5. Development in Middle and Late Childhood (Part 2)

Life-Span Development.

The last study unit, which will be divided into 2 posts again. This will be about middle and late childhood, and the last post is about adolescence. I have essentially covered development from infancy to adolescence. It is quite productive to force my thoughts on writing using this blog, as a form of self-revision. When the lockdown is over, I wonder if I can find time to do the same for my other semesters.

Anyway, let’s get started with Socio-Emotional Development.

Socio-Emotional Development involves Personality Development, Emotional Development, Moral Development, and the social context of development.

When we talk about personality, we are talking about the self. We are referring to Erikson’s psychosocial theory, not about whether this person is introverted or extroverted. Self-esteem refers to global evaluations of the self while self-concept is about domain-specific aspects. Self-esteem is a whole, self-concept looks at one area. Growing up, I think I lack in both. I had an indulgent parenting style leading me to have low problem-solving or even self-esteem issues. When everything is handed down to you, you have no reason to fight. There were also issues in my family that were brushed away, simply because I was “a child”. A child does not need to know why the family is fighting. A child is too ignorant. Maybe if we airbrush everything, the child will not understand.

Self-esteem should be healthy. Too much leads to arrogance, too little leads to a sense of inferiority.
In Erikson’s theory, the 4th stage is Industry vs Inferiority. In this stage, children learn to have mastery over tasks, or they feel “inferior” about themselves. Adults have a choice of catering for their healthy development, or negative growth. As they discover what they can do, we should build an encouraging environment. We should raise their self-esteem.

These are 4 ways to do so.
1. Identifying the causes of low self-esteem
2. Provide emotional support and social approval
3. Help children achieve
4. Help children cope

These children are aged to 12 years old. Adolescence is a tricky age, so while parents still have some control over them, they should make use of that opportunity. Give them room to grow, independence, but ensure that you are with them. They are still unable to make sound decisions. Should I go to this Secondary school? They still need your guidance.

For Emotional and Personality Development, these changes occur. Improved emotional understanding, an increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation, marked improvements in the ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions, an increased tendency to take into fuller account the events leading to emotional reactions, the use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings, and a capacity for genuine empathy.
We have learned that Sternberg has mentioned 3 intelligences, Analytical, Creative, and Practical. Gardner has 8 intelligences. Regardless, both theories touch on social skills. Practical intelligence and interpersonal intelligence. Often parents neglect the social skills in favour of academic prowess. Being able to read and write does not determine success, I always emphasise to these parents. If our priority is set right from the beginning, we do not have to struggle with the child’s negative dispositions when it comes to social interaction, or even pay to go for classes that teach social skills.

Goleman also talks about 4 main aspects of emotional intelligence.
1. Developing emotional self-awareness
2. Managing emotions
3. Reading emotions
4. Handling relationships

Then, I shall move on to Moral Development. Piaget’s theory on moral development is about how a child does not understand rules, then think rules are unchangeable, and finally understand that rules can change and that the intention should be considered with the behaviour. Moral development can also be discussed in conjunction with Lawrence Kohlberg’s theories. There are 3 levels, with 2 stages each, so essentially there are 6 stages for a person to go through.

1. Preconventional Reasoning (Stage 1: Heteronomous morality [I must obey, or face punishment], Stage 2: Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange [If I am nice to others, others must be nice to me])
2. Conventional Reasoning (Stage 3: Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity [I adopt my parents’ moral standards, and I value trust, care, and loyalty when making moral judgments], Stage 4: Social systems morality [I start to consider social order, law, justice, and duty])
3. Postconventional Reasoning (Stage 5: Social contract or utility and individual rights [I believe that rights, values, and principles are more important than law], Stage 6: Universal ethical principles [I follow my conscience, even if the decision is risky])

Prosocial behaviours is a positive aspect of moral behaviour, where the individual considers the needs of others. Altruism is unselfish interest in helping someone else. Both are desperately lacking in our Singapore context.

Next, I will move on to Social Context- Families. Though at this stage, children prefer to spend time with their friends more than families, families are still an important part of their lives. They are still able to negotiate with their children on their behaviours, but once they reach adolescence, it can be challenging. Moving on to Social Context- Peers. Children channel more energy to build friendships. During this stage, they are in the Primary Schools. They will spend more time together as a class and even after-school activities.  Again, the virtue of prudence is necessary here, in which children learn how to choose their friends wisely. At this age, they have a YOLO mindset, where they want to try everything. Later on, I will share more about why adolescence tends to do so.

Friendships serve 6 functions. Companionship (spend time together in collaborative activities), Stimulation (interesting information, encouragement, amusement), Physical Support (time, resources, assistance), Ego Support (friends provide support, encouragement, feedback, helps them see themselves as competent, attractive, worthwhile individuals), Social Comparison (helps the child to know if they are okay), and Intimacy and Affection (self-disclosure takes place). So, with these factors, it is no wonder parents might feel distanced from their children. It is not that they hate their parents, but they need friends to feel good about themselves.

Next, I will move on to Peer Status. There are 5 types. Popular children (best friend choice of many, rarely disliked), Average children (Balance of positive and negative nominations), Neglected children (Infrequently nominated as the best friend, not actively disliked by peers. I am part of this group), Rejected children (Infrequently nominated as the best friend, actively disliked by peers), and Controversial children (frequently nominated both as the best friend and being disliked). There are rare cases of controversial children, from what I recall in Primary School. These children seem to switch back and forth. They can be nice to you today, but nasty the next day. Strange.

References
Kong, G. S. (2020). SWK104 Human Growth and Life-Span Development (Birth to Adolescence) Study Guide (5CU). Singapore.

Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span Development (17th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

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4. Development in Middle and Late Childhood (Part 1)

Life-Span Development.

This post will be about development in middle and late childhood. We have covered development in infants and young children. This is the period before adolescence.

Moving on to physical and cognitive development in middle and late childhood. Their bodies grow, though height is more prominent than head or waist circumference, and even leg length too. Their fine and motor skills continue to develop. It is interesting to know that children get more tired when they are sitting around doing nothing, than doing strenuous physical activity. Sports can be beneficial for children, but we must be careful to not develop this mindset in them, that they must always win and do whatever they can to win.

Not all children will develop normally, some have disabilities. They will have these 3 components.
1. A minimum IQ level.
2. A significant difficulty in a school-related area, especially reading and/or mathematics.
3. Exclusion of only severe emotional disorder, second-language background, sensory disabilities, and/or specific neurological deficits.

It is found that there are more cases discovered now because the tests were not as advanced in the past and that there is a problem of over-identification, where teachers are quick to jump to conclusions. Sometimes it is a matter of teaching methodology.
Some disabilities include Dyslexia or ADHD. Dyslexia involves difficulty in reading or spelling. ADHD involves 3 factors. Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Moving on to cognitive development. It entails Piaget’s Concrete Operational stage, Information Processing, Intelligence, and Language Development.

During the concrete operational stage, children are usually between 7 to 11 years old. They can perform operations, which means imaging actions in their head that were done previously. They do not need literal or concrete materials to do so. Show them 2 pieces of clay, of the same size, moulded into a ball and a long shape. They would be able to say that both are the same size, as they can revert the clay to its original state in their minds. I have noticed that ae does not guarantee you move on to the next stage of your cognitive development. Some adults never reach this stage. They are still egocentric. When they tell you to go “there”, they do not realise you don’t know where is “there”, but in their minds, they only know they know, but they do not know that you do not know. If that makes sense. Heh.

A concrete operational child will be able to do classification, seriation, and transitivity tasks.

Classification can be about sorting people in a family tree, and realizing the same person can be both a father, brother and a grandson at the same time. This is interesting, I should ask my class about this. Can your daddy be a son or grandson?

Seriation is the concrete operation that involves ordering stimuli along a quantitive dimension (such as length).

Transitivity is the ability to logically combine relations to under certain conclusions.

Moving on to Information Processing, which involves Memory, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, and Metacognition.

Information Processing starts from Incoming Information going into Sensory Memory, where it stays up to 3 seconds before it decays. If we pay attention, Attention Perception Encoding happens, and the information goes into Short-Term Memory/Working Memory, where it can stay up to 30 seconds, and 7 +/- 2 items. This means I can only remember 5 to 9 items at once before they are forgotten. From here, it can determine my Responses and Behaviour. But, if I do Rehearsal Encoding, the information goes into Long Term Memory.

Memory involves long-term memory or LTM. Critical thinking is simply thinking reflectively and evaluating the pieces of evidence. Children can improve their LTM when they are asked to rethink previous ideas. During my group activities, I would get children to rethink what they have done. I would articulate their actions, for them to reflect. Creative thinking is about thinking in novel and unusual ways, to come up with unique solutions. Children will show expertise in different domains. Metacognition is “knowing about knowing”. Children understand what topics are easier to understand, and what topics are not.

Next, intelligence. It can be defined as problem-solving skills and the ability to learn from and adapt to life’s everyday experiences. That sounds a bit like flexibility or adaptability, isn’t it? There are many ways to assess a child’s intelligence. The traditional method of IQ is no longer applicable. After all, there are so many domains or topics to learn from. A child might be strong in language, but not able to problem-solve. The opposite is true. A child might not speak well, but can think of novel solutions to overcome problems. 2 theories shed some light on intelligence.

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory states that intelligence comes in 3 forms: Analytical intelligence (ability to analyse, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast), Creative intelligence (ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine), and Practical intelligence (ability to use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice). Hardly any of these talk about able to understand English or Math concepts. Intelligence is problem-solving, and problem-solving is essentially about dealing with problems in real situations.

The famous Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory states the 8 intelligences as such, Verbal, Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-kinaesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic.
I do believe that nature and nurture both play a part. We have heard of child prodigies, who are exceptionally good at a certain task. Sometimes we hear stories of special needs children. But nurture plays a part, the environment or adults play a part in cultivating that talent.

Then, I shall move on to Language Development. 2 approaches can be used to teach reading. The Whole-language approach is about language being a natural thing for children, activities do not have to be specifically about teaching language. The Basic-skills-and-phonics approach is more specific, and this forms the basic foundation. I prefer the first approach. An integrated curriculum emphasizes that, in a sense, as the different concepts or intelligences are intertwined into activities.

References
Kong, G. S. (2020). SWK104 Human Growth and Life-Span Development (Birth to Adolescence) Study Guide (5CU). Singapore.

Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span Development (17th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

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3. Development in Early Childhood

Children constructing knowledge.

The next study unit, unit 2. Not sure if this will also be divided into 2 posts. In this unit, I will be talking about development in children.

Previously I discussed infant development, and there is really so much to explore and learn about them, now we are moving forward to children.

According to Piaget, children go through the pre-operational stage of their cognitive development between 2 to 7, and operations are internalized set of actions that allow children to do what they did before. Pre-operational means they are still unable to do so. The pre-operational thought is divided into 2 sub-stages: Symbolic Function Sub-stage and Intuitive Thought Sub-stage.

In Symbolic Function Sub-stage, children are from 2 to 4 and are starting to mentally represent an object that is not present. But they are in the egocentrism stage, they are unable to see from the perspective of someone else. During our zoom meeting, the children are eating food. In the k1 class, they do not realise that everyone else cannot see what they are eating, because they can only see from their perspective. They also have animism, where they believe objects have lifelike qualities. That they are like living things.

In the Intuitive Thought Sub-stage, children’s thought is intuitive, so they do not know how they know what they know. Their knowledge is also more intuitive and lacks rational thinking.

Centration also happens during pre-operational thought, where children focus solely on one thing and neglect the rest, and this affects them to have a lack of conservation, for instance, if you pour water between a taller container and a shorter container, they will think the water has increased. The truth is, the volume of water remains, but because of their centration on the height, they lack conservation.

Vygotsky believes that knowledge is mutually constructed. The Zone of Proximal Development is a key part of the social constructivist theory, that an adult is crucial in helping the child learn to do a task independently. Scaffolding is used to achieve that, where the adult slowly reduces the amount of help until the child is capable.

When children do things, they might use private speech. They talk to themselves. When adults do that, they might be too stressed. I digress. Vygotsky believes this is crucial and good, it is a transition to when they communicate with adults. Language is a key part of constructing knowledge. However, Piaget believes it is bad because private speech is egocentric and immature. I do agree that, but I don’t think it is bad or immature. It just happens to be what happens along with a child’s development.

Information processing is also crucial in children. 2 aspects are key to their cognitive processes, attention and memory. As for attention, there are 2 further elements: Habituation (lose of attention) and Dishabituation (recovery of attention). The child’s ability to pay attention evolves through 3 ways: Control of attention, salient vs relevant dimensions, ‘planfulness’.

Memory is the retention of information over time. It is further divided into 3 sub-groups. Sensory Memory (SM), Short-Term Memory (STM), and Long-Term Memory (LTM). We know the other two, but the first one is quite interesting. Children are capable of retaining memories, that is why when you teach them something they can remember. They use a technique called “rehearsal”, to ensure they remember.

Language development also occurs, as they understand the different systems of rules. Phonology (sounds of letters), morphonology (forming of words), syntax (forming of sentences), semantics (the meaning of words), and pragmatics (words in context).

As for physical development, children of this age are super active, and that is normal. We shouldn’t label children as being active, because that is who they are. Gross and fine motor skills develop rapidly, as they begin to discover what they can do. Erikson’s psychosocial theory falls in nicely here, where children are in the autonomy vs shame & doubt stage and initiative vs guilt stage. They need to receive affirmation about what they can do, they need time to learn what they can do, and sometimes as adults, the biggest help we can give children is to step back.

What this all means for educators and preschools, is that education must be holistic. While in Primary and Secondary schools, teachers are more specialized, preschool teachers cover everything. Though on a simpler level.

Moving on to socioemotional development in children. In infants, the caregiver is crucial in their socioemotional development, but for children, peers take a more central role than their families. I had a Zoom hang out with the kiddos, and they were all having fun talking to each other about random things. This section will be divided into Emotional and Personality Development, Social Context- Family, and Social Context- Roles of Peers, Play, and TV.

For Emotional and Personality Development, the self is important to know. Children learn to understand themselves more, like in Erikson’s theory. In emotional development, children need support from adults. There are 2 types of role parents play when it comes to emotions: Emotion-coaching and Emotion-dismissing. Emotion-coaching is to acknowledge negative emotions and coach them, while emotion-dismissing is simply rejecting negative emotions. Children need to understand that it is okay to be angry or sad, but it is about what they do with their emotions. I shall move on to moral development. Piaget also talks about moral development, and there are 3 stages. Heteronomous morality (4 to 7), Transition (7 to 10), and Autonomous Morality (10 and above).

In Heteronomous morality, children perceive rules as unchangeable, that people are not able to control them. I see this all the time, children can articulate rules out to their peers, even to teachers and parents. Immanent Justice occurs here, where children perceive that when they do something wrong, punishment will come. So when something bad happens to someone, they must have done something wrong. I find it hilarious that this is true, as sometimes children will spill things. Everyone gets quiet when I ask who spilt or what spilt. I am not angry, but because I said it out, they think the teacher is angry and is going to scold that child. Not really, sometimes it is an accident.

The Transition stage blends elements from the first and third stage, while the third stage, Autonomous Morality, children understand rules are created by people, and they should not only take note of consequences but also intentions. Crossing the road when the light is red is one such example.

But I do think that educators need to role-model the correct behaviour, instead of talking or scolding. Children imitate. They use the same language adults use. Can you please share? Can you be kind to your friends? I have found that after a while, I have lots of parrots and mimes in my class. They are just a reflection of me. If I don’t show kindness, they will never know what is kindness. It ain’t about scolding or getting angry.

Next, I will talk about Social Context- Family. There are 4 types of parenting styles.

Authoritarian: Strict control, tyrants.
Authoritative: Allows independence in children but still have control, warm and nurturing.
Neglectful: Very uninvolved with children.
Indulgent: Very involved with children, but no control over them.

I have to admit that for myself, I have been in indulgent parenting. It has affected my self-esteem growing up. I have no idea how to defend myself against bullies. That is why I am strict on children who have indulgent parenting. I want to make sure that when they grow up, they can survive by themselves. Mummy and daddy are not going to help you. Who cares if your parents own the kindergarten? Are they going to be with you in Primary school, Secondary school etc?

Often, authoritarian parents use punishment to discipline their children. Children should have clear boundaries, but not punished. Disciplined firmly. Punishment is bad because children will imitate that, so when they feel stressed they will do that behaviour or action. Focusing too much on the negative will only enlarge it, and reduce the positive behaviours. When I give children time-out, I try to speak to them afterwards. Usually, they are remorse, so it is easy to talk to them. Of course, there are a couple who never learn. Those might have been through tough punishment or have no clear boundaries at home. It is always a juggling act between positive reinforcement or discipline.

In families, there may be siblings. These relationships can affect children, even birth order. Being the oldest, youngest, or the middle can affect a child in a big way. Families in our modern society are so different, we have both parents working, so usually, grandparents or helpers will take care of children. Even if one parent is not working, there is a tendency to overdo. The parent might stifle the child’s independence by doing too much for the child until the child is unable to do things by themselves. That can be an indulgent parent.

Then, I shall talk about Social Context- Roles of Peers, Play, and TV. The peer group becomes more prominent in a child’s life as he or she gets older. The family will have a lesser influence over them. This is crucial, as the child might make a poor judgment about friends. The virtue of prudence is key, in ensuring a child can decide to be friends with a good company. Play happens during peer interactions. So much good stuff happens when children play together. I always ensure children are playing with each other, so the activity does not matter. Both Piaget and Vygotsky agree on the importance of play. Play is good for cognitive development.

Mildred Parten categorized play into 6 stages. Unoccupied play, solitary play, onlooker play, parallel play, associative play, and cooperative play. There are also 5 other categories of play. Sensorimotor (infants get pleasure by using their sensorimotor schemes) and practice play (repetition of using skills), Pretense/symbolic play (transforms the physical environment into symbols), Social play (Involves interactions with peers), Constructive play (combines sensorimotor and repetitive activity with the symbolic representation of ideas, and it happens when children engage in self-regulated construction of a product or a problem solution), and Games (Rules, sometimes competition).

Finally, about Television. In our context, that includes electronic devices. Many children spend time on devices than with their families. I have seen so many families leaving children to watch a cartoon. If that is meant to “control” children, that says a lot about your parenting skills, or willingness to be a parent.

References
Kong, G. S. (2020). SWK104 Human Growth and Life-Span Development (Birth to Adolescence) Study Guide (5CU). Singapore.

Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span Development (17th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

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2. Introduction to Life-Span Development (Part 2)

Life-Span Development.

This next post is about the same study unit, but because the unit is big, I had to separate the material into 2 posts. Physical Development, Cognitive Development, and Socio-Emotional Development.

Infants develop the fastest among the different age groups. In a year, the baby can grow twice in size.
I shall touch on the physical development of infants. It is further categorised into Physical Growth, Motor Development, and Sensory and Perceptual Development.

Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal development. 2 big words I never expected to pass the spell-check. Cephalocaudal is about the child growing from head to toe. Proximodistal is about growing from inside out, like from trunk to fingers and toes. Interesting, right? Both happen together, so infants develop their gross motor skills first before the fine motor skills. At birth, the brain is 25% the size of an adult brain, but by 2, it is 75%!

In motor development, there is a theory called Dynamic System Theory. It is about assembling motor skills for perceiving and acting. Infants imitate behaviours and carry them out according to the situation. Nature and nurture both play a part, whether it is about the environment or the genes of the infant.

Gross and fine motor skills develop differently in children. While there are certain milestones, such as being able to sit without support or walk, we should understand their individuality. Of course, if there is something wrong, we should rectify it. A 6-year-old unable to walk properly is an issue.

A brain.

Moving on to cognitive development.

It entails cognitive processes such as Piaget’s adaptation, where children can assimilate and accommodate to learn new things. A scheme is an action or mental representation that organises knowledge. Organisation is when children organise their experiences cognitively to understand the world. Equilibration is how children shift from one stage of thought to another, while Equilibrium is about a balance between new and current knowledge. Disequilibrium happens when there is no balance, and thus assimilation and accommodation need to occur for the balance to happen.

Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development: Sensorimotor, Pre-operational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational.

Sensorimotor happens when infants construct knowledge by connecting what is captured from the senses to motor skills. Sensorimotor is divided into 6 substages: Simple reflexes, First habits and primary circular reactions, Secondary circular reactions, Coordination of secondary circular reactions, Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity, and Internalisation of schemes.

Infants have 4 basic reflexes, from birth to 1 month. Sucking Reflex (an object placed near the mouth), Rooting Reflex (infant will try to suck something stroking its cheek or side of mouth), Moro Reflex (when shocked, infants adopt a posture as if to grab for support, a primal instinct), and Grasping Reflex (infant grabs something stroking its palms). It’s just a computer, there are built-in functions. I can verify this, as I recently tried them with an infant from my relative’s house.

First habits refer to reflexes, and primary circular reactions refer to a reproduction of an event that happened by chance, for instance, a child puts the thumb into the mouth unconsciously.

Secondary circular reactions are from 4 to 8 months. Infants focus lesser on themselves and more on objects. Their actions are about giving themselves pleasurable results, like cooing (single syllable, vowel sound) to make a person go near them.

Then from 8 to 12 months, they are in the Coordination of secondary circular reactions stage. They start to coordinate vision and touch senses, and coordination of schemes. They can do intentional actions, such as using a stick to bring an object closer.

Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity happen in the 12 to 18-month stage. Infants start to experiment with how objects work, so they begin to explore possibilities.

Finally, Internalisation of schemes occurs from 18 to 24 months. Now, infants can see and repeat actions done by others. If they see a child throwing a tantrum, they can imitate that and do it by themselves.

Object permanence is an interesting phenomenon, where children understand that an object continues to exist even when it is hidden from sight. Toddlers are unable to do so, so when you hide a toy, they will cry. But for a child, if you hide it, he or she will look for it. If you play Peek-A-Boo, they know you are still there.

Under cognitive development, we also have language development. Language has five systems of rules: Phonology (sound system), Morphology (word formation), Syntax (sentence formation), Semantics (meanings of words/sentences), and Pragmatics (appropriate use of language in a different context).

Watched a video of the reenactment of the wild boy of Averyon. Sadly, such a thing could happen to a child. Language is impossible to attain after the critical years are over, further supporting the case that the early years of every person are the most important. Not just in language, but in self-esteem, social skills, cognitive and physical development. The list can go on and on. Early childhood is not about “working in a childcare”, or that it is a “lower level compared to Pri or Sec school”. It is the foundation of every single person on this earth.

I shall move on to socio-emotional development in infants.

Emotion is defined as a combination of physiological arousal with overt behaviour, so excitement is when the heartbeat races and the child jumps up and down.

It is further divided into primary emotions and self-conscious emotions. Primary emotions are, of course, primal emotions. They are present in humans and animals. What makes us different is that we have self-conscious emotions, such as pride. We have country pride, pride in ourselves. This is not a bad emotion. We just need to control it wisely.

In infants, there are 4 key developmental changes in emotions. Crying, Smiling, Fear, and Stranger Anxiety.

Caregivers are important, as they respond accordingly to infants. Even their cries have meaning, and infants develop a secure relationship with adults if the adults are responsive.

Smiling has 2 categories, reflexive smile and social smile. Reflexive smile occurs without an external stimulus, usually when the infant is asleep. Ain’t that precious? Social smile is when an external stimulus occurs, such as the presence of a loved one. I have children who show me the social smile when they see me, that is cute.

Fear is what fuels stranger anxiety, which starts from 6 months and intensifies by 9 months of age. No wonder infants have no qualms getting carried when they are only a few months old.

Erikson’s psychosocial theory comes to play here, infants develop a trust vs mistrust relationship even very early on. We cannot assume infants are lost in the world. They are very much capable of forming bonds with humans if they are allowed to do so.

There is a term called Social Referencing, which means infants read emotional cues to decide what to do in a situation. Infants and children are very sensitive to “vibes”. I had an ex-colleague who was getting “drilled” by the female boss and principal, for her work performance. I was not there, but they shared with me that it had a very tense atmosphere. I recall the boss talking with an employee in the van with me, though they were speaking in another language I understood the words ‘principal’ and ‘boss’. They were talking about her. Later on, they shared that while they were still talking, one of the toddlers came and hugged her. She nearly cried. The boy understood something. She was getting bullied. So he did that. This boy is usually in his world, but I wish I could have seen that incident. Yes, they may not understand the language. Yes, they can’t tie their shoes. But never underestimate children. They can sense things that somehow we adults have lost along the way.

Infants grow to have emotional regulation by their first birthday.

Next, I will be talking about temperament.

3 theories talk about temperament. Chess and Thomas’ Classification, Kagan’s Behavioural Inhibition, and Rothbart and Bates’ Classification.

Firstly, for Chess and Thomas’ Classification, that are 3 basic types: Easy child (positive), Difficult child (negative), Slow-to-warm-up child (somewhat negative, low intensity of mood).

Then for Kagen’s Behavioural Inhibition, it focuses on differences between shy, subdued, timid child and a sociable, extraverted, bold child. The inhibition is referring to the shy, timid child, which relates to the slow-to-warm-up child from Chess and Thomas’ classification.

And finally, for Rothbart and Bates’ Classification, it talks about extraversion (positive anticipation, impulsivity, sensation-seeking, Kagen’s uninhibited children fit here), negative affectivity (cry easily, Kagen’s inhibition children fit here), and effortful control (self-regulation, keeps arousal from getting too high).

Kagen believes temperament falls under the category of nature, though with experience, they can change. Culture and gender also play a part in shaping temperament. It is interesting for me, as I observe that girls are more assertive than guys. There are certain issues girls have to overcome in society, so their temperament needs to change to adapt.

As educators, we have to be careful to find out children’s context, and not to assume and classify them accordingly.

From Ann Sanson and Mary Rothbart, there are 3 strategies for parents to use with regards to temperament.
1. Attention to and respect for individuality (every child is unique)
2. Structuring the child’s environment (crowded and noisy environment can affect children)
3. The “difficult child” and packaged parenting programmes (the label might help, but not for the long-term)

As for Personality Development, Erikson’s Trust vs Mistrust is a key period in infants, as they connect with nurturing adults in their lives, they build trust. However, that does not mean a stable relationship will last them throughout. Their parents might separate when they are older, then they go back to the trust vs mistrust stage.

This is also called Attachment. It is discussed in at least 3 theories. Sigmund Freud believes infants seek to be attached to a person who gives them oral satisfaction, such as feeding. Erik Erikson believes in the trust vs mistrust stage.

John Bowlby has 4 phases of attachment. He believes that infants are biologically equipped to elicit attachment behaviour, that increases the chances of an adult paying attention to them, and this is crucial in the infant’s survival.

Phase 1: From birth to 2 months, infants instinctively direct their attachment to human figures.
Phase 2: From 2 to 7 months, attachment becomes focused on one figure, usually the primary caregiver.
Phase 3: From 7 to 24 months, specific attachment developed. With increased locomotor skills, babies actively seek contact with regular caregiver.
Phase 4: From 24 months on, children become aware of others’ feelings, goals, and plans, and begin to take these into account in forming their own actions.

Mary Ainsworth has a few types of attachments. Securely attached babies (caregiver is a secure base), insecure-avoidant babies (avoids caregiver), insecure resistant babies (clings and then pushes caregiver away), insecure disorganized babies (disorganized and disoriented.

References
Kong, G. S. (2020). SWK104 Human Growth and Life-Span Development (Birth to Adolescence) Study Guide (5CU). Singapore.

Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span Development (17th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

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1. Introduction to Life-Span Development (Part 1)

Life-Span Development.

Welcome to my series for the next module. This module is about how a human develops from birth to old age. It helps me to understand myself and others better. In human development, there are three major processes: cognitive, biological, and socioemotional.

This first post is part 1 of Study Unit 1. This unit is big; the next post will focus on the development of babies.

There are 8 periods in life-span development.
Pre-natal: Conception to birth
Infancy: Birth – 18-24 months
Early childhood: 2-5 years
Middle and Late childhood: 6-11 years
Adolescence: 10-12 to 18-21 years
Early adulthood: 20s and 30s
Middle adulthood: 35-45 years to 60s
Late adulthood: 60s and 70s

Although age is relative. We have heard stories of how an elderly man or woman ran a full marathon, or a young boy or girl entered university. So, what is age? Age can be defined in four ways. Chronological (time), biological (biological health), psychological (adaptive capacity), and social (roles and expectations).

There are eight key principles of the life-span approach.
1. Development is Lifelong. (It does not stop at adulthood; people continue to develop)
2. Development is Multidimensional. (It covers everything, not just in physical or cognitive)
3. Development is Multidirectional. (Areas can go up and down, and an older person grows in wisdom but decreases in processing speed)
4. Development is Multidisciplinary. (Different fields are interested in how humans develop)
5. Development is Pliable or Plastic. (This goes lower as we get older, but adults are still able to maintain certain functions when trained)
6. Development is Contextual. (Where the individual is can affect development. 3 sources of context: Normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences, non-normative influences)
7. Development involves Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation. (Younger ones will have more growth, but as they get older, they are more about maintenance and regulation)
8. Development is Co-construction of Biology, Culture and Individual. (These 3 areas have inter-dependence)

Out of which, 3 developmental issues continue to be debated.
1. Nature vs nurture (What affects a person more, the environment or their genetics?)
2. Continuity vs discontinuity (Is development a gradual change, or divided into distinct stages?)
3. Stability vs change (As we grow older, will we remain or change?)

It is interesting to know that from the life-span perspective, there is no “crucial” age group, whereas, in the early childhood field, it is widely acknowledged that the early years are fundamental to a person’s development.

Going back to context, there are 3 sources of context.

Normative age-graded influences are what everyone goes through at the same age, such as puberty and menopause. It can also be about the country, such as in Singapore, where the age for Primary school is 7, and the age to collect CPF savings is 65.
Normative history-graded influences happen when people go through historical events, such as the 911 terrorist attacks. Recently, COVID-19 has also been one such influence. History will look back and recall this pandemic that affected the whole world.
Non-normative influences are unique to individuals. They do not happen for everyone, but they certainly affect that person in a great way.

Several theories guide us in understanding more about human development. Freud’s Psychoanalytical theory, Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory, Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive theory, the Information-Processing theory, Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, Ethological theory, and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological theory.

However, we should take an eclectic approach, as each theory does not cover the whole aspect of being a human. Knowing how a child constructs knowledge by himself does not help him to develop social skills or learn without the presence of an adult offering operant conditioning.

Theories are coherent and have been proven by assumptions or observations. Research is a way that people can be observed, and data is then collated.

There are 3 basic forms of research: Descriptive Research, Correlational Research, and Experimental Research.

Descriptive Research involves observing and recording behaviours. It includes Observation, Surveys and interviews, Standardised tests, case study, Life-history record, and Physiological measures.
Correlational Research is used to compare at least 2 events of characteristics to evaluate their relationships.
Experimental Research is when a variable that can affect behaviour is changed while the other variables remain fixed, this is to assess the effects.

In research, time span is a concerning factor. These are the approaches that relate age to a changing variable.

The cross-sectional approach is when people of different ages are studied, and a longitudinal approach is about studying the same people over long periods. The longitudinal approach is expensive, time-consuming, and participants tend to drop out after a long time. The sequential approach is a combination of both. A group of mixed ages are studied, then they are moved to a longitudinal study, and then, later on, another group is added. The third approach is more time-consuming, but it covers areas that the first two are unable to. Cohort effect is where a group of people who are born at the same point in history are studied.

But regardless of the approach, there are 4 ethical issues that researchers have to take note: Informed consent (participants must know what they are involved in and whether there are any risks for taking part), Confidentiality (sometimes anonymous), Debriefing (of the purpose and methods used), and Deception (sometimes revealing too much to the participants will affect the study, so they will only know of the nature of the study asap after it is over).

Biasness can also occur during studies. There are 5 guidelines to follow: Distinguish between group results and individual needs, Do not over-generalise from a small sample, Look for answers beyond a single study, Do not attribute causes where none have been found, Evaluate the source of the information about life-span development.

References
Kong, G. S. (2020). SWK104 Human Growth and Life-Span Development (Birth to Adolescence) Study Guide (5CU). Singapore.

Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span Development (17th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

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6. Reconsidering the Role of the Teacher

A teacher teaching a small class of young children.

The last post of this 6-part series is from my SUSS ECH module, ECE102. For this last post, it is about the role of the teacher. The next series will be a 3-part series.

The 5 dispositions mentioned previously also apply to teachers. Curiosity, Persistence, Flexibility, Reflectiveness, Collaborativeness.

I must have intentionality in teaching. What I believe is important in education for young children is for them to develop social skills, for they to survive by themselves in the 21st century. There must come a point in someone’s life where they are faced with a crisis; how can they deal with it? I also believe that no matter how much experience or qualifications a teacher has, it is about how the teacher conducts the lesson. You might have the best materials in the world, but you are so boring. You might only have 1 marker, but you can engage your class. Children should remember you more than what you have used.

Educators follow the belief-goal-practice cycle of teaching. We go back to what we believe in, think of goals, and carry them out. Then we evaluate.

There is a journal article that talks about 12 characteristics of effective teachers. The following is quoted from the article. Characteristics are different from abilities. Being able to be organised is an ability. Most articles tend to be about Primary School teachers, so this article needed to be written, as the Early Childhood field is very different from higher learning. These are the 12 characteristics.

Passion: It has to carry you beyond thinking that children are cute or that the job is fun. It has to ignite you.

Perseverance: This is about fighting for issues or beliefs, to be an advocate for young children.
Willing to take risks: This can be tricky; it means fighting for something even if others say no.

Pragmatism: It refers to being able to know which battles don’t have to be won, and that small wins are better. Compromise is sometimes necessary.

Patience: In dealing with children, adults, colleagues, or the system. Frustrations will no doubt come when what you believe in does not align with what the Singapore system has to offer.

Flexibility: This is also tricky. While change is the only constant, change must be given at a comfortable pace. It is unreasonable to assume teachers should adapt just because they must be “flexible”.

Respect: Respecting people from all backgrounds, Singapore does this well. Teachers have to ensure the learning environment caters for that.

Creativity: This is vital in helping teachers to make use of whatever resources or space available, to ensure the diverse group of children are learning, and also to make learning fun.

Authenticity: It is about being true to yourself. Children are sensitive to this. I find some teachers unable to connect with children because they hide behind a façade of “professionalism”. They do not bring their true self, full of weaknesses, to the children. After all, we are still human.

Love of learning: Seeking out knowledge, to inspire children to want to learn more. Some people think they have “made it”, that they don’t have to pursue any further studies or listen to anybody teaching them.

High energy: This job takes a lot out of me, but it is worth it. When I give them high energy, they will respond equally. They will be eager to learn, even to do mundane work tasks.

Sense of humour: Interesting that this is not an ability but a characteristic. Anyone can have this. We have to learn to laugh at ourselves; that shows great character. Learning can also be made fun when the lesson is humorous.

Going back to what MOE requires.
Perseverance
Reflectiveness
Appreciation
Inventiveness
Sense of wonder & curiosity
Engagement

The 6 learning domains are Aesthetics & Creative Expression, Discovery of the World, Language & Literacy, Motor Skills Development, Numeracy, Social & Emotional Development.
As a teacher, I should continue to think about the 5 dispositions.

References
Chen, D. (2020). ECE102 Children as thinkers and meaning makers (study guide). Singapore: Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Colker, L. J. (2008). Twelve characteristics of highly effective early childhood teachers. Young Children, 68-73.

Stone-MacDonald, A., Wendell, K., Douglass, A., & Love, M. L. (2015). Engaging Young Engineers- Teaching Problem-Solving Skills Through STEM. Baltimore, Maryland: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

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5. Developing Critical Thinking Dispositions (Part II)

Learning dispositions.

I shall discuss the remaining 3 dispositions: Flexibility, Reflectiveness, Collaborativeness.

Flexibility means being able to “perceive beyond one’s own expectations and to adjust to prior and new information to anticipate a result that may or may not currently exist.”

Only humans can use new solutions to solve problems without seeing them happen yet. Piaget has a notion of reversible thought, which means being able to imagine what it was like before having a thought, and what could happen because of that thought.

Flexible thinking means a child can draw something that does not exist or that he or she has not seen before. I have a few children who are good at academics but are weak in this area. They struggle with doing creative work, and they tend to copy exactly what their friends are drawing. Children with less cognitive flexibility will tend to copy the whole drawing and change only 1 part of it. They are unable to create something completely new.

During my art activities, I always emphasise no copying as my only rule. They are allowed to draw anything as long as it is within the boundaries of the broad topic, using any materials. Infants are capable of flexible thinking, in how they use different methods to engage a toy or object. They use their senses at once. While toddlers are even able to change their tools, not just the method of using. However, sometimes when children are unable to solve a problem, it may be because of a lack of cognitive flexibility, or the lack of knowledge of how objects work.

In my sketchbook activities, I invite children to use the picturebooks I have read over the week as a reference, but they must also come up with their own stories. Some modify the characters in the book, some take different elements, even from previous weeks, to build their own story. Though children are preoperational, and they need concrete materials, I realise that they are still able to use their imagination. Hopefully, a child can create a fantasy house where their family lives together with mythical creatures like the unicorn. It seems the mind of a child is so fascinating, so full of potential. The article I found about flexibility is from a website.

One way to foster flexibility is to have a standard routine that has changes introduced slowly and an adult as stable support (Eastern Connecticut State University, 2020). This is similar to curiosity, where there is orderliness (what already makes sense) and openness (to new knowledge). It is about changing at a comfortable pace for the child. Children need that stability. That is why when class teachers come and go all the time, it is very bad for children. For my class, they went through 3 English teachers and 2 Chinese teachers last year. This year is much better, it is just me and the Chinese teacher. We will see them at the end of the year. It is unreasonable to expect children to be “okay” with abrupt, constant changes.

Moving on to reflectiveness. I think this disposition is very lacking, even in adults. We always say, “Give me time, I will change.” I doubt that ever happens; humans tend to put themselves on a pedestal that they are not worthy of. I digress. Essentially, it means not reacting but responding. It is about allowing children to think about what they have done, to articulate in language or words.

Going back to the sketchbooks the children use, they have opportunities every week to think back on what they have learned. Also, in the centre activities, they will do another reflection book about what they have learned. Even in big group activities, I will always summarise the activity, recap on the virtues they have learned. My emphasis is always on social skills, what they have learned with regard to working with others. There are a few who are more individualistic, and the kick is that they know when to be “nice” when I am around.

Children are capable of narrativising or articulating what they have learned in conversations, and it helps them in meaning-making (Carr, 2011). I ask children what they drew, so I can write comments. During the summarising of group activities, I will recap on what they have done, and get them to share. Also, it is valuable to let the child lead the conversation, as adult-led conversations tend to reach a dead-end of just close-ended questions (Carr, 2011).

The last disposition I will be talking about is collaborativeness. It is so crucial because, in the world, we need more than ourselves to solve issues. Educators can model this by having collaborative thinking with children first. Too often, we allow the “louder” children to give an idea or take on leadership roles. We need to give equal opportunity to everyone. Collaborative thinking is considering the needs of others. Perhaps as adults, if we are too self-centred, we are unable to do so. Even for myself, if I believe that only I am capable of doing a task, I am not considering the needs of others. I should incorporate the strengths and weaknesses of everyone, for everyone to succeed together. I enjoy being with people who believe in this. Some people seek my opinion, not because I know anything, but because they want to include me. Even if the feedback I give adds nothing, I feel that I am appreciated for who I am, not just what I can do.

We can have children pair up to collaborate, for the stronger child to teach the weaker child. I have a leadership system for the learning centres, and I ensure weaker children are paired up with stronger children. There are 3 of them who are strong in both English and Math. They have good attitudes too, not arrogant just because “teacher choose me,” but willing to teach their peers. That makes a child who wants to be the first unhappy. I am killing 2 birds with 1 stone; I get to teach humility to that child, too.

If we want to teach children to have collaborative thinking with each other, the role of the adult must only be to assist that. When children complain to me, I direct them to settle the matter themselves. When someone does not want to share, you go tell him. If children grow up having an adult to help them, they will never learn to solve their problems. I do step in when necessary, after all, I have to be a stable support for them to build dispositions.

A blog talked about strategies for teaching collaboration between students. Students learn more from each other than from the teacher, and students can either work in partners or small groups, so the teacher has to provide an environment that encourages collaboration, such as arranging tables to form squares (Jones, 2018).

That is all 5 dispositions: Curiosity, Persistence, Flexibility, Reflectiveness, Collaborativeness. They can integrate and teach in all parts of the day, not just during “lesson time”.

References
Carr, M. (2011). Young children reflecting on their learning: teachers’ conversation strategies. Early Years, 257-270.

Chen, D. (2020). ECE102 Children as thinkers and meaning makers (study guide). Singapore: Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Eastern Connecticut State University. (2020). Foster Flexibility. Retrieved from Eastern Connecticut State University: https://www.easternct.edu/center-for-early-childhood-education/ct-early-learning-and-development-standards/essential-disposition-flexibility.html

Jones, L. (2018, January 9). Tch Tips: Teaching Collaboration Skills. Retrieved from Teaching Channel: https://learn.teachingchannel.com/blog/2018/01/09/teaching-collaboration-skills

Stone-MacDonald, A., Wendell, K., Douglass, A., & Love, M. L. (2015). Engaging Young Engineers- Teaching Problem-Solving Skills Through STEM. Baltimore, Maryland: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

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4. Developing Critical Thinking Dispositions (Part I)

Learning dispositions.

I ended with dispositions in my previous post; this post and the subsequent one will continue on that. Dispositions are how a person responds to situations, whether positively or negatively. Knowledge and skills are important, but dispositions determine whether they will be used. I have kids in my class who may have knowledge, but they lack confidence. They learn it because they have to, not because they want to. There are desirable and non-desirable dispositions; MOE has the PRAISE, obviously desirable dispositions. Perseverance, Reflectiveness, Appreciation, Inventiveness, Sense of Wonder and Curiosity, and Engagement.

There are a further 5 dispositions that align with PRAISE, developed by Stone MacDonald and her colleagues. Curious, Perseverant, Flexible, Reflective, and Collaborative. These dispositions have to be taught in integration. If we teach them in isolation, whether consciously or subconsciously, we risk undermining what was already taught. That is a reason for integration. If we isolate English and Math, the other concept suddenly seems less valuable because the focus right now is not on it.
STEM is about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. All 4 can be integrated, not in isolation. Like us during COVID-19. I digress.

Dispositions should also be role-modelled by teachers, as activities might not evoke the same disposition in every child. Some children will be less persevering than others.

I shall talk about Curiosity, the first disposition. Curiosity is really about filling the gaps in knowledge. It has two contrasting features: a concern for orderliness and an openness to novel stimuli. Piaget’s adaptation (assimilation + accommodation) fits in here when a child discovers that a schema, or concept, does not fit well into his prior knowledge. Assimilation happens when the child changes that information, and accommodation is when the child changes what he already knows. Highly curious people have high levels of both orderliness and openness.

Curiosity is the main driving force behind why children are always touching or looking around, trying to understand the world around them. As adults or educators, we should not stifle their learning, but encourage them to do so within clearly defined boundaries. No touching of the cooking pot. We can develop curiosity by using questions to extend their thinking, beyond what is the current concepts. The key is not to share the answer, but to encourage children to think and have collaborative thinking with each other.

I found a journal article about curiosity in young children. Curiosity is developed naturally, but also through social interactions (Engel, 2011). The author noted an incident of how a teacher was too stifled about the lesson, so she ignored the curiosity of a group of children. They were going out of her plans and were discovering new concepts. Instead of cultivating or extending their learning, she stopped them and ended the lesson.

It has happened to me during science experiments. My objectives were not met, but thanks to a child’s observation, I could carry on the learning, which, though the experiment was a “failure”, the learning did not stop. It was a hot day to use ice, so the ice melted. A child commented about condensation. I went on with it, got the class to observe their containers for condensation, and later on, I talked briefly about the water cycle. Honestly, it did not feel good for my ego. I want my lessons to go well, not perfectly. It shows my planning and administration. But, during these times, we have to think about the children first.

Interestingly, for toddlers, they must have a secure figure in their lives before they are willing to explore. Ainsworth did an experiment called the Strange Situation. You can look it up yourself. It talks about how the toddler was able to explore the toys when her mother was present, but showed complete disdain when the mother left. Even in the presence of an adult, who was a stranger, the toddler had only her mother on her mind. Hence, attachment is a key factor in how a child develops curiosity.

There are reasons why educators fail to inculcate curiosity. One reason could be the standards. In Singapore, teachers are expected to teach children reading and writing skills. We would be more than willing to allow children to have fun with manipulatives, but when the time constraint and the pressures of children not meeting developmental needs start to kick in, often these “time-wasting” activities take less priority. However, I do believe there needs to be a balance.

A child-directed curriculum does not mean the teacher does not have any plans or allows the children to derail the lesson in any direction they like. Part of DAP is to have a balance between child-directed and teacher-directed. The educator needs to have a clear view of milestones, based on observations of children.

Next, I will move on to Persistence. While curiosity is about getting to know something new and hoping to strike a balance with prior knowledge, persistence is about being able to stay engaged with the task. Self-regulation plays a part here in ensuring the child can stay focused on something. I have children in my class who are learning that. During quiet time, some are unable to close their eyes and keep still. It is also about not giving up. Persistence benefits children in their success in the future. Infants are capable of showing persistence; they tend to do repeated actions with a toy. One way to develop persistent thinking in infants or toddlers is to guide them to think about their thinking, and that can be achieved by narrating their actions. Persistence is just trying to solve the problem of constantly thinking of solutions.

By articulating what children are doing, we are breaking down the big tasks into bite-sized pieces, so children are more capable of solving them. I scaffold children by using feeding-back, to narrate what they are doing. Cognitive structuring plays a part here, where the steps they take are articulated for them to understand. Sometimes children do things without realising.

There are many resources available online that talk about persistence as a positive disposition. Students who have persistence can handle uncertainty and handle it with systematic solutions; it is a positive mindset, and it is crucial in the 21st century (NSW Government, 2019). It is not a negative disposition, that is, stubbornness. It is the ability to keep trying, but doing so with a positive mindset.

Finally, I shall answer these questions with regard to the first 2 dispositions, Curiosity and Persistence.

What role does each disposition play in children’s construction of knowledge?

Curiosity: Making sense of the world, teachers have to teach not stifle
Persistence: Keep trying the same method, and also thinking of new ways.

What are the behavioural indicators for each of these dispositions …

for young children?

Curiosity: Aware of changes, observant
Persistence: Never give up from failure, willing to try again and again

for yourself as a beginning teacher?

Curiosity: Always wanting to learn, fill in the gaps of prior with new knowledge
Persistence: Keep trying, don’t give up

How can each of these dispositions be cultivated and nurtured/strengthened?

Curiosity: Encouragement, giving space, unrushed
Persistence: Breaking down tasks by scaffolding

References
Chen, D. (2020). ECE102 Children as thinkers and meaning makers (study guide). Singapore: Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Engel, S. (2011). Children's Need to Know: Curiosity in Schools. Harvard Educational Review, 625-645,784.

NSW Government. (2019, December 6). Learning Dispositions. Retrieved from NSW Government: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/school-learning-environments-and-change/future-focused-learning-and-teaching/learning-dispositions

Stone-MacDonald, A., Wendell, K., Douglass, A., & Love, M. L. (2015). Engaging Young Engineers- Teaching Problem-Solving Skills Through STEM. Baltimore, Maryland: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

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3. Approaches for Promoting Meaning-Making

Children playing in the playground.

Play is key to the development of young children.

DeVries has 4 interpretations of Play that educators have. They are divided into 4 groups.
1- Play is peripheral to learning and academic work. 
2- Play is a disguise for academic work. 
3- Play is integrated with social and emotional developmental goals. 
4- Play and work are integrated with social, emotional, moral, and intellectual development. 

Points 1 and 2 are the same, though we don’t see 1 anymore. For 2, activities are “sugar-coated” to try to appeal. But children are still not genuinely interested; they do them because the teacher wants them to do. I do that, as there are concepts I have to teach children to meet curriculum objectives. In another country, it might be possible to have a 100% play-based curriculum, but in Singapore, it is not possible. I do hear comments from children that there is “nothing to do”.

When observing children during Play, I ensure I am passive and allow children to solve their problems. I would plan group activities that integrate play with work, so it is open-ended, but there is an objective to meet. I would not solve their arguments, but instead allow them to solve them on their own, to build their social skills. So, in my classroom, it is a range of points 2 to 4. I have group activities that encourage play, but there is a balance of play and work in the learning centres.

Jones and Prescott see Play from the perspective of the child.
1- Play is open-ended and self-directed.
2- Work is when there is a product, and the worker feels a sense of accomplishment.
3- Labour has no personal meaning or significant product.

Labour needs punishment to ensure the child does the task, for instance, penmanship. Writing can be done in art, so language skills are used, but there is a product for the child to feel proud of. In my class, I use sketchbooks for children to note down their reflections about what they have learned about the child-directed themes. I encourage writing by giving them books I have read to reference from, and also for them to create their unique stories. Labour is a no-no to include, but play and work can be done. If I see children in labour, I should reflect upon my lesson.

The play-based approach is also called curriculum integration. To facilitate curriculum integration, there are a few approaches. Project-based and inquiry-based approaches are two of such philosophies.

The project-based approach was first introduced by Katz, and it involves a “research effort deliberately focused on finding answers to questions about a topic posed either by the children, the teacher, or the teacher working with the children.” Research is the key. Last year, I combined this with the Inquiry-based approach to create a book and a song for 2 terms. The key is in children’s interests, but the teacher plans the curriculum accordingly.

As for Inquiry-based learning, thinking forms the key focus in this approach. Teachers scaffold children’s thinking to bring them to a higher level.

However, closely following any of these approaches does not mean the activities are appropriate for children. The NAEYC has this stance on Developmentally Appropriate Practices, or DAP for short. The 3 key components are Safety, Ownership, and Conceptual Understanding. I shall continue to elaborate on these.

For safety, it refers to the physical and psychological aspects. Are the materials non-toxic? Do the materials discriminate or lower children’s competency?

Ownership is about giving children ownership of materials. It builds their self-regulation skills, and they find the activities challenging enough but not too difficult. Children choose to engage in the activity and are not forced by adults, which causes them to constantly turn to the teacher for help.

As for Conceptual Understanding, concepts can be acquired while building critical thinking skills, and children are not rushed to complete the activity.

Overall, having a quality approach is not about teaching concepts to children, but about inculcating critical thinking dispositions that can carry them even through adulthood. Knowledge will turn obsolete. Who knows, patterns might be useless in 5 years. We might not even use the Alphabet. I am just exaggerating, but it is teaching children to think critically can help them in the future when they are dealing with issues by themselves.

References
Chen, D. (2020). ECE102 Children as thinkers and meaning makers (study guide). Singapore: Singapore University of Social Sciences.

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2. The Construction of Knowledge

Construction of knowledge.

While behaviourists believe in nurture and maturationists believe in nature, constructivists advocate for a balance between the two.

Under the realm of constructivism, we have 3 theorists: Piaget, Vygotsky, and Gardner. We have to provide opportunities for children to have active engagement through the use of
1. Relevant, meaningful learning experiences
2. Concrete, open-ended materials
3. Unrushed time 
4. Differentiated learning.

Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory entails 4 stages: Sensorimotor (0 to 2), preoperational (3 to 7), concrete operational (7 to 11), formal operational (11 onwards). Children may deviate from these stipulated age groups, according to their individual development.

Piaget also describes an ability known as adaptation, which involves assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is when children transform new information into what they already know, while accommodation is about changing what is already known to make sense of new information. So if I know that tables have 4 legs, and I see a chair, I will still call it a table as I change it to fit what I currently know. But if a teacher tells me that it is not a table, but a chair, I change what I know to fit this new information. Hence, this is a back-and-forth process.

Equilibrium or disequilibrium is simply about whether a balance between new and current information is achieved.

Vygotsky defines the zone of proximal development as the gap between the most difficult independent task a child can do and the most difficult task the child can do with support. A more knowledgeable other has to guide the child, but ensure the level of support slowly reduces to enable the child to be capable of his or her own.

This process is defined as scaffolding. Scaffolding entails 5 components: Instruction (information on what to do), Modelling (showing behaviour for children to imitate), Feeding-back (offering information based on what the child has done concerning the task objective), Questioning (enabling children to think in new ways), Cognitive Structuring (structure for thinking and acting, like stating the steps to do). Vygotsky also believes in the importance of language. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky believes in the role of social relationships.

As for Gardner, Multiple Intelligences are in every person, in various degrees. It is possible to have more than one. Learning can involve multiple intelligences too, for instance, a cookery lesson must have logical-mathematical competency, but it can also involve naturalistic intelligence, as they begin to discover and wonder how ingredients work with each other.

Children learn through play, and play is defined as an activity that is voluntary, requires active involvement, symbolic, free of external rules, focuses on action rather than outcomes, and pleasurable.

Play can also be divided into types, such as constructive play, or Parten’s Six Levels of Social Play: Unoccupied behaviour, solitary, onlooker, parallel, associative, and cooperative.

Smilansky defines Four Types of Cognitive Play, further enhancing Parten’s theory: Functional (Repetitive physical action), Constructive (Sensorimotor or creativity to build something), Games with rules (Understanding and accepting rules), and Dramatic (substituting an object for something imaginary).

Play is beneficial in teaching pre-academic skills. Using objects to represent supermarket groceries is one such example, and the use of symbols benefits them in learning to read. Using a toy phone to represent a real phone is no different from using a word to represent an idea or concept.

Finally, purposeful play, as defined by MOE, it must be enjoyable to children, requires the active involvement of children in exploring, developing and applying knowledge and skills, involves learning objectives that have been carefully thought through by the teacher while taking in consideration children’s interests and abilities, and it requires facilitation by teachers and this involves observing children at play to discover what they have learnt, and then designing learning activities to reinforce and/or extend their learning based on clearly identified learning objectives.

References
Chen, D. (2020). ECE102 Children as thinkers and meaning makers (study guide). Singapore: Singapore University of Social Sciences.

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