Early Childhood Services 120, Unit One

Child Development includes the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional changes that occur from birth to adolescence.

Although people change throughout their lives, developmental changes are especially dramatic in childhood. Many abilities and characteristics developed in childhood last a lifetime.

INTRODUCTION

A variety of factors influence child development:

Heredity guides every aspect of physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and personality development.

Family members, Peer groups, the School

environment, and the Community influence how children think, socialize, and become self-aware.

Biological factors such as nutrition, medical care,

and Environmental hazards in the air and water affect the growth of the body and mind.

Economic and Political institutions, the Media,

and Cultural values all guide how children live their lives.

Critical life events, such as a family crisis or a national emergency, can alter the growth of personality and identity.

Most important of all, CHILDREN contribute significantly to their own development.

For each of the following scenarios, decide which category to put it in.

1. Loving grandmother2. Effects of a hurricane3. Gov’t changes to child benefit funding4. Father loses job5. BPA (chemical) widely reported in plastic products, including

toys and bottles6. Mother and brother have ADHD7. Common parenting practice to let babies “cry it out”8. TV campaign educating public about the benefits of breast

milk9. Extended family – parents, 3 siblings, an aunt and

grandmother all live in the home with child10. Gov’t increases funding to daycares11. Kindergarten readiness program designed and implemented12. Neighborhood kids all involved in 4H club13. Parent dies

Why is the study of child development important?

1. One reason is that it provides practical guidance for parents, teachers, child-care providers, and others who care for children.

Why is the study of child development important?

2. A second reason is that it helps society to support healthy growth.

Why is the study of child development important?

3. Third, the study of child development helps therapists and educators better assist children with special needs,

such as those with emotional or learning difficulties.

Why is the study of child development important?

4.Finally, understanding child development contributes to self-understanding. We know ourselves better by recognizing the influences that have made us into the people we are today.

A Look Back---Children Through TimeThe concept of childhood and treatment of

children through history has always been tied to economic, religious, and social factors.

During the 20th century, the view of early childhood as an important part of human development was valued.

John Amos Comenius (1592-1670)An advocate of universal education.He understood and stressed the importance of the early

years.TEACHERS SHOULD WORK WITH THE NATURAL

ORDER OF A CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT.

Influential People in the History of Early Childhood Education

John Locke (1632-1704)English doctor and philosopher.Children were born tabla rasa (blank slate).Experience would determine what a child would become.

French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778)

• Claimed that children at birth are innately good, not evil• Their natural tendencies should be protected against the corrupting influences of society. •

Johann Pestalozzi (1746-1827)

All people, even the poorest, had the right to an education.

Stressed the importance of the mother in children’s earliest experiences

•Interrelatedness of nature and the child’s developing mind.•Education should harmonize with a child’s natural development: children are at different stages at different times.•Stressed the importance of play in young children’s development – play was a pure and natural mode of learning.

•Note: This has become the new focus of NB’s Early Childhood Education.

•Handout: A Canadian Professional Speaks Out

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)Developed the theory and techniques of

psychoanalysis. In the psychoanalytic view, early experiences shape one’s personality for an entire lifetime, and psychological problems in adulthood may have their origins in difficult or traumatic childhood experiences.

Handout: Exhibit 2-2

John Dewey (1859-1952)The father of progressive educationHe developed a child-centered approachLots of his principles are still having an

influence: nursery school, emphasis on play and parent education

John B. Watson (1878-1958)

Believed that all human behaviors could be explained as learned responses to stimuli in the environment, an approach known as behaviorism.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

True feminist of her time; first female doctor in Italy Very impressed with the great capacity of children to learn so

much during the first years of life: absorbent mind (sponge) If you expose their minds to appropriate learning experiences

at appropriate developmental times, their minds will grow. Used the term prepared environment to describe the match of

the right materials to the child’s stages of development Some of these are related to sensory discrimination (sorting by

size, sound, shape, smell, etc) and some children learn through practical skills (polishing shoes, setting a table, etc)

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)The review sheet gives you everything you need for

Piaget.

“A Closer Look” handout and Exhibit 2-4

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)His psychological theory, which spans

childhood and adulthood, focuses on specific social tasks that need to emerge for healthy development in each of the eight stages.

There is a handout for Erikson.

B.F Skinner Behavioral modification: behavior can be changed

or modified by manipulating the environment (socially and physically)

Emphasized that almost all behaviors are learned through experience and can be increased or decreased based on what “happens next”

Ex: if something pleasant consistently happens after a child engages in a specific behavior, he is likely to repeat the behavior.

Influential Events in Early Childhood EducationLittle change from the 1920s – 1940s.Dewey’s emphasis on child-centered programs

became popular.Froebel and Montessori were out-of-favor for a

while because they were attacked by William Kilpatrick, who was a lecturer at the Teacher’s College in NYC where he was known as “the million dollar professor”.

He was more a great supporter of Dewey, so Dewey’s ideas replaced Froebel and Montessori.

Kilpatrick’s work influenced teachers and parents until the 1960’s, when the Montessori program made a come back.

“A Focus on Maturation” seemed to take over until the 1960s: there was little to do with young children other than to wait for them to mature.

You could influence social growth, though, so the focus for years was on social growth (and they didn’t worry about cognitive (learning) growth.

Day care centers were available, but not used a lot, and had a bit of a “welfare orientation.”

1940s -1950sStrong pressure on families to have the mother stay

at home with the children, until they were at least 3.Lots of research had been done on orphans who had

had little human contact and stimulation, so big push on moms at home to help with development.

“Maternal Care & Mental Health” became a classic (1951) and was about the mental problems that many orphans had when they became teenagers.

The best place for children was with their mothers. This idea was debunked somewhat in the 1960s.

Sputnik & Educational UpheavalIn 1957, the Russians launched the first space

missile, Sputnik.The failure of the Americans became a big social

and political focus.School systems were attacked (why weren’t

Americans and Canadians as advanced as the Russians?).

Outmoded teaching methods, dull curriculum, too little emphasis on science.

Poor kids did worse than rich kids; black kids did worse than white kids (politically this was the time of the Civil Rights Movement and everything was being challenged with respect to equal rights for girls, ethic minorities, the poor.

Early Childhood Becomes a FocusA number of advances in psychological

knowledge took place around this same time.In tune with political and educational

pressures of the time.The biggest change was the replacement of

the “Maturation View” of development with the “Interactional View” of development.

Interactional ViewDevelopment is determined by both

environment and genetic factors.Lots of studies showed the relationship

between experience & development in humans and animals.

“The assumption that intelligence is fixed and its development is predetermined by the genes in no longer tenable.”

The early childhood years were a focus again: intelligence was most affected by experience.

Rediscovery of PiagetPiaget’s work had been ignored, now it was a

focus.“If we pay little attention to the events occurring in

the first years of life, much of the story may be over by the time we begin to educate the child, even if we start as early as age 3, let alone 6.”

Social class also became a focus in these years: social class had a great effect on the kind of language a child developed and on the learning style a child developed.

So, get kids out of the home and focus on the early years.

Howard Gardner (1943 -- )His parents fled Nazi Germany with their first

son who died in an accident before Howard was born.

He was not allowed to play sportsHe was an excellent pianistAttended Harvard UniversityInfluenced by EriksonContinued to work at Harvard

Gardner’s Multiple IntelligencesEach person has various levels of different

intelligencesUnique “cognitive profile”7 Intelligences:

Verbal linguisticLogical MathematicsMusicalVisual SpatialBodily KinestheticInterpersonalIntrapersonal