11 years. By the age of 6 a child has a vocabulary of more than 10,000 words. In this period they develop ability to ask questions beginning with “yes/no” questions.

Loh (2010) has suggested some of the simple ways and methods that help to facilitate language development in children:

·        Reading nursery rhymes helps the child to listen and later understand the flow of language.

·        Sing simple songs while using body as a tool of conversation.

·        Name different objects and patterns and describe their colours, size, format and shapes.

·        Create an environment that has activities which promote communication and language skills. Ask open ended questions. Use plays to learn series of language skills, both verbal and nonverbal. Children should be given opportunity to talk about their day activities/special occasions and describe the actions there are doing.

PSYCHOSOCIAL (SOCIO-EMOTIONAL) DEVELOPMENT

We have looked at the cognitive and language development of students. Now we turn our focus to psychosocial development. Student’s learning in school is under the influence of people around and his/her own emotions. Also, student’s behaviour is to some degree guided by moral aspects.

The process of internalizing societal values and behaviour acceptable in the individual’s societal setting is called socialization.The main agents of the socialization process are parents, siblings, peers, teachers and the media. To explain the relationship between the student and the agents we will use Urie Bronfenbrenner’s theory; and for describing social development we use Erickson’s psychosocial theory.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1917-2005) ecological theory is based on the social forces that have influence on the children’s life development. Bronfenbrenner acknowledges the existence of five environmental systems that explain the child’s interrelation with close people and that with the wide social environment. This theory is used to study human beings and their environments. We could ask ourselves a question maybe “Why do students in a certain location perform so badly in the National Examinations.

The systems he proposed are:

       i.         Microsystems include the immediate environments and the social settings that the child spends most of his/her time. For most children these settings are their families, neighborhood, schools and childcare centres. It is in this system the child has many social interactions. In the family the student is influenced by parents and siblings; in school s/he is influenced by teachers and other students and in the neighborhood influenced by peers. (Parenting styles and peer influence to be discussed in later part of this lecture). The child is not only influenced by the settings but s/he is also an active force in constructing these settings. Recently this theory has been called “Bio-Ecological Systems Theory” because one’s biology is considered part of the Microsystems.

     ii.         Mesosystem refers to the linkage between the Microsystems. The students make connections between their experiences at home and the experiences in school; and this to some degree have influence on learning. If the school gives value and success to hard work and the family has the same expectations then we can expect a student to perform quite well; but if the teachers and the family do not value education then we expect the student not to perform well. A child can take church or mosque experiences to school/home or vice versa.

  iii.         Exosystem is based on experience of settings the student is not directly involved with but have some influence on him/her. There is no direct link between the student and parent’s work. However, the parent’s work may have effect on the experiences of the student, e.g. salary used for fees and other school materials. For example there is no direct connection between teachers’ salaries and students’ academic performance. In Tanzania there was a time when councils did not pay teachers on time. Some of the teachers were demoralized or spent days chasing their salaries and this had influence on the learning process of students. If someone donates textbooks to a school this may lead to acquisition of more learning materials and hence better student’s performance. In both cases the students is not directly involved but s/he may be affected by the decisions and actions of others.

  iv.         Macrosystem refers to the broad culture of the society. Culture includes gender roles, socioeconomic structure, teachers and students’ lives, attitudes, ideologies, sports, ethnicity, values and customs. Some societies do not value sending girls to schools while others deliberately encourage and expect girls to excel in school. Children from poor families, who are not sure of the next meal, may be affected by this condition and we will not be surprised if they cannot concentrate on their learning.

     v.         Chronosystem is the existing social and historical conditions of the student. Do you know that many students today in Tanzania have access to computers while15 years ago there were very few computers in the country? The same can be said of television. In addition many secondary school students do not have to walk for many kilometers to school every day now a day. Before 1980 nobody had ever heard of HIV /AIDS. All these developments have a bearing on students learning experiences.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory has shown us that social settings have major influence on the development of the students. It tells us that we should look on different social settings when determining or want to improve students’ performance. For example, when considering students’ performance we have not only to rely on classroom or school conditions but rather we have to think about and involve the significant others. What’s the point of a teacher giving homework when the parents do not value it; or at home parents will not give the student a chance to do homework?

Erikson’s stages of development

Erik H. Erikson (1902-1994) psychosocial development theory articulates eight stages that human passes in forming one’s personality (Erikson, 1950). The theory describes the role of social environment on the emotional development. In each stage an individual faces challenges and conflicts that need to be resolved. If these inner and external conflicts are resolved positively a healthy personality emerges. However, if these conflicts are not successfully resolved they create crisis that may lead to maladjustment behaviours in the future. This theory helps to acknowledge that crises manifested in life may have their roots in the earlier stages of development. Also, it can be applied to guide teachers on the best practices of rearing students for a healthy emotional and cognitive wellbeing.

The stages of psychosocial development

There are eight stages; however we are only focusing on the first four stages which correspond to the ages of students in most schools.

       i.   Trust versus Mistrust (Infants, birth to one year)

This is the first stage and focuses on how the basic needs are met by parents. In the first year of life all basic needs (food, water and security) are met with the help of parents, and without this help none will survive. In this stage attachment is established i.e. the emotional bond between child and parents (especially mother). Children are actively reacting to the social environment by a process called reciprocal interactions whereby they react in a particular manner. When you smile at them they normally respond by smiling back and if you are angry to them they respond accordingly. If parents create a regularly warm, caring and secure environment the child will develop sense of security and also trust his/her world. If the parents are neglectful or abusive when meeting the child’s needs or ignore them, the child will learn to mistrust the world believing that it is undependable, unreliable, and unpredictable; and a dangerous place (Wikipedia, retrieved 2010).

     ii.   Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (Toddlers, 2 to 3years).

In this stage children gain muscular coordination and mobility leading to ability to physically explore their surroundings. Also, in many cultures children are required to gain self control through toilet training.  If the parents encourage and create safe environment for exploring the environment, and encourage self-sufficient behaviours in such things as dressing, eating and washing themselves, the child develops sense of autonomy and confidence that s/he can deal with many things by himself/herself. On the other hand if parents are very restrictive (excessive control) or ridicule a child when trying to exercise self-control s/he develops feeling of being shameful and doubting his/her abilities to control himself/herself and in solving problems. In this stage the main conflict to the child is whether s/he can do things for him/herself or s/he must always rely on others.

  iii.   Initiative versus Guilt (Preschool, 4 to 6 years).

In this stage the child learns a lot about the world. They are more curious, have mastered some principles about the world, can count and language skills have advanced a great deal. They try doing new things and sometimes engage in dangerous behaviour. So, they want to plan, initiate and engage in purposive actions that if carried out end in child’s satisfaction. If the child is encouraged to initiate doing things it develops sense of initiative. If the child is frustrated and fails to reach the expected goal s/he feels guilty which may lead to the development of unacceptable behaviours. The main focus is trying to find out if they are good or bad in regard to the outcome of their actions. The answer to this conflict brings positive or negative emotions to the child

  iv.   Industry versus Inferiority (Childhood, 7 to 12 years)

 Most of children in this stage are in primary/elementary schools. They gain a lot of new experiences in the new school environment e.g. in interacting with many more children and teachers with different experiences. According to Allen and Marotz (2003) children in this stage have a logical understanding of the concepts of time and space, they gain better understanding of cause and effect relationship, are eager to learn and accomplish complex skills such as mastering knowledge and engaging in intellectual skills. Due to spending more time in school, the school environment and activities are used to prove one’s competence. If they are successful they feel being industrious, but if they fail constantly they develop a sense of being inferior. In this stage a child wants to find out if s/he is successful or worthless.

     v.Identity and Role confusion (Adolescence, 13 to 19 years)

 Many of the secondary students are in this stage. They also develop sexual identity and are much more concerned on how they appear before others. This is a transition period of moving from childhood into adulthood. A student wants to identify his/her roles in the future as an adult in relation to the many roles and chances available, which initially may lead to confusion. In this stage they are figuring out who they are (identity) and where they are going in respect to their future (pondering roles). If they resolve this conflict they develop self identity. If they don’t then they may remain confused about themselves and their future roles as adults.

Based on Eriksson’s theory Santrock (2004) proposes the following teaching strategies:

·        Encouraging initiative in young children. Educational programmes should foster a great deal of freedom to students to explore their world and in choosing some of the activities they engage in.

·        Promote industry in primary school children. The teacher should capture the students’ abilities and eagerness to learn by creating a climate that promotes self learning based on intrinsic motivation. The students should have a feeling that they can accomplish tasks.

·        Stimulate identity exploration in adolescence. Teachers should recognize that adolescents are faced with multidimensional related challenges. Students in this stage should be encouraged to think independently and should be given freedom to explore different alternatives available to them. The teacher should also be informed on the availability of counseling services that can guide students in choosing their careers.

PARENTING STYLES AND PEERS

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory and Erikson’s psychosocial development theory highlight the significance of parents’ and significant others influence on the development of individual’s personality. Remember parents, siblings and peers are part of the microsystem.

Children spend most of their early years with families i.e. parents and siblings. Live experiences in families vary widely. Causes of variation include parenting styles, four of them are described below (Baumrind, 1971). Parenting style is a psychological term referring to strategies that parents use in child rearing. Rearing children include amount of time and effort invested on the child. Styles used evolve over time influencing child’s personality development.

i. Authoritarian parenting.

In this style parents tell their children exactly what to do. Parents have high expectations of conformity and compliance to rules they establish, but are less responsive to their children’s needs. They are restrictive and use punishment (without reasoning the problem with the child) to enforce children in the household to follow regulations and directions. Children from such families tend to have less social competence since they have not been given chance to make their own choices (ERIC Digests, Retrieved 2010).

i.i Authoritative parenting

This refers to parents who allow their children to operate independently but within some limits on their actions. They provide the rules and guidance without overbearing the children. The parents are supportive and verbal communication is used to reason out in making decisions, even when using punishment (Santrock, 2007). Children reared in such an environment tend to have high self esteem, are self reliant, socially competent, happy and successful (Van Wagner, 2010).

i.i.i Neglectful parenting

These are parents who neglect their children by not getting involved in their children’s lives. They do not care where their children are or what they are doing. They disregard the children, only focusing on their personal interests. Children raised by such parents tend to exhibit same behaviors as that of their neglectful parents, lack self-control and motivation to achieve, and are less competent than their peers (Van Wagner, 2010).

i.v. Indulgent parenting

These are parents who are highly involved in the lives of their children by giving them too much freedom i.e. very few restrictions if any. They allow children to do whatever they wish, including responding to all the needs and wishes of the children. In short, the parents want to please their children at all times. Children from such families grow up developing less self control on their behaviours since they have not learnt to control their behaviours (Santrock, 2007).

Children want to be in a group of other children. Peers are children of the same age who interact in same area. Even in the playground children of the same age play together. They play a major role on the psychosocial development of the child. They interact in the neighborhood and school through play and classroom activities and consequently share their attitudes and interests. Although most of their conditions are similar, each has different characteristics and backgrounds which influence their relationships and interactions. Peers are source of information and a yard stick of making comparisons among themselves.

Peer relationship can lead to a positive or negative development. A child is under pressure to conform to the norms of the peer group so as to be accepted, and is always in fear of being rejected by his/her mates. Positive peer pressure may energize a child to engage in healthy behaviours while negative peer pressure may lead to engaging in risky behaviours. Some students are introduced to using drugs (Jenkins, 1996) or participating in unacceptable behaviours such as bullying weak peers or younger children. On the other hands peer pressure can contribute to individual’s learning in school (Johnson, 2000) through study groups and/or encouragement when facing challenges. I think you know peers who help mates from exacerbating bad situation, and others who make bad situation even worse. 

In any human group each member has a status accorded to him/her by other members. The way a child is held among peers indicates his/her status. There are four types of peer status:

·        Popular children are mostly liked by their peers and normally get nominated as leaders.

·        Neglected children are liked by their peers but are unlikely to be nominated as leaders.

·        Rejected children are disliked by peers and are unlikely to be nominated as leaders.

·        Controversial children are likely to be both seen as a best friend but also as being disliked.

Santrock (2004) suggests that teachers use the following strategies to improve children’s social skills:

·        Help rejected students learn to listen to peers and hear what they say instead of trying to dominate them.

·        Help neglected children attract attention from others in positive ways and hold their attention.

·        Provide children low in social skills with knowledge about how to improve these skills.

Unnamed source (Retrieved 2010) also suggests that parents (I think this applies to the teachers too) can encourage healthy and positive relationships among peers and showing support by:

·        Having a positive relationship with your children’s/students’ and their peers.

·        Being genuinely interested in your children’s/students’ peer activities. This will allow the teacher to know your children/students and misbehaviour when it occurs.

·        Encouraging independent thought and expressions among peers.

DEVELOPMENT OF SELF

Self is the knowledge one has about himself/herself. Close your eyes and see the picture of yourself in your imagination. That’s part of yourself concept. W. Purkey (1988, retrieved 2010) stated that self-concept refers to the totality of a complex, organized, and dynamic systems of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his/her personal existence.  So to begin with, self-concept is a cognitive construct that is related to what one thinks about himself/herself and the perceptions formed. This knowledge is acquired through the use of the five senses.

Self-concept is multi-dimensional as it includes a number of things such as perception of one’s physical appearance, academic capabilities, skills, gender identity and roles, ethnic and religious identify. Physical perception aspects refer to one’s looks, height, sex and kind of clothes worn. Academic self-concepts refer to the level of one’s performance in school and ability to learn.  One can at the same time have a positive self-concept in some aspect of personality and negative on others e.g. feeling that one is good in academics but poor in athletics.

Self-concept is dynamic. It is not innate but rather learned; at birth we do not know about ourselves or have a picture of ourselves. As the child develops cognitively it learns about itself as a separate entity in the environment and in this process develops self-concept. Self-concept is shaped through personal reflections on perceived experiences, especially with significant others (Purkey, 1988). Children acquire sense of self at around 18 months. As they develop cognitively they understand themselves better and by the age of six years they include abstract ideas when describing about themselves, e.g. being happy or angry.

Self-concept is relatively permanent i.e. long period of time held perceptions that are resistant to change. This aspect gives consistency to individual’s personality; otherwise s/he will lack consistency. Although self-concept is resistant to change, one can learn and modify his/her self-concept over a period of time (Franken, 1994). The changes are a result of self-reflection based on his/her interaction with the environment.

An individual can have ideas on his/her future self-concepts, termed “possible selves”. A student in secondary school can see himself/herself in the future as being a tall handsome/beautiful married person holding a high position in an institution and having all the best gadgets of the day. Also the possible selves can be of what one is afraid of being in the future e.g. being drug addict or failing in life. These possible selves have effect on the current and future behaviour of the individual. Franken (1994) believes that the self concept is the basis for motivated behaviour that leads to rise of possible behaviours that in turn create motivation for behaviour.

The evaluative and emotional aspect of self-concept is self-esteem. It is how a person views himself/herself.   A person with high self-esteem regards himself/herself positively and has confidence. The one with low self-esteem rates himself/herself very low, looks down upon himself/herself. Periods of low esteem come and go, and their duration varies. However, if the period persists for a long time it may lead to low achievement, depression and delinquency (Harter, 1999). There is a relationship between self-concept and school achievement (Marsh, 1992; Hamachek, 1994). However it is not yet clear if self-concept produces school achievement or it is the school achievement that produces aspects of self-concept.

Based on research findings Santrock (2004) gave the following suggestions to teachers on helping students improve their self-esteem:

·        Identifying the causes of low esteem and the areas of competence important to the self.

·        Provide emotional support and social approval.

·        Help students to achieve.

·        Develop student’s coping skills.

Springs (2008) suggested the following on improving student self-concept through student achievement:

·        Stimulating motivation by recognizing student accomplishments daily. Show interest in their academic progress.

·        Teacher should involve parents to participate in cultivating student motivation. Parents should know the importance of instilling positive belief on their children.

·        Help students set high goals that relate to motivation and help them to move from dependency to independence and self-sufficiency. At the beginning of the year help them to set academic goals and steps necessary to achieve them. 

Summary

In this topic we looked at different aspects that have influence on child development namely role of inheritance, environment, parenting styles, and peer relationships. Also, mentioned are different areas of development including cognitive, language, physical and psychosocial. Lastly there are activities that will help you to conceptualize the content better.