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Typically, in performance assessments, students complete a specific task while teachers observe the process or procedure (e.g. data collection in an experiment) as well as the product (e.g. completed report) (Popham, 2005; Stiggens, 2005). The tasks that students complete in performance assessments are not simple—in contrast to selected response items—and include the following:
• playing a musical instrument
• athletic skills
• artistic creation
• conversing in a foreign language
• engaging in a debate about political issues
• conducting an experiment in science
• repairing a machine
• writing a term paper
• using interaction skills to play together
These examples all involve complex skills but illustrate that the term performance assessment is used in a variety of ways. For example, the teacher may not observe all of the process (e.g. she sees a draft paper but the final product is written during out-of-school hours) and essay tests are typically classified as performance assessments (Airasian, 2000). In addition, in some performance assessments there may be no clear product (e.g. the performance may be group interaction skills).
Two related terms, alternative assessment and authentic assessment are sometimes used instead of performance assessment but they have different meanings (Linn & Miller, 2005).
Alternative assessment refers to tasks that are not pencil-and-paper and while many performance assessments are not pencil-and paper tasks some are (e.g. writing a term paper, essay test).
• Alternative assessment also refers an assessment system that is used to assess students with the most significant cognitive disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior.
Click here to watch the video on Dynamic Learning Maps assessment system (DLM) (8:50 minutes)
Authentic assessment is used to describe tasks that students do that are similar to those in the “real world”. Classroom tasks vary in level of authenticity (Popham, 2005). For example, a Japanese language class taught in a high school in Chicago conversing in Japanese in Tokyo is highly authentic— but only possible in a study abroad program or trip to Japan. Conversing in Japanese with native Japanese speakers in Chicago is also highly authentic, and conversing with the teacher in Japanese during class is moderately authentic. Much less authentic is a matching test on English and Japanese words. In a language arts class, writing a letter (to an editor) or a memo to the principal is highly authentic as letters and memos are common work products.
• However, writing a five-paragraph paper is not as authentic as such papers are not used in the world of work.
• However, a five-paragraph paper is a complex task and would typically be classified as a performance assessment.
Internet Resource on Performance Assessment
The Inside Mathematics website has Performance Assessments Tasks for grades 2 through 8 and high school math (algebra, functions, geometry, statistics and probability, and number and quantity). The assessments are aligned to the Common Core Standards for Mathematics: http://www.insidemathematics.org/performance-assessment-tasks You may download and use these tasks for professional development purposes without modifying the tasks.
Jay McTighe and Associates have a Performance Tasks Blog Series- What is a Performance Task?https://jaymctighe.com/what-is-a-performance-task/. Seven characteristics of Performance Tasks and a few examples are included.
Advantages and disadvantages
There are several advantages of performance assessments (Linn & Miller 2005). First, the focus is on complex learning outcomes that often cannot be measured by other methods. Second, performance assessments typically assess process or procedure as well as the product. For example, the teacher can observe if the students are repairing the machine using the appropriate tools and procedures as well as whether the machine functions properly after the repairs. Third, well designed performance assessments communicate the instructional goals and meaningful learning clearly to students. For example, if the topic in a fifth-grade art class is one-point perspective the performance assessment could be drawing a city scene that illustrates one-point perspective. This assessment is meaningful and clearly communicates the learning goal. This performance assessment is a good instructional activity and has good content validity—common with well-designed performance assessments (Linn & Miller 2005).
• One major disadvantage with performance assessments is that they are typically very time consuming for students and teachers. This means that fewer assessments can be gathered so if they are not carefully devised fewer learning goals will be assessed—which can reduce content validity.
State curriculum guidelines can be helpful in determining what should be included in a performance assessment. For example, Eric, a dance teacher in a high school in Tennessee learns that the state standards indicate that dance students at the highest level should be able to do demonstrate consistency and clarity in performing technical skills by:
• performing complex movement combinations to music in a
• variety of meters and styles
• performing combinations and variations in a broad dynamic range
• demonstrating improvement in performing movement combinations through self-evaluation
• critiquing a live or taped dance production based on given criteria
Eric devises the following performance task for his eleventh-grade modern dance class.
In groups of 4-6 students will perform a dance at least 5 minutes in length. The dance selected should be multifaceted so that all the dancers can demonstrate technical skills, complex movements, and a dynamic range (Items 1-2). Students will videotape their rehearsals and document how they improved through self-evaluation (Item 3). Each group will view and critique the final performance of one other group in class (Item 4). Eric would need to scaffold most steps in this performance assessment. The groups probably would need guidance in selecting a dance that allowed all the dancers to demonstrate the appropriate skills; critiquing their own performances constructively; working effectively as a team, and applying criteria to evaluate a dance.
• Another disadvantage of performance assessments is they are hard to assess reliably which can lead to inaccuracy and unfair evaluation. As with any constructed response assessment, scoring rubrics are very important.
Table \(7\): : Example of group interaction rubric
Score Time management Participation and performance in roles Shared involvement
0 Group did not stay on task and so task was not completed. Group did not assign or share roles. Single individual did the task.
1 Group was off-task the majority of the time but task was completed. Groups assigned roles but members did not use these roles. Group totally disregarded comments and ideas from some members.
2 Group stayed on task most of the time. Groups accepted and used some but not all roles. Group accepted some ideas but did not give others adequate consideration
3 Group stayed on task throughout the activity and managed time well. Group accepted and used roles and actively participated. Groups gave equal consideration to all ideas
4 Group defined their own approach in a way that more effectively managed the activity. Group defined and used roles not mentioned to them. Role changes took place that maximized individuals’ expertise. Groups made specific efforts to involve all group members including the reticent members.
Source: Adapted from Group Interaction (GI) SETUP (2003). Issues, Evidence and You. Ronkonkomo, NY Lab-Aids, (cse.edc.org/products/assessment/middleschool/scorerub.asp).
This rubric was devised for middle grade science ,but could be used in other subject areas when assessing group process. In some performance assessments, several scoring rubrics should be used. In the dance performance example above Eric should have scoring rubrics for the performance skills, the improvement based on self-evaluation, the team work, and the critique of the other group.
Obviously, devising a good performance assessment is complex and Linn and Miller (2005) recommend that teachers should:
• Create performance assessments that require students to use complex cognitive skills. Sometimes teachers devise assessments that are interesting and that the students enjoy but do not require students to use higher level cognitive skills that lead to significant learning. Focusing on high level skills and learning outcomes is particularly important because performance assessments are typically so time consuming.
• Ensure that the task is clear to the students. Performance assessments typically require multiple steps so students need to have the necessary prerequisite skills and knowledge as well as clear directions. Careful scaffolding is important for successful performance assessments.
• Specify expectations of the performance clearly by providing students scoring rubrics during the instruction. This not only helps students understand what it expected but it also guarantees that teachers are clear about what they expect. Thinking this through while planning the performance assessment can be difficult for teachers, but is crucial as it typically leads to revisions of the actual assessment and directions provided to students.
• Reduce the importance of unessential skills in completing the task. What skills are essential depends on the purpose of the task. For example, for a science report, is the use of publishing software essential? If the purpose of the assessment is for students to demonstrate the process of the scientific method including writing a report, then the format of the report may not be significant. However, if the purpose includes integrating two subject areas, science and technology, then the use of publishing software is important. Because performance assessments take time it is tempting to include multiple skills without carefully considering if all the skills are essential to the learning goals. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/15%3A_Teacher_made_assessment_strategies/15.09%3A_Performance_assessments.txt |
“A portfolio is a meaningful collection of student work that tells the story of student achievement or growth” (Arter, Spandel, & Culham, 1995, p. 2).
Portfolios are a purposeful collection of student work not just folders of all the work a student does.
Portfolios are used for a variety of purposes and developing a portfolio system can be confusing and stressful unless the teachers are clear on their purpose.
The varied purposes can be illustrated as four dimensions (Linn & Miller 2005):
When the primary purpose is assessment for learning, the emphasis is on student self-reflection and responsibility for learning.
Students not only select samples of their work they wish to include, but also reflect and interpret their own work. Portfolios containing this information can be used to aid communication as students can present and explain their work to their teachers and parents (Stiggins, 2005). Portfolios focusing on assessment of learning contain students’ work samples that certify accomplishments for a classroom grade, graduation, state requirements etc.
Typically, students have less choice in the work contained in such portfolios as some consistency is needed for this type of assessment. For example, the writing portfolios that fourth and seventh graders are required to submit in Kentucky must contain a self-reflective statement and an example of three pieces of writing (reflective, personal experience or literary, and transactive). Students do choose which of their pieces of writing in each type to include in the portfolio.
Portfolios can be designed to focus on student progress or current accomplishments.
For example, audio tapes of English language learners speaking could be collected over one year to demonstrate growth in learning. Student progress portfolios may also contain multiple versions of a single piece of work. For example, a writing project may contain notes on the original idea, outline, first draft, comments on the first draft by peers or teacher, second draft, and the final finished product (Linn & Miller 2005). If the focus is on current accomplishments, only recent completed work samples are included.
Portfolios can focus on documenting student activities or highlighting important accomplishments.
Documentation portfolios are inclusive, containing all the work samples rather than focusing on one special strength, best work, or progress. In contrast, showcase portfolios focus on best work. The best work is typically identified by students. One aim of such portfolios is that students learn how to identify products that demonstrate what they know and can do. Students are not expected to identify their best work in isolation but also use the feedback from their teachers and peers.
A final distinction can be made between a finished portfolio—maybe used to for a job application—versus a working portfolio that typically includes day-to-day work samples.
Working portfolios evolve over time and are not intended to be used for assessment of learning. The focus in a working portfolio is on developing ideas and skills so students should be allowed to make mistakes, freely comment on their own work, and respond to teacher feedback (Linn & Miller, 2005). Finished portfolios are designed for use with a particular audience and the products selected may be drawn from a working portfolio. For example, in a teacher education program, the working portfolio may contain work samples from all the courses taken. A student may develop one finished portfolio to demonstrate she has mastered the required competencies in the teacher education program and a second finished portfolio for her job application.
Advantages and disadvantages
Portfolios used well in classrooms have several advantages. They provide a way of documenting and evaluating growth in a much more nuanced way than selected response tests can. Also, portfolios can be integrated easily into instruction, i.e. used for assessment for learning. Portfolios also encourage student self-evaluation and reflection, as well as ownership for learning (Popham, 2005). Using classroom assessment to promote student motivation is an important component of assessment for learning which is considered in the next section.
However, there are some major disadvantages of portfolio use. First, good portfolio assessment takes an enormous amount of teacher time and organization. The time is needed to help students understand the purpose and structure of the portfolio, decide which work samples to collect, and to self-reflect. Some of this time needs to be conducted in one-to-one conferences. Reviewing and evaluating the portfolios out of class time is also enormously time consuming. Teachers have to weigh if the time spent is worth the benefits of the portfolio use.
Second, evaluating portfolios reliability and eliminating bias can be even more difficult than in a constructed response assessment because the products are more varied. The experience of the statewide use of portfolios for assessment in writing and mathematics for fourth and eighth graders in Vermont is sobering. Teachers used the same analytic scoring rubric when evaluating the portfolio. In the first two years of implementation samples from schools were collected and scored by an external panel of teachers. In the first year the agreement among raters (i.e. inter-rater reliability) was poor for mathematics and reading; in the second year the agreement among raters improved for mathematics but not for reading. However, even with the improvement in mathematics the reliability was too low to use the portfolios for individual student accountability (Koretz, Stecher, Klein & McCaffrey, 1994).
• When reliability is low, validity is also compromised because unstable results cannot be interpreted meaningfully.
If teachers do use portfolios in their classroom, the series of steps needed for implementation are outlined in Table 36. If the school or district has an existing portfolio system these steps may have to be modified.
Steps in implementing a classroom portfolio program
1. Make sure students own their portfolios.
• Talk to your students about your ideas of the portfolio, the different purposes, and the variety of work samples. If possible, have them help make decisions about the kind of portfolio you implement.
2. Decide on the purpose.
• Will the focus be on growth or current accomplishments? Best work showcase or documentation? Good portfolios can have multiple purposes, but the teacher and students need to be clear about the purpose.
3. Decide what work samples to collect.
• For example, in writing, is every writing assignment included? Are early drafts as well as final products included?
5. Select criteria to evaluate samples.
• If possible, work with students to develop scoring rubrics. This may take considerable time as different rubrics may be needed for the variety of work samples. If you are using existing scoring rubrics, discuss with students’ possible modifications after the rubrics have been used at least once.
6. Teach and require students conduct self-evaluations of their own work.
• Help students learn to evaluate their own work using agreed upon criteria. For younger students, the self-evaluations may be simple (strengths, weaknesses, and ways to improve); for older students, a more analytic approach is desirable including using the same scoring rubrics that the teachers will use.
7. Schedule and conduct portfolio conferences.
• Teacher-student conferences are time consuming, but conferences is essential for the portfolio process to significantly enhance learning. These conferences should aid students’ self-evaluation and should take place frequently.
8. Involve parents.
• Parents need to understand the portfolio process. Encourage parents to review the work samples. You may wish to schedule parent, teacher-students conferences in which students talk about their work samples.
Source: Adapted from Popham (2005) | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/15%3A_Teacher_made_assessment_strategies/15.10%3A_Portfolios.txt |
Assessment that enhances motivation and student confidence
Studies on testing and learning conducted more than 20 years ago demonstrated that tests promote learning and that more frequent tests are more effective than less frequent tests (Dempster & Perkins, 1993). Frequent smaller tests encourage continuous effort rather than last minute cramming and may also reduce test anxiety because the consequences of errors are reduced. College students report preferring more frequent testing than infrequent testing (Bangert-Downs, Kulik, Kulik, 1991).
• More recent research indicates that teachers’ assessment purpose and beliefs, the type of assessment selected, and the feedback given contributes to the assessment climate in the classroom which influences students’ confidence and motivation. The use of self-assessment is also important in establishing a positive assessment climate.
Teachers’ purposes and beliefs
Student motivation can be enhanced when the purpose of assessment is promoting student learning and this is clearly communicated to students by what teachers say and do (Harlen, 2006). This approach to assessment is associated with what the psychologist, Carol Dweck, (2000) calls an incremental view of ability or intelligence. An incremental view assumes that ability increases whenever an individual learns more. This means that effort is valued because effort leads to knowing more and therefore having more ability. Individuals with an incremental view also ask for help when needed and respond well to constructive feedback as the primary goal is increased learning and mastery.
In contrast, a fixed view of ability assumes that some people have more ability than others and nothing much can be done to change that. Individuals with a fixed view of ability often view effort in opposition to ability (“Smart people don’t have to study”) and so do not try as hard, and are less likely to ask for help as that indicates that they are not smart. While there are individual differences in students’ beliefs about their views of intelligence, teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices influence students’ perceptions and behaviors.
Teachers with an incremental view of intelligence, communicate to students that the goal of learning is mastering the material and figuring things out. Assessment is used by these teachers to understand what students know so they can decide whether to move to the next topic, re-teach the entire class, or provide remediation for a few students. Assessment also helps students understand their own learning and demonstrate their competence. Teachers with these views say things like, “We are going to practice over and over again. That’s how you get good. And you’re going to make mistakes. That’s how you learn.” (Patrick, Anderman, Ryan, Edelin, Midgley, 2001, p. 45).
In contrast, teachers with a fixed view (fixed mindset) of ability are more likely to believe that the goal of learning is doing well on tests especially outperforming others. These teachers are more likely to say things that imply fixed abilities e.g. “This test will determine what your math abilities are”, or stress the importance of interpersonal competition, “We will have speech competition and the top person will compete against all the other district schools and last year the winner got a big award and their photo in the paper.”
When teachers stress, interpersonal competition, some students may be motivated but there can only a few winners so there are many more students who know they have no chance of winning. Another problem with interpersonal competition in assessment is that the focus can become winning rather than understanding the material.
Teachers who communicate to their students that ability is incremental and that the goal of assessment is promoting learning rather that ranking students, or awarding prizes to those who did very well, or catching those who did not pay attention, are likely to enhance students’ motivation.
Choosing assessments
The choice of assessment task also influences students’ motivation and confidence. First, assessments that have clear criteria that students understand and can meet rather than assessments that pit students against each other in interpersonal competition enhances motivation (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, Wiliam, 2004). This is consistent with the point we made in the previous section about the importance of focusing on enhancing learning for all students rather than ranking students.
Second, meaningful assessment tasks enhance student motivation. Students often want to know why they have to do something and teachers need to provide meaningful answers. For example, a teacher might say, “You need to be able to calculate the area of a rectangle because if you want new carpet you need to know how much carpet is needed and how much it would cost.” Well-designed performance tasks are often more meaningful to students than selected response tests so students will work harder to prepare for them.
Third, providing choices of assessment tasks can enhance student sense of autonomy and motivation according to self-determination theory. Kym, the sixth-grade teacher whose story began this chapter, reports that giving students choices was very helpful. Another middle school social studies teacher Aaron, gives his students a choice of performance tasks at the end of the unit on the US Bill of Rights. Students have to demonstrate specified key ideas, but can do that by making up a board game, presenting a brief play, composing a rap song etc.
Aaron reports that students work much harder on this performance assessment which allows them to use their strengths than previously when he did not provide any choices and gave a more traditional assignment. Measurement experts caution that a danger of giving choices is that the assessment tasks are no longer equivalent and so the reliability of scoring is reduced so it is particularly important to use well designed scoring rubrics. Fourth, assessment tasks should be challenging, but achievable with reasonable effort (Elliott, McGregor & Thrash, 2004). This is often hard for beginning teachers to do, who may give assessment tasks that are too easy or too hard, because they have to learn to match their assessment to the skills of their students.
Providing feedback
When the goal is assessment for learning, providing constructive feedback that helps students know what they do and do not understand as well as encouraging them to learn from their errors is fundamental. Effective feedback should be given as soon as possible as the longer the delay between students’ work and feedback the longer students will continue to have some misconceptions. Also, delays reduce the relationship between students’ performance and the feedback as students can forget what they were thinking during the assessment.
Effective feedback should also inform students clearly what they did well and what needs modification. General comments just as “good work, A”, or “needs improvement” do not help students understand how to improve their learning. Giving feedback to students using well designed scoring rubrics helps clearly communicate strengths and weaknesses.
Obviously, grades are often needed, but teachers can minimize the focus by placing the grade after the comments or on the last page of a paper. It can also be helpful to allow students to keep their grades private making sure when returning assignments that the grade is not prominent (e.g. not using red ink on the top page) and never asking students to read their scores aloud in class. Some students choose to share their grades—but that should be their decision not their teachers.
When grading, teachers often become angry at the mistakes that students make. It is easy for teachers to think something like: “With all the effort I put into teaching, this student could not even be bothered to follow the directions or spell check!” Many experienced teachers believe that communicating their anger is not helpful, so rather than saying: “How dare you turn in such shoddy work”, they rephrase it as, “I am disappointed that your work on this assignment does not meet the standards set” (Sutton, 2003). Research evidence also suggests that comments such as “You are so smart” for a high-quality performance can be counterproductive.
This is surprising to many teachers, but if students are told they are smart when they produce a good product, then if they do poorly on the next assignment the conclusion must be they are “not smart” (Dweck, 2000). More effective feedback focuses on positive aspects of the task (not the person), as well as strategies, and effort. The focus of the feedback should relate to the criteria set by the teacher and how improvements can be made.
When the teacher and student are from different racial/ethnic backgrounds, providing feedback that enhances motivation and confidence but also includes criticism can be particularly challenging because the students of color have historical reasons to distrust negative comments from a white teacher. Research by Cohen Steele, Ross (1999) indicates that “wise” feedback from teachers needs three components: positive comments, criticisms, and an assurance that the teacher believes the student can reach higher standards. We describe this research is more detail in “Deciding for yourself about the research” found in Appendix B.
Self and peer assessment
In order to reach a learning goal, students need to understand the meaning of the goal, the steps necessary to achieve a goal, and if they are making satisfactory progress towards that goal (Sadler, 1989). This involves self-assessment and recent research has demonstrated that well designed self-assessment can enhance student learning and motivation (Black & Wiliam, 2006). For self-assessment to be effective, students need explicit criteria such as those in an analytical scoring rubric. These criteria are either provided by the teacher or developed by the teacher in collaboration with students. Because students seem to find it easier to understand criteria for assessment tasks if they can examine other students’ work alongside their own, self-assessment often involves peer assessment.
An example of a strategy used by teachers involves asking students to use “traffic lights” to indicate of their confidence in their assignment or homework. Red indicates that they were unsure of their success, orange that they were partially unsure, and green that they were confident of their success. The students who labeled their own work as orange and green worked in mixed groups to evaluate their own work while the teacher worked with the students who had chosen red (Black & Wiliam, 2006).
If self and peer assessment is used, it is particularly important that the teachers establish a classroom culture for assessment that is based on incremental views of ability and learning goals. If the classroom atmosphere focuses on interpersonal competition, students have incentives in self and peer assessment to inflate their own evaluations (and perhaps those of their friends) because there are limited rewards for good work.
Adjusting instruction based on assessment
Using assessment information to adjust instruction is fundamental to the concept of assessment for learning. Teachers make these adjustments “in the moment” during classroom instruction as well as during reflection and planning periods. Teachers use the information they gain from questioning and observation to adjust their teaching during classroom instruction.
If students cannot answer a question, the teacher may need to rephrase the question, probe understanding of prior knowledge, or change the way the current idea is being considered. It is important for teachers to learn to identify when only one or two students need individual help because they are struggling with the concept, and when a large proportion of the class is struggling so whole group intervention is needed.
After the class is over, effective teachers spend time analyzing how well the lessons went, what students did and did not seem to understand, and what needs to be done the next day. Evaluation of student work also provides important information for teachers.
If many students are confused about a similar concept the teacher needs to reteach it and consider new ways of helping students understand the topic. If the majority of students complete the tasks very quickly and well, the teacher might decide that the assessment was not challenging enough. Sometimes teachers become dissatisfied with the kinds of assessments they have assigned when they are grading—perhaps because they realize there was too much emphasis on lower level learning, that the directions were not clear enough, or the scoring rubric needed modification.
Teachers who believe that assessment data provides information about their own teaching and that they can find ways to influence student learning have high teacher efficacy or beliefs that they can make a difference in students’ lives. In contrast, teachers who think that student performance is mostly due to fixed student characteristics or the homes they come from (e.g. “no wonder she did so poorly considering what her home life is like”) have low teacher efficacy (Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, & Hoy, 1998).
Communication with parents and guardians
Clear communication with parents about classroom assessment is important—but often difficult for beginning teachers. The same skills that are needed to communicate effectively with students are also needed when communicating with parents and guardians. Teachers need to be able to explain to parents the purpose of the assessment, why they selected this assessment technique, and what the criteria for success are. Some teachers send home newsletters monthly or at the beginning of a major assessment task explaining the purpose and nature of the task, any additional support that is needed (e.g. materials, library visits), and due dates. Some parents will not be familiar with performance assessments or the use of self and peer assessment so teachers need to take time to explain these approaches carefully.
Many school districts now communicate though websites that have mixtures of public information available to all parents in the class (e.g. curriculum and assessment details) as well information restricted to the parents or guardians of specific students (e.g. the attendance and grades). Teachers report this is helpful as parents have access to their child’s performance immediately and when necessary, can talk to their child and teacher quickly.
The recommendations we provided above on the type of feedback that should be given to students also apply when talking to parents. That is, the focus should be on students’ performance on the task, what was done well and what needs work, rather than general comments about how “smart” or “weak” the child is. If possible, comments should focus on strategies that the child uses well or needs to improve (e.g. reading test questions carefully, organization in a large project). When the teacher is white and the student or parents are minority, trust can be an issue so using “wise” feedback when talking to parents may help. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/15%3A_Teacher_made_assessment_strategies/15.11%3A_Choosing_assessments.txt |
Action research: studying yourself and your students
Assessment for learning emphasizes devising and conducting assessment data in order to improve teaching and learning and so is related to action research (also called teacher research). Action research can lead to decisions that improve a teacher’s own teaching or the teaching of colleagues. Kym, the teacher we described at the beginning of this chapter, conducted action research in her own classroom as she identified a problem of poor student motivation and achievement, investigated solutions during the course on motivation, tried new approaches, and observed the resulting actions.
Cycles of planning, acting and reflecting
Action research is usually described as a cyclical process with the following stages (Mertler, 2006).
• Planning Stage. Planning has three components. First, planning involves identifying and defining a problem. Problems sometimes start with some ill-defined unease or feeling that something is wrong and it can take time to identify the problem clearly so that it becomes a researchable question. The next step, is reviewing the related literature and this may occur within a class or workshop that the teachers are attending. Teachers may also explore the literature on their own or in teacher study groups. The third step is developing a research plan. The research plan includes what kind of data will be collected (e.g. student test scores, observation of one or more students, as well as how and when it will be collected (e.g. from files, in collaboration with colleagues, in spring or fall semester).
• Acting sage. During this stage, the teacher is collecting and analyzing data. The data collected and the analyses do not need to be complex because action research, to be effective, has to be manageable.
• Developing an action plan. In this stage, the teacher develops a plan to make changes and implements these changes. This is the action component of action research and it is important that teachers document their actions carefully so that they can communicate them to others.
Communicating and reflection. An important component of all research is communicating information. Results can be shared with colleagues in the school or district, in an action research class at the local college, at conferences, or in journals for teachers. Action research can also involve students as active participants and if this is the case, communication may include students and parents. Communicating with others helps refine ideas and so typically aids in reflection. During reflection teachers/researchers ask such questions as: “What did I learn?” “What should I have done differently?” “What should I do next?” Questions such as these often lead to a new cycle of action research beginning with planning and then moving to the other steps.
15.13: Privacy
Ethical issues—privacy, voluntary consent
Teachers are accustomed to collecting students’ test scores, data about performances, and descriptions of behaviors as an essential component of teaching. However, if teachers are conducting action research and they plan to collect data that will be shared outside the school community then permission from parents (or guardians) and students must be obtained in order to protect the privacy of students and their families. Typically, permission is obtained by an informed consent form that summarizes the research, describes the data that will be collected, indicates that participation is voluntary, and provides a guarantee of confidentiality or anonymity (Hubbard & Power, 2005).
Many large school districts have procedures for establishing informed consent as well as person in the central office who is responsible for the district guidelines and specific application process. If the action research is supported in some way by a college of university (e.g. through a class) then informed consent procedures of that institution must be followed.
One common area of confusion for teachers is the voluntary nature of student participation in research. If the data being collected are for a research study, students can choose not to participate. This is contrary to much regular classroom instruction where teachers tell students they have to do the work or complete the tasks. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/15%3A_Teacher_made_assessment_strategies/15.12%3A_Action_research.txt |
Students typically complete a variety of assignments during a grading period, such as homework, quizzes, performance assessments, etc. Teachers have to decide—preferably before the grading period begins—how each assignment will be weighted. For example, a sixth-grade math teacher may decide to weight the grades in the following manner:
How are various assignments and assessments weighted?
Type Percent weight
Weekly quizzes 35 per cent
Homework 15 per cent
Performance Assessment 30 per cent
Class participation 20 per cent
Should social skills or effort be included?
Elementary school teachers are more likely than middle or high school teachers to include some social skills into report cards (Popham, 2005). These may be included as separate criteria in the report card or weighted into the grade for that subject. For example, the grade for mathematics may include an assessment of group cooperation or self-regulation during mathematics lessons. Some schools and teachers endorse including social skills arguing that developing such skills is important for young students and that students need to learn to work with others and manage their own behaviors in order to be successful. Others believe that grades in subject areas should be based on the cognitive performances—and that if assessments of social skills are made they should be clearly separated from the subject grade on the report card. Obviously, clear criteria such as those contained in analytical scoring rubrics should be used if social skills are graded.
Teachers often find it difficult to decide whether effort and improvement should be included as a component of grades. One approach is for teachers to ask students to submit drafts of an assignment and make improvements based on the feedback they received. The grade for the assignment may include some combination of the score for the drafts, the final version, and the amount of improvement the students made based on the feedback provided.
A more controversial approach is basing grades on effort when students try really hard day after day but still cannot complete their assignments well. These students could have identified special needs or be recent immigrants that have limited English skills. Some school districts have guidelines for handling such cases. One disadvantage of using improvement as a component of grades is that the most competent students in class may do very well initially and have little room for improvement—unless teachers are skilled at providing additional assignments that will help challenge these students.
Teachers often use “hodgepodge grading”, i.e. a combination of achievement, effort, growth, attitude or class conduct, homework, and class participation. A survey of over 8,500 middle and high school students in the US state of Virginia supported the hodgepodge practices commonly used by their teachers (Cross & Frary, 1999).
How should grades be calculated?
Two options are commonly used: absolute grading and relative grading. In absolute grading grades are assigned based on criteria the teacher has devised. If an English teacher has established a level of proficiency needed to obtain an A and no student meets that level then no A’s will be given. Alternatively, if every student meets the established level, then all the students will get A’s (Popham, 2005). Absolute grading systems may use letter grades or pass/fail.
In relative grading, the teacher ranks the performances of students from worst to best (or best to worst) and those at the top get high grades, those in the middle moderate grades, and those at the bottom low grades. This is often described as “grading on the curve” and can be useful to compensate for an examination or assignment that students find much easier or harder than the teacher expected.
However, relative grading can be unfair to students because the comparisons are typically within one class, so an A in one class may not represent the level of performance of an A in another class. Relative grading systems may discourage students from helping each other improve as students are in competition for limited rewards. In fact, Bishop (1999) argues that grading on the curve gives students a personal interest in persuading each other not to study as a serious student makes it more difficult for others to get good grades.
What kinds of grade descriptions should be used?
Traditionally, a letter grade system is used (e.g. A, B, C, D, F ) for each subject. The advantages of these grade descriptions are they are convenient, simple, and can be averaged easily. However, they do not indicate what objectives the student has or has not met nor students’ specific strengths and weaknesses (Linn & Miller 2005). Elementary schools often use a pass-fail (or satisfactory-unsatisfactory) system and some high schools and colleges do as well. Pass-fail systems in high school and college allow students to explore new areas and take risks on subjects that they may have limited preparation for, or is not part of their major (Linn & Miller 2005). While a pass-fail system is easy to use, it offers even less information about students’ level of learning.
A pass-fail system is also used in classes that are taught under a mastery-learning approach in which students are expected to demonstrate mastery on all the objectives in order to receive course credit. Under these conditions, it is clear that a pass means that the student has demonstrated mastery of all the objectives.
Some schools have implemented a checklist of the objectives in subject areas to replace the traditional letter grade system, and students are rated on each objective using descriptors such as Proficient, Partially Proficient, and Needs Improvement. For example, the checklist for students in a fourth-grade class in California may include the four types of writing that are required by the English language state content standards
• writing narratives
• writing responses to literature
• writing information reports
• writing summaries
The advantages of this approach are that it communicates students’ strengths and weaknesses clearly, and it reminds the students and parents the objectives of the school. However, if too many objectives are included, then the lists can become so long that they are difficult to understand.
15.15: Summary key terms and references
Chapter summary
The purpose of classroom assessment can be assessment for learning or assessment of learning. Essential steps of assessment for learning include communicating instructional goals clearly to students; selecting appropriate high-quality assessments that match the instructional goals and students’ backgrounds; using assessments that enhance student motivation and confidence, adjusting instruction based on assessment, and communicating assessment results with parents and guardians. Action research can help teachers understand and improve their teaching. A number of questions are important to consider when devising grading systems.
Key terms
Absence of bias
Action research
Alternative assessment
Assessment
Assessment for learning
Assessment of learning
Authentic assessment
Constructed response items
Evaluation
Formative assessment
Formal assessment measurement
Informal assessment
Performance assessment
Portfolios
Reliability
References
Selected response items
Summative assessment
Validity
References:
Seifert, K. and Sutton, R. (2009). Educational Psychology. Saylor Foundation. (Chapter 11) Retrieved from open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=153 (CC BY)
[Dynamic Learning Maps]. (2013, Nov. 26). The DLM System. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Ltr6SV8zbn0 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/15%3A_Teacher_made_assessment_strategies/15.14%3A_Grading_and_reporting.txt |
Authors: Kevin Seifert and Rosemary Sutton
Understanding standardized testing is very important for beginning teachers as K-12 teaching is increasingly influenced by the administration and results of standardized tests. Teachers also need to be able to help parents and students understand test results. Consider the following scenarios.
• Vanessa, a newly licensed physical education teacher, is applying for a job at a middle school. During the job interview the principal asks how she would incorporate key sixth grade math skills into her PE and health classes as the sixth-grade students in the previous year did not attain Adequate Yearly Progress in mathematics.
• Danielle, a first-year science teacher in Ohio, is asked by Mr. Volderwell, a recent immigrant from Turkey and the parent of a tenth-grade son Marius, to help him understand test results. When Marius first arrived at school he took the Test of Cognitive Skills and scored on the eighty fifth percentile whereas on the state Science Graduation test he took later in the school year he was classified as “proficient” .
• James, a third-year elementary school teacher, attends a class in gifted education over summer as standardized tests from the previous year indicated that while overall his class did well in reading the top 20 per cent of his students did not learn as much as expected.
• Miguel, a 1st grade student, takes two tests in fall and the results indicate that his grade equivalent scores are 3.3 for reading and 3.0 for math. William’s parents want him immediately promoted into the second grade arguing that the test results indicate that he already can read and do math at the 3rd grade level. Greg, a first-grade teacher explains to William’s parents that a grade equivalent score of 3.3 does not mean William can do third grade work.
Understanding standardized testing is difficult as there are numerous terms and concepts to master and recent changes in accountability under the former No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and current Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2015 (ESEA), have increased the complexity of the concepts and issues. ESSA remains to be a test-based accountability system.
However, ESSA now allows schools to incorporate “one or more non-academic indicators that can help bring attention to the nation’s broader educational purposes.” (Mathis and Trujillo, 2016 p.3)
Link to: Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) – from the US Department of Education.
• In this chapter, we focus on the information that beginning teachers need to know and start with some basic concepts.
Standardized tests are created by a team—usually test experts from a commercial testing company who consult classroom teachers and university faculty—and are administered in standardized ways. Students not only respond to the same questions, they also receive the same directions and have the same time limits. Explicit scoring criteria are used. Standardized tests are designed to be taken by many students within a state, province, or nation, and sometimes across nations. Teachers help administer some standardized tests and test manuals are provided that contain explicit details about the administration and scoring. For example, teachers may have to remove all the posters and charts from the classroom walls, read directions out loud to students using a script, and respond to student questions in a specific manner.
Criterion referenced standardized tests measure student performance against a specific standard or criterion.
• Criterion referenced tests currently used in US schools are often tied to state content standards and provide information about what students can and cannot do.
For example, one of the content standards for fourth grade reading in Kentucky is “Students will identify and describe the characteristics of fiction, nonfiction, poetry or plays” (Combined Curriculum Document Reading 4.1, 2006) and so a report on an individual student would indicate if the child can accomplish this skill. The report may state that number or percentage of items that were successfully completed (e.g. 15 out of 20, i.e. 75 per cent) or include descriptions such as basic, proficient, or advanced which are based on decisions made about the percent of mastery necessary to be classified into these categories.
Norm referenced standardized tests report students’ performance relative to others.
For example, if a student scores on the seventy-second percentile in reading it means she outperforms 72 percent of the students who were included in the test’s norm group. A norm group is a representative sample of students who completed the standardized test while it was being developed. For state tests, the norm group is drawn from the state, whereas for national tests the sample is drawn from the nation. Information about the norm groups is provided in a technical test manual that is not typically supplied to teachers, but should be available from the person in charge of testing in the school district.
• Reports from criterion and norm referenced tests provide different information.
Imagine a nationalized mathematics test designed to basic test skills in second grade. If this test is norm referenced, and Alisha receives a report indicating that she scored in the eighty-fifth percentile this indicates that she scored better than 85 per cent of the students in the norm group who took the test previously. If this test is criterion-referenced Alisha’s report may state that she mastered 65 percent of the problems designed for her grade level. The relative percentage reported from the norm-referenced test provides information about Alisha’s performance compared to other students, whereas the criterion referenced test attempts to describe what Alisha or any student can or cannot do with respect to whatever the test is designed to measure.
• When planning instruction, classroom teachers need to know what students can and cannot do so criterion referenced tests are typically more useful (Popham, 2004).
The current standard-based accountability and ESSA rely predominantly on criterion based tests to assess attainment of content-based standards. Consequently, the use of standardized norm referenced tests in schools has diminished and is largely limited to diagnosis and placement of children with specific cognitive disabilities or exceptional abilities (Haertel & Herman, 2005).
Some recent standardized tests can incorporate both criterion-referenced and norm referenced elements in the same test (Linn & Miller, 2005). That is, the test results not only provide information on mastery of a content standard, but also the percentage of students who attained that level of mastery.
Standardized tests can be high stakes i.e. performance on the test has important consequences. These consequences can be for students, e.g. passing a high school graduation test is required in order to obtain a diploma or passing PRAXIS II is a prerequisite to gain a teacher license.
Uses of standardized tests
• Standardized tests are used for a variety of reasons and the same test is sometimes used for multiple purposes.
Assessing students’ progress in a wider context
Well-designed teacher assessments provide crucial information about each student’s achievement in the classroom. However, teachers vary in the types of assessment they use so teacher assessments do not usually provide information on how students’ achievement compares to externally established criteria. Consider two eighth grade students, Brian and Joshua, who received As in their middle school math classes.
However, on the standardized norm referenced math test Brian scored in the fiftieth percentile whereas Joshua scored in the ninetieth percentile. This information is important to Brian and Joshua, their parents, and the school personnel. Likewise, two third grade students could both receive Cs on their report card in reading, but one may pass 25 per cent and the other 65 percent of the items on the Criterion Referenced State Test.
There are many reasons that students’ performance on teacher assessments and standardized assessments may differ. Students may perform lower on the standardized assessment because their teachers have easy grading criteria, or there is poor alignment between the content they were taught and that on the standardized test, or they are unfamiliar with the type of items on the standardized tests, or they have test anxiety, or they were sick on the day of the test.
Students may perform higher on the standardized test than on classroom assessments because their teachers have hard grading criteria, or the student does not work consistently in class (e.g. does not turn in homework) but will focus on a standardized test, or the student is adept at the multiple-choice items on the standardized tests, but not at the variety of constructing response and performance items the teacher uses. We should always be very cautious about drawing inferences from one kind of assessment.
In some states, standardized achievement tests are required for home-schooled students in order to provide parents and state officials information about the students’ achievement in a wider context. For example, in New York home-schooled students must take an approved standardized test every other year in grades four through eight and every year in grades nine through twelve. These tests must be administered in a standardized manner and the results filed with the Superintendent of the local school district. If a student does not take the tests or scores below the thirty-third percentile the home schooling program may be placed on probation (New York State Education Department, 2005).
Diagnosing student’s strengths and weaknesses
• Standardized tests, along with interviews, classroom observations, medical examinations, and school records are used to help diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses.
Often the standardized tests used for this purpose are administered individually to determine if the child has a disability. For example, if a kindergarten child is having trouble with oral communication, a standardized language development test could be administered to determine if there are difficulties with understanding the meaning of words or sentence structures, noticing sound differences in similar words, or articulating words correctly (Peirangelo & Guiliani, 2002).
It would also be important to determine if the child was a recent immigrant, had a hearing impairment or intellectual impairment. The diagnosis of learning disabilities typically involves the administration of at least two types of standardized tests—an aptitude test to assess general cognitive functioning and an achievement test to assess knowledge of specific content areas as part of the special education process. (Peirangelo & Guiliani, 2006). We discuss the difference between aptitude and achievement tests later in this chapter.
Selecting students for specific programs
• Standardized tests are often used to select students for specific programs.
For example, the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) and ACT (American College Test) are norm referenced tests used to help determine if high school students are admitted to selective colleges. Norm referenced standardized tests are also used, among other criteria, to determine if students are eligible for special education or gifted and talented programs. Criterion referenced tests are used to determine which students are eligible for promotion to the next grade or graduation from high school.
Schools that place students in ability groups including high school college preparation, academic, or vocational programs may also use norm referenced or criterion referenced standardized tests. When standardized tests are used as an essential criterion for placement they are obviously high stakes for students.
Assisting teachers’ planning
• Norm referenced and criterion referenced standardized tests, among other sources of information about students, can help teachers make decisions about their instruction.
For example, if a social studies teacher learns that most of the students did very well on a norm referenced reading test administered early in the school year he may adapt his instruction and use additional primary sources. A reading teacher after reviewing the poor end-of the-year criterion referenced standardized reading test results may decide that next year she will modify the techniques she uses. A biology teacher may decide that she needs to spend more time on genetics as her students scored poorly on that section of the standardized criterion referenced science test.
These are examples of assessment for learning which involves data-based decision making. It can be difficult for beginning teachers to learn to use standardized test information appropriately, understanding that test scores are important information, but also remembering that there are multiple reasons for students’ performance on a test.
Accountability
• Standardized test results are increasingly used to hold teachers and administrators accountable for students’ learning.
Prior to 2002, many States required public dissemination of students’ progress, but under NCLB school districts in all states have been required to send report cards to parents and the public that include results of standardized tests for each school. Under ESSA, schools continue to be required to make student performance indicators publicly available, annually. (ASCD, 2015) Providing information about students’ standardized tests is not new as newspapers began printing summaries of students’ test results within school districts in the 1970s and 1980s (Popham, 2005).
However, public accountability of schools and teachers has been increasing in the US and many other countries and this increased accountability impacts the public perception and work of all teachers including those teaching in subjects or grade levels not being tested.
For example, Erin, a middle school social studies teacher, said:
“As a teacher in a ‘non-testing’ subject area, I spend substantial instructional time supporting the standardized testing requirements. For example, our school has instituted ‘word of the day’, which encourages teachers to use, define, and incorporate terminology often used in the tests (e.g. “compare”, “oxymoron” etc.). I use the terms in my class as often as possible and incorporate them into written assignments.
I also often use test questions of similar formats to the standardized tests in my own subject assessments (e.g. multiple-choice questions with double negatives, short answer and extended response questions) as I believe that practice in the test question formats will help students be more successful in those subjects that are being assessed.”
Accountability and standardized testing are two components of Standards Based Reform in Education that was initiated in the USA in 1980s. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/16%3A_Standardized_and_other_formal_assessments/16.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Achievement tests
Summarizing the past: K-12 achievement tests are designed to assess what students have learned in a specific content area. These tests include those specifically designed by states to access mastery of state academic content standards (see more details below) as well as general tests such as the California Achievement Tests, The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Metropolitan Achievement Tests, and the Stanford Achievement Tests.
These general tests are designed to be used across the nation and so will not be as closely aligned with state content standards as specifically designed tests. Some states and Canadian Provinces use specifically designed tests to assess attainment of content standards and a general achievement test to provide normative information.
Standardized achievement tests are designed to be used for students in kindergarten through high school. For young children questions are presented orally, and students may respond by pointing to pictures, and the subtests are often not timed. For example, on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills designed for students are young as kindergarten the vocabulary test assesses listening vocabulary. The teacher reads a word and may also read a sentence containing the word. Students are then asked to choose one of three pictorial response options.
Achievement tests are used as one criterion for obtaining a license in a variety of professions including nursing, physical therapy, and social work, accounting, and law. Their use in teacher education is recent and is part of the increased accountability of public education and most States require that teacher education students take achievement tests to obtain a teaching license.
For those seeking middle school and high school licensure, these are tests are in the content area of the major or minor (e.g. mathematics, social studies); for those seeking licenses in early childhood and elementary the tests focus on knowledge needed to teach students of specific grade levels. The most commonly used tests, the PRAXIS series, tests I and II, developed by Educational Testing Service, include three types of tests (www.ets.org):
• Subject Assessments, these tests on general and subject-specific teaching skills and knowledge. They include both multiple-choice and constructed-response test items.
• Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) Tests assess general pedagogical knowledge at four grade levels: Early Childhood, K-6, 5-9, and 7-12. These tests are based on case studies and include constructed-response and multiple-choice items. Much of the content in this textbook is relevant to the PLT tests.
• Teaching Foundations Tests assess pedagogy in five areas: multi-subject (elementary), English, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science.
These tests include constructed-response and multiple-choice items which test teacher education students. The scores needed to pass each test vary and are determined by each state.
Diagnostic tests
Profiling skills and abilities: Some standardized tests are designed to diagnose strengths and weaknesses in skills, typically reading or mathematics skills. For example, an elementary school child may have difficulty in reading and one or more diagnostic tests would provide detailed information about three components: (1) word recognition, which includes phonological awareness (pronunciation), decoding, and spelling; (2) comprehension which includes vocabulary as well as reading and listening comprehension, and (3) fluency (Joshi 2003).
Diagnostic tests are often administered individually by school psychologists, following standardized procedures. The examiner typically records not only the results on each question, but also observations of the child’s behavior such as distractibility or frustration. The results from the diagnostic standardized tests are used in conjunction with classroom observations, school and medical records, as well as interviews with teachers, parents and students to produce a profile of the student’s skills and abilities, and where appropriate diagnose a learning disability.
Aptitude tests
Predicting the future: Aptitude tests, like achievement tests, measure what students have learned, but rather than focusing on specific subject matter learned in school (e.g. math, science, English or social studies), the test items focus on verbal, quantitative, problem solving abilities that are learned in school or in the general culture (Linn & Miller, 2005).
These tests are typically shorter than achievement tests and can be useful in predicting general school achievement. If the purpose of using a test is to predict success in a specific subject (e.g. language arts) the best prediction is past achievement in language arts and so scores on a language arts achievement test would be useful.
However, when the predictions are more general (e.g. success in college) aptitude tests are often used. According to the test developers, both the ACT and SAT Reasoning tests, used to predict success in college, assess general educational development and reasoning, analysis and problem solving as well as questions on mathematics, reading and writing (http://www.collegeboard.com; http://www.act.org/).
The SAT Subject Tests that focus on mastery of specific subjects like English, history, mathematics, science, and language are used by some colleges as entrance criteria and are more appropriately classified as achievement tests than aptitude tests even though they are used to predict the future.
Tests designed to assess general learning ability have traditionally been called Intelligence Tests but are now often called learning ability tests, cognitive ability tests, scholastic aptitude tests, or school ability tests. The shift in terminology reflects the extensive controversy over the meaning of the term intelligence and that its traditional use was associated with inherited capacity (Linn & Miller 2005).
The more current terms emphasize that tests measure developed ability in learning not innate capacity. The Cognitive Abilities Test assesses K-12 students’ abilities to reason with words, quantitative concepts, and nonverbal (spatial) pictures. The Woodcock Johnson IV contains cognitive abilities tests as well as achievement tests for ages 2 to 90 years.
High-stakes testing by states
While many States had standardized testing programs prior to 2000, the number of statewide tests has grown enormously since then because of the former NCLB, and current ESSA, require that all states test students in reading, mathematics annually in grades third through eighth and at least once in high school. Science assessments are given at least once in each grade span from grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. (CCSSO, 2016).
Students with disabilities and English language learners must be included in the testing and be provided with appropriate accommodations. States are allowed to administer alternative assessments to no more than 1% of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. (ASCD, 2015). In this section, we focus on these tests and their implications for teachers and students. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/16%3A_Standardized_and_other_formal_assessments/16.02%3A_Types_of_standardized_tests.txt |
Academic content standards
ESSA mandates that states must develop academic content standards that specify what students are expected to know or be able to do at each grade level.
An example, a broad standard in reading is:
“Students should be able to construct meaning through experiences with literature, cultural events and philosophical discussion” (no grade level indicated). (American Federation of Teachers, 2006, p. 6).
Standards that are too narrow can result in a restricted curriculum. An example of a narrow standard might be:
Students can define, compare and contrast, and provide a variety of examples of synonyms and antonyms.
A stronger standard is:
“Students should apply knowledge of word origins, derivations, synonyms, antonyms, and idioms to determine the meaning of words (grade 4) (American Federation of Teachers, 2006, p. 6).
The American Federation of Teachers conducted a study in 2005-6 and reported that some of the standards in reading, math and science were weak in 32 states. States set the strongest standards in science followed by mathematics. Standards in reading were particularly problematic and with one-fifth of all reading standards redundant across the grade levels, i.e. word-by-word repetition across grade levels at least 50 per cent of the time (American Federation of Teachers, 2006).
Even if the standards are strong, there are often so many of them that it is hard for teachers to address them all in a school year. Content standards are developed by curriculum specialists who believe in the importance of their subject area so they tend to develop large numbers of standards for each subject area and grade level.
At first glance, it may appear that there are only several broad standards, but under each standard there are subcategories called goals, benchmarks, indicators or objectives (Popham, 2004). For example, Idaho’s first grade mathematics standard, judged to be of high quality (AFT 2000) contains five broad standards, including 10 goals and a total of 29 objectives (Idaho Department of Education, 2005-6).
Alignment of standards, testing and classroom curriculum
The state tests must be aligned with strong content standards in order to provide useful feedback about student learning. If there is a mismatch between the academic content standards and the content that is assessed, then the test results cannot provide information about students’ proficiency on the academic standards.
Sampling content
When numerous standards have been developed it is impossible for tests to assess all of the standards every year, so the tests sample the content, i.e. Measure some, but not all the standards every year. Content standards cannot be reliably assessed with only one or two items so the decision to assess one content standard often requires not assessing another. This means if there are too many content standards a significant proportion of them are not measured each year.
In this situation, teachers try to guess which content standards will be assessed that year and align their teaching on those specific standards. Of course, if these guesses are incorrect students will have studied content, not on the test and not studied content that is on the test. Some argue that this is a very serious problem with current state testing and Popham (2004) an expert on testing even said: “What a muddleheaded way to run a testing program.” (p. 79)
A national survey of over 4,000 teachers indicated that the majority of teachers reported that the state mandated tests were compatible with their daily instruction and were based on curriculum frameworks that all teachers should follow. The majority of teachers also reported teaching test taking skills and encouraging students to work hard and prepare. Elementary school teachers reported a greater impact of the high stakes tests: 56 per cent reported the tests influenced their teaching daily or a few times a week compared to 46 percent of middle school teachers and 28 per cent of high school teachers.
Even though the teachers had adapted their instruction because of the standardized tests they were skeptical about them with 40 per cent reporting that teachers had found ways to raise test scores without improving student learning and over 70 per cent reporting that the test scores were not an accurate measure of what minority students know and can do (Pedulla, Abrams, Madaus, Russell, Ramos, & Miao; 2003).
16.04: International testing
Testing in the Canadian provinces
Canada has developed a system of testing in the provinces as well as national testing. Each province undertakes its own curriculum based assessments. At the elementary school level provinces assess reading and writing (language arts) as well as mathematics (also called numeracy).
In the middle grades science and social studies is often assessed in addition to language arts and mathematics. Summary results of these tests are published but there are no specific consequences for poor performance for schools. In addition, these tests are not high stakes for students. At the secondary school level, high stakes curriculum based exit tests are common.
Canada has developed pan-Canada assessment in mathematics, reading and writing, and science that are administered to a random sample of schools across the country. These assessments are intended to determine whether, on average, students across Canada reach similar levels of performance at about the same age. They are not intended to provide individual feedback to students are similar in purpose to the NAEP tests administered in the United States.
International comparisons
Along with the increasing globalization has come an interest with international comparisons in educational achievement and practices. In 2015 approximately 540,000 15-year old’s in schools from participating countries took the Program for International Assessment (PISA). (OECD, 2016)
PISA has assessed 15-year-olds in reading, mathematical and science literacy triennially since 2000. The items on both series of tests include multiple choice, short answer and constructed response formats and are translated into more than 30 languages.
The United States remains in the middle of the rankings
Among the 35 countries in the OECD, the United States performed around average in science, the major domain of this assessment cycle. Its performance was also around average in reading, but below average in mathematics. There has been no significant change in science and reading performance since the last time they were the major domains (science in 2006 and reading in 2009).
One in five (20%) of 15-year-old students in the United States are low performers, not reaching the PISA baseline Level 2 of science proficiency. This proportion is similar to the OECD average of 21%, but more than twice as high as the proportion of low performers in Estonia, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Macao (China), Singapore and Viet Nam.
At the other end of the performance scale, 9% of students in the United States are top performers, achieving Level 5 or 6, comparable to the average of 8% across the OECD. By contrast, over 15% of 15-year-old students in Japan, Singapore and Chinese Taipei achieve this level of performance.
Students in the United States display high levels of epistemic beliefs, or those beliefs that correspond with currently accepted representations of the goal of scientific inquiry and the nature of scientific claims. Over nine in ten 15-yearolds in the United States agree that ideas in science sometimes change, that good answers are based on evidence from many different experiments and that it is good to try experiments more than once to be sure of one’s findings. (OECD, 2016 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/16%3A_Standardized_and_other_formal_assessments/16.03%3A_Standards_based_assessment.txt |
In order to understand test results from standardized tests it is important to be familiar with a variety of terms and concepts that are fundamental to “measurement theory”, the academic study of measurement and assessment. Two major areas in measurement theory, reliability and validity, were discussed in the previous chapter; in this chapter, we focus on concepts and terms associated with test scores.
The Basics
Frequency distributions
A frequency distribution is a listing of the number of students who obtained each score on a test. If 31 students take a test, and the scores range from 11 to 30 then the frequency distribution might look like Table 44. Plotting a frequency distribution helps us see what scores are typical and how much variability there are in the scores. We describe more precise ways of determining typical scores and variability next.
Table $1$: : Frequency distribution for 30 scores
Score on test Frequency Central tendency measures
17 1
18 1
19 0
20 3
21 2
22 6 Mode
23 3 Median
24 2 Mean
25 0
26 2
27 6 Mode
28 2
29 2
30 1
TOTAL 31
Central tendency and variability
There are three common ways of measuring central tendency or which score(s) are typical. The mean is calculated by adding up all the scores and dividing by the number of scores. The median is the “middle” score of the distribution—that is half of the scores are above the median and half are below. The median of the distribution is 23 because 15 scores are above 23 and 15 are below.
The mode is the score that occurs most often. In Table 44 there are two modes 22 and 27 and so this distribution is described as bimodal. Calculating the mean, median and mode are important as each provides different information for teachers.
The median represents the score of the “middle” students, with half scoring above and below, but does not tell us about the scores on the test that occurred most often.
The mean is important for some statistical calculations, but is highly influenced by a few extreme scores (called outliers) but the median is not. To illustrate this, imagine a test out of 20 points taken by 10 students, and most do very well but one student does very poorly. The scores might be 4, 18, 18, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 20, 20. The mean is 17.5 (170/10) but if the lowest score (4) is eliminated the mean is now is 1.5 points higher at 19 (171/9).
However, in this example, the median remains at 19 whether the lowest score is included. When there are some extreme scores the median is often more useful for teachers in indicating the central tendency of the frequency distribution.
The measures of central tendency help us summarize scores that are representative, but they do not tell us anything about how variable or how spread out are the scores. A simple way to summarize variability is the range, which is the lowest score subtracted from the lowest score.
However, the range is only based on two scores in the distribution, the highest and lowest scores, and so does not represent variability in all the scores. The standard deviation is based on how much, on average, all the scores deviate from the mean. In the exercise below we demonstrate how to calculate the standard deviation.
Calculating a standard deviation
Example: The scores from 11 students on a quiz are: 4, 7, 6, 3, 10, 7, 3, 7, 5, 5, and 9
1. Order scores.
2. Calculate the mean score.
3. Calculate the deviations from the mean.
4. Square the deviations from the mean.
5. Calculate the mean of the squared deviations from the mean (i.e. sum the squared deviations from the mean then divide by the number of scores). This number is called the variance.
6. Take the square root and you have calculated the standard deviation.
Exhibit $1$: Calculating a standard deviation
Score
(Step 1, order)
Deviation from the mean
Squared deviation from the mean
3
-3
9
3
-3
9
4
-2
4
(Step 4-5, complete the calculations)
5
-1
1
Formula:
5
-1
1
$\dfrac{\sqrt{\sum \left ( Score-Mean \right )^{2}}}{N}$
6
0
0
N = Number of score
7
1
1
7
1
1
7
1
1
9
3
9
10
4
4
TOTAL = 66
40
(Step 2, calculate mean)
MEAN 66/11= 6.0
(Step 3, calculate deviations)
Mean= 40 /11= 3.64
(Step 6, find the standard deviation)
Standard deviation=$\sqrt{3.64} =1.91$
The normal distribution
Knowing the standard deviation is particularly important when the distribution of the scores falls on a normal distribution. When a standardized test is administered to a very large number of students the distribution of scores is typically similar, with many students scoring close to the mean, and fewer scoring much higher or lower than the mean. When the distribution of scores looks like the bell shape is called a normal distribution. A normal distribution is symmetric, and the mean, median and mode are all the same.
Normal curve distributions are very important in education and psychology because of the relationship between the mean, standard deviation, and percentiles. In all normal distributions 34 percent of the scores fall between the mean and one standard deviation of the mean. Intelligence tests often constructed to have a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15.
In this example, 34 percent of the scores are between 100 and 115 and as well, 34 per cent of the scores lie between 85 and 100. This means that 68 percent of the scores are between -1 and +1 standard deviations of the mean (i.e. 85 and 115). Note than only 14 percent of the scores are between +1 and +2 standard deviations of the mean and only 2 percent fall above +2 standard deviations of the mean.
In a normal distribution, a student who scores the mean value is always in the fiftieth percentile because the mean and median are the same. A score of +1 standard deviation above the mean (e.g. 115 in the example above) is the 84 per cent tile (50 per cent and 34 per cent of the scores were below 115). In Exhibit 10 we represent the percentile equivalents to the normal curve and we also show standard scores.
Kinds of test scores
A standard score expresses performance on a test in terms of standard deviation units above of below the mean (Linn & Miller, 2005). There are a variety of standard scores:
Z-score: One type of standard score is a z-score, in which the mean is 0 and the standard deviation is 1. This means that a z-score tells us directly how many standard deviations the score is above or below the mean. For example, if a student receives a z score of 2 her score is two standard deviations above the mean or the eighty fourth percentile. A student receiving a z score of -1.5 scored one and one-half deviations below the mean. Any score from a normal distribution can be converted to a z score if the mean and standard deviation is known. The formula is:
$Z_{score} = \dfrac{Score - Mean\;\; Score}{Standard \;\; Deviation}$
Standard deviation
So, if the score is 130 and the mean is 100 and the standard deviation is 15 then the calculation is:
$Z_{score} = \dfrac{130-100}{15} = 2$
T-score: A T-score has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. This means that a T-score of 70 is two standard deviations above the mean and so is equivalent to a z-score of 2.
Stanines: Stanines (pronounced stanines) are often used for reporting students’ scores and are based on a standard nine-point scale and with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2. They are only reported as whole numbers and Figure 11-10 shows their relation to the normal curve.
Grade equivalent sores
A grade equivalent score provides an estimate of test performance based on grade level and months of the school year (Popham, 2005, p. 288). A grade equivalent score of 3.7 means the performance is at that expected of a third-grade student in the seventh month of the school year. Grade equivalents provide a continuing range of grade levels and so can be considered developmental scores. Grade equivalent scores are popular and seem easy to understand, however they are typically misunderstood.
If James, a fourth-grade student, takes a reading test and the grade equivalent score is 6.0; this does not mean that James can do sixth grade work. It means that James performed on the fourth-grade test as a sixth-grade student is expected to perform. Testing companies calculate grade equivalents by giving one test to several grade levels. For example, a test designed for fourth graders would also be given to third and fifth graders. The raw scores are plotted and a trend line is established and this is used to establish the grade equivalents.
Grade equivalent scores also assume that the subject matter that is being tested is emphasized at each grade level to the same amount and that mastery of the content accumulates at a mostly constant rate (Popham, 2005). Many testing experts warn that grade equivalent scores should be interpreted with considerable skepticism and that parents often have serious misconceptions about grade equivalent scores. Parents of high achieving students may have an inflated sense of what their child’s level of achievement is.
• In 1986 the International Reading Association stated that grade equivalents should NOT be used.
Because of the inherent psychometric problems associated with age and grade equivalents that seriously limit their reliability and validity, these scores should not be used for making diagnostic or placement decisions (Bracken, 1988; Reynolds, 1981). | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/16%3A_Standardized_and_other_formal_assessments/16.05%3A_Understanding_test_results.txt |
Are standardized tests biased?
• In a multicultural society, one crucial question is: Are standardized tests biased against certain social class, racial, or ethnic groups?
This question is much more complicated than it seems because bias has a variety of meanings. An everyday meaning of bias often involves the fairness of using standardized test results to predict potential performance of disadvantaged students who have previously had few educational resources.
For example, should Dwayne, a high school student who worked hard but had limited educational opportunities because of the poor schools in his neighborhood and few educational resources in his home, be denied graduation from high school because of his score on one test. It was not his fault that he did not have the educational resources and if given a chance with a change his environment (e.g. by going to college) his performance may blossom.
In this view, test scores reflect societal inequalities and can punish students who are less privileged, and are often erroneously interpreted as a reflection of a fixed inherited capacity. Researchers typically consider bias in more technical ways and three issues will be discussed: item content and format; accuracy of predictions, and stereotype threat.
Item content and format. Test items may be harder for some groups than others. An example of social class bias in a multiple-choice item asked students the meaning of the term field. The students were asked to read the initial sentence in italics and then select the response that had the same meaning of field (Popham 2004, p. 24):
My dad’s field is computer graphics.
1. The pitcher could field his position
2. We prepared the field by plowing it
3. The doctor examined my field of vision
4. What field will you enter after college?
Children of professionals are more likely to understand this meaning of field as doctors, journalists and lawyers have “fields”, whereas cashiers and maintenance workers have jobs so their children are less likely to know this meaning of field. (The correct answer is D).
Testing companies try to minimize these kinds of content problems by having test developers from a variety of backgrounds review items and by examining statistically if certain groups find some items easier or harder. However, problems do exist and a recent analysis of the verbal SAT tests indicated that whites tend to score better on easy items, whereas African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans score better on hard items (Freedle, 2002). While these differences are not large, they can influence test scores.
Researchers think that the easy items involving words that are used in everyday conversation may have subtly different meanings in different subcultures whereas the hard words (e.g. vehemence, sycophant) are not used in every conversation and so do not have these variations in meaning. Test formats can also influence test performance. Females typically score better at essay questions and when the SAT recently added an essay component, the females overall SAT verbal scores improved relative to males (Hoover, 2006).
Accuracy of predictions
Standardized tests are used, among other criteria to determine who will be admitted to selective colleges. This practice is justified by predictive validity evidence—i.e. that scores on the ACT or SAT are used to predict first year college grades. Recent studies have demonstrated that the predictions for black and Latino students are less accurate than for white students and that predictors for female students are less accurate than male students (Young, 2004).
However, perhaps surprisingly the test scores tend to slightly over predict success in college for black and Latino students, i.e. these students are likely to attain lower freshman grade point averages than predicted by their test scores. In contrast, test scores tend to slightly under predict success in college for female students, i.e. these students are likely to attain higher freshman grade point averages than predicted by their test scores. Researchers are not sure why there are differences in how accurately the SAT and ACT test predict freshman grades.
Stereotype threat
Groups that are negatively stereotyped in some area, such as women’s performance in mathematics, are in danger of stereotype threat, i.e. concerns that others will view them through the negative or stereotyped lens (Aronson & Steele, 2005). Studies have shown that test performance of stereotyped groups (e.g. African Americans, Latinos, women) declines when it is emphasized to those taking the test that (a) the test is high stakes, measures intelligence or math and (b) they are reminded of their ethnicity, race or gender (e.g. by asking them before the test to complete a brief demographic questionnaire).
Even if individuals believe they are competent, stereotype threat can reduce working memory capacity because individuals are trying to suppress the negative stereotypes. Stereotype threat seems particularly strong for those individuals who desire to perform well.
• Standardized test scores of individuals from stereotyped groups may significantly underestimate their actual competence in low stakes testing situations.
Do teachers teach to the tests?
There is evidence that schools and teachers adjust the curriculum so it reflects what is on the tests and also prepares students for the format and types of items on the test. Several surveys of elementary school teachers indicated that more time was spent on mathematics and reading and less on social studies and sciences in 2004 than 1990 (Jerald, 2006). Principals in high minority enrollment schools in four states reported in 2003 they had reduced time spent on the arts.
Recent research in cognitive science suggests that reading comprehension in a subject (e.g. science or social studies) requires that students understand a lot of vocabulary and background knowledge in that subject (Recht & Leslie, 1988). This means that even if students gain good reading skills they will find learning science and social studies difficult if little time has been spent on these subjects.
Taking a test with an unfamiliar format can be difficult, so teachers help students prepare for specific test items and formats (e.g. double negatives in multiple choice items; constructed response).
• There is growing concern that the amount of test preparation that is now occurring in schools is excessive and students are not being educated, but trained to do tests (Popham, 2004).
16.07: Summary key terms and references
Chapter summary
Standardized tests are developed by a team of experts and are administered in standard ways. They are used for a variety of educational purposes including accountability. Most elementary and middle school teachers are likely to be responsible for helping their students attain state content standards and achieve proficiency on criterion referenced achievement tests.
In order for teachers to interpret test scores and communicate that information to students and parents they have to understand basic information about measures of central tendency and variability, the normal distribution, and several kinds of test scores. Current evidence suggests that standardized tests can be biased against certain groups and that many teachers tailor their curriculum and classroom tests to match the standardized tests.
Key terms
Achievement tests Median
Aptitude tests Mode
Criterion referenced tests Norm referenced tests
Diagnostic tests Range
Frequency distribution Standard deviation
Grade equivalent scores Stanine
High stakes tests Z-score
On the Internet
The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA focuses on research and development that improves assessment and accountability systems. It has resources for researchers, K-12 teachers, and policy makers on the implications of NCLB as well as classroom assessment.
This is the home page of Educational Testing Services (ETS) which administers the PRAXIS II series of tests and has links to the testing requirements for teachers seeking licensure in each state District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/16%3A_Standardized_and_other_formal_assessments/16.06%3A_Issues_with_standardized_tests.txt |
Authors: Malikah R. Nu-Man and Tamika M. Porter
Learning Objective
Assessing Learning addresses measuring student learning using technology, using both formative and summative approaches.
How technology helps measure student learning
Technology is a powerful ally for teachers, especially in measuring student learning. With the use of digital formative assessments, teachers can expedite their ability to provide student feedback in real-time. Also, students are interacting with their assignments, receiving teacher input, and invested and motivated in their learning (Timmis et al., 2016).
Timmis, Broadfoot, Sutherland, and Oldfield (2016) encourage teachers to reflect on the “four C’s” when using technology to enhance a lesson. Ask yourself, does the use of technology allow for increased collaboration or critical thinking opportunities? Are students able to communicate their ideas uniquely and are students able to demonstrate creative thinking? Following this format provides for lessons that foster student engagement, with technology as an enhancement tool. Digital formative assessments provide teachers the opportunity to give individual feedback quicker and in real-time than traditional non-digital paper and pen formative assessments. Thus, when students are engaging, receiving timely feedback from their teachers, and intrinsically motivated by the feedback they are receiving from their teacher, learning is taking place (Timmis et al., 2016).
Types of assessment and tools
There are a plethora of ways in which assessment can occur. Assessment is a broad term that encompasses all actions that teachers and students engage in to retrieve information that can be used to evaluate and change teaching and learning at the end of a given time period (Timmis et al., 2016). Teachers are able to experience drastic improvements in their skills when making regular use of assessment methods.
As previously mentioned, assessment falls into two broad categories: formative and summative approaches. Formative assessment is a means for determining how the learning is taking place, on the way toward meeting some end goal. Alternatively, the final outcome of a learning intervention is measured through summative assessment. Both of these types of assessment are crucial in supporting current and future students in their learning.
17.02: Formative assessment technology tools
Formative assessment technology tools
Gone are the days of simple clickers and bells. Educators now have access to a variety of tools that allow for instant feedback. Retrieval Practice is an assessment tool that takes place during the learning process to help build knowledge networks in students’ minds and help reinforce their learning. It allows the educator to continuously gauge student learning while making it effortful and challenging (Agarwal, 2017).
Retrieval practice applications
Retrieval practice focuses on helping students retrieve information out of their heads, instead of focusing on pouring knowledge into their heads (Agarwal, 2017). It allows the educator to ensure that accurate questions and assessment tools are being utilized to effectively analyze student learning. Instant feedback may be gathered on an individual basis or as a group, depending on the dynamics of the classroom.
Socrative, Kahoot, Quizziz, and Quizlet are all examples of examples of educational technologies that allow teachers and students to attain instant results on the learning taking place. The students may access the system using a variety of different technological tools. They might use the tool from within a learning management system (LMS), or on a mobile device.
Teachers can have students work through retrieval practice together (such as when using a polling tool like PollEverywhere or a game-like tool like Kahoot).
There are also educational technology tools that are more self-paced and provide opportunities for learners to work at their own pace. Many of these services are starting to allow for either approach to be used. Quizlet flashcards and some of their games such as Scatter, Match, and Gravity can be used in a self-directed way by students. Quizlet also has a game called Quizlet Live that can be used with a group of students at one time for retrieval practice.
17.03: Summative assessment technology tools
Learning outcomes must also be observed from a broader scope, allowing for benchmarks of achievement to be evaluated. Summative assessment tools allow educators to analyze the overall achievement of students. Two broad methods for using technology for summative assessment are discussed in this section: The Learning Management System (LMS) and electronic portfolios (e-Portfolios).
Learning Management System (LMS)
A learning management system (LMS) is often considered the centerpiece of a teacher’s summative assessment toolbox. Accessibility is a vital part to utilizing both formative and summative assessment tools virtually. Teachers must have differentiated technology tools that are aligned with student learning outcomes and that allow the effective gauging of student learning (Steele, 2015). Most Learning Management Systems have embedded tools that allow for the ease-of-access by most teachers, regardless of their technology familiarity.
The LMS allows for transparency amongst all stakeholders in the learning process. Students can access resources and assignments while communicating with their peers and teacher. Parents may monitor student progress while also communicating with the teacher. Often times what is communicated in class does not make it home to the parents. The LMS removes this hindrance in communication.
Finally, for the teacher, the LMS is the ultimate assessment tool. The most beneficial part of the LMS is that both formative and summative assessments may be given through it. If your school or district has already adopted an LMS, it is best to use it since students, parents, and other stakeholders will already be familiar with it.
If your school or district has not adopted an LMS, there are still options available. You may choose to operate your course by using a LMS like Schoology, Jupiter Ed, Engrade, Canvas, or Google Classroom. Many school districts have implemented gradebooks that mimic the LMS gradebook, but lack the accessibility in linking and hyperlinking to the array of assessment tools that they use regularly. The systems previously mentioned allow you to run your course, virtually as minimally or involved as you would like, and are tailored to accommodate all levels of technology users. The experienced or novice teacher may manipulate the LMS in a way that suits the needs of their students and their course design. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/17%3A_Assessing_Learning_Using_Technology/17.01%3A_How_technology_helps_measure_student_learning.txt |
One method of helping students demonstrate their global learning is through the use of an eportfolio. An E-Portfolio is an electronic account of student work/progress used at all educational levels from early education through higher education. Eportfolios can support deep learning and support reflective practices across various learning contexts as they facilitate overall learning. The blend of learning products that exist within the eportfolio makes learning visible to all stakeholders, but especially the student. The eportfolio allows for students to reflect on and integrate their work to view overall learning progress. The reason that eportfolios have become a successful assessment tool is because they require significant and purposeful work from the student. During the development process students may experience student–faculty interaction, which allows students to evaluate and discuss their own learning over time (Harring & Luo, 2016).
Through websites like Google an educator may receive step-by-step guidance on how to create an eportfolio with their students. This tool would of course be most effective if linked to the LMS already utilized by the institution. If the school-site is not accessing a LMS, an eportfolio is still an option, as the student may compile the artifacts via an alternative fashion. Eportfolios make learning visible to all stakeholders. Most importantly to the students, it can help heighten self-efficacy. This powerful pedagogical tool can support deep and integrative learning. Deep learning may occur as students are able to make their learning relative to their own experiences. Developing an eportfolio allows the students to make connections to their everyday life, while showcasing their areas of strength. Eportfolios allow students to show their experiences, along with reflecting on their own learning and the progress made therein (Harring & Luo, 2016).
The artifacts, rubrics, and criteria for the eportfolio will vary based on the course layout and educational level of the students. Ultimately, the eportfolio would involve signature assignments representative of student learning over a longer period. The period may span a semester, a school year, or even a school career. Digital assignments through the LMS may allow for summative assessments to be less stressful. Students have different approaches to learning and to foster and enhance their education we need to understand their learning style. This includes how assessments have a direct impact in learning, and how they perceive themselves (Al Kadri et al., 2009). The students verbalized the negative impact felt from the limited learning opportunities that summative assessments offer and expressed preference for formative assessment, which may foster a deeper approach to learning. Student achievement is elevated when they are able to participate in both formative and summative assessment to guide learning. During the summative assessment process students may be allowed to upload videos, files, and documents they originate for benchmark assignments developed by their teacher to show their overall learning
17.05: My experience using technology for assessment by Tamika McKenzie
As a part of the second largest school district in the state of California, I have had exposure to a variety of assessment tools that have been both effective and ineffective across the past 14 years. The school district that I am a part of has mandated that the annual standardized testing be done virtually, rather than on paper. This process was piloted at a few schools initially, then pushed forward to all schools across a three-year process.
Along with the implementation of the virtual testing, the district also received federal funding to purchase technology to implement the testing. This was a perfect opportunity for we teachers to utilize the technology in our classroom also. The tablets that the district sent are used for testing in the spring only. This allowed for we teachers to use the tablets for the duration of the year. At my school site, our school received additional funding, and purchased Chromebook carts for many classes to share. Although we did not have a one-to-one ratio of student-to-computers, we did have a sufficient amount to share the carts and use them regularly.
Many teachers like myself utilize a variety of apps and websites to assess our students both formally and informally. We can conduct polls, review sessions, and submit projects/writing samples, etc., all using our technology. The assessments that I administer the most using technology are informal. I conduct review/study sessions with websites like kahoot.com. This website is cost free, and allows you to do so many things. The website allows you to create a variety of assessments. Most importantly, if you are stretched for time, you can duplicate and manipulate the Kahoots of other users and save them within your own collection.
Many times, I am unable to dedicate instructional time to fun review sessions that involve all students at all ability levels. Students may work in group or alone. You can also see the statistics of the responses to gauge areas of concern for reteaching. This assessment tool really helps with saving planning time and appeals to the technology savvy student. If your school does not have technology on-site, students may link up to the assessment with their own devices also.
Using technology regularly allows us to prepare the student for the use of technology for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) standardized testing. Preparing our students is important when it comes to their success. The system that is used to test our students is not user friendly and complicates things for many. Exposure to the tablets and regular use eases anxiety for the students yielding a calmer and more productive testing environment when taking the virtual assessment.
17.06: Summary resources and references
Summary
The focus of any educational institution should be to develop a system that adequately prepares students for the future. Today’s society is ever-changing, increasingly digital, and increasingly acknowledged (Timmis et al., 2016). Educators must increase dialogue and knowledge base on the potential of technology, and its effects on educational assessment. We must understand that assessments should be developed to support learning. However, it is found that most assessments are more focused on qualifications and the reporting of achievement. Timmis et al. (2016) mention that there is a need to better understand how digital technologies can be used to support and transform assessment and learning.
We hope that this chapter has created cause for educators to ponder how assessments are administered and analyzed regularly, along with digital technology’s potential to change the purpose of an assessment. This chapter discussed the importance of assessment, types of assessment, how technology may be utilized to assess student learning, and examples of digital tools that would allow for any educator to make their forum an innovative digital forum. Gauging one’s own personal growth is a vital key to affecting others positively. As educators, we must continually seek innovative and effective assessment tools in order to reach the millennial student and assist them in reaching optimal levels of educational success.
Reference
Nu-Man, M.R., and Porter, T.M., (2018). Igniting Your Teaching with Educational Technology A Resources for New Teachers. Editors: Matt Rhoads & Bonni Stachowiak. Retrieved from https://edd7032017f2.pressbooks.com/
A complete reference list of the original ebook Igniting Your Teaching with Educational Technology A Resources for New Teachers, can be viewed at: https://edd7032017f2.pressbooks.com/back-matter/references/
Assessing Learning by Malikah R. Nu-Man and Tamika M. Porter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. https://edd7032017f2.pressbooks.com/chapter/3/ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/17%3A_Assessing_Learning_Using_Technology/17.04%3A_Electronic_Portfolios.txt |
Overview
What do you want your students to know and be able to do by the end of a unit of instruction, class, program of study…? How do you identify learning goals? Do the activities you assign actually help students meet those goals?
Watch this video lecture (2:46 minutes)
[MSU Graduate School]. (Aug. 26,2013). What is Backward Design?.[Video File]. Retrieved from youtu.be/DTxnTNXPK3g
The three main areas of the unit plan
Identified Desired Results
To what extent are the targeted enduring understanding transferable, specific enough to guide teaching and assessment and framed by provocative essential question?
Assessment Evidence
To what extent do the assessments provide valid and reliable measures of the targeted understanding, opportunities for students to exhibit their understanding through authentic performance assessments, sufficient and varied information to support inferences about each student’s understanding?
Planning Learning Experiences and Instruction
To what extent do the brainstormed sequence of the main activities in the unit include instructional materials and resources for the selected content, the instructional strategies to engage, motivate, and support students, and the activities that students will perform to become more skilled and knowledgeable about the enduring understandings and specific content.
*Adapted from The Understanding By Design Handbook by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins
18.02: The Backward Design Template
ESTABLISHED GOALS
The enduring understandings and learning goals of the lesson, unit, or course.
Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to…
Refers to how students will transfer the knowledge gained from the lesson, unit, or course and apply it outside of the context of the course.
Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS
Students will understand that…
Refers to the big ideas and specific understandings students will have when the complete the lesson, unit, or course.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Refers to the provocative questions that foster inquiry, understanding, and transfer of learning. These questions typically frame the lesson, unit, or course and are often revisited. If students attain the established goals, they should be able to answer the essential question(s).
Acquisition
Students will know…
Refers to the key knowledge students will acquire from the lesson, unit, or course.
Students will be skilled at…
Refers to the key skills students will acquire from the lesson, unit, or course.
Stage 2 – Evidence and Assessment
Evaluative Criteria
Assessment Evidence
Refers to the various types of criteria that students will be evaluated on.
PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
Refers to the authentic performance task(s) that students will complete to demonstrate the desired understandings or demonstrate they have attained the goals. The performance task(s) are typically larger assessments that coalesce various concepts and understandings like large projects or papers.
OTHER EVIDENCE:
Refers to other types of evidence that will show if students have demonstrated achievement of the desired results. This includes quizzes, tests, homework, etc. This is also a good point to consider incorporating self-assessments and student reflections.
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction
This stage encompasses the individual learning activities and instructional strategies that will be employed. This includes lectures, discussions, problem-solving sessions, etc.
Granite State College, School of Education UbD Template for Math Unit Development – This is the template you will use to plan your math unit. Save it as a MS Word Document before submitting.
18.04: References
UbD graphic is from: Don Glass, P. (n.d). Curriculum Design for Inclusive Arts Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from OER Commons: http://www.oercommons.org/courses/curriculum-design-for-inclusive-arts-teaching-and-learning-understanding-by-design/view
Other graphics are from Pixabay- public domain | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/18%3A_Understanding_by_Design/18.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Culturally Responsive Teaching
To achieve a high quality public education for all students, all educators must be able to work effectively in diverse settings. To become effective in diverse contexts, educators must be willing to learn about systemic racism and inequities in the public education system and to develop culturally competent skills and mindsets (EOGOAC, 2017). Professional learning opportunities aimed at increasing cultural competencies are focused on increasing educators’ knowledge of student cultural histories and contexts (as well as family norms and values in different cultures), the ability to access community resources for community and family outreach, and developing the skills for adapting instruction to align to students’ experiences and identifying cultural contexts for individual students (RCW 28A.410.260). In accordance with best practices regarding family engagement, districts should make every effort to ensure cultural competence training programs are developed and implemented in partnership with families and communities (EOGOAC, 2017).
When considering mathematics teaching practices to reach students who have not yet met grade-level standards in mathematics, it is important to consider the positive impact of culturally responsive teaching in order to better support all students in mathematics. Studies have shown that culturally responsive teaching, defined as teaching that leverages students’ cultural knowledge to facilitate learning, has positive effects on students’ learning. Furthermore, teachers having respect for cultural diversity positively influences the students’ motivation to learn.
Margery Ginsberg suggests a motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching which can support learning. The framework is made up of four essential motivational conditions, which Ginsberg has found to act “individually and in concert to enhance students’ intrinsic motivation to learn.” The conditions are:
1. Establishing Inclusion—the teacher creates a learning environment in which students and teachers feel respected by and connected to one another.
2. Developing a Positive Attitude—the teacher creates a favorable disposition among students toward learning through personal cultural relevance and student choice.
3. Enhancing Meaning—the teacher creates engaging and challenging learning experiences.
4. Engendering Competence—the teacher creates a shared understanding that students have effectively and authentically learned something they value.
Teaching mathematics with a culturally responsive lens means that the teacher creates an inclusive environment, makes the learning relevant with some aspects of student choice, plans and enacts learning activities that are engaging and challenging, and supports his or her students in knowing what they have learned and why it is of value.
When classrooms and schools are staffed with culturally competent educators, schools are more likely to effectively work towards closing the opportunity gap and increasing student achievement. OSPI has created a toolkit to support educators as they integrate students’ funds of knowledge in the classroom. Additional resources that support culturally responsive practices include: Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters!, Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, and Culturally Responsive Teaching.
19.02: Teacher and student relationships
Good relationships between teachers and students help improve academic success. Students try harder, knowing someone cares about the outcomes. Students feel more comfortable seeking help when the relationship is positive and supportive. Teachers who have high expectations for their students and positive attitudes about mathematics positively influence student outcomes.
Students who report having a more supportive relationship with their mathematics teachers were willing to exert more energy learning the lesson and helping their peers. The relationships, either positive or negative, had long-lasting effects on students.
19.03: Developing a growth mindset
The beliefs people have about intelligence play a big role in mathematics. Some believe intelligence remains the same, this is a fixed mindset. Others believe in a growth mindset, where intelligence changes throughout your lifetime. People with a fixed mindset believe they are good at certain things and bad at others. With a growth mindset, a person could work hard enough and become good at whatever they want.
A person with a fixed mindset and who is good at mathematics will be able to be successful most of the time, but when they come to an obstacle, they tend to give up quicker than those with a growth mindset.
Students with a growth mindset see math as something to work at. When it gets difficult, which it will, they persevere. They believe that the brain is like a muscle, the harder one works, the stronger it gets.
In this model, students are first taught about the brain and how growth mindset works. Then they apply this mindset to learning mathematics or other topics.
Explicitly teaching students how growth mindset works is a foundational skill for success. Growth mindset instruction should be an integral part of both core programs and intervention programs. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/19%3A_Classroom_Centered_Practices_in_Mathematics/19.01%3A_Culturally_responsive_teaching.txt |
Academic language (also referred to as academic English, disciplinary language, scientific language, critical language, and language of school) helps define school success for all students. It is the language of textbooks and homework, the language found in assessments, and the language students hear and see in all classrooms. This language is different in register (the words, phrases, and expressions used to talk about content-specific concepts), structure, and vocabulary from everyday language. Academic language is at the heart of grade-level curriculum across content areas (Gottlieb & Ernst-Slavit, 2014). Academic language includes: vocabulary, representing information, and student discourse.
It is important for educators to be aware of the challenges students face in mathematics with regard to academic language. Language development is not limited to vocabulary instruction, but also includes “instruction around the demands of argumentation, explanation, analyzing purpose and structure of text, and other disciplinary discourse” (Zwiers et. al., 2017). To support the development of academic language in mathematics, learning environments should include speaking, writing, diagramming, and gesturing. Access to learning, that promotes conceptual development, is necessary for all students (Walqui, 2009).
Mathematical vocabulary is more likely than ever to have an impact on students’ math success because students need to understand math-specific words, words with multiple-meaning, and mathematical symbols to develop proficiency in math vocabulary (Pierce & Fontaine, 2009). Explicit teaching (direct instruction) should address words that have multiple meanings, concepts that can be represented with multiple terms, awareness of symbols and diagrams as they relate to mathematics, and the connection between mathematics vocabulary and everyday vocabulary (Roberts & Truxaw, 2013). To learn the math vocabulary needed for success, educators should engage students in rich and lively activities. These activities should encourage deep processing of word meanings and provide a range of opportunities to encounter math vocabulary (Pierce & Fontaine, 2009).
Teaching students to interpret and represent information in mathematics is complicated, as it requires more than reading and writing text. Students must learn to interpret and demonstrate their mathematical thinking through written explanations, symbols, and graphic representations. Educators must teach students the skills needed for success. Teaching sentence structures in mathematics is important to comprehension since often every word within mathematical texts or word problems is essential (Adoniou, 2014). Students might know the meaning of certain academic math words. However, if they cannot put them in a comprehensible sentence, knowledge of academic words alone will not help them be successful
(OSPI academic language toolkit).
When students engage in mathematics and are taught to provide meaningful explanations, higher level thinking and reasoning is promoted. Meaningful mathematical discussions help build knowledge and support the mathematical learning of all students in a math-talk community (Wagganer, 2015). The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2014) Principles to Actions includes communication as a process strand that highlights the importance of language skills in mathematics classrooms. Students need multiple opportunities to use academic language by engaging in meaningful discourse. The Common Core’s Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) state that students should engage in discussion that constructs viable arguments–SMP 3, critiques each other’s reasoning–SMP 3, and communicates with precision–SMP 6 (CCSSI 2010, p. 6-7). Academic discourse helps to develop conceptual understanding and improve language use (Hill & Miller, 2013). Conversations for students developing mathematical language may serve as scaffolding because opportunities to make and communicate meaning are provided (Zwiers et. al., 2017). Students benefit from collaborative discussions because mathematics conversation provides:
• Meaningful discussion.
• Oral language practice.
• A way for students to clarify what is being asked and what is happening in a problem.
• Time to process information and hear the thinking of others.
• Opportunities for teachers to model academic language, appropriate vocabulary use, thinking processes.
• Build common understandings and shared experiences (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2009; Zwiers et. al., 2017) | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/19%3A_Classroom_Centered_Practices_in_Mathematics/19.04%3A_Academic_language.txt |
Educators should provide structure and support for students by intentionally teaching how to participate in these types of math conversations. Students benefit from learning how to question, reason, make connections, solve problems, and communicate solutions effectively (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2009).
Providing a variety of scaffolds that foster students’ participation supports students both in organizing their thinking and making sense of the mathematics. Examples include:
• Sentence frames, which provide tools to support mathematical conversations.
• Teacher modeling and think-alouds.
• Word walls and posters displaying commonly used terms, operations, and math processes.
• Graphic organizers, which provide visual representations of mathematical information.
• Artifacts and Manipulatives upon which to build shared meaning and support sensemaking.
• Structured peer interactions, to communicate ideas and clarify understanding (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2009; Zwiers et. al., 2017).
Academic language is critical to student outcomes in both mathematics and English language arts.
19.06: Cross-curricular teaching practices
Students use many of the same skills and strategies in mathematics as they do in English language arts. Making explicit connections between strategies across content areas strengthens students’ cognitive processes. To make these connections, educators should point out when a vocabulary word, skill, or strategy has a dual purpose across content areas and model these connections during instruction. One way to model cross-curricular connections is to be intentional when selecting read-alouds. For example, strategies used to make sense of complex language in a mathematical word problem are similar to the strategies used when reading informational text. Activating background knowledge supports student reading comprehension and mathematical reasoning. Students may activate background knowledge about a topic within a mathematical task the same way they would activate background knowledge while reading text. Learning explicit and systematic strategies for receiving and providing feedback benefits students across content areas. For example, providing feedback to justify a strategy used for solving a mathematical problem is similar to providing peer feedback for revisions during writing.
19.07: Mathematical representations and manipulatives
Mathematics instruction, at all grade levels, should begin with developing a conceptual understanding of mathematical ideas. This can be accomplished through the use of concrete and representational models before moving to abstract representations. When planning instruction, teachers should consider how to sequence the learning to support moving from concrete representations to the symbolic and abstract. Visual representations of the mathematics are critical in laying a strong foundation of mathematical ideas. Students need experience using concrete manipulatives and then moving to representational models to solidify the use of imagery in problem solving before moving to abstract symbols. The connections students make throughout these stages are essential and should be an intentional design of any lesson.
The first stage is the concrete stage in which students experience math by physically manipulating various objects. The second stage engages students in using representational models to solve math. During this stage, students represent concrete objects as pictures or drawings. Using abstract symbols is the third stage.
Instructional practices should support students moving from the concrete and representational stages to using numbers and symbols to model and solve math problems. Students need opportunities to develop mathematical thinking at each stage and to make connections between the stages to develop the ability to move flexibly among the different representations.
Traditional mathematics instruction has historically focused on computation and students’ ability to apply procedures quickly and accurately. According to National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, procedural fluency includes the ability to apply, build, modify, and select procedures based upon the problem being solved. This definition of procedural fluency pushes the bounds of traditional mathematics instruction, as it requires foundational knowledge of concepts, reasoning strategies, properties of numbers and operations, and problem-solving methods.
*CRA will be addressed further in chapter 20 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/19%3A_Classroom_Centered_Practices_in_Mathematics/19.05%3A_Support_structure_and_scaffolding.txt |
Mathematically Productive Instructional Routines (MPIRs) are high leverage instructional routines that focus on student ideas as central to the learning, make student thinking visible, and provide opportunities for mathematical discourse thereby allowing opportunities for students to make sense of mathematics in their own way. Consistently engaging students in these routines can change student’s dispositions about mathematics, support shifts in instructional practice, and deepen mathematical content knowledge and a growth mindset for both students and teachers.
MPIRs can be implemented with students from pre-school to college and are not tied to any curriculum. MPIRs take place at the beginning or end of a math lesson and are designed to take 10–15 minutes. It is beneficial to use routines daily, or multiple times a week. Mathematical routines can cover many different mathematical ideas, and can be used across a variety of concepts and topics.
While there are several different formats for these routines, all Mathematically Productive Instructional Routines share these common attributes:
They are routine. MPIRs are brief and used frequently. Students and teachers engage in these activities often enough that the routine itself is learned and can be engaged in quickly and meaningfully. The predictable structure creates a safe time and space for students to take risks and explore and share their ideas.
They are instructional. While classrooms also rely on routines designed to manage student behavior, transitions, and supplies, MPIRs are routines that focus on student learning. MPIRs provide an opportunity for students to share their mathematical ideas and make connections and deepen their understanding of math concepts as they listen and respond to other students. Routines also provide an opportunity for the teacher to formatively assess students.
They are mathematically productive. Prompts for each MPIR are carefully chosen to opportunities for students to enact the Standards for Mathematical Practice. Student discussions highlight central mathematical ideas. Students gain important insights and develop positive dispositions about engaging in mathematics through their participation in MPIRs..
Mathematically Productive Instructional Routines create a structure where teachers listen to, build on, and respond to student thinking. Using such routines frequently can support the development of a classroom culture in which sense-making is at the heart of all learning, and mistakes are expected, respected, and inspected.
Number Talks
Number Talks are an example of a mathematically productive instructional routine that can support the development of a classroom culture in which students feel encouraged to share their thinking, and teachers become skilled at listening to their students’ thinking. This short mental mathematics routine can be used daily with any curricular materials to promote number fluency as well as develop conceptual understanding of numbers and operations.
In a number talk, students have the opportunity to share their thinking and learn from fellow students about multiple ways of using number relationships and structures, and visual models to perform mental computations. With number talks, teachers must listen to and represent student thinking, which not only provides them with information for determining next steps, but also deepens the teacher’s own understanding of mathematics. Number talks are the best pedagogical method for developing number sense and helping students see the flexible and conceptual nature of mathematics (Boaler, 2015).
In their recent book, Making Number Talks Matter, Number Talks pioneers and researchers Cathy Humphreys and Ruth Parker claim:
Number Talks help students become confident mathematical thinkers more effectively than any single instructional practice we have ever used.… With Number Talks, students start to believe in themselves mathematically. They become more willing to persevere when solving complex problems. They become more confident when they realize that they have ideas worth listening to. And when students feel this way, the culture of a class can be transformed.
Jo Boaler, Stanford University mathematics education professor, provides educators and parents with a 15-minute video about Number Talks that gives a full description of the practice and shares examples to help schools get started with Number Talks in every classroom.
Games
Mathematics games may be used for extended learning time to support instruction and to help students meet the state standards. Some research has found that game-based learning is an effective way to enhance motivation and performance.
Choosing which game to play depends on the instructional goal and learning target. Games can be used both for instruction and practice. Games may also give students the opportunity to apply new learning. Games may not be appropriate in all situations, and are more effective if they are embedded in instruction and include debriefing and feedback. Also, games should be used as adjuncts and aids, not as stand-alone instruction.
Technology
Mathematics games may be used for extended learning time to support instruction and to help students meet the state standards. Some research has found that game-based learning is an effective way to enhance motivation and performance.
Choosing which game to play depends on the instructional goal and learning target. Games can be used both for instruction and practice. Games may also give students the opportunity to apply new learning. Games may not be appropriate in all situations, and are more effective if they are embedded in instruction and include debriefing and feedback. Also, games should be used as adjuncts and aids, not as stand-alone instruction.
19.09: References
Reykdal, C. (2020). Strengthening Student Educational Outcomes Mathematics Menu of Best Practices and Strategies, State Superintendent, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Olympia Washington, pages 28-38. Except where otherwise noted, this work by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
Graphic, Pixabay License pixabay.com/photos/learn-mathematics-child-girl-2405206/ Pixabay License pixabay.com/photos/learn-mathematics-child-girl-2405206/ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/19%3A_Classroom_Centered_Practices_in_Mathematics/19.08%3A_Mathematically_productive_instructional_routines.txt |
Table of Contents
• Concrete, representational and abstracts models of math.
• Questioning used in mathematics.
• Feedback
• Teaching Math Vocabulary
• Building Math Fluency
• Error Analysis
This next section contains excerpts from the National Center on Intensive Intervention. (2016). Principles for designing intervention in mathematics. Washington, DC: Office of Special Education, U.S. Department of Education and is in the pubic domain.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide brief explanations of practices that can be implemented when working with students in need of intensive intervention in mathematics.
Special education instructors, math interventionists, and others working with students who struggle with mathematics may find this guide helpful. The strategies presented in this guide should be used in conjunction with teaching guides developed for specific mathematical concepts. Specific topics covered include the following:
Explicit, Systematic Instruction (aka Direct Instruction)- Chapter 4
•Effective Questioning in the math classroom (questioning was introduced in chapter 9)
•Concrete, Representational/Visual/Pictorial, Abstract/Symbolic Models
•Teaching Mathematical Vocabulary and Symbols
•Fluency Building
•Error Analysis.
20.02: Concrete representational visual Pictorial and abstract symbolic models
Table of Contents
• Concrete, representational and abstracts models of math.
• Questioning used in mathematics.
• Feedback
• Teaching Math Vocabulary
• Building Math Fluency
• Error Analysis
This next section contains excerpts from the National Center on Intensive Intervention. (2016). Principles for designing intervention in mathematics. Washington, DC: Office of Special Education, U.S. Department of Education and is in the pubic domain.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide brief explanations of practices that can be implemented when working with students in need of intensive intervention in mathematics.
Special education instructors, math interventionists, and others working with students who struggle with mathematics may find this guide helpful. The strategies presented in this guide should be used in conjunction with teaching guides developed for specific mathematical concepts. Specific topics covered include the following:
Explicit, Systematic Instruction (aka Direct Instruction)- Chapter 4
•Effective Questioning in the math classroom (questioning was introduced in chapter 9)
•Concrete, Representational/Visual/Pictorial, Abstract/Symbolic Models
•Teaching Mathematical Vocabulary and Symbols
•Fluency Building
•Error Analysis
Concrete, Representational/Visual/Pictorial, and Abstract/Symbolic Models
Using multiple representations to teach mathematics allows students to understand mathematics conceptually, often as a result of developing or “seeing” an algorithm or strategy on their own. By building strong conceptual understanding, students are able to better generalize skills and understand algorithms (Gersten et al., 2009; Jones, Inglis, Gilmore, & Evans, 2013; Miller & Hudson, 2007). Moving through each phase is essential for every skill area, not just for early foundational skills (Jayanthi et al., 2008; National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008; Stein, Kinder, Silbert, & Carnine, 2005; Woodward, 2006). A description of the three phases follows.
1. Concrete: In this phase, students use three-dimensional manipulatives to solve problems and to gain a better conceptual understanding of a concept. Examples of manipulatives include counting bears, snap cubes, base-10 blocks, real or plastic money, clocks, fraction tiles, geoboards, Algeblocks, algebra tiles, and others. It is helpful to use a variety of manipulatives (if possible) to teach concepts so that students can generalize the concept being taught. Using an assortment of manipulatives is not always possible, however; some concepts can only be taught using a specific manipulative. It is important to note that although students may demonstrate proper use of a manipulative, this does not mean that they understand the concepts behind use of the manipulative. Explicit instruction and student verbalizations, such as explaining the concept or demonstrating use of the manipulative while they verbally describe the mathematical procedure, should accompany all manipulative use.
2. Representational/Visual/Pictorial: Students use two-dimensional pictures, drawings, or diagrams to solve problems. These pictures, drawings, or diagrams may be given to the students, or they may draw them when presented with a problem. These representations should be used to connect and solve the same concepts previously taught using concrete objects. Representational models also may be presented virtually through websites or tablet applications. With a virtual representation, students move the image with a mouse or with their hands.
3. Abstract/Symbolic: During this phase, students are expected to solve problems through the use of numbers and symbols rather than with the use of concrete objects or visual representations. Students are often expected to memorize facts and algorithms as well as to build fluency.
Following is an example that demonstrates use of the three phases to solve the problem 4 + 5: | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/20%3A_Math_Interventions_and_Strategies/20.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Students who have difficulty with mathematics need many opportunities to respond to effective questions, explain their thinking, and receive feedback that allows them to improve their learning. To increase generalization of skills and flexibility in thinking mathematically, instructors need to ask questions that increase student engagement, that provide feedback, and that are linked to algebraic or higher level thinking and understanding (Cai & Knuth, 2005; Witzel, Mercer, & Miller, 2003). Specifically, beginning algebraic thinking, such as analyzing relationships, generalizing models, predicting, justifying, or noticing structure, can lead to greater gains in mathematics understanding in later years (Kieran, 2004).
Following are guidelines for asking questions that will move student learning forward, increase student engagement, and offer immediate feedback.
Questioning: The three main types of questions that should be used in mathematics are reversibility, flexibility, and generalization (Dougherty, Bryant, Bryant, Darrough, & Pfannenstiel, 2015).
• Reversibility questions are those that change the direction of student thinking: for example, giving the student the answer and asking him or her to identify the correct equation. This type of question allows for multiple answers and gives students the opportunity to think about algorithms in different ways. Reversibility questions should be presented after the student has demonstrated mastery of a particular procedure or algorithm.
• Flexibility questions support student understanding in finding multiple ways to solve a problem or in discerning relationships among problems. For example, the student might be asked to solve an addition problem using a specific strategy and then show or prove the answer using another method, such as a number line. Flexibility questions can be used during instruction to show relationships between similar problems or differences in models.
• Generalization questions are those that ask students to create statements about patterns. In the past, instructors would explain algorithms or rules, and they did not afford students the opportunity to develop explanations on their own. To increase conceptual understanding, guided questions about patterns allow rules or generalizations to be “discovered” by the student. For instance, students are presented with a list of numbers multiplied by two and then asked to describe any patterns they notice (e.g., one factor is two, product is an even number, etc.). The use of generalization questions allows students to develop a deeper understanding of mathematics and to generalize their thinking to similar problems.
Regardless of the type of questions asked, instructors should use the questioning strategy to assess student understanding and then use the information obtained from the questioning to evaluate and adjust their instruction as necessary.
Teachers should involve all students in questioning. This involvement can be accomplished in several ways:
First, teachers may invite all students to respond to questioning through unison choral response. Although this is an easy way to encourage students to respond, it is important to ensure that all students are responding to the questions at the same time.
Second, teachers can use equity sticks. Teachers write each student’s name on an ice pop stick and then draw a stick for each question they ask. The student whose name appears on the stick answers the question. All students have the same chance to be called upon.
Third, teachers may use response cards. Write “A,” “B,” and “C” on separate cards. The instructor asks a question and presents three answer choices. Students select their choice and hold up the response card indicating their answer.
Fourth, teachers may ask students to write their answers on whiteboards. Students hold up the answers so the instructor can check them for accuracy.
Fifth, teachers may invite students to create a model. Students then pair-share their creations to identify differences and similarities among the models and answers to the mathematical questions.
Teachers may need to individualize their questions for students to gain a better understanding of a particular student’s knowledge of the skill that is being taught.
Feedback: Providing students with both positive and corrective feedback is essential to their learning. It is important that students receive immediate feedback so that they do not continue to practice incorrectly. Students should also have an opportunity to practice/repeat the correct response after error correction has been provided (Archer & Hughes, 2011). | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/20%3A_Math_Interventions_and_Strategies/20.03%3A_Effective_questioning_and_providingfeedback.txt |
Examples for teaching mathematics vocabulary and symbols are explained in this section.
1. Word Walls/Word Banks: Word walls and word banks can be used in two ways. First, instructors can create cards with vocabulary terms or symbols and the corresponding definitions. Second, students can create their own cards. Once cards have been created, they are placed on a word wall, or students can keep their own notebook containing the terms. When the word wall or student notebook is organized, the words should be placed in meaningful sections. For example, one section may be devoted to fractions, another section to basic operations, another to geometry terms, and so forth. This meaningful organization will help students when they are looking for the terms. It is important to note that simply placing word cards on the wall or having students add them to their notebooks does not increase student understanding of the vocabulary or symbols. Instructors must teach these vocabulary terms and symbols and their definitions and then relate the terms and symbols to student learning. Instructors should use precise mathematical vocabulary in teaching and correcting, and they should also encourage students to use correct mathematical language in speech.
2. Vocabulary Cards: These cards may have the same vocabulary terms and symbols as those on the word wall or word bank. If instructors use vocabulary cards to teach definitions, they should write each term on the front of a card and its definition on the back. When the cards are used to teach symbols, the instructor should write each symbol on the front of a card and its name on the back. The cards are used as a practice activity in which students quickly say the word and state its definition or identify a symbol and cite its meaning. Through vocabulary card practice activities, students will learn to automatically recognize mathematical vocabulary terms and symbols.
3. Labeling: Students are expected to label parts of a problem or figure in mathematics. Often, students need opportunities to identify vocabulary terms prior to solving problems. To increase overall mathematical vocabulary and flexibility, problems should be written in a variety of ways to show variability. Providing students with examples such as the ones below will enable instructors to assess students’ understanding of terms prior to problem solving.
4. Identifying Characteristics: Some mathematical terms or concepts are more complicated than others and require further explanation as well as examples and non-examples. A characteristics table presents information in a manner that is easy for students to access. When a term or concept is introduced, instructors and students should complete a characteristics table together. In the first box, characteristics of the term/concept are listed. In the second box, examples of the term/concept are provided. In the third box, non-examples are listed. For some concepts or terms, it may be helpful to provide pictures of the examples and non-examples.
polygon: a simple, closed plan figure made up of three or more line segments
20.05: Graphics organizers
Examples for teaching mathematics vocabulary and symbols are explained in this section.
1. Word Walls/Word Banks: Word walls and word banks can be used in two ways. First, instructors can create cards with vocabulary terms or symbols and the corresponding definitions. Second, students can create their own cards. Once cards have been created, they are placed on a word wall, or students can keep their own notebook containing the terms. When the word wall or student notebook is organized, the words should be placed in meaningful sections. For example, one section may be devoted to fractions, another section to basic operations, another to geometry terms, and so forth. This meaningful organization will help students when they are looking for the terms. It is important to note that simply placing word cards on the wall or having students add them to their notebooks does not increase student understanding of the vocabulary or symbols. Instructors must teach these vocabulary terms and symbols and their definitions and then relate the terms and symbols to student learning. Instructors should use precise mathematical vocabulary in teaching and correcting, and they should also encourage students to use correct mathematical language in speech.
2. Vocabulary Cards: These cards may have the same vocabulary terms and symbols as those on the word wall or word bank. If instructors use vocabulary cards to teach definitions, they should write each term on the front of a card and its definition on the back. When the cards are used to teach symbols, the instructor should write each symbol on the front of a card and its name on the back. The cards are used as a practice activity in which students quickly say the word and state its definition or identify a symbol and cite its meaning. Through vocabulary card practice activities, students will learn to automatically recognize mathematical vocabulary terms and symbols.
3. Labeling: Students are expected to label parts of a problem or figure in mathematics. Often, students need opportunities to identify vocabulary terms prior to solving problems. To increase overall mathematical vocabulary and flexibility, problems should be written in a variety of ways to show variability. Providing students with examples such as the ones below will enable instructors to assess students’ understanding of terms prior to problem solving.
4. Identifying Characteristics: Some mathematical terms or concepts are more complicated than others and require further explanation as well as examples and non-examples. A characteristics table presents information in a manner that is easy for students to access. When a term or concept is introduced, instructors and students should complete a characteristics table together. In the first box, characteristics of the term/concept are listed. In the second box, examples of the term/concept are provided. In the third box, non-examples are listed. For some concepts or terms, it may be helpful to provide pictures of the examples and non-examples.
polygon: a simple, closed plan figure made up of three or more line segments | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/20%3A_Math_Interventions_and_Strategies/20.04%3A_Teaching_vocabulary_and_symbols.txt |
In addition to conceptual knowledge, students need to develop procedural fluency in mathematics. Providing students with practice activities that build fluency is essential. Opportunities to work through multi-step problems allow students to develop the higher-level thinking skills they need in order to progress to more complicated math concepts. Students need effective strategies and ample practice to increase their fluency in basic mathematics skills such as operational facts. The only way to truly increase fluency is to combine timed activities with additional practice opportunities (Raghubar et al., 2010; Woodward, 2006).
When students become more fluent in mathematics skills, their motivation and confidence often increase. To heighten motivation, students should self-correct whenever possible for immediate feedback and then graph the results. Instructors also can integrate goal setting to further motivate and increase student self-regulation (Burns et al., 2010; Codding et al., 2009; Montague, 2007; Rock, 2005). Following is a list of suggested activities that instructors may use for fluency building practice. Many of these activities can be incorporated into peer tutoring activities.
Another benefit of fluency can be enhanced motivation. When students become more fluent in mathematics skills, their motivation and confidence often increase. To heighten motivation, students should self-correct whenever possible for immediate feedback and then graph the results. Instructors also can integrate goal setting to further motivate and increase student self-regulation (Burns et al., 2010; Codding et al., 2009; Montague, 2007; Rock, 2005). Following is a list of suggested activities that instructors may use for fluency building practice. Many of these activities can be incorporated into peer tutoring activities.
1. Timed Activities: The use of timed activities to increase fluency in demonstrating knowledge of basic facts is a mainstay of mathematics education. The purpose of timed tests is to motivate students to increase their speed and to surpass their previous scores. Although timed activities are an effective tool for building fluency, they should not be the sole mode of instruction. Instructors should explicitly teach strategies that aid students in demonstrating their knowledge of mathematical facts. It is important to note that timed activities are not a motivator for all students; the focus, therefore, should be on answering correctly as well as quickly answering questions related to mathematical facts.
*Timed activities are not appropriate for all students. Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education, Standford University. Research suggests times tests cause math anxiety
2. Flash Cards: Flash cards are often used to improve fluency in demonstrating knowledge of basic facts. They also can be used in activities such as identifying coins and their values, reading clocks, identifying fractions, and performing other mathematical tasks. Flash cards can be used with students and instructors or with peer tutors. Answers are provided on the backs of the cards so that the flash cards can be worked through quickly. Peer tutors should be taught how to correct answers so that neither peer is practicing the wrong answer during flash card activities. Students should record items scored as “incorrect” so that they can further practice the specific skills associated with these items. Students can graph the total number of flash cards answered correctly under timed conditions. This graphing can be done in tandem with goal setting to motivate the development of fact fluency.
3. Computer Software: Computer software activities, when paired with explicit teaching, can be highly engaging for students. Computer software programs provide the additional practice that struggling students need to increase mathematics fluency and accuracy. Instructors should evaluate software programs to ensure that they meet the needs of students and that they require students to actively solve problems. Effective computer software will contain clear directions and will provide students with positive and corrective feedback immediately after they have answered questions (i.e., worked through problems). Computer programs should complement, rather than replace, instructor-led learning.
4. Instructional Games: Games provide students with fun, stimulating ways to practice skills that they have already been taught. Instructional games, including board games, have been found to increase skills in estimation, magnitude comparison, identification of numbers, and counting (Ramani, Hitti, & Siegler, 2012; Ramani & Siegler, 2008; Siegler & Ramani, 2008). The games should include mathematical components and foundational skills that correlate to the state standards. Following are some common games that can be adapted for teaching most mathematical concepts:
•
• Bingo: The instructor draws a card and reads the number, basic facts, fraction, or other item. Students mark the number or solution on their bingo cards. The first student who completes a row or column wins only if he or she can read all the numbers or answer all the problems in the row or column.
• Concentration/Memory: Students play the game as they would with cards; however, before students can pick up a match, they must read the numbers or solve the problem.
• Dominoes: Students play the game as they would regular dominoes by matching numbers with objects, math facts, fraction names with pictures of fractions, and so forth. Students must be able to answer the problem before they place their dominoes.
• Board games: Using commercially produced board games can assist students in counting, estimation, and understanding real-world applications of money. Board games also tend to be linear and link to understanding of measurement and fractions in later grades.
• have _____; who has _______? This game can be used to practice a variety of mathematical skills. The sentence structure “I have _____; who has _____?” is written on each card. The cards are evenly distributed among students. One card has the word Start written on it.
• Examples are as follows:
“I have 5; who has 6 more?”
“I have 11; who has 2 less?”
“I have 9; who has its double?”
“I have 18; who has 7 less?”
The game continues until all cards have been used. This game can be used to practice knowledge of basic facts or more advanced skills such as adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/20%3A_Math_Interventions_and_Strategies/20.06%3A_Fluency_building.txt |
Error analysis is the process of analyzing student work to determine why students solved a problem incorrectly (Ashlock, 2010). Many errors can easily be detected—for example, regrouping ones instead of tens or adding denominators rather than finding common denominators. Other errors that are specific to an individual student’s understanding of a process are more difficult to identify. Even more confusing, some errors lead to the correct answer, and, in turn, students develop misconceptions. These errors require more careful examination, and often, students need to explain their thinking before the errors can be identified. Developing a step-by-step task analysis for some skills may help the instructor identify where in the process a student is having difficulty. Once errors have been identified, instructors should quickly address them so that the student does not continue to practice incorrectly, and educators should adjust their instruction to facilitate student understanding (Archer & Hughes, 2011; Stein et al., 2005).
(National Center on Intensive Instruction, 2016)
The following text is adapted from: Herholdt, Roelien, & Sapire, Ingrid. (2014). An error analysis in the early grades mathematics – A learning opportunity?. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 4(1), 43-60. Retrieved September 13, 2019, from. CC-BY
Error analysis, also referred to as error pattern analysis, is the study of errors in learners’ work with a view to finding explanations for these reasoning errors. This multifaceted activity can be traced back to the work of Radatz in 1979. Not all errors can be attributed to reasoning faults; some are simply careless errors (Yang, Sherman & Murdick 2011), identified as “slips” (Olivier 1996:3), which can easily be corrected if the faulty process is pointed out to the learner. Slips are random errors in declarative or procedural knowledge, which do not indicate systematic misconceptions or conceptual problems (Ketterlin-Geller & Yovanoff 2009). Error analysis is concerned with the pervasive errors (or ‘bugs’) which learners make, based on their lack of conceptual or procedural understanding (Ketterlin-Geller & Yovanoff 2009). These authors explain that such mathematical errors occur when someone who makes this type of error believes that what has been done is correct – thus indicating faulty reasoning. Such errors are systematic (Allsopp, Kuger & Lovitt 2007) and persistent and occur across a range of school contexts (Nesher 1987). Yang et al (2011) point out that systematic errors might be the result of the use of algorithms that lead to incorrect answers or the use of procedures that have not been fully understood.
Error analysis, however, does not just involve analysis of learners’ correct, partially correct and incorrect steps towards finding a solution, but also implies the study of best practices for remediation (McGuire 2013). This would require of the teacher a good knowledge of mathematical content, as well as a good grasp of learners’ levels of mathematical understanding (McGuire 2013). McGuire (2013) argues that the ability of teachers to remediate common learner errors and misconceptions underlies Shulman’s (1986) definition of pedagogical content knowledge. Hill, Ball and Schilling (2008) further includes the ability to anticipate learner errors and misconceptions in their understanding of pedagogical content knowledge. Hill et al’s (2008) explains that activities such as error analysis, which require pedagogical content knowledge, involve more than just pedagogy; they involve a well-grounded understanding of the learner and how a learner learns.
Resource on Error Analysis in Mathematics instruction
University of Kansas, (n.d). Dynamic Math Assessment, Error Pattern Analysis. http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/~specconn/page/instruction/math/pdf/patternanalysis.pdf
References can be found at https://intensiveintervention.org/sites/default/files/Princip_Effect_Math_508.pdf pages 16-17 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/20%3A_Math_Interventions_and_Strategies/20.07%3A_Error_analysis.txt |
Authors: Clinical Assistant Professor, Liz Kolb, School of Education, and University of Michigan
Note
In this section of the course eBook we are going to look at using technology in K-12 schools. The main takeaway for this chapter is “Learning First, Tech Second”.Note
Much of the content is derived from a massive open online course (MOOC), LEADED501x Leading Ambitious Teaching and Learning from the University of Michigan, School of Education, Ann Arbor Michigan.
The technology integration section of the MOOC, Learning with Digital Technology Tools is presented by Liz Kolb, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, School of Education
Included will be videos and abbreviated versions of the video transcripts. In this first section we will look at some basic guidelines for using technology for learning.
Watch the video lecture (19:48 minutes). What is Ambitious Learning Through Technology Tools?
LEADed501x Leading Ambitious Teaching & Learning. (2016, Nov. 14). MCHLATLX2016-V001500. [Video File].
21.02: Technology integration is driven by good teaching practices
. . . and not fancy tools.
There’s almost this assumption that the technology magically creates these amazing learning gains in the classrooms and new cognition. That does not happen. Instead, often we will see classrooms where students are all over the classroom when they have their laptop or their tablet. They look like they’re engaged because they’re excited about having it. But, we have to be careful that they’re actually learning through the technology.
We tend to make the mistake of giving children a one-to-one device thinking one-to-one is the ultimate solution for learning and then step away and assume that the technology, the app or the software’s going to do the rest of the work for us.
We need to bring in those good, effective teaching methods and strategies. When we look at effective literacy learning strategies, none of them say, just give a child a book and they will learn to read. So, we shouldn’t assume, just give a child a tablet or a mobile device and suddenly, they’re going to learn through it. We need to integrate the effective practices.
Added Value
Technology should be the last piece of the instructional sequence. It should be something that is going to be adding value to those good literacy or good mathematical instructional practices rather than just something that’s exciting and fun.
It’s important to make sure that math is connecting to students’ everyday understanding and their world. That doesn’t mean a story problem where it talks about apples or bicycles, which are relevant to the children. It means connecting their everyday life, what they see and do around them, to mathematical strategies and understanding. Notice a lot of these effective strategies have to do with collaboration, authenticity, collaboration, and inquiry. Using some of those higher-order thinking skills or higher-cognitive thinking skills are important in learning. These are the things we want to bring into technology learning.
When we look at the research over the last couple of decades, the research does not say we should be isolating students. They should not be using a bunch of what we call drill and practice software which is where they do a lot of multiple choice type questions. Instead, we need to do what we do in mathematics. We need to ask students to inquire, to analyze, to synthesize, to hypothesize.
It’s not so important that they’re just consuming content and answering questions really quickly or swiping to get to the game, which sometimes has negative learning gains. Instead, it’s important that we are adding value to the learning.
Key Takeaways
Research on Effective Tech Use in Learning
• Elicit higher-order thinking around content over consumption of content. (Wenglinsky, 2006)
• Quality over quantity (Wenglinsky, 2006)
• Avoid “drill and practice” in isolation. (Wenglinsky, 1998)
• “Value-added” element to the learning (Means et al. 2009)
We’ve learned that we need to avoid drill and practice software despite the hundreds of thousands of pieces of educational software that are drill and practice. Because those rarely have learning gains, and often, they are negative learning gains. In addition to that, it’s quality over quantity.
What we’ve learned is that children who use technology every day have no better, and sometimes worse, learning outcomes as far as their standardized test scores and other assessments, than children who use technology less frequently but with higher quality applications, that reach those higher order thinking skills. These are important things that we need to consider.
We need to focus on the time-on-task, and learning goals must come first. We need to make sure that the software is meeting those needs and not distracting from those needs.
Key Takeaways
Research on Effective Tech Use in Learning
• Focus on learning goals (Linnenbrink & Printrich, 2003)
• Time-on-task active engagement (Wartella, 2015)
• Co-use or joint media engagement (Darling-Hammond, et al, Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2015, Guernsey, 2012)
• Connect learning to authentic experiences (Vaala et al., 2015, Guernsey, 2012), Wartella, 2015)
Technology should bridge school experience with everyday life and the world around the student.
The technology should bridge students’ school experiences with their everyday lives, the world around them, and the things that their hearing in the news. The technology should connect students and teachers to experts and the real world through the technology in meaningful ways.
When we’re using the technology, it’s important for the teacher to say, this is why we’re using this app or software. It is also important with asking children to work collaboratively.
We know learning is social. When using technology for learning in any content area, students should be co-using the device. They should be working together. They should be co-constructing, rather than isolated. Read alouds and think alouds are a great way to show that students are understanding.
To make their thinking a little more visible, students using technology devices can participate in what we call share-alouds, where they share what they’re doing at different moments with other students, with teachers in a written format.
Children need to have their learning monitored. Monitored comprehension means the teachers should be checking in and monitoring with the devices. They should be sitting down with the children periodically if they’re in a one-to-one classroom, rather than assuming that the software is doing the work and is doing it correctly.
Children need to be reflecting, questioning, retelling, predicting, and these are things that students can be doing through the software. Again, eliciting some of these higher-order thinking skills, making sure the software isn’t drill and practice, but it’s actually software that allows this creativity in unique and innovative ways. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/21%3A_Learning_with_Digital_Tools/21.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
Finally, the idea of guided practice. Teachers should be showing students how to use the software. They can do the, I do, we do, you do, format. When they’re doing that, and not just modeling how to navigate the software, but in particular, how to think as they’re navigating the software.
Make sure that you are teaching students how to think about the cognition and the learning as they’re navigating the software.
What do we mean by eliciting higher-order thinking skills?
Screenshot from the video lecture
We want to make sure that the learning through the technology is happening in the higher processing areas. One of the things that we’ve learned from the research over the past couple of decades is when the learning happens in the drill and practice programs, we just don’t see learning gains and effective outcomes.
The more students use the drill and practice programs, the less effective the learning outcomes. We really want to look for software that elicits those higher processing skills.
Key Takeaways
We know that technology should engage learners.
We know that technology should enhance learning. It should add value to it.
We know that technology should be extending learning beyond the classroom in unique ways.
Technology Should (Triple E)
Engage Learning Enhance Learning Extend Learning
• Time-on-task learning
• Focus on learning goals
• Co-use and Co-Engagement
• Social
• Less distractions
• Value added to learning
• Scaffolds and supports
• Could not do with Traditional Tools
• Personalized
• Differentiation of learning
• Bridge School Learning and Everyday Lives
• Help Students Make Sense of the World TODAY
• Connecting Existing Knowledge with new Knowledge
21.04: What is engaged learning with technology tools
Well, it’s really important that the focus is on the learning goals, this idea of time-on-task, and that the technology is not distracting from the learning goals which it can easily do and a lot of software does.
The software is really motivating the students with different types of scaffolds to get them interested and invested in the learning goals.
One of the most important pieces is this idea of having an active learner. They’re not passive and just consuming knowledge. But, they’re productive, that they’re innovative, inquiring, hypothesizing, and using those higher-order thinking skills. They are not doing it isolated, rather they’re doing it in a very collaborative way through co-use and co-construction.
When we look at time-on-task, we know that technology should be helping students focus on the learning goals. It should allow opportunities for students to learn with less distractions.
Co-use and joint engagement compared to individual use. When we consider co-use, we want students to build a collaborative and shared understanding around content. They should be working together.
If you have a one-to-one classroom, I highly recommend that you take away a few devices occasionally and make it one-to-two or one-to-three, so that students can collaborate and work together, because it’s much more difficult to build a shared understanding when they’re isolated with their devices.
Another benefit of co-use is there’s just more opportunity to inquire and co-analyze and just kind of check for understanding together. Again, when it’s individual use, we just don’t see those opportunities arise as much because all the students are working in their own isolated piece of software.
Reflections
• Do you notice co-use or joint engagement in different ways? Either students working collaboratively with devices or they’re choosing apps and software that is collaborative for students, so they can work on it together?
• How are the teachers monitoring and checking in with the students?
• Are they modeling how to navigate the tool, and comprehend the content with the tool? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/21%3A_Learning_with_Digital_Tools/21.03%3A_Modeling_and_guided_practice.txt |
The video lecture is 3:20 minutes
LEADed501x Leading Ambitious Teaching & Learning. (2016, Nov. 14). MCHLATLX2016-V001300. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/5pLhfoybeUI
Now that we’ve had a chance to look at what engaged learning with technology tools is all about, let’s look at the characteristics of an enhanced learner using technologies.
Often the words engaged and enhanced get thrown about together, but they’re very different when it comes to technology tools. There are three different things we want to be looking for an enhanced learner.
Technology should add value to the learning goals
First, we want to look for this idea that there’s a value added. That somehow, students are able to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the content learning goals because of something that’s happening with the technology.
Technology includes supports and scaffolds to help make learning more attainable (accessible)
Technology can often bring in scaffolds, or supports, for the students, whether it’s feedback, whether it’s a way to differentiate instruction through leveled learning, that would help the student understand the learning goals better.
Do we need the technology?
If the task is something that we can easily do with traditional tools, then we don’t need to use the technology. But if it’s something that we can’t do with traditional tools, then that’s where the value-added is realized.
Technology absolutely should be something that integrates, supports, and scaffolds to help make learning more attainable. Making sure that there is this value-added is an important element we should be looking for.
A few examples of that would be such as differentiating learning or personalizing learning, which again two terms that are often thrown around but very different.
When we’re differentiating learning, we’re looking at students who are learning at different learning levels. An example of differentiating learning would be software that allows students to read the same article or read the same book based on their Lexile level of reading. If a student is at a lower Lexile level, they can read the same article that another student is reading, but just the text looks different and it’s formatted differently for them, so that it meets their learning needs. Newsela is an example of a program that provides multiple Lexile levels of the same news article.
Personalizing learning software, is software that allows the teacher to actually create different activities for different learners based on their interests and the way that they like to learn. While the students are learning, the teacher can weigh in during the process of learning by seeing what the students are doing and putting in comments or even drawing on the student’s screen. Google docs is an example of a program that can be used for personalized and collaborative learning. That would be a value-added element to the learning and notice that there is co-use woven throughout it as well.
Lexile level of reading. If a student is at a lower Lexile level, they can read the same article that another student is reading, but just the text looks different and it’s formatted differently for them, so that it meets their learning needs. Newsela is an example of a program that provides multiple Lexile levels of the same news article.
Reflections
• Reflect on your own experiences using technology in the classroom, think about how the learning is enhanced or value is added to the learning process through the technology tools. Look for scaffolds and supports for the learning that’s provided by the technology, and notice if there’s any differentiation of instruction or personalization that’s happening through the technology. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/21%3A_Learning_with_Digital_Tools/21.05%3A_What_is_enhanced_learning_with_technology_tools.txt |
Note
The ideal gas law is easy to remember and apply in solving problems, as long as you get the proper values a
Now that we’ve looked at the characteristics of an enhanced learner and an engaged learner using technology tools, it’s time to look at the characteristics of what an extended learner needs with technology tools. This is an exciting piece of learning with technology tools, because it’s something that was much more difficult to do prior to having access to digital technology in schools.
How can technology make learning authentic?
It allows students to look at the world around them in a different way, in a very unique way. For example, being able to help solve real world problems through technologies, tools, and the different strategies and methods they’re learning in school.
The things we tend to look for are the ways that technology can help students connect and create this bridge to their everyday lives.
Examples:
• Bring experts into the classroom virtually.
• Skype, Google Hangout, with pen pals from across the globe so students are able to learn new languages, and learn new cultural norms from other students.
• Livestream to connect with literacy experts, such as a favorite author.
• Social studies: students collaborating with others using Minecraft
Reflections
• If you would like to watch videos of teachers in the field, talk about how they extend learning with technology, go to www.edx.org , search for “Leading Ambitious Teaching and Learning”, and enroll in the MOOC.Reflect on your own teaching with technology, look for evidence that demonstrates extended learning.
• Does the technology help the learners connect classroom learning to their everyday lives.
• Is the technology helping to connect the prior knowledge and interest of the students in the classroom learning, and then bridging that back to their everyday lives?
21.07: Resources and references
Triple E Resources
Liz Kolb developed Triple E Evaluation Rubrics to use when
Evaluating the connection between the technology in a lesson plan and the learning goals of the lesson. http://www.tripleeframework.com/triple-e-printable-rubric-for-lesson-evaluation.html
Evaluating Apps and Websites for Learning Potential. http://www.tripleeframework.com/uploads/2/2/8/7/2287991/evaluateappstriplee.pdf
Instructional Strategies to help meet the Triple E Framework. http://www.tripleeframework.com/instructional-strategies.html
Triple E Framework by https://www.tripleeframework.com/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
You can learn more about the Triple E Framework at http://www.tripleeframework.com/ and on Twitter @TripleE
Other Resources for Evaluating Technology
@KerryHawk02) and Ross Cooper (@RossCoops31) posted a blog on EdSurge on April 21, 2016 , ” Should I Download that App? A Ten-Question Checklist for Choosing Tools Worth Your- and Your Students’- Time” They suggest asking yourself these ten questions before tapping GET, INSTALL or BUY. Please read the full article that includes their rationale behind each question.
1. What content do we want students to learn?
2. What skills will our students practice or refine when they use this app?
3. Will our students be consumers or creators when they use this app?
4. What are my students’ needs, and can this app meet them?
5. Is there a better app that achieves the same purpose?
6. Is there a comparable/better app at a cheaper price?
7. Is there an app on your devices that already does the same thing?
8. Does the app promote our school and district “best practices”?
9. How will we inform everyone else?
10. .Have we talked to the app creators?
Gallegar K, and Cooper, R. (2016, April 21). Should I Download that App? A Ten-Question Checklist for Choosing Tools Worth Your- and Your Students’- Time. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-04-20-should-i-download-that-app-a-ten-question-checklist-for-making-tools-worth-your-while.
Course Technology Evaluation Tool- click on link to access the evaluation tool.
Exercises
• As an assignment you will use the technology evaluation tool to evaluate an application/program that supports learning in the content area of mathematics.
You may have a new program at school or you can borrow one from another teacher. Explore the program thoroughly. Deliberately make mistakes to see how the program will respond. Find out what kinds of software personalization options are available. Does the program teach the skill it claims to teach. How would you use this program in your classroom? Describe your overall experience with the tool. Would you recommend it to others? Why or Why not?
Paula Lombardi, Granite State College, School of Education | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/21%3A_Learning_with_Digital_Tools/21.06%3A_What_is_extended_learning_with_technology_tools.txt |
Elizabeth Reyes-Acetyuno, Freda M Antoine and Tamika M. Porter
Learning Objective
• Selection of Educational Technology describes how preservice teachers can select technological tools and applications for various experiences and situations they may encounter as teachers.
We know that there is a problem when the devices we plan to use in our instruction are more outdated than the personal devices that students carry with them daily. A problem educators face daily is keeping their lessons innovative and interesting. The average student has an attention span that ranges from five to twelve minutes (Dunneback & Therrell, 2015). The combination of advances in technology along with the individual needs of each student must be considered when designing and revamping lessons. The characteristics of the “millennial” student are significantly different than students from previous generations. Millennials can be described as students who were raised by “helicopter parents” who tended to hover, over protect, and coddle. To successfully teach them, there must be revisions to pedagogies and tools (Russo, 2013).
There is much to consider when selecting educational technology. While some of the time, your district will choose a set of tools for you to use, there are also often opportunities for teachers to decide on their own that services will best meet your teaching philosophy. Most school districts have upgraded their school campuses to being Wi-Fi enabled, along with having devices like Chromebooks and tablets available for students. Some schools have even received grant money to allow each student to have a device assigned to them individually.
Once devices have been selected for use, the security of information and student data is paramount. The student information system utilized by the school should already have security provisions in place. Firewalls and spam blocking technology are something that individual teachers should not have to worry about. If your school/district has not upgraded its technology, then this would be your starting point. Determining the resources that will affect your ability to implement or embed technology into your plans must be considered.
Once technology devices have been selected, the next step would be to consider what type of learning system or application you would like to use. Considering what your goal or purpose is important at this point. It is recommended that you start out small. Understanding your own ability levels and how you may access these tools effectively is what educators must be focused on. If the district has a grade book or LMS that they have mandated that everyone use, this would be the starting point. The emergence and increasing use of tablet technologies and applications are changing the work of teacher educators. This change calls for the need to have tools to guide educators in the direction that will aid their intentions (Cherner, Dix, & Lee, 2014).
22.02: The importance of careful selection
Choosing the right tool also includes choosing software that respects student data privacy and takes sufficient security precautions to put parents and school officials at ease. The test is providing personalized learning, coupled with the right software, which meets student needs. Relevant laws that protect student privacy are also vital in the selection process. This section addresses some of the primary concerns to consider when selecting educational technology.
LEGAL
We must select tools that adhere to the established legal requirements. According to the US Department of Education, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal privacy law that “protects student data education records from infringement of unauthorized third-parties or users. The law applies to all schools who are eligible to receive funds from the U.S. Department of Education (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),” 2015).
Written parental permission is essential to disclose any student educational information, but FERPA does allow school sites to release those records if school officials have a legitimate scholarly interest in the tools (“Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),” 2015). Such rights are then transferred to the student once they reach the age of 18 or enters a postsecondary institution. The Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO) is also responsible for implementing another law that strives to safeguard student and parental rights in education called the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
PRIVACY
Like school officials, teachers make cognizant choices regarding the privacy and security of the applications they use with students by collaborating with tech advocacy groups like The Common Sense Privacy Evaluation Initiative (“What Is the Privacy Initiative?,” n.d.). Over 100 schools and districts chose to participate in the initiative creating a plan with the intention that pursues not only in assessing educational technology tools, but also work in partnership with K–12 educational software industry to streamline and regulate privacy and security policies (“What Is the Privacy Initiative?,” n.d.).
Similarly, to the private sector, the federal government is also moving to implement guidelines through an advisory center, Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) managed by the Department of Education. This regulatory agency considers possible actions that a second or even third party may not consider because they figure the FERPA regulations may not apply. For instance, a third-party provider cannot use data from a FERPA-protected source, like a school for any purpose that was not shared initially (“Protecting Student Privacy | U.S. Department of Education,” n.d.). One example is Google’s product Classroom. Significant strides made with the feedback it received from the teachers and administrator of Chicago Public Schools. The third largest school district in the nation, they had privacy and security concerns that they were not willing to concede. The multibillion-dollar company had to adhere to the FERPA laws, if they wanted to continue to do business with the K-12 education sector. The feedback proved to be invaluable in making products that meet the needs of a diverse group of students while protecting the sensitive data provided. (Singer, 2017)
Because data records are distributed more widely than ever since the local district network is no longer used for software deployment. According to a recent study from Fordham University School of Law, it discovered that 95% of school districts relied on cloud services, but fewer than 25% of contracts specified the purpose for disclosing student data (Duane, n.d.).
PUFFERY
In advertising, puffery is when a commercial claim is exaggerated. The same thing can happen when educational technology companies make over-inflated promises about what is possible through the use of their tools. As an educator, do your due diligence in connecting the software tool with your objectives and not falling for false promises. It may seem like a daunting task, yet it can be exciting at the same time.
Legal issues, privacy concerns, and potential for puffery are only some of the considerations we need to make when evaluating educational technology. Important questions to ask during the evaluative portion of your decision include:
1. Do the creators of educational software respect data privacy?
2. How much information does the company need to allow the product use?
3. Has your district or other districts have had experience with the product?
4. What are the reviews available and how were they rated in customer service?
5. Is the product open to teacher feedback? How likely are the input implemented?
These questions can assist you as you consider which tool will best fit your needs. The time you invest will protect your students, as well as your own reputation as an educator. This next section provides additional advice for adopting new technology. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/22%3A_Selection_of_Educational_Technology/22.01%3A_Introduction.txt |
The accessibility of the technology tools and apps can be overwhelming for any teacher to choose. Picking the right app or tool that your students can easily navigate while driving home your lesson objectives. When you are selecting a tool take into consideration the following items:
START SMALL
Trying to get a handle on too many technologies causes unnecessary stress. Learning a digital instrument takes time and applying it as part of the lesson can range from an hour to a couple of days. Knowing if it will work smoothly during the class session. You also must provide secure and specific directions that you go over, demonstrate and have availability all semester. Having clear instructions that you review, model and have available all semester is helpful.
FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS
It can be tempting to get caught up in the list of features a technology tool provides and miss determining whether or not the educational goal will be met through its use. Choose a few tools at a time and try them out. Give them a test run to see which are the easiest to learn and use. Read the reviews to gauge whether they met the basics needs other customers and how likely will the product align your lesson goals. This method leads to the actual picking of the best tools that will serve your needs. The more you try out the tools, the easier it gets because you will know what you want. Move on to another if the app no longer meets your demands.
ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE
Take stock of the technology available in your class and on your campus. Knowing the technology capabilities determines in what capacity the app is useful. Also, you should find out what websites and apps your students used in the past. Be mindful of district firewalls, therefore check ahead if the technology is capable.
CONSIDER THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHETHER OR NOT TO PAY
As a teacher, the excitement of a new tool and the possibilities of enhancing your lessons is overpowering. Getting clear on how you intend to pay for them is crucial. Questions to ask yourself include are you willing to pay or go the free route? If you are ready to pay, who will be paying for the tool? What are the included features in the tech and how much of a difference does paying make? How does the company make their money and stay sustainable, when they give their tool away for free? Is there a potential for our students’ data to be the produce that is being bought and sold?
REVISE AND REFLECT
Go back to your goals and reflect on how well has the tool fulfilled your needs. How long and often is the app used? Do any problems arise while using the new tech? Remember, if it is not working well enough, you can pick another. Determine how it will be paid for – this reflection can reinforce the digital divide if we do not think carefully about who will bear the cost.
This section provides guidance on selecting technology. Sometimes, it can help to hear from someone’s individual experience. In this final part of the chapter, Elizabeth Reyes-Aceytuno shares her story of choosing tools that best fit her needs throughout the various roles in education she has held. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/22%3A_Selection_of_Educational_Technology/22.03%3A_Tool_selection.txt |
Elizabeth Reyes-Aceytuno
I have had many roles in my education career. I have been a Resource Specialist (RSP) teacher, Special Day Class (SDC) teacher and now I am an Academic Coach. In those roles, I have selected technology tools for different purposes. Many times whatever technology I wanted to use had to be free or inexpensive because I had to purchase it myself. I was always on the lookout for free sites to help my students and make my instruction more engaging. If I did not buy it myself and the school site was able to purchase it, I still was aware of the budget so I could get more for my money.
As an SDC teacher, I selected technology tools that helped me as teacher and websites that could capture the student’s attention while being easy to use. I used the PEC system to create visual schedules for my SDC class at free websites like Starfall, PBS kids, and CoolMath for the students to work on in centers. When I first started out as an SDC teacher, the students did not use much technology, and I slowly incorporated the use if it which helped me with classroom management as well as creating engaging instruction. As an RSP teacher, I would select technology tools that would assist my students in their general education classroom to help them access the core curriculum. I would look for assistive technology and computer-based programs to support the students. Tools such as text to speech such as Snap and Read, and Co: Writer, were some tools that I incorporated with the approval of the school site because they all had to be purchased. Since then, I found out that Google has extensions that can do the same thing as these programs.
In my current role as an Academic Coach, I no longer have students of my own. I work with the site principal, teachers and parents. When selecting technology tools, I ask specific questions to see if the device or website being chosen is the best fit for both the students and the staff. The questions I ponder on in regards to students are, How will this technology help the students?, What level of Depth of Knowledge (DOK) does this help students access?, Does the device and or software cater to multiple student’s needs? Other questions I think about are, Is the cost worth it?, How will the technology work with the teacher and activities its being used for?, How will teachers be supported?. Educational technology tools that I have helped teachers, and administrators choose are Read Naturally builds reading skill. ALEKS and iReady provide a computer adaptive assessment then provided students with lessons to address their skill level. All tools provided data for the teachers to monitor student progress.
When selecting educational technology tools remember to ask yourself, how will this tool help my student? Does the tool meet the needs of multiple students? Who will purchase the tool? How will this tool support my instruction and how will I be supported? Whatever technology selected needs to benefit both the student and the teacher. Be mindful to analyze potential student privacy issues. Scrutinize how the company makes their money, how well they take care of their customers and how open they are to feedback. Ultimately, you know your students and what they need. Selecting a tool is just part of meeting their needs. If it no longer fulfills its purpose, you can always try another.
22.05: Conclusion and references
Conclusion
The selection of tools may seem like a difficult process at first glance. However, when you take into consideration the hype of the tool, privacy, and the legal ramifications you may have using a tool, take a deep breathe and start small and determine whether the tool you are selecting will achieve the goals you have for using it in your classroom. By utilizing the steps of selecting tools discussed in this chapter, you will be trying the best tools for your classroom that are available. Also, you will more likely implement and keep the tools you select. Therefore, take your time, go through the steps discussed in this chapter, and you will have plenty of powerful tools to utilize in your classroom.
Reference
Antoine, F. M, Porter, T.M., and Reye-Aceytuno, E., (2018). Igniting Your Teaching with Educational Technology A Resources for New Teachers. Editors: Matt Rhoads & Bonni Stachowiak. Retrieved from https://edd7032017f2.pressbooks.com/chapter/5/ (CC BY)
A complete reference list of the original ebook Igniting Your Teaching with Educational Technology A Resources for New Teachers, can be viewed at: https://edd7032017f2.pressbooks.com/back-matter/references/ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Instructional_Methods_Strategies_and_Technologies_(Lombardi_2018)/22%3A_Selection_of_Educational_Technology/22.04%3A_My_experience_selecting_educational_technology.txt |
Learning Objectives
In this chapter, you will
1. Appraise the historical and contemporary definitions of childhood.
2. Brainstorm issues concerned with the well-being of children.
What is Childhood Studies?
James and James (2012) define Childhood Studies as the interdisciplinary study of the early period of the human life-course that is legally recognized, socially, and scientifically defined as childhood, as distinct from adulthood (p. 18).
Why study Childhood?
Would you agree that childhood experiences have a lifelong impact? I believe that childhood experiences build the foundation for learning and life. I studied child development as an undergraduate student. In my program, I learned how development occurs within the context of family, community, culture, and relationships as well the complex interaction among developmental domains of the child and the role of environmental factors. I was able to use my understanding as a preschool teacher. I was able to identify, interpret, and respond to a child’s individual differences, needs, challenges, and capacities to support families in giving children a positive start in life. As you progress through this course, think about how your increased understanding of children will prepare you for possibility working with children and families.
How do you study childhood?
Understanding the concept of childhood is complex and must consider many influences and perspectives. Thus, an interdisciplinary approach is most beneficial. What is an interdisciplinary approach? First, we need to define a discipline which is a branch of knowledge; an area of study. An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched as part of higher education. Figure \(1\) lists disciplines involved in the study of childhood.
What disciplines study children?
Different disciplines have developed unique ways of approaching the study of children, using different research methods driven by research questions. For some disciplines (such as sociology and cultural studies) childhood as a concept is specifically addressed looking at childhood as a social construction and a variable of social analysis. They would study children’s relationships and cultures; and children as active social agents. A research method used by sociologists is ethnography. In contrast, other disciplines, such as psychology and education, the focus of research is on the child or children. I engage in interdisciplinary research to study childhood with a registered architect. To see our work you can read the brief article: Seven Home Design Elements To Help Children Learn Language
I compiled a chart to illustrate how disciplines can contribute to the understanding of childhood. Explore at the journals listed below, found from a comprehensive list at Rutgers You can use journals that you are familiar with from previous courses. You will have to go to your college or university library to access the full text articles.
Discipline Focus Example of contribution to Childhood Studies Possible Journal to Investigate
Psychology All aspects of children’s development from birth to adolescence; focusing on the period between birth and 18 years old. Theories of Piaget and Vygotsky explain how children move through developmental stages and some moving faster or slower than others. Developmental Psychology
Law Defines child as anyone between the ages of 0 and 18. Are/should children under the age of 18 years exempt from criminal liability? Children’s Legal Rights Journal
Health/Biology Biological or physical development of children (stages of growth). How much physical activity do children need to maintain health and mobility? Children’s Health Care
Social Work Mental health & quality of life Human rights are at the heart of social work. Helps children and families more effectively cope with the stresses of life and to deal with systemic problems such as child abuse and homelessness. Child Abuse and Neglect
Adoption Quarterly
Sociology Cultural view of child specific to time and place A study about children’s rights and educational policy in Europe: The implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Journal of Sociology of Education
Education Cognitive development of children or learning. Could focus on topics such as: curriculum, child care programs, administration, staff development, family-school relationships, equity issues, multicultural education, facilities, and special needs. Childhood Education
Anthropology Sees children as social actors in their own right and seeks to document their perspectives on, and participation in, the social world. They study different kinds of childhood in different societies. Should childhood be seen as a cultural universal? Children’s Geographies
History Compares children’s lives as they were in the past paralleled to how children may live their lives in the modern day. Children in the past worked at a younger age than is acceptable now. Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
English/Communication Looks at representation of children in media and literature. Look at the history of children’s literature. How has the Cinderella story changed over time? Red Feather Journal:
An International Journal of Children in Popular Culture
Philosophy Concerned with understanding the nature of children. Theories by Jean-Jacques Rosseau (1762) who believed that children should be kept away from the corruption of adults and left to develop in a manner which would keep them good. Philosophy contrasts this view with the philosopher John Locke (1690) who saw children as being neither good nor bad believing that children’s behavior and personalities are molded by giving children strong discipline and education. Questions: Philosophy for Young People
The Arts (visual, dance, music, & theater) Focuses on the connection between arts-participation and human development The Importance of Art in Child Development ArtsEdSearch
An interdisciplinary approach is beneficial to understanding the lives of children and youth; because it enables researchers to gain information from different sources and compare the ways children are viewed, understood and taken care of in different parts of the world. An interdisciplinary approach also enables us to look at and compare children’s lives in the modern day and in the past, and to look at the way in which children are diverse and how these diversities affect the speed they move through the different stages of childhood development at different rates. Nissani (1997) promotes interdisciplinary knowledge and research listing several benefits. Some the benefits include: Creativity is enhanced in an interdisciplinary study. Errors and assumptions are often detecting when working with people from outside our discipline. Many topics related to childhood intersect traditional disciplines. And, by using an interdisciplinary approach we may bridge communication gaps helping to mobilize resources in the cause of greater social justice.
To begin our interdisciplinary look at childhood, consider these questions and how you might examine childhood from a variety of perspectives.
• Did you have a normal childhood?
• What is a normal childhood?
Source of below: https://blogs.lt.vt.edu/grad5104/mul...he-difference/
ccording to Oxforddictionaries.com:
multidisciplinary is an adjective that describes, “combining or involving several academic disciplines or professional specializations in approach to a topic or problem.”
Interdisciplinary is an adjective that describes, “of or relating to more than one branch of knowledge.”
Transdisciplinary is also an adjective that describes, “relating to more than one branch of knowledge.”
So what exactly is the difference?
According to Lakehead University’s “Essential Guide to Writing Research Papers,” multidisciplinarity contrasts disciplinary perspectives in an additive manner, meaning two or more disciplines each provide their viewpoint on a problem from their perspectives. Multidisciplinarity involves little interaction across disciplines.
Interdisciplinarity combines two or more disciplines to a new level of integration suggesting component boundaries start to break down. Interdisciplinarity is no longer a simple addition of parts but the recognition that each discipline can affect the research output of the other.
Transdisciplinarity occurs when two or more discipline perspectives transcend each other to form a new holistic approach. The outcome will be completely different from what one would expect from the addition of the parts. Transdisciplinarity results in a type xenogenesis where output is created as a result of disciplines integrating to become something completely new.
Take a look at the video below and compare the practices to your own research. Do you engage in multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary research? Could your output benefit from one or more of these practices? Are there barriers or obstacles within your discipline that prevent cross-departmental collaboration? Are there opportunities for collaboration in your research?
I conclude this entry with a quote from American architect, Buckminster Fuller, “in order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete. That, in essence is the higher service to which we are all being called.”
To explore an interdisciplinary approach where the atuthor uses her knowledge of social anthropology with the tools of history to study children. Read the 2013 article Different Cultures, Different Childhoods. Montgomery gives a brief overview of how the historical context and culture influence what is considered typical for a child. How might you describe an ideal childhood?
Now, view the 75-minute video Babies (2010) Bébé(s) (original title). BSU students can view the video on Blackboard. The PG rated documentary focuses on four newborns, photographed in their natural habitat in distinctly different parts of the world. Hattie is in San Francisco, Mari’s in Tokyo, Baryarjargal lives out in the Mongolian steppes, and Ponijao is born amid the simple straw huts of Namibia. You will follow the babies through their first year of life. As you watch the video, you may want to complete the reading reflection form available on Blackboard as a way to take notes and organize your thinking.
After reading this chapter and completing the activities you should be able to
1. Appraise the historical and contemporary definitions of childhood as seen the discussions either in class or online
2. Brainstorm issues concerned with the well-being of children to explore in two projects during the class.
Challenges
Challenge 1 Discussion Ideas
Think about:
• What is childhood?
• How would you define “child” and “childhood”?
• How do time and place influence your definition?
• How is childhood different from other stages of life, and what does it share in common with them?
• When does childhood begin and end?
• What are children capable of? What abilities and understandings are beyond the reach of children? How pliable are they?
• What are your assumptions about and perceptions of children?
• How would you complete these sentences?
• Children should ….
• Children should not ….
Now you are ready to type in Pages or in a Word document, a minimum of 3 paragraphs explaining your connections, extensions, and curiosities. Copy and paste your response in the Blackboard discussion about “child” and “childhood” or bring to class. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Introduction_to_Childhood_Studies_(Eliason)/1.01%3A_Historical_and_Contemporary_Definitions_of_Childhood.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Develop an interdisciplinary framework from which to examine a specific research question.
• Identify 3 major challenges facing children today.
• Explain the role of disciplines in ethical, practical, and political responses to children’s well-being.
• Describe how disciplines advocate for action for the benefit and well-being of children.
Terms to Consider
During your work this week, you will likely visit these concepts.
• Children’s Places: Spaces children choose to occupy and make use of in their everyday lives and the ways in which they understand their environment.
• Disappearance or loss of childhood: The idea that the differences between children and adults are becoming less pronounced and that this is creating problems for children.
• Internet and Social Media: Children’s engagement with electronic media of all kinds.
• Sexualization: The material cultural practices of treating young girls as if they were young women.
• Spaces for Children: Built environments that are suitable for use by children .
This week we will explore interdisciplinary frameworks used to examine your research questions for the group project. There are samples of past projects and poster available on Blackboard.
Your Poster Presentation Project will clearly describe how you used insights from different disciplines to more fully understand the issue.
What are some current topics that you could explore further as progress through the Childhood Studies Minor at Bridgewater State University? I included 4 possible areas to investigate and the list is endless as you will see in the resource I included.
Children’s Places and Spaces
Since the 1970s, how children use environments and how physical environments influence child development have been important topics in environmental psychology and and behavior studies. This area of interdisciplinary studies brings together social scientists with urban planners and designers, architects, and landscape architects. Then cognitive psychologists became involved with the goal of understanding how to create environments that best support children. Holloway and Valentine 2000 were influenced by the sociology of childhood, which argues that childhood and children’s use of space are social constructions, and therefore it emphasizes changes in children’s place experience depending on social contexts. Dudek 2005 and Day and Midbjer 2007 illustrate efforts by architects to apply principles of child development to design. How does the environment shape development?
Disappearance or loss of childhood
Are children different today than when you were growing up? Is childhood disappearing? Is the distinction between adulthood and childhood is narrowing? Over 20 years ago, in 1994, Neil Postman argued that childhood is ‘disappearing at a dazzling speed’. He supported his position with the trend towards giving children the same rights as adults, the growing similarity of adult and children’s clothing and even cases of children committing ‘adult crimes’ (murder, rape). He added that electronic media blur this separation and that children are now much more able to access the ‘adult world’. As a result, childhood as we know it is disappearing. I would add that children have more pressure for academic achievement and that helicopter parents add to their stress.
Not everyone agrees with Postman. Some people believe that childhood is just more complex, and that children are more protected with labor and welfare laws. Do you think is childhood disappearing?
The disciplines of English, Communications, Arts, History, and Psychology could be helpful in studying this area more thoroughly.
Internet and Social Media
Does using the Internet affect children’s development? How often do children use the internet? Do children become socially isolated or connected when they use the Internet? Do they become depressed or elated? Does school performance suffer or improve?
There seems to be both positive and negative effects of electronic media usage on children. Some of the positive effects of social media usage are socializing and sharing common interests; a space where children and youth can be creative, interact, and learn (Chau, 2010); an alternative way to get students interested in learning with a new and previously unconventional medium (Rosen, 2011); and assisting with “homework and group projects” (Clark-Pearson, O’Keeffe, 2011). Social networking can help shy adolescents. (Rosen, 2011). Additionally, adolescents who use Facebook have been shown to demonstrate more “virtual empathy” (Rosen, 2011).
Some of the negative effect, especially for adolescents, include a decrease in the level of contentment, an increase of getting into trouble or being depressed (Rideout, 2010; and teens who use Facebook tend to be more narcissistic, antisocial, and aggrssive (Rosen, 2011).
Cyberbullying has also been the cause of many suicides in young people (Kowalski, 2009). Many young online users are lured by online sexual predators (Ybarra, 2007). Another problem is that many adolescents are unaware of the privacy policies on the social media websites they use (Cox, 2007).
Many children and youth are influenced by the powerful advertising they see on social media sites, and it strongly influences their buying habits. Studies have shown that adolescents and even college students who are on Facebook too much have lower grades (Rosen, 2011). So is social media usage good or bad? The disciplines of English, Communications, Arts, History, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Social Work, and Psychology could be helpful in studying this area more thoroughly.
Sexualization
A 2007 report from the American Psychological Association (APA) found evidence that the increase of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising, and media is harmful to girls’ self-image and healthy development.
Sexualization was defined as when a person’s value comes only from their sexual appeal, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is sexually objectified, such as when they are made into a thing for another’s sexual use.
The report includes examples of the sexualization of girls in all forms of media including visual media and other forms of media such as music lyrics abound. The influence and attitudes of parents, siblings, and friends can also add to the pressures of sexualization.
Research showed that the sexualization of girls negatively affects girls and young women across a variety of health domains:
Cognitive and Emotional Consequences: Sexualization and objectification undermine a person’s confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.
Mental and Physical Health: Research links sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women–eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood.
Sexual Development: Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls’ ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.
According to the task force report, parents can play a major role in contributing to the sexualization of their daughters or can play a protective and educative role. The disciplines of Psychology, Sociology, Health, Medicine, and Biology could be helpful in studying this area more thoroughly.
Current Topics Researched in Childhood Studies
Did you know that Childhood Studies is one of the most active fields in academia today? In the past, children might have been seen as passive, dependent or incomplete, they are now seen by researchers as equal participants in society, differently competent to adults, but of interest for what they are now, not only what they will become. Children’s rights, and the changing relationship between families and children, are central to the field. Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies is a helpful place to discover more about current research in Childhood Studies.
Careers and Childhood Studies
A wide range of career options are open to students who complete the Childhood Studies degree program. Sample career paths might be:
• Law as a child advocate
• Children’s publishing (print & web)
• Social work
• School or community counseling
• Children’s museums
• Children’s theater
• Early Education and Care
• Recreation
• Advocacy and public service
• Health and wellness
Additional career options are outlined in the attached document available at:
https://whatcanidowiththismajor.com/major/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/child-familystudies.pdf
To prepare for the wide variety of possible career options, we encourage
Childhood Studies students to pursue majors and minors related to their career goals. This is a list of minors available at Bridgewater State:
• Accounting and Finance Minor
• African American Studies Minor
• African Studies Minor
• American Studies Minor
• Anthropology Minor
• Art History Minor
• Asian Studies Minor
• Canadian Studies Minor
• Civic Education and Community Leadership Minor
• Classical Studies Minor
• Coaching Minor
• Communication Disorders Minor
• Communication Studies Minor
• Computer Science Minor
• Criminal Justice Minor
• Dance Minor
• Economics Minor
• English Literature and Literary Studies Minor
• Exercise Physiology Minor
• Film Studies Minor
• GLBT Studies Minor
• Global Religious Studies Minor
• Graphic Design Minor
• Health Promotion Minor
• Health Resources Management Minor
• History Minor
• Irish Studies Minor
• Latin American and Caribbean Studies Minor
• Management Minor
• Middle East Studies Minor
• Music Minor
• Musical Theatre Performance Minor
• Nutrition Minor
• Philosophy Minor
• Philosophy, Politics and Economics Minor
• Political Science Minor
• Portuguese Minor
• Psychology Minor
• Public Relations Minor
• Reading Minor
• Recreation Minor
• Social Studies Minor
• Social Welfare Minor
• Sociology Minor
• Spanish Minor
• Special Education, Inclusive Practices in Special Education Minor
• Statistics Minor
• Studio Art Minor
• Sustainability Innovation and Outreach Minor
• Theatre Arts Minor
• U.S. Ethnic and Indigenous Studies Minor
• Urban Affairs Minor
• Women’s and Gender Studies Minor
• Writing and Writing Studies Minor
• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Undergraduate Certificate
Think about how you see yourself working with children and families.
After participating in discussion you should be able to:
• Develop an interdisciplinary framework from which to examine a specific research question.
• Identify 3 major challenges facing children today
• Explain the role of disciplines in ethical, practical, and political responses to children’s well-being.
• Describe how disciplines advocate for action for the benefit and well-being of children.
Exercise \(1\): Creating an electronic portfolio
To document your learning in the minor, which includes this course, you can begin to create an electronic portfolio. The portfolio will be used for those of you in the Childhood Studies minor during the Capstone course: CHST 400. All students benefit from creating an electronic portfolio according to the Association of American Colleges & Universities. Your reflection on work submitted in e-portfolios can:
• Build your personal and academic identity as you reflect on your capabilities and progress
• Facilitate the integration of learning as you connect learning across courses and time
• Develop self-assessment abilities by judging the quality of the work you produce
• Assist with planning your academic path as you come to understand what you know and can do as well as goals for future learning.
• Be helpful when applying to graduate school or applying for job opportunities | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Introduction_to_Childhood_Studies_(Eliason)/1.02%3A_Studying_Childhood_through_an_Interdisciplinary_Framework.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain how various disciplines understand the factors that impede or empower children’s capacity and potential.
• Describe how free will and agency of children determined.
• Examine if adults consider children’s own perspectives.
• Analyze adults beliefs about childhood enable or hinder children’s agency, will, logic, or reason.
In our definitions of children from the discussion of Chapter 1, how did we consider the child’s voice? How do children demonstrate free will or agency? What cultural structures support or hinder childhood? This week we will explore:
• How do various disciplines understand the factors that impede or empower children’s capacity and potential?
• How are the free will and agency of children determined? Are children’s own perspectives considered?
• Do notions about childhood enable or hinder children’s agency?
Terms and Definitions
Important concepts to look for in this chapter:
• Agency: The capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.
• Best Interest: The standard for decision making related to children and their UNCRC rights.
• Child-focused Research
• Children’s voices: The process if allowing children to articulate their views on matters that concern them.
• Family: A group of people of different generations who have been or are related by marriage and share kinship ties. A child friendly definition is people that live together who love and care for each other.
• Global Childhood: Children in different parts of the world share similar experiences of childhood.
• Nature & Nurture: The dance of the impact of nature (genetic predisposition) and nurture (social, environmental and child-rearing influences).
• Needs: Something that is necessary
• Neglect: Failure by a caretaker, either deliberately or through negligence or inability to take those actions necessary to provide a child with minimally adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, supervision, emotional stability and growth, or other essential care; provided, however, that such inability is not due solely to inadequate economic resources or solely to the existence of a handicapping condition. This definition is not dependent upon location (i.e., neglect can occur while the child is in an out-of-home setting).
• Protection: Of children by the government from deliberate or inadvertent harm, most usually in the context of family relations. In MA, the Department of Children and Families protects children from abuse and neglect and, in partnership with families and communities, ensure children are able to grow and thrive in a safe and nurturing environment.
• Resilience: process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. It means “bouncing back” from difficult experiences. (American Psychological Association)
• Rights as defined by the UNCRC: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a comprehensive, internationally binding agreement on the rights of children, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history: all countries have ratified it with the exception of the United States of America and Somalia.
• Vulnerability: At risk from harm and in need of protection.
Historically
As you read Mayhew’s The Watercress Girl examine how the historical views of children provide a contrast to modern views. The introductory portion of Mayhew’s article addresses his expectations of childhood and the assumptions he makes of the readers expectations. He describes the girl and how he hopes to communicate with her about childhood. The shock factor of the article and his revelations on the conditions of the poor relies upon this introduction. In order to help promote social change, Mayhew explains what people commonly believe childhood to be and through the use of the Watercress girl’s voice he slowly addresses assumptions. How does reading this article influence your thinking about children?
Legal definitions of childhood emerged and changed over time. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, or UNCRC is the most complete statement of children’s rights ever produced and is the most widely-ratified international human rights treaty in history. We will use the document frequently for the remainder of the course. You can learn more about the document at the link provided in Terms and Definitions. Please read and download the 2 pdf files (full text and a child-friendly summary available on Blackboard) which are the 54 articles that cover all aspects of a child’s life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children everywhere are entitled to. The document explains how adults and governments should work together to make sure all children enjoy all of their rights. The Convention changed the way children are viewed and treated – as human beings with a distinct set of rights instead of as passive objects of care and charity. What are your thoughts about the UNCRC? What is necessary for all children?
Agency and Structure
What does it mean to live in a globalized world? Think about the movement of people, beginning with Columbus arriving in the new world. Consider how contemporary forces of global interconnectedness and how communications make this connectedness possible. How might children be impacted by all the movements? Does the movement of people impact health care, ideas, language, and/or food? For example, where did the ingredients from your breakfast come from? To learn more, see an online magazine that illustrates global connections: How are we connected?
In social science, agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. By contrast, structure is factors of influence, such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, and customs, that determine or limit an individual and their decisions. If you have agency what does that mean?
Children haven’t been given much opportunities to be agents and agency is culturally determined. We can’t always act on our free will. In studying children, researchers primarily focus on structure or environmental influences. There is a relationship between structure and agency which social scientist are interested in studying.
As you watch the film clip 3C’s Children and Community for Change: Are you seeing structure or agency? Are children a minority with limited power and privilege? Should children have a voice? How do you hear children’s voices?
Summary
This week you explored how various disciplines understand the factors that impede or empower children’s capacity and potential. You examined how free will and agency of children are determined. It is helpful to look at childhood from a variety of angles. A student shared: The experience of eating with a family from India really made me think of how a child must feel at school, when all her peers are looking at her with a puzzled look as they all eat with forks during lunch and she doesn’t. The whole experience really allowed me to become more accepting and respectful of other’s cultures and traditions!
Look at my photos of a waterfall and how it looks different depending on where and how I viewed it. The same is true of studying childhood with an interdisciplinary focus.
As you viewed 3C’s Children and Community for Change: did you feel like this former student, We often don’t listen to children as much as we should and they do have a lot to say? Did you see structure or agency? Are children a minority with limited power and privilege? Should children have a voice? How do you hear children’s voices in your daily life?
In the next 2 chapters we will look more closely at influences on childhood.
After reading this chapter and completing the activities you should be able to
• Explain how various disciplines understand the factors that impede or empower children’s capacity and potential as seen in discussions and in the project proposal.
• Describe how free will and agency of children determined as seen in the discussion.
• Examine if adults consider children’s own perspectives as seen in the discussion.
• Analyze adults beliefs about childhood enable or hinder children’s agency, will, logic, or reason as seen in the discussion.
Challenges
Exercise \(1\): Reflection and Discussion
Our reading, activities, and discussion for the week focus on answering:
• How do various disciplines understand the factors that impede or empower children’s capacity and potential?
• How are the free will and agency of children determined? Are children’s own perspectives considered?
• Do notions about childhood enable or hinder children’s agency, will, logic, or reason?
As you read and write this week contemplate these ideas:
Agency Nature & Nurture Resilience
Best Interest Needs Rights as defined by the UNCRC
Children’s voices Neglect Vulnerability
Global Protection
One structural support for childhood is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Convention. What are your thoughts about the UNCRC? What is necessary for all children? As you view 3C’s Children and Community for Change: Did you see structure or agency? Are children a minority with limited power and privilege? Should children have a voice? How do you hear children’s voices in your daily life?
Now you are ready to type in Pages or in a Word document, a minimum of 3 paragraphs explaining your connections, extensions, and curiosities. Copy and paste your response in the Blackboard discussion or bring to class.
Exercise \(2\): Assumptions Inventory
This week you may start to examine your assumptions about childhood. At the beginning of next week you will post your assumptions inventory assignment. I challenge you to begin to brainstorm ideas about your assumptions. The Assumption Inventory is submitted as an spoken rather than written assignment. In a 3 to 5-minute oral presentation, identify an assumption you have about children or childhood, and explain how and why it exists. Why do you believe it? Have the readings, videos, and/or discussions changed your thinking? Why or Why not? Ideally create a PowerPoint and embed your videotape. If this not possible, record a video or upload a link to You Tube to post to a blackboard discussion for others to see and comment on.
Examples
A student noticed that many 4 to 8-year-old children have iPads and discussed how easily children use them. They assumed young children are naturally good at using technology such as iPhones and iPads. They discussed a study that compared preschool children and college student use of novel technology. Using statistics and examples the student made a logical and persuasive analysis of how young children problem solved but as the readings discussed problem solving is because of flexibility and not necessarily natural ability. Her assumption was proved wrong.
Other assumptions include:
• Children between the ages of 2 and 7 years benefit from watching PBS, Nick Jr., Sesame Street and other “educational” programming on TV.
• Adults find children inferior.
• Teachers should help children grow and develop by working directly only with them because of limited contact with families. Family involvement in not useful.
See Blackboard for a power point example of what to submit and how you will be assessed.
Grading Rubric
Criteria
Emerging Understanding
Acceptable
Target
Points
Identified Assumption explaining the source and why you may have developed the assumption. Your assumption was unclear. Not enough information to determine the source or the reason why you have this assumption. Your assumption was explained enough to understand the origin and reason.
Some questions may exist about the reason or the source.
Your assumption was clear and thoroughly explained. The source was evident and the reason why the assumption developed was persuasive. 15
Identified concrete piece(s) of information from the readings, discussions, or films viewed You did not identify a source. You identified a source. You identified a specific source clearly enough others could locate it. 15
Analyzed how the information challenged or affirmed their assumption You did not include an analysis.
The analysis was unclear and/or didn’t seem logical.
You presented an analysis. The analysis was thorough, logical, and easy to understand. 15
Non-verbal communication Little eye contact and your posture was closed and not confident. You maintained eye contact most of the time and your posture was open. Positive, open, and confident posture and maintained eye contact with audience. 10
Verbal communication skills Inappropriate or ineffective word choice. Some of the words you chose could be replaced, but for the most part, your speech was clear and appropriate. Your word choice was effective and appropriate for our class.
You avoided “ums,” “ers,” and “likes.”
15
Use of Time Your message was too short or too long. Your speech was between 2 – 3 minutes OR 5 to 6 minutes. Maintained time frame of 3 to 5 minutes. 10
Comments to Peers Did not comment to peers
Commented to 1 peer
Commented on 2 peer video Commented on 3 peer videos 20
Total
100 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Introduction_to_Childhood_Studies_(Eliason)/1.03%3A_Rights_and_Responsibilities_during_Childhood.txt |
Learning Objectives
This week you will:
• Describe and analyze the influences of family, society, and culture influence the lives of children.
Introduction
How are childhoods influenced by nature and nurture? This week we will consider how family society and culture influence the lives of children. You will explore how the natural sciences (biology) and social sciences (anthropology, psychology, social work, and sociology) study these influences on children. We will use an interdisciplinary approach to learn more about the topic of sexuality. I like to use Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory to illustrate how the influences of nurture impact childhood. Watch Urie Bronfenbrenner Ecological Theory explained on You Tube on Blackboard to learn more about this model. How might Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological theory help you study your research question or childhood in general?
Terms and Definitions
Important concepts to look for in this chapter:
• Socialization: the process where children learn to meet the expectations of and how to fit into a society.
• Play is:
• self-chosen and self-directed
• an activity in which means are more valued than end
• structure, or rules determined by the players
• imaginative, non-literal, mentally removed in some way from “real” or “serious” life
• involves an active, alert, but non-stressed frame of mind. (Gray, 2008)
• Competence: The ability, capacity, or qualification to perform a task, fulfill a function, or meet the requirements of a role to an acceptable standard.
• Cultural Relativism: a person’s beliefs and activities should be understood based on that person’s own culture.
• Developmentalism: The behavior of children is shaped by physical, psychological, and emotional development. Maturity is determined by age and stage of development.
• Diversity: There are many different types of childhood.
• Ethnicity: The culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs. To be a member of an ethnic group is to conform to some or all of those practices. Race is associated with biology, whereas ethnicity is associated with culture.
• Familialization: the caring of children in individual households and homes by family members rather than in state institutions.
• Gender: The condition of being male, female, or neuter. In a human context, the distinction between gender and SEX reflects the usage of these terms: Sex usually refers to the biological aspects of maleness or femaleness, whereas gender implies the psychological, behavioral, social, and cultural aspects of being male or female (i.e., masculinity or femininity.) [American Psychological Association, 2015]
• Friendship: Children’s affective social relations with their peers and others.
Sources:
American Psychological Association. (2015). APA dictionary of psychology (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Gray, P. (2008) The Value of Play I: The Definition of Play Gives Insights. Psychology Today website available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn
Ecological Systems Theory – used often in Social Work
Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) developed the ecological systems theory to explain how everything in a child and the child’s environment affects how a child grows and develops. The theory is illustrated in the figure below. This chapter will concentrate on the the Micro and Mesosystem levels. I find this model helpful in understanding the influences of nurture on childhood.
The microsystem is the small, immediate environment the child lives in. How these groups or organizations interact with the child will have an effect on how the child grows; the more encouraging and nurturing these relationships and places are, the better the child will be able to grow. Furthermore, how a child acts or reacts to these people in the microsystem will affect how they treat her in return. Each child’s special genetic and biologically influenced personality traits, what is known as temperament, end up affecting how others treat them.
The mesosystem, describes how the different parts of a child’s microsystem work together for the sake of the child. For example, if a child’s caregivers take an active role in a child’s school, such as going to parent-teacher conferences and watching their child’s soccer games, this will help ensure the child’s overall growth.
The exosystem includes the other people and places that the child herself may not interact with often herself but that still have a large effect on her, such as families workplaces, extended family members, the neighborhood,.
The macrosystem, which is the largest and most remote set of people and things to a child but which still has a great influence over the child. The macrosystem includes things such as the relative freedoms permitted by the national government, cultural values, the economy, wars, etc.
Chronosystem developmental processes vary according to the specific historical events that are occurring as the developing individuals are at one age or another. Moreover, cultures also are continually undergoing change.
As you read and explore the topics in the chapter, think about how the influences impact children.
Nature and Nurture Shape Childhood
Now, let’s use the concept of sexuality to see how nature and nurture are interconnected.
Nature and nurture, biology and culture, work together to shape human lives. Nature and nurture are intertwined, processes.
• Do you assume biology (nature) is destiny that may be minimally modified by culture (nurture, or environment) throughout childhood?
• Do you assume environment (nurture) is a more important factor in shaping individual psychology than biology (nature)?
• Specifically, what is the relationship between biology and culture with respect to sexuality?
The biological features of sex and sexuality are determined by chromosomes and hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone. Biologically, there are more than 2 sexes – chromosomes which can be XX, XY, XXX, XXY, XO, XYY. XX is female and XY is male; usually if the Y exists the person is generally seen as male. O produces ambiguous sexual features. Hormones and sex are apparent at seven weeks in utero.
The difference between sex and gender is: sex is male or female and is biological. Gender is meaning given to biological sex by culture. We develop a gender identity which is how an individual identifies as masculine or feminine. Gender is a spectrum. We learn gender roles during childhood, such as, appropriate behaviors and work or division of labor
• Can a male can be a female?
• Is it only one or the other?
• Are gender and sexuality fluid over a lifespan?
• Can they change? Is sex a spectrum like gender?
• Did you know the Navajo have four genders?
• women
• men
• nadleehi (born male functions in women roles)
• Dilbaa (born female functions in male role)
I challenge you to reflect on gender and sexual diversity. Imagine you have a child who is born with an intersex anatomy [XXX, XXY, XO, XYY] You read up on diagnostic testing and the recommendations of the Intersex Society of North America, that suggest you give your child a binary gender assignment (girl or boy). Do you follow the advice of the ISNA? Why/why not? If not, what do you name your child? How do you dress your child?
As your child acquires language, what pronouns do you use for your child? Would you use he, she, ze, or they? You inform yourself and read about current possibilities at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center’s article on Gender Pronouns
What is ‘competency’?
Families should help children mature and become competent. The concept of competency is related to the concept of agency discussed in Chapter 2. Listening to children and respecting their opinions can contribute to their personal development. A supportive environment can lead to children to making better decisions, prepare them to participate in society and strengthen their accountability. Children’s competency or abilities may be recognized, ignored, encouraged or inhibited. The supporting adults’ willingness to respect children’s decisions will determine whether the children’s choices are honored Figure 1, described by Alderson (1992) and illustrated by Orr (1999), illustrate the internal and external variants that may influence a child’s competency. (van Rooyen, Water, Rasmussen, & Diesfeld, 2015)
When we consider competence, we should also think about cultural relativism, are there universal standards we can apply to childhood? Is the UNCRC a set of universal standards? Implementation of the UNCRC can be difficult when violations of the rights of children are justified on the basis of cultural practice. Think about the practice of female circumcision.
In 1996, a 17-year-old girl named Fauziya Kassindja arrived at Newark International Airport and asked for asylum. She had fled her native country of Togo, a small west African nation, to escape what people there call excision.
Excision is a permanently disfiguring procedure that is sometimes called “female circumcision,” although it bears little resemblance to the Jewish ritual. More commonly, at least in Western newspapers, it is referred to as “genital mutilation.” According to the World Health Organization, the practice is widespread in 26 African nations, and two million girls each year are “excised.” In some instances, excision is part of an elaborate tribal ritual, performed in small traditional villages, and girls look forward to it because it signals their acceptance into the adult world. In other instances, the practice is carried out by families living in cities on young women who desperately resist. For more information read the World Health Organization Fact sheet (2017) Female genital mutilation
Cultural relativism would accept the practice. Does the UNCRC allow the practice?
Role of families
As discussed during Week 1, we see the world through our cultural lens, we are cultural conditioned. Conditioning happens at different levels
• Global
• Societal [Macrosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory]
• Institutional [Exosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory]
• Group [Microsystem in Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory]
• Individual [The center of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory]
The group level or microsystem in Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory includes families. One of the major influences on childhood is families. The family is the principal institution responsible for childbearing and childrearing so society assumes a more passive role in facing the commitments and costs connected to childhood. The UNCRC gives all children the right to a family. The right to a family allows children to be connected to their history, and it offers a protective perimeter against violation of their rights. Children separated from their families can become victims of violence, exploitation, trafficking, discrimination and all other types of abuse. However, sometimes the family which should be protecting the child is in fact inflicting the abuse.
Families are the first to have the power to act on behalf of the child and ensure their rights are respected. Hopefully, their objectives are to protect the child and to secure the child an education, development, security, health and morality. To achieve these objectives, a family should provide supervision by controlling the child’s comings and goings, relationships, and communications. For example, they may forbid the child from maintaining relationships with certain persons that they believe are not in his or her best interest. Families make educational decisions including religious and sex education and decide on the health care to give their child. Families are responsible for the needs of the child, such as food, clothing, shelter, educational costs, vacations (if possible), and health coverage. What happens to children when families find it difficult to provide basic needs? Families often struggle with finding time, money and resources to effectively parent. In the US, families may have difficulty earning a living wage, finding social supports, securing affordable housing, high-quality child care and paid family leave. It can be difficult to provide a nurturing environment all children need and may result in neglectful or abusive environment.
Did you know that in 2016 the relative poverty rate for children 0-5 in the U.S. was more than 25%; for ages 0-18 years the rate was about 22%. In other words about 1 out of 4 young children in the United States live in poverty. What changes in the US might lower the child poverty rate? How can we create environments that enrich the lives of all young children and their families, allowing them the opportunity to realize their full human potential?
A former student shared: So I definitely think that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) needs to be more pro-active in checking in on families, especially families living under the poverty line, to ensure they are receiving assistance if needed and that the child is living in a stable home where he/she is healthy and can thrive. I agree with the student that all children deserve a safe and healthy environment and our society should support them. I wonder why income often is the only resource considered when giving families assistance. To help you think about interacting with diverse families, please read the following scenario:
You are a teacher in the 4-year-old room at Kids Place child care center.Daequan and Mathew are two children in your class. Both were born at 30 weeks’ gestation and had hospital stays of about 6 weeks. Both are in generally good health and are monitored for respiratory illnesses. For the most part, the boys are reaching their developmental milestones, with slight delays in language/emotional development.
At the present time, Daequan and his mother, Shania, are living in a homeless shelter. Their home burned down 2 weeks ago and they had nowhere else to go. Matthew is part of an intact family. Ralph and Sue are his parents, and he has an older brother, Nick. The family lives in an affluent community a mile from Kids Place.
• Which child would appear to be experiencing a greater number of risk factors that can affect his development?
• With which family would it appear to be easier to develop a partnership? Why?
Then you learn:
Daequan and his mother have a number of extended family members available for support and will be moving into an apartment within a month’s time. Shania has contacted a number of local agencies for assistance to rebuild her and her son’s lives.
Matthew’s father travels 3 weeks out of the month. Sue is on medication for depression and has recently started drinking around the boys during the evenings and weekends. She turns down offers of help from her friends and family and tells them everything is fine with her marriage and her ability to raise her sons.
What questions might you or others ask to find out “the whole story”? Ruby Payne (2009) describes the nine resources by which one negotiates their environment. Poverty is when you need too many of these resources, not just financial.
1. Financial
2. Language (ability to speak formally)
3. Emotional
4. Mental
5. Spiritual
6. Physical
7. Support systems
8. Relationships/role models
9. Knowledge of middle class rules
How do you and other discover what resources are available to children and families? How do you build on a families strengths. Everything that improves the economic security, safety and peace of mind of families improves parenting—and increases children’s chances for growing into healthy, compassionate and responsible adults. These include living wages and reliable hours, secure housing, high-quality childcare, paid family leave, safe neighborhoods, flex time, desegregation and social inclusion. Which disciplinary perspectives might help you understand family influences on childhood?
Friendships
Besides family and other adults in the culture, peers can be an influence on childhood. Recent research shows the importance of friendship, and its impact on mental and physical health. Preschool friendships are helpful in developing social and emotional skills, increasing a sense of belonging and decreasing stress. (Yu, Ostrosky, & Fowler, 2011). People who feel lonely or socially isolated tend to be more depressed, have more health issues and may have a shorter lifespan. (Lewis, 2016). Having a support system can help us handle hardships.
Selman and colleagues identified five successive stages in how children view friendships. The chart below illustrates the theory. Why might it be helpful to understand the stages of friendship? How would it inform your possible work with children and families?
Stage 0
3 -7 year olds
Stage 1
Social Informational
4 – 9 year olds
Stage 2
Self-Reflective
6 -12 year olds
Stage 3
Third Party
11 – 15 year olds
Stage 4
Societal
12 – adulthood
Momentary Playmates One-way Assistance Fair Weather Cooperation Intimate Mutually Shared Relationships Mature Friendship
Based on proximity Friends are important because they perform specific activities for me Interpersonal relationships are reciprocal Awareness of continuity of relationship and affective bonding Friendship can grow and transform.
Play mate A friend is known better than other persons There is coordination of play and adjustments by self and others. Conflicts do not mean the friendship ends There is independence and dependence.
Issues such as jealousy or in the intrusion of a 3rd party into the play are seen as fights over toys or space rather than involving personal feelings or interpersonal affection. There is knowledge of the other’s likes and dislikes.
Reciprocity of actions
Give and take of thoughts and feelings. Overemphasis on the 2-person clique and possessiveness Draw strength from each other
“I Want It My Way” What’s In It For Me?” “By the Rules” “Caring and Sharing” “Friends Through Thick and Thin”
Play
Play in one way in which families and peers interact with the child. Play is essential to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth and is one of the rights in the UNCRC. Article 31 of the UNCRC states:
1. Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
2. Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.
It is through play that children engage and interact in the world around them at an early age. Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles, developing new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges.
Child-directed play allows children to practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue. When play is controlled by adults, children follow adult rules and lose some of the benefits child-directed play offers them, such as developing creativity, leadership, and group skills. Play builds active, healthy bodies. Play is a simple joy that is a cherished part of childhood. However, play can be challenged by child labor and exploitation practices, war and neighborhood violence, living in poverty, over scheduling, and pressures on children to achieve. (Ginsburg, 2007)
A wonderful resource to learn more about play is available on the National Association for the Education of Young Children website. After reviewing the information on the website reflect on these questions:
How can we enhance the opportunities for balance in children’s lives that will create the optimal development to prepare them to be academically, socially, and emotionally equipped for future growth? How can we make sure we play enough?
Conclusion
Genes make us human, but our humanity is a result of the complex interplay of biological and cultural factors. This week you read about the of the influences of family, society, and culture as they bear on the lives of children. As you discuss, try to answer: How are interactions between children and adults shaped, modified and redefined by overlapping institutional and organizational forces such as the economy, family, education, politics, religion, and so on? What is the impact of experiences in childhood later in life?
After reading this chapter and completing the activities you should be able to
• Describe and analyze the influences of family, society, and culture influence the lives of children as seen the discussion and assumptions inventory
Challenge
Reflection and Discussion
This week we explored the influences of family, society, and culture influence the lives of children. Reflect on your understanding of these ideas:
Socialization Developmentalism Gender
Play Diversity Friendship
Competence Ethnicity Ecological Systems Theory
Cultural Relativism Familialization
Now you are ready to type in Pages or in a Word document, a minimum of 3 paragraphs explaining your connections, extensions, and curiosities. Copy and paste your response in the Blackboard discussion or in class
Collaborative Research Project
So far during this course, you brainstormed a research question and should be using at least 2 disciplines to examine the question. Your work this week is to present your preliminary findings as a draft of the final project. Soon you will submit a video or some other oral report as well as written materials. You will likely use the same format as the Assumption Inventory. The report should
• Summarize your research question (What). Remember to relate the question to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
• Present the research from different disciplines that help to answer or explain the question. (So What)
• Apply criteria listed in the grading rubrics to create a persuasive presentation
• Discuss possible solutions. (This is the start of the NowWhat of the project)
• Complete a peer feedback questionnaire.
References
Lewis, T. (2016). This common characteristic may be as big a risk to your health as smoking. Business Insider Website available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-social-isolation-affects-your-health-2016-1
Selman, R. (1981). The child as a friendship philosopher. In S. A. Asher & J. M. Gottman (Eds.), Development of Children’s Friendships. (pp. 250-251). (Original work published 1978) Retrieved from http://books.google.com
van Rooyen, A., Water, T., Rasmussen, S., and Diesfeld, K. (2015). What makes a child a ‘competent’ child? The New Zealand Medical Journal, 128, (1426). Available at www.nzma.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/46110/van-Rooyen-1628FINAL1426.pdf
Yu, S. Y., Ostrosky, M. M. & Fowler, S. A. (2011). Children’s Friendship Development: A Comparative Study. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 13, (1). | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Introduction_to_Childhood_Studies_(Eliason)/1.04%3A_Influences_of_Family_Society_and_Culture_on_Childhood.txt |
Learning Objectives
During this chapter we will:
• Describe how childhood interactions and experiences are shaped, modified, and defined by institutional and organizational forces such as the economy, education, politics, and religion.
• Identify three to five major challenges facing children today.
• Explain strategies to determine, prioritize, and research issues of concern regarding children that reflect and amplify their voices.
Introduction
Last week we explored Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory and explored some of the influences closest to the child. This week we will explore societal and institutional influences on children. These are the influences from the Exosystem and Macrosystems. The disciplines of economics, education, political science, religion, social work, communications, and law offer insights on how these systems impact childhood.
Terms and Definitions
Important concepts to look for in this chapter:
• Citizenship is gained by meeting the legal requirements of a national, state, or local government. A nation grants certain rights and privileges to its citizens. In return, citizens are expected to obey their country’s laws and defend it against its enemies. In some countries, citizenship can the right to vote, the right to hold government offices, and/or the right to collect unemployment. Living in a country does not mean that a person is necessarily a citizen of that country.
• Cultural politics of Childhood: The combination of the cultural context, social practices, and political processes through which childhood is constructed in different societies at different times.
• Health: A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health Organization)
• Innocence: Being naïve or unexperienced and free from guilt.
• Minority Group Status: A subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their lives than members of a dominant or majority group. Children are considered a minority group.
• Poverty: Poverty is often defined in absolute terms of income poverty when a family’s income fails to meet a federally established threshold that differs across countries. Typically it is measured with respect to families and not the individual, and is adjusted for the number of persons in a family. Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. Relative poverty defines poverty in relation to the economic status of other members of the society: people are poor if they fall below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context.
• Schools and Schooling: The process of educating children through a social institution of schools and the child’s experience in that process.
• Representation: The linguistic or figurative process by which ideas are given significance and meaning in society. The topic of visual representations of childhood is approached from a number of different disciplines, including art, sociology, film, consumption, media, history, popular culture, and anthropology. How is childhood represented in our culture?
• Resilience: The process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. It means “bouncing back” from difficult experiences. (American Psychological Association)
Influences Shaping Childhood
Economy and Law
Begin by reading the US Department of Labor website’s information about Family and Medical Leave Act The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 helps to balance workplace demands with the medical needs of employees and their families. Did you know that you are entitled to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for your own serious health condition, or to care for an immediate family member who has a serious health condition? You may also use the FMLA for an extended parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and for bonding with a new foster child. How does current U.S. family leave policy actually deter new parents and caregivers from spending time with young children? What are the consequences for babies—and their mothers?
Education and Social Work (Child Protection)
Read Chapter 1 The Real Goals of Education from The Big Picture (2004) by Dennis Littky and Samantha Grabelle.
Cover of the book The Big Picture
In the United States, historically, the purpose of education has evolved to the meet the needs of society; from instructing youth in religious doctrine, to preparing them to live in a democracy, to assimilating immigrants into mainstream society, to preparing workers for the industrialized 20th century workplace. As educators prepare children and youth for a world that is rapidly changing, what is the goal of education in the US?
Is the goal to produce workers? When should children start working? The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) spells out US child labor standards. The FLSA specifies the ages at which children or minors can perform certain jobs. Here are some highlights:
• Children under 18 years old can’t do certain jobs that are hazardous, such as working with explosives and coal mining
• Children who are at least 16 may work on farms and perform hazardous jobs, such as drive machinery
• Minors who’re at 14 years old may work on farms, but it must be during non-school hours. And, children who’re at least 12 may do farm work if the work it’s done: (1) Outside of school hours; (2) with his parent’s permission, and; (3) the parent also works on the farm
• Children under 12 years old may work on a farm outside of school hours if his parent(s) or guardians own or operate the farm
• During the summer or when school is out of session, children under 16 years old may work up to 40 hours per week. During the school year, they can’t work more than three hours per day on a school day and no more than 18 hours a week in total
Public Policy and Law
Begin by reading the Massachusetts General Law regarding best interest of children in custody cases. Here are some legal decisions from courts in Massachusetts. As you read the summary of the cases, was the decision of the court or judge in the best interest of the child? Why or why not?
CASE 1: Mason v. Coleman , 447 Mass. 177 (2006) discusses the rights and responsibilities of parents with shared legal and physical custody of their children. A mother who shared joint physical and legal custody of her children with their father sought to remove the children from the Commonwealth of MA and the father refused to consent to the removal, a probate judge appropriately considered the best interests of the children and did not abuse her discretion in concluding that removal of the children would not serve their best interests. The decision did not violate the mother’s right to freedom of movement pursuant to the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution In order for a parent who shares joint physical custody to move out of state, she or he must meet a higher standard than a parent who has sole physical custody. “The importance to the children of one parent’s advantage in relocating outside the Commonwealth is greatly reduced.” Applying the “best interests of the child” test, the court determined that the mother would not be permitted to move out of state.
CASE 2: Yannas v. Frondistou-Yannas , 395 Mass. 704 (1985) In detail, outlines how the best interests of the child are to be determined in deciding a case in which one parent who has sole physical custody wants to move out of state. In a divorce proceeding in which custody of the parties’ two minor children was in issue, the evidence warranted the judge’s conclusion that awarding physical custody to the wife was in the best interests of each child. A judge in a divorce proceeding, having awarded physical custody to the mother allowed her to move of the children from Massachusetts to Greece because it would be in the best interests of the children. The move to Greece would benefit the mother, financially, emotionally, and socially; that the children would benefit from that advantage and from the strengthening of family and cultural ties in Greece; that excellent schooling would be available to them; and that reasonable alternative arrangements for visitation with their father would be arranged. What is in the best interest of children?
Representations
The topic of visual representations of childhood is approached from a number of different disciplines, including art, sociology, film, consumption, media, history, popular culture, and anthropology. What adjectives do you use to describe childhood? Take a moment and write down 3-5 words. What adjectives do you use to describe adulthood? Write down 3-5 words.
Did you use any of the following words: sinful, violent, carefree or happy. How did your lists compare? Why do you suppose you likely notice differences? What does this tell you about the social construction of childhood?
Read The melodrama of being a child by Karen Wells. Wells (2013) discusses how international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) address the causes of poverty and seek to enrich the lives of children. She explores the methods that INGOs use to increase awareness of the impacts of poverty on children and to raise funds for assisting those children. The representations of poverty disseminated by INGOs films place that the figure of the child centrally in their campaigns. Wells examines the issues of child-saving to child-rights using mise-en-scène to explore the theatrical presentation of suffering. Mise-en-scène means, literally, “put in the scene” consists of all the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: settings, props, lighting, costumes, makeup, and figure behavior (meaning actors, their gestures, and their facial expressions). Analyze the photos below, looking at:
• Composition—Is the shot a close-up, far away, or somewhere in the middle? Is it straight on, overhead, or looking up at the action?
• Scene—Where did the photo take place?
• Props—What are the characters holding, interacting with, moving around the setting? What’s in the background?
• Actors—Who plays which part? Do they “fit” the role or are they miscast?
• Costumes—What are the characters wearing? How do their clothes affect the way we understand them and their world?
• Lighting—Is the shot bright (high key), dark (low-key), somewhere in the middle? Are there shadows? What direction does the light come from?
How does the photo represent child saving (politics of pity) and child rights (politics of justice)? Should we appeal to pity or justice when we work to change the settings for childhood? Why or why not? What messages do the images you are finding as you research your topic and question, say about children?
Major Challenges Facing Children Today
The greatest change in childhood over time is the changing concept of childhood. There is a constant transformation of society’s attitudes toward children. Some families shelter their children from life’s uncertainties while some expose children early to adult experience in order to survive in an uncontrollable world. I think that more people expose children early. What do you think? The Age of Protection is ending and an Age of Preparation is setting in. Children are integrated at a young age into the adult world, in every way their lives have become more difficult, more confusing – in short, more like adult lives. How do children move from innocence to competence? How do we protect children yet prepare them for life? What is in their best interest?
Health
Here is a list of the Top 10 Health Concerns. Does the list reflect Protection or Preparation? What are biggest health concerns in your community? Related to our discussion last week on poverty, did you know that evidence shows that in general the lower an individual’s socioeconomic position the worse their health (World Health Organization).
Top 10 Health Challenges 2015
Public Policies and Politics
Watch The Raising of America video clips (see 11 minute trailer from the series on Blackboard) and explore the website to learn more about the five-part documentary series that explores the question: Why are so many children in America faring so poorly? What are the consequences for the nation’s future? How might we, as a nation, do better? The series investigates these questions through different disciplines: What does science tell us about the enduring importance of early life experiences on the brain and body? What it is like to be a parent today? And what policies and structures help or hinder the raising of healthy, happy and compassionate children?
Did you know that wages for average Americans have stagnated over the last forty years. At the same time, the cost of essentials (like housing and education) has substantially increased while corporate profits have skyrocketed. How does this pattern affect childhood?
Some facts to consider from Raising of America
• Most women work and 40% of new mothers return to work by the time their babies are three months old. Former Investment banker and economist Robert Dugger says, “Our policies actually actively discourage parents from being able to take care of their children when they’re very young. They may instinctively want to do it, but we don’t make it easy for them.”
• Ashley a welfare recipient says, “Everybody thinks that you get state assistance, well you’re just lazy and you don’t want to work. That’s not the case for the majority and that’s sure not the case for me.” Given its inaccuracy, why do you think the stereotyping of people in need of public assistance as “lazy” persists? What kind of public assistance do wealthy people receive?
• Why do so many people blame parents for making “wrong” or “irresponsible” decisions rather than address how the dice are loaded against them? How does this impact the policies and programs enacted to support low-income families with children?
• If tomorrow you could make one change to employment policies that would make life better for your children (or the children in your care or community), what would you change and why?
Schools and Schooling & Working Children
Did you know that a 7-year-old living in the United States may have picked the blueberries in your refrigerator? Hundreds of thousands of child farmworkers are working in the U.S. at younger ages, for longer hours, and facing greater risks than any other working youth, according to a new report by the Human Rights Watch. The organization is one of 53 that support a bill pending in Congress called The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE) Act. The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 and offer child farmworkers the same legal protections as youth in every other industry. “The United States spends over \$25 million a year — more than all other countries combined — to eliminate child labor abroad, yet is tolerating exploitative child labor in its own backyard,” said Zama Coursen-Neff, author of the report. The report found children as young as 12 legally working more than 10 hours a day. Take a look at the 2015 report: Teens of the Tobacco Fields Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming Physically, developmentally, and socially, children are different from adults, and these differences leave them uniquely vulnerable to the harmful effects of working in tobacco farming. US laws and regulations have no special provisions to restrict children’s work in tobacco, despite the documented dangers of the work. Why do children work? How does it impact their education?
Strategies to reduce or alleviate challenges
Harvard Center on the Developing Child drives science-based innovation that achieve breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity. They have wonderful multimedia resources to learn more. I recommend playing Tipping the Scales: The Resilience Game and 3-minute video “Brain Hero” depicting how actions by a range of people in the family and community impact child development. Safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments help build strong foundations. They are the most powerful protective forces in a young child’s life.
What is resilience and why is it important to understand the concept? How can you support resilience in children?
Summary
Is there a relationship between social policy and the social construction of childhood? The Exosystem and Macrosystem provide the setting for childhood. Many disciplines contribute to our understanding of these influences in a variety of context. What is the moral of the story for Week 4?
After completing the reading and weekly activities you should be able to
• Describe how childhood interactions and experiences are shaped, modified, and defined by institutional and organizational forces such as the economy, education, politics, and religion as seen in your discussion and final project draft.
• Identify three to five major challenges facing children today as seen in your discussion and final project draft.
• Explain strategies to determine, prioritize, and research issues of concern regarding children that reflect and amplify their voices as seen in your discussion and final project draft.
Past Students Questions
How come some children are not affected by their childhood as much as others? Does it all just depend on the child?
Should a parent be obligated to spend a certain amount of hours a day with their child to show them they love and care for them even if the parent’s life is busy?
Challenges
Reflection and Discussion
As you prepare for the discussion, reflect on the questions:
How do you interpret the ways in which environmental, educational, economic and political conditions affect children?
How does current U.S. family leave policy actually deter new parents and caregivers from spending time with young children? What are the consequences for babies—and their mothers ?
If tomorrow you could make one change to employment policies that would make life better for your children (or the children in your care or community), what would you change and why?
What is the goal of education in the US? Why do children work? How does it impact their education?
How do representations influence the social construction of childhood? How do children move from innocence to competence? How do we protect children yet prepare them for life? What is in their best interest?
Group Research Continued
Looking ahead to next week remember that you will present your Collaborative Research Project early in the week. The assignment includes an 8 to 10 minute video and supporting written materials such as presentation slides or documents including your sources. The video puts everything together the question (What), research (So What), and conclude with Now What where you discuss possible solutions. You will add a group reflection to address: how the insights from different disciplines contributed to your understanding of the issue as well as your new ideas about children and childhood. As you work remember to:
• Clearly state the research question and logically and convincingly describe the significance of the question to Childhood Studies
• Logically and persuasively answer the research question.
• Explain limitations of research
• Clearly describe how you used the disciplinary perspectives to answer the question
• Make 3 recommendations for further research
• Explain how the insights from different disciplines contributed to the understanding of the issue as well as your new ideas about children and childhood
• Create visuals that enhance and illustrate the verbal message.
• Discuss 5 to 7 reliable and scholarly sources to support your claims. Making sure that each discipline has 2 or more sources.
1.06: Suggested Reading
James, A., & James, A. (2012). (2nd Ed) Key Concepts in Childhood Studies. London available in Google Books. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Introduction_to_Childhood_Studies_(Eliason)/1.05%3A_Impact_of_the_Environment_Education_Economy_and_Political_Conditions_on_Childhood.txt |
Parenting is a complex process in which parents and children both impact one another. There are many reasons that parents behave the way they do. The multiple influences on parenting are still being explored. Proposed influences on parental behavior include:
1. parent characteristics,
2. child characteristics, and
3. contextual and sociocultural characteristics.[1] [2]
Parent Characteristics
Parents bring unique traits and qualities to the parenting relationship that affect their decisions as parents. These characteristics include a parent’s age, gender identity, personality, developmental history, beliefs, knowledge about parenting and child development, and mental and physical health. Parents’ personalities also affect parenting behaviors. Parents who are more agreeable, conscientious, and outgoing are warmer and provide more structure to their children. Parents who are more agreeable, less anxious, and less negative also support their children’s autonomy more than parents who are anxious and less agreeable.[3] Parents who have these personality traits appear to be better able to respond to their children positively and provide a more consistent, structured environment for their children.
Parents’ developmental histories, or their experiences as children, can also affect their parenting strategies. Parents may learn parenting practices from their own parents. Fathers whose own parents provided monitoring, consistent and age-appropriate discipline, and warmth are more likely to provide this constructive parenting to their own children.[4] Patterns of negative parenting and ineffective discipline also appear from one generation to the next. However, parents who are dissatisfied with their primary caregivers’ approach may be more likely to change their parenting methods when they have children.
Child Characteristics
Figure 1. A child with a difficult temperament can have a significant impact on a parent. (Photo Credit: Harald Groven, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Parenting is bidirectional. Not only do parents affect their children, but children influence their parents as well.[5] Child characteristics, such as gender identity, birth order, temperament, and health status, can affect parenting behaviors and roles. For example, an infant with an easy temperament may enable parents to feel more effective, as they are easily able to soothe the child and elicit smiling and cooing. On the other hand, a cranky or fussy infant can elicit fewer positive reactions from parents and may result in parents feeling less effective in the parenting role.[6] Over time, parents of more difficult children may become more punitive and less patient with their children.[7] [8] Parents who have a fussy, difficult child tend to be less satisfied with their marriages and have greater challenges in balancing work and family roles.[9] Thus, child temperament is one of the child characteristics that influences how parents behave with their children.
Another child characteristic is the child’s gender identity. Some parents assign different household chores to their children based on their child’s gender identity. For example, older research has shown girls are more often responsible for caring for younger siblings and household chores, whereas boys are more likely to be asked to perform chores outside the home, such as mowing the lawn.[10] Research has also demonstrated that some parents talk differently with their children based on their child’s gender identity, such as providing more scientific explanations to their sons and using more emotion words with their daughters.[11]
Contextual Factors and Sociocultural Characteristics
The parent-child relationship does not occur in isolation. Sociocultural characteristics, including economic hardship, religion, politics, neighborhoods, schools, and social support, can also influence parenting. Parents who experience economic hardship tend to be more easily frustrated, depressed, and sad, and these emotional characteristics can affect their parenting skills.[12] Culture can also impact parenting behaviors in fundamental ways. Although promoting the development of skills necessary to function effectively in one’s community, to the best of one’s abilities, is a universal goal of parenting, the specific skills necessary vary widely from culture to culture. Thus, parents have different goals for their children that partially depend on their culture.[13] For example, parents vary in how much they emphasize goals for independence and individual achievements and goals involving maintaining harmonious relationships and being embedded in a strong network of social relationships.
Figure 2. Influences on parenting can stem from internal factors such as the parent or child’s characteristics or external, sociocultural characteristics.
These differences in parental goals can also be influenced by culture and immigration status. Other important contextual characteristics, such as the neighborhood, school, and social networks, can affect parenting, even though these settings do not always include both the child and the parent.[14] For example, Latina mothers who perceived their neighborhood as more dangerous showed less warmth with their children, perhaps because of the greater stress associated with living in a threatening environment.[15]
Summary: Many Factors Can Influence Parenting and Child Outcomes
Parenting factors include characteristics of the primary caregiver, such as gender identity and personality, as well as characteristics of the child, such as age and temperament. Parenting styles provide reliable indicators of parenting functioning that predicts child well-being across a wide spectrum of environments and diverse communities. Caregivers who consistently engage in high responsiveness and appropriate demandingness with children are linked to more “quality” outcomes for youth.
The interaction among all these factors creates many different patterns of parenting behaviors. For instance, parenting influences a child’s development as well as the development of the parent or primary caregiver. And, as parents face new challenges, they change their parenting strategies and construct new aspects of their identities. Furthermore, the goals and tasks of parents may change over time as their children develop.[16] [17] However, the next page outlines typical parenting tasks, roles, goals, and responsibilities that extend across cultures and time.
1. Belsky, J. (1984). The determinants of parenting: A process model. Child Development, 55(1), 83-96. ↵
2. Demick, J. (1999). Parental development: Problem, theory, method, and practice. In Mosher, R. L., Youngman D. J., & Day J. M. (Eds.), Human development across the life span: Educational and psychological applications (pp. 177-199). Praeger. ↵
3. Prinzie, P., Stams, G. J., Dekovic, M., Reijntjes, A. H., & Belsky, J. (2009). The relations between parents’ Big Five personality factors and parenting: A meta-review. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(1), 351–362. ↵
4. Kerr, D. C. R., Capaldi, D. M., Pears, K. C., & Owen, L. D. (2009). A prospective three generational study of fathers’ constructive parenting: Influences from family of origin, adolescent adjustment, and offspring temperament. Developmental Psychology, 45(1), 1257-1275. ↵
5. Child Characteristics is adapted from "The Developing Parent" by Marisa Diener, licensed CC BY NC SA. ↵
6. Eisenberg, N., Hofer, C., Spinrad, T., Gershoff, E., Valiente, C., Losoya, S. L., Zhou, Q., Cumberland, A., Liew, J., Reiser, M., & Maxon, E. (2008). Understanding parent-adolescent conflict discussions: Concurrent and across-time prediction from youths’ dispositions and parenting. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 73(2), 1-160. ↵
7. Clark, L. A., Kochanska, G., & Ready, R. (2000). Mothers’ personality and its interaction with child temperament as predictors of parenting behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 274-285. ↵
8. Kiff, C. J., Lengua, L. J., & Zalewski, M. (2011). Nature and nurturing: Parenting in the context of child temperament. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(1), 251–301. doi.org/10.1007/s10567011-0093-4↵
9. Hyde, J. S., Else-Quest, N. M., Goldsmith, H. H., & Biesanz, J. C. (2004). Children's temperament and behavior problems predict their employed mothers' work functioning. Child Development, 75(2), 580-594. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00694.x↵
10. Grusec, J. E., Goodnow, J. J., & Cohen, L. (1996). Household work and the development of concern for others. Developmental Psychology, 32(6), 999-1007. ↵
11. Crowley, K., Callanan, M. A., Tenenbaum, H. R., & Allen, E. (2001). Parents explain more often to boys than to girls during shared scientific thinking. Psychological Science, 12(3), 258-261. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00347
12. Conger, R. D., & Conger, K. J. (2004). Resilience in Midwestern families: Selected findings from the first decade of a prospective, longitudinal study. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64(2): 361-373. doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2002.00361.x↵
13. Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Way, N., Hughes, D., Yoshikawa, H., Kalman, R. K., & Niwa, E. Y. (2007). Parents' goals for children: The dynamic coexistence of individualism and collectivism in cultures and individuals. Social Development, 17(1), 183-209. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00419.x↵
14. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. Annals of Child Development, 6(1), 187-249. ↵
15. Gonzalez-Backen, M. A., Updegraff, K. A., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2011). Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’ stressors and psychosocial functioning: Examining ethnic identity affirmation and familism as moderators. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(2), 140-157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9511-z
16. Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11, 56–95. 10.1177/0272431691111004 ↵
17. Barber, B. K. (1996). Parental psychological control: Revisiting a neglected construct. Child Development, 67, 3296-3319. doi:10.2307/1131780 ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/01%3A_Key_Concepts/01.1%3A_Influences_on_Parenting.txt |
Despite contextual factors and varied goals associated with parenting, roles and responsibilities of parenthood are derived from national and international laws, policies, research, and practice. Below are well-agreed upon fundamental tasks of parenthood [1] that extend across many cultures:
• Figure 1. A parent feeding their child exhibits the “providing sustenance” task of parenting. (Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels License)
Safety and sustenance: ensuring adequate food, housing, clothing, medical care, and protection from harm in a multitude of contexts (e.g., neighborhood, household structure)
• Socioemotional support: providing warm and positive responsivity, affection, communication, expectations, affirmations, encouragement, emotional regulation, guidance, discipline, and modeling of appropriate behaviors
• Stimulation/instruction: encouraging achievement and learning through exposure to developmentally-appropriate and culturally-enriching experiences
• Supervision: monitoring whereabouts, communications, activities; collecting information from various sources; maintaining ongoing, reciprocal communications with children
• Structure: facilitating organized environments and activities via routines, rituals, scaffolding, and time management
• Socialization: supporting connections with communities, relatives, friends, peers, and institutions [2]
1. Bradley, R. H. (2007). Parenting in the breach. How parents help children cope with developmentally challenging circumstances. Parenting: Science and Practice, 7(2), 99-148. ↵
2. Laukkanan, E., Karppinen, S., Maattaa, K., & Uusiautti, S. (2014). Emphases of parenting in the light of three comparison groups. International Education Studies, 7(3), 67-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n3p67
01.3: The Primary Role of Families in Promoting Childrens Development
The family is central in children’s lives because it is through experiences with their families that children learn about themselves and the world around them. “Family member” is used here to define the people who are primarily responsible for a child, including parents, extended family members, guardians, and foster families. Family structures, processes, and functions must be assessed in order to understand the role family members have in child outcomes.[1]
Family Structures
Figure 1. A family with two parents and two children. (Photo Credit: Emma Bauso, Pexels License)
“Family structures” delineate household members who are related by blood or legal ties; this concept typically assumes there is at least one child younger than 18 years of age residing in the household. Specific structures include two‐parent, one‐parent, and “living with neither parent” (e.g., grandparents or other relatives rearing a child, families providing foster care, and children living in institutionalized settings), blended families, single‐parent plus partner families (cohabiting couples, for example), multigenerational families, binuclear families, and adoptive families.
The U.S. Census Bureau utilizes these definitions of “family structures”:
• Nuclear family: a child lives with two married biologically-related parents and with only full siblings, if siblings are present.
• Cohabiting families: a child’s parent lives with at least one opposite‐sex, non-related adult. This additional adult may or may not be the biological parent of the child.
• Same‐sex cohabiting/married families: a child’s parent lives with at least one same‐sex, non-related adult. The additional adult may or may not be the biological parent of the child.
• Stepfamilies and blended families (terms used interchangeably): children who live in a household formed through remarriage resulting in children living with one or no biologically-related parents. The presence of a stepparent, stepsibling, or half‐sibling designates a family as blended.[2]
Family Processes
“Family processes” are the ways in which families internally function to navigate cognitive, social, and emotional events. Examples include how families adapt, communicate, cope, problem solve, parent, rear children, make decisions, plan, and lead. [3]
Figure 2. This infant getting immunization shots is being provided for in ways that not all families can afford. (Photo Credit: Maria Immaculata Hospital, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Family Functions
Many “family functions” are similar to parenting tasks, goals, and responsibilities. However, it is important to understand how “family functions” and parenting tasks impact each other. The following is a list of somewhat universal family functions (e.g., almost all families in all countries worldwide have some of these in common):
• Economic support: providing basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, etc.
• Emotional support: providing love, comfort, intimacy, companionship, nurturing, belongingness, etc.
• Socialization of children: rearing children, parenting, helping children function to the best of their abilities within their society.
• Control of sexuality: defining and managing when and with whom (e.g., marriage) sexuality occurs.
• Procreation: contributing to the continuation of society and offspring.
• Ascribed status: providing a social identity (e.g., social class, race, ethnicity, kinship, religion, etc.) [4]
1. Hammond, R., Cheney, P., & Pearsey, R. (2015) Sociology of the Family. Rocky Ridge Press. http://freesociologybooks.com/Sociology_Of_The_Family/01_Changes_and_Definitions.php
2. United States Census Bureau. (2019). Historical living arrangements of children. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/children.html
3. Pasley, K., & Petren, R. E. (2015). Family structure. In Encyclopedia of Family Studies, C. L. Shehan (Ed.) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi.org/10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs016↵
4. Hammond, R., Cheney, P., & Pearsey, R.(2015). Sociology of the Family in Introduction to Sociology Textbook. Rocky Ridge Press. Retrieved from http://freesociologybooks.com/Sociology_Of_The_Family/01_Changes_and_Definitions.php | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/01%3A_Key_Concepts/01.2%3A_Parenting_Tasks%3A_Roles_Goals_and_Responsibilities.txt |
Many caregivers seek or need information, education, and/or assistance in rearing children. “It takes a village” is a common mantra used in relation to parenting and child-rearing. This means that entire communities of people help shape children’s development and can foster safe, healthy environments and positive child outcomes. Programs, educational institutions, community organizations, and those who work with children and families can also support children’s healthy growth and development within the family by creating continuity between primary caregivers and the “village.” For optimal outcomes, it is important for all members of the “village” to find, assess, analyze, and implement high-quality, up-to-date, evidence-based, best-practice recommendations to strengthen children and families.
Evidence-based parenting programs and practices are those that are supported and well-documented by up-to-date scientific research. Key indicators must demonstrate that practices have strengthened families, prevented youth and/or family problems, and/or promoted family and child well-being via validated research studies.[1]
Best-practice recommendations are methods, approaches, or techniques that are regarded as superior to other alternatives because research demonstrates they produce the most favorable outcomes when compared with other methods, approaches, or techniques.[2]
Links to best-practice approach recommendations
Further Reading
Read this PDF to learn more about evidence-based, best-practice approach recommendations regarding specific programs, competencies, and the key elements of effective parenting education programs:
Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2019). Parent education to strengthen families and reduce the risk of maltreatment [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
The following section contains evidence-based, best-practice recommendations for the prevention and education of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
1. Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2019). Parent education to strengthen families and reduce the risk of maltreatment. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. ↵
2. Best practice. (n.d.) In Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_practice
01.5: ACEs
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Figure 1. The ACEs pyramid
The term Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is defined as a traumatic experience that happens to someone before the age of 18 years that the person “recalls” as an adult.[1]
ACEs can include sexual, psychological, or physical abuse. ACEs have been linked to premature death and various health conditions and risks.[2]
ACEs score
To determine your own ACEs score, visit this website
Several studies have shown that ACEs are associated with health-related risk factors such as substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.[3] Having multiple ACEs is an important risk factor for several unfavorable health outcomes, including early death. The research suggests that the impact of these adverse experiences in childhood on adult health status is strong and cumulative.[4]
Best-practice recommendations for preventing ACEs entail reducing child abuse and neglect by:
• Strengthening economic supports to families,
• Supporting parents via education about positive parenting techniques,
• Providing high-quality care and education immediately following a child’s birth,
• Improving parenting skills to enhance healthy child development and well-being, and
• Providing early interventions to reduce adverse effects and to prevent future risks. [5]
Video Example
Watch Dr. Bruce Perry talk about reducing the effects of trauma.
Additional video examples can be viewed on the CDC’s YouTube channel.
Further Reading
Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Adverse Childhood Experiences Handout [PDF]
Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Adverse Childhood Experiences website
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). About adverse childhood experiences. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/aboutace.html↵
2. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (n.d.). What are ACEs? And how do they relate to toxic stress? Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/aces-and-toxic-stress-frequently-asked-questions/
3. Ximenes, R. B. B., Ximenes, J. C. M., Nascimento, S. L., Roddy, S. M., & Leite, A. J. M. (2019). Relationship between maternal adverse childhood experiences and infant development: A systematic review. Medicine, 98(10) doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000014644 ↵
4. Ximenes, R. B. B., Ximenes, J. C. M., Nascimento, S. L., Roddy, S. M., & Leite, A. J. M. (2019). Relationship between maternal adverse childhood experiences and infant development: A systematic review. Medicine, 98(10) doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000014644 ↵
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Prevention Strategies. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/prevention.html | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/01%3A_Key_Concepts/01.4%3A_Evidence-Based_Best-Practice_Recommendations.txt |
Autocratic Parenting and Thomas Hobbes
Figure 1. Calvin and Hobbes comic. (Image Source: Greg Williams, CC BY)
Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, contributed to the era of autocratic parenting due to his views regarding human motivation, Psychological Egoism, and the social contract.[1] According to Hobbes, humans are extremely self-interested and born with original sin.
Hence, adults had to use control and discipline because children were born “evil” and had to be saved. Further, as a result of adults’ own self-interests, Hobbes believed that absolute authority was a necessity in politics, in dealing with others, and in the home.[2]
During this era, many believed that children learned obedience to God via their parents’ use of harsh discipline and strict parenting. Children were typically viewed as being “willful” and were used as household servants.
Key Takeaways
• Babies were born with original sin and were very egocentric.
• Parents were to direct children away from their evil tendencies.
• Similar to the current authoritarian approach.
• Recommended that rigid and strict rules be used to shape children into well-behaved, successful adults.
1. Friend, C. (n.d.). Social contract theory. In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/#SH2a
2. Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan, or the matter, forme, and power of a commonwealth ecclesiastical and civil. Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3207/3207-h/3207-h.htm
02.10: 1940s: Skinner
B.F. Skinner: Operant Conditioning
Psychologist B.F. Skinner saw that classical conditioning is limited to existing behaviors that are reflexively elicited, and doesn’t account for new behaviors such as riding a bike.[1] He proposed a theory about how such behaviors come about. Skinner believed that behavior is motivated by the consequences we receive for the behavior: reinforcements and punishments. His idea that learning is the result of consequences is based on the law of effect, which was first proposed by psychologist Edward Thorndike. According to the law of effect, behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.[2] Essentially, if an organism does something that brings about a desired result, the organism is more likely to do it again. If an organism does something that does not bring about the desired result, the organism is less likely to do it again. An example of the law of effect is employment. One of the reasons (and often the main reason) we show up for work is because we get paid to do so. If we stop getting paid, we will likely stop showing up—even if we love our job.
Table 1. Classical and Operant Conditioning Compared
Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning
Conditioning approach An unconditioned stimulus (such as food) is paired with a neutral stimulus (such as a bell). The neutral stimulus eventually becomes the conditioned stimulus, which brings about the conditioned response (salivation). The target behavior is followed by reinforcement or punishment to either strengthen or weaken it so that the learner is more likely to exhibit the desired behavior in the future.
Stimulus timing The stimulus occurs immediately before the response. The stimulus (either reinforcement or punishment) occurs soon after the response.
Working with Thorndike’s law of effect as his foundation, Skinner began conducting scientific experiments on animals (mainly rats and pigeons) to determine how organisms learn through operant conditioning.[3] He placed these animals inside an operant conditioning chamber, which has come to be known as a “Skinner box” (See Figure 1.). A Skinner box contains a lever (for rats) or disk (for pigeons) that the animal can press or peck for a food reward via the dispenser. Speakers and lights can be associated with certain behaviors. A recorder counts the number of responses made by the animal.
Figure 1. (a) B. F. Skinner developed operant conditioning for systematic study of how behaviors are strengthened or weakened according to their consequences. (b) In a Skinner box, a rat presses a lever in an operant conditioning chamber to receive a food reward.
Video Example
Watch this brief video clip to learn more about operant conditioning: Skinner is interviewed, and operant conditioning of pigeons is demonstrated.
In discussing operant conditioning, we use several everyday words—positive, negative, reinforcement, and punishment—in a specialized manner. In operant conditioning, positive and negative do not mean good and bad. Instead, positive means you are adding something, and negative means you are taking something away. Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior. Reinforcement can be positive or negative, and punishment can also be positive or negative. All reinforcers (positive or negative) increase the likelihood of a behavioral response. All punishers (positive or negative) decrease the likelihood of a behavioral response. Now let us combine these four terms: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment (Table 2.).
Table 2. Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment
Reinforcement Punishment
Positive Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior. Something is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.
Negative Something is removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior. Something is removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.
Reinforcement
The most effective way to teach a person or animal a new behavior is with positive reinforcement. In positive reinforcement, a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior.
For example, let’s say you tell your five-year-old son, Jerome, that if he cleans his room, he will get a toy. Jerome quickly cleans his room because he wants a new art set. Some people might say, “Why should I reward my child for doing what is expected?” However, we are constantly and consistently rewarded in our lives. Our paychecks are rewards, as are high grades or acceptance into our preferred schools. Being praised for doing a good job or for passing a driver’s test are also rewards. Positive reinforcement as a learning tool is extremely effective. It has been found that one of the most effective ways to increase achievement in school districts with below-average reading scores was to pay the children to read.
An example of this can be seen in Dallas, where second-grade students in Dallas were paid \$2 each time they read a book and passed a short quiz about the book. The result was a significant increase in reading comprehension (Fryer, 2010). What do you think about this program? If Skinner were alive today, he would probably think this was a great idea. He was a strong proponent of using operant conditioning principles to influence students’ behavior at school. In fact, in addition to the Skinner box, he also invented what he called a teaching machine that was designed to reward small steps in learning—an early forerunner of computer-assisted learning.[4] His teaching machine tested students’ knowledge as they worked through various school subjects. If students answered questions correctly, they received immediate positive reinforcement and could continue; if they answered incorrectly, they did not receive any reinforcement. The idea was that students would spend additional time studying the material to increase their chance of being reinforced the next time.
In negative reinforcement, an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior. For example, car manufacturers use the principles of negative reinforcement in their seatbelt systems, which go “beep, beep, beep” until you fasten your seatbelt. The annoying sound stops when you exhibit the desired behavior, increasing the likelihood that you will buckle up in the future. Negative reinforcement is also used frequently in horse training. Riders apply pressure—by pulling the reins or squeezing their legs—and then remove the pressure when the horse performs the desired behavior, such as turning or speeding up. The pressure is the negative stimulus that the horse wants to remove.
Punishment
Many people confuse negative reinforcement with punishment in operant conditioning, but they are two very different concepts. Remember that reinforcement, even when it is negative, always increases a behavior. In contrast, punishment always decreases a behavior. In positive punishment, you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior. An example of positive punishment is reprimanding a student to get the student to stop texting in class. In this case, a stimulus (the reprimand) is added in order to decrease the behavior (texting in class). In negative punishment, you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior, such as something the child enjoys (e.g., a toy or a scheduled outing). Time-outs are a very common form of negative punishment — they momentarily take away children’s access to something they enjoy.
Punishment, especially when it is immediate, is one way to decrease undesirable behavior. For example, imagine your four-year-old son, Brandon, runs into a busy street to get his ball. You give him a time-out (positive punishment) and tell him never to go into the street again. Chances are he will not repeat this behavior. While strategies like time-outs are common today, in the past children were often subject to physical punishment, such as spanking. It’s important to be aware of some of the drawbacks of using physical punishment on children. Within the context of parenting, it is important to note that the term “punishment” doesn’t mean that the consequence should be harmful.
In fact, experts caution that punishments like spanking can cause more harm than good. [5] First, punishment may teach fear. Brandon may become fearful of the street, but he also may become fearful of the person who delivered the punishment—you, his parent. Similarly, children who are punished by teachers may start to fear the teacher and try to avoid school.[6] Consequently, most schools in the United States have banned corporal punishment. Second, punishment may cause children to become more aggressive and prone to antisocial behavior and delinquency.[7] They see their parents resort to spanking when they become angry and frustrated, so, in turn, they may act out this same behavior when they become angry and frustrated. For example, because you spank Brenda when you are angry with her for her misbehavior, she might start hitting her friends when they will not share their toys.
While positive punishment can be effective in some cases, Skinner suggested that the use of punishment should be weighed against the possible negative effects. Today’s psychologists and parenting experts favor reinforcement over punishment—they recommend that you catch your child doing something good and reward her for it.
Shaping
In his operant conditioning experiments, Skinner often used an approach called shaping. Instead of rewarding only the target behavior, in shaping, we reward successive approximations of a target behavior. For instance, parents can break a task into smaller more “attainable” steps. These smaller steps should be in sequence of completing the entire desired task. As children start a step, or show improvements on a step, they should be praised and rewarded. As children master each step, they should again be praised and rewarded and then encouraged to the next step. This process of successive approximations is followed until a child masters the entire task. This takes time, but it is a proven method of shaping a child’s behavior via rewarding and praising ongoing improvements.
Why is shaping needed? Remember that in order for reinforcement to work, the organism must first display the behavior. Shaping is needed because it is extremely unlikely that an organism will display anything but the simplest of behaviors spontaneously. In shaping, behaviors are broken down into many small, achievable steps. The specific steps used in the process are the following:
1. Reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior.
2. Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior. You will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response.
3. Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired behavior.
4. Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
5. Finally, only reinforce the desired behavior.
Shaping is often used to teach a complex behavior or chain of behaviors. Skinner used shaping to teach pigeons not only relatively simple behaviors such as pecking a disk in a Skinner box, but also many unusual and entertaining behaviors, such as turning in circles, walking in figure eights, and even playing ping pong; this technique is commonly used by animal trainers today. An important part of shaping is stimulus discrimination. Recall Pavlov’s dogs—he trained them to respond to the tone of a bell, and not to similar tones or sounds. This discrimination is also important in operant conditioning and in shaping behavior.
Video Example
Here is a brief video of Skinner’s pigeons playing ping pong.
It is easy to see how shaping is effective in teaching behaviors to animals, but how does shaping work with humans? Let us consider parents whose goal is to have their child learn to clean his room. They use shaping to help him master steps toward the goal. Instead of performing the entire task, they set up these steps and reinforce each one. First, he cleans up one toy. Second, he cleans up five toys. Third, he chooses whether to pick up ten toys or put his books and clothes away. Fourth, he cleans up everything except two toys. Finally, he cleans his entire room.
Primary and Secondary Reinforcers
Rewards such as stickers, praise, money, toys, and more can be used to reinforce learning. Let us go back to Skinner’s rats again. How did the rats learn to press the lever in the Skinner box? They were rewarded with food each time they pressed the lever. For animals, food would be an obvious reinforcer.
What would be a good reinforcer for humans? For your daughter Sydney, it was the promise of a toy if she cleaned her room. How about Joaquin, the soccer player? If you gave Joaquin a piece of candy every time he made a goal, you would be using a primary reinforcer. Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned. Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch, among others, are primary reinforcers. Pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Organisms do not lose their drive for these things. For most people, jumping in a cool lake on a very hot day would be reinforcing and the cool lake would be innately reinforcing—the water would cool the person off (a physical need), as well as provide pleasure.
A secondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer. Praise, linked to affection, is one example of a secondary reinforcer, such as when you called out “Great shot!” every time Joaquin made a goal. Another example, money, is only worth something when you can use it to buy other things—either things that satisfy basic needs (food, water, shelter—all primary reinforcers) or other secondary reinforcers. If you were on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you had stacks of money, the money would not be useful if you could not spend it. What about the stickers on the behavior chart? They also are secondary reinforcers.
Sometimes, instead of stickers on a sticker chart, a token is used. Tokens, which are also secondary reinforcers, can then be traded in for rewards and prizes. Entire behavior management systems, known as token economies, are built around the use of these kinds of token reinforcers. Token economies have been found to be very effective at modifying behavior in a variety of settings such as schools, prisons, and mental hospitals.
Everyday Connection: Behavior Modification in Children
Parents and teachers often use behavior modification to change a child’s behavior. Behavior modification uses the principles of operant conditioning to accomplish behavior change so that undesirable behaviors are switched out for more socially acceptable ones. Some teachers and parents create a sticker chart, in which several behaviors are listed. Sticker charts are a form of token economies, as described in the text. Each time children perform the desired behavior, they get a sticker, and after a certain number of stickers, they get a prize, or reinforcer. The goal is to increase acceptable behaviors and decrease misbehavior. Remember, it is better to reinforce desired behaviors than to use punishment. In the classroom, the teacher can reinforce a wide range of behaviors, from students raising their hands, to walking quietly in the hall, to turning in their homework. At home, parents might create a behavior chart that rewards children for things such as putting away toys, brushing their teeth, and helping with dinner. In order for behavior modification to be effective, the reinforcement must be connected with the behavior, the reinforcement must matter to the child, and the process must be performed consistently over time.
Sticker charts are a form of positive reinforcement and a tool for behavior modification. Once this little girl earns a certain number of stickers for demonstrating a desired behavior, she will be rewarded with a trip to the ice cream parlor. (credit: Abigail Batchelder)
Time-out is another popular technique used in behavior modification with children. When a child demonstrates an undesirable behavior, she is removed from the desirable activity at hand. For example, say that Sophia and her brother Mario are playing with building blocks. Sophia throws some blocks at her brother, so you give her a warning that she will go to time-out if she does it again. A few minutes later, she throws more blocks at Mario. You remove Sophia from the room for a few minutes. When she comes back, she doesn’t throw blocks.
There are several important points to consider if you plan to implement time-out as a behavior modification technique. First, make sure the child is being removed from a desirable activity and placed in a less desirable location. If the activity is something undesirable for the child, this technique will backfire because it is more enjoyable for the child to be removed from the activity. Second, the length of the time-out is important. The general rule of thumb is one minute for each year of the child’s age. Sophia is five; therefore, she sits in time-out for five minutes. Setting a timer helps children know how long they have to sit in time-out. Third, using this method should be dependent upon the child’s cognitive and social development, not merely the child’s chronological age. Finally, as a caregiver, keep several guidelines in mind over the course of a time-out: remain calm when directing your child to time-out; ignore your child during time-out (because caregiver attention may reinforce misbehavior), and give the child a hug or a kind word when the time-out is over.
Time-out is a popular form of negative punishment used by caregivers. When a child misbehaves, the child is removed from a desirable activity in an effort to decrease the unwanted behavior. For example, (a) a child might be playing on the playground with friends and push another child; (b) the child who misbehaved would then be removed from the activity for a short period of time. (credit a: modification of work by Simone Ramella; credit b: modification of work by “JefferyTurner”/Flickr)
Reinforcement Schedules
Remember, the best way to teach a person or animal a behavior is to use positive reinforcement. For example, Skinner used positive reinforcement to teach rats to press a lever in a Skinner box. At first, the rat might randomly hit the lever while exploring the box, and out would come a pellet of food. After eating the pellet, what do you think the hungry rat did next? It hit the lever again and received another pellet of food. Each time the rat hit the lever, a pellet of food came out. When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior, it is called continuous reinforcement. This reinforcement schedule is the quickest way to teach someone a behavior, and it is especially effective in training a new behavior. Let’s look at a dog learning to sit. Each time the dog sits, you give the dog a treat. Timing is important here: you will be most successful if you present the reinforcer immediately after the dog sits so that the dog can make an association between the target behavior (sitting) and the reinforcement (getting a treat).
Video Example
Watch this video clip of veterinarian Dr. Sophia Yin shaping a dog’s behavior using the steps outlined above.
Key Takeaways
• Behavior is motivated by the consequences of that behavior.
• Behaviors with satisfying consequences are often repeated, while behaviors with unpleasant consequences are often avoided.
• Conditioning can be done through positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.
• Reinforcement increases a behavior; punishment decreases a behavior.
• Shaping is slowly reinforcing behaviors that are more and more similar to the ideal goal behavior.
1. This chapter was adapted from OpenStax Psychology, and is used under a CC BY 4.0 license. Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]. ↵
2. Thorndike, E. L. (1911). Animal intelligence: Experimental studies. Macmillan Company. ↵
3. Skinner, B. F. (1938). Behavior of organisms. Appleton-Century-Crofts. ↵
4. Skinner, B. F. (1961). Teaching machines. Scientific American, 205(3), 90-112. doi.org/10.2307/1926170.↵
5. Murphy, R. (2017). What is ‘negative punishment’? Definition and real-world examples. https://www.care.com/c/stories/11980/what-is-negative-punishment-definition-and-real-world-examples/. ↵
6. Gerschoff, E. T. (2013). Spanking and child development: We know enough now to stop hitting our children. Child Development Perspectives, 7(3), 133-137. doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12038↵
7. Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 539–579. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.539
1940s: Skinner by Open Stax and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.1%3A_1600s%3A_Autocratic_Parenting.txt |
Harlow and Bowlby: Attachment
Figure 1. A child comfortably rests in their parent’s arms. (Photo Credit: pxhere, CC0 1.0)
Psychosocial development occurs as children form relationships, interact with others, and understand and manage their feelings. In social and emotional development, forming healthy attachments is very important and is the major social milestone of infancy.[1]Attachment is a long-standing connection or bond with others. Developmental psychologists are interested in how infants reach this milestone. They ask questions such questions as: How do parent and infant attachment bonds form? How does neglect affect these bonds? What accounts for children’s attachment differences?
Researchers Harry Harlow, John Bowlby, and Mary Ainsworth conducted studies designed to answer these questions. In the 1950s, Harlow conducted a series of experiments on monkeys. He separated newborn monkeys from their mothers. Each monkey was presented with two surrogate mothers. One surrogate monkey was made out of wire mesh, and she could dispense milk. The other monkey was softer and made from cloth, but did not dispense milk. The findings showed that the monkeys preferred the soft, cuddly cloth monkey, even though she did not provide any nourishment. The baby monkeys spent their time clinging to the cloth monkey and only went to the wire monkey when they needed to be fed. Prior to this study, the medical and scientific communities generally thought that babies become attached to the people who provide their nourishment. However, Harlow concluded that there was more to the mother-child bond than nourishment.[2] Feelings of comfort and security are the critical components of maternal-infant bonding, which leads to healthy psychosocial development.
Video Example
Harlow’s studies of monkeys were performed before modern ethics guidelines were in place, and today his experiments are widely considered to be unethical and even cruel. Watch this video to see footage of Harlow’s monkey studies.
Building on the work of Harlow and others, John Bowlby developed the concept of attachment theory. He defined attachment as the affectional bond or tie that infants form with their mother.[3] An infant must form this bond with a primary caregiver in order to have normal social and emotional development. In addition, Bowlby proposed that this attachment bond is very powerful and continues throughout life. He used the concept of a secure base to define a healthy attachment between parent and child.[4] A secure base is a parental presence that gives the child a sense of safety as he explores his surroundings. Bowlby said that two things are needed for a healthy attachment: the caregiver must be responsive to the child’s physical, social, and emotional needs, and the caregiver and child must engage in mutually enjoyable interactions (See Figure 1.).[5]
Mary Ainsworth
Figure 2. Mutually enjoyable interactions promote the mother-infant bond. (Image Credit: Peter Shanks)
While Bowlby believed that attachment was an all-or-nothing process, Mary Ainsworth’s research showed otherwise.[6] Mary identified the existence of what she calls “attachment behaviors,” which are examples of behaviors demonstrated by insecure children in hopes of establishing or re-establishing an attachment to a presently absent caregiver. ‘Since this behavior occurs uniformly in children, it is a compelling argument for the existence of “innate” or instinctual behaviors in human beings’.[7]
Ainsworth wanted to know if children differ in the ways they bond, and if so, why. To find the answers to these questions, she used the Strange Situation procedure to study attachment between mothers and their infants in 1970. In the Strange Situation, the mother (or primary caregiver) and the infant (age 12-18 months) are placed in a room together. There are toys in the room, and the caregiver and child spend some time alone in the room. After the child has had time to explore one’s surroundings, a stranger enters the room. The primary caregiver then leaves the baby with the stranger. After a few minutes, the caregiver returns to comfort the child.
Figure 3. In secure attachment, the parent provides a secure base for the toddler, allowing him to securely explore his environment. (Image Credit: Kerry Ceszyk)
Based on how the infants/toddlers responded to the separation and reunion, Ainsworth identified three types of parent-child attachments: secure, avoidant, and resistant.[8] A fourth style, known as disorganized attachment, was later described.[9] The most common type of attachment—also considered the healthiest—is called secure attachment (See Figure 2.). In this type of attachment, the toddler prefers their parent over a stranger. The attachment figure is used by the child as a secure base to explore their environment and is sought out in times of stress. Securely attached children were distressed when their caregivers left the room in the Strange Situation experiment, but when their caregivers returned, the securely attached children were happy to see them. Securely attached children have caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to their needs.
With avoidant attachment (sometimes called insecure or anxious-avoidant), the child is unresponsive to the parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if the parent leaves. The toddler reacts to the parent the same way she reacts to a stranger. When the parent does return, the child is slow to show a positive reaction. Ainsworth theorized that these children were most likely to have a caregiver who was insensitive and inattentive to their needs.[10]
In cases of resistant attachment (also called ambivalent or anxious-ambivalent/resistant), children tend to show clingy behavior, but then reject the attachment figure’s attempts to interact with them.[11] These children do not explore the toys in the room, as they are too fearful. During separation in the Strange Situation, they became extremely disturbed and angry with the parent. When the parent returns, the children are upset and difficult to comfort. Resistant attachment is the result of the caregivers’ inconsistent level of response to their child.
Finally, children with disorganized attachment behave oddly in the Strange Situation. They freeze, run around the room in an erratic manner, or try to run away when the caregiver returns.[12] This type of attachment is seen most often in children who have been abused. Research has shown that abuse disrupts a child’s ability to regulate their emotions.
Video Example
Watch this video to view a clip of the Strange Situation. Try to identify which type of attachment baby Lisa exhibits.
While Ainsworth’s research has found support in subsequent studies, it has also met criticism. Some researchers have pointed out that a child’s temperament may have a strong influence on attachment, and others have noted that attachment varies from culture to culture, a factor not accounted for in Ainsworth’s research.[13][14][15]
Key Takeaways
• Harlow: Contact comfort research concerning wire and cloth monkeys.
• Bowlby: Human attachment theory derived from Harlow’s research.
• Attachment: The connection formed between two individuals over time.
• Secure base: A primary caregiver a child views as “home base” who provides the child with security to actively explore one’s environment.
• Ainsworth: Strange Situation research which led to identifying types of attachment: secure, avoidant, disorganized, and resistant attachment.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of Childhood by Lumen Learning, used under a CC BY 4.0 license. ↵
2. Harlow, H. F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13(1), 673-685. ↵
3. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss, vol. 1: Attachment. Basic Books. ↵
4. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. Basic Books. ↵
5. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss, vol. 1: Attachment. Basic Books. ↵
6. Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development,41(1), 49-67. ↵
7. Psychologist World. (2019). Attachment theory. https://www.psychologistworld.com/developmental/attachment-theory
8. Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41(1), 49-67. ↵
9. Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 121-160). University of Chicago Press. ↵
10. Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation. Erlbaum. ↵
11. Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41(1), 49-67. ↵
12. Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 121-160). University of Chicago Press. ↵
13. Gervai, J. (2009). Environmental and genetic influences on early attachment. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 3(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-2000-3-25
14. Harris, J. R. (2009). Attachment theory underestimates the child. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X09000119
15. Van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2008). Cross-cultural patterns of attachment: Universal and contextual dimensions. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 880–905). Guilford Press. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.11%3A_1950s%3A_Harlow_Bowlby_and_Ainsworth.txt |
Piaget: Cognitive Development Theory
Jean Piaget studied how children and youth gradually become able to think logically and scientifically, resulting in his Cognitive Development Theory. Cognition refers to thinking and memory processes, and cognitive development refers to long-term changes in these processes. He was one of the first to recognize and map out the ways in which children’s thought differs from that of adults. His interest in this area began when he was asked to test the IQ of children and began to notice that there was a pattern in their wrong answers.[1]
Piaget believed that children’s intellectual skills change over time based on biological predispositions and their own individual interactions with the world. He was very critical of teacher-directed instruction, believing that teachers or caregivers who take control of the child’s learning place the child into a passive role.[2] According to Piaget, children of differing ages interpret the world differently; therefore, he divided this learning into four stages. His stages assumed a sequence of thinking patterns with these key features:
1. They always happen in the same order.
2. No stage is ever skipped.
3. Each stage is a significant transformation from the stage before it.
4. Each later stage builds upon and incorporates the earlier stages.
Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget described intelligence in infancy as sensorimotor, or based on direct, physical contact via the use of their senses. Infants taste, feel, pound, push, hear, and move in order to experience the world.
Video Example
Watch this video for an example of a child who has not mastered object permanence.
Preoperational Stage
Piaget’s stage that coincides with early childhood is the preoperational stage. The word operational means logical, so these children were thought to be illogical. However, they learn to use language and to think of the world symbolically.
Figure 1. A child pretending to buy items at a toy grocery store. (Photo Credit: Ermalfaro, CC BY SA 4.0.)
Pretend Play
Pretending is a favorite activity during the preoperational stage. A toy has qualities beyond the way it was designed to function and can now be used to stand for a character or object unlike anything for which it was originally intended. A teddy bear, for example, can be a baby or the queen of a faraway land!
Video Example
Watch this Preoperational Stage example video. Note that children in the Preoperational Stage exhibit symbolic play, egocentrism, lack of understanding conservation tasks, and inability to understand reversibility.
Egocentrism
Egocentrism in early childhood refers to the tendency of young children to think that everyone sees things in the same way as them. This trait is particularly common in the preoperational stage.
Concrete Operational Stage
Figure 2. A child with scissors (Photo Source: Flickr, CC BY 2.0.)
This stage takes place from around 7 years old to 11 years of age and is characterized by the development of organizedand rational thinking. The child is now mature enough to use logical thought or operations (e.g., rules) but can only apply logic to physical or “concrete” objects and events (hence the name “concrete operational”). Children gain the abilities of conservation (number, area, volume, orientation) and understand that when concrete objects change in appearance, they still contain the same volume, area, number, and orientation and can return to their original state (reversibility).[3]
Their rules of thinking still seem very basic by adult standards and usually operate unconsciously, but they allow children to solve problems more systematically than before, and therefore to be successful with many academic tasks. For example, a child may unconsciously follow the rule: “If nothing is added or taken away, then the amount of something stays the same.” This simple principle helps children to understand certain arithmetic tasks, such as adding or subtracting zero from a number.
Video Examples
Watch this video for an example of a child who has not mastered concrete operations. Note that this child does not understand conservation or reversibility.
For more information, watch this video about Concrete Operations.
Formal Operational Stage
During this stage, adolescents are able to understand abstract principles. They are no longer limited by what can be directly seen or heard and are able to contemplate constructs such as beauty, love, freedom, and morality. Adolescents demonstrate hypothetical-deductive reasoning, which is developing hypotheses based on what might logically occur. They are able to think about all the possibilities in a situation beforehand, and then test them systematically because they are able to engage in scientific thinking.
Video Example
Watch this informational video about the Formal Operations Stage with a focus on Child Psychology for more information.
Table 1. Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Name of Stage Description of Stage
Sensorimotor Stage During the sensorimotor stage, children rely on the use of the senses and motor skills. From birth until about 2 years, the infant learns by tasting, smelling, touching, hearing, and moving objects around. This is a hands-on type of knowledge.
Preoperational Stage In the preoperational stage, children from ages 2 to 7 years become able to think about the world using symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something else. The use of language, whether it is in the form of words or gestures, facilitates knowing and communicating about the world. This is the hallmark of preoperational learning and it typically occurs in early childhood. However, these children are preoperational or pre-logical. They still do not understand how the physical world operates. They may, for instance, fear that they will go down the drain if they sit at the front of the bathtub, even though they are too big.
Concrete Operational Stage Children in the concrete operational stage, ages 7 to 11 years, develop the ability to think logically about the physical world. Middle childhood is a time of understanding concepts such as size, distance, and constancy of matter, and cause and effect relationships. A child knows that a scrambled egg is still an egg and that 8 ounces of water are still 8 ounces no matter what shape of glass contains it.
Formal Operational Stage During the formal operational stage children, at about 12 years of age, acquire the ability to think logically about concrete and abstract events. The teenager who has reached this stage is able to consider possibilities and to contemplate ideas about situations that have never been directly encountered. More abstract understanding of religious ideas, morals, or ethics, and abstract principles such as freedom and dignity can be considered.
Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory
Critics have discovered a considerable variation in what children are able to do at various ages in different parts of the world and in different cultures. Further, many contend that Piaget may have underestimated what children are capable of given the right circumstances.[4] For instance, he believed that learning peaked around the age of 12 years, designated by his last stage—formal operational stage.
Key Takeaways
• Children develop cognitively through stages—sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
• Each stage must be mastered before moving on to the next stage.
• Children’s intellectual skills change based on their direct experiences with the environment.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of Child Growth and Development by Paris, Ricardo, & Rymond, and Child Development by Lumen Learning, used under a CC BY 4.0 license. ↵
2. Crain, W. (2005). Theories of development concepts and applications (5th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. ↵
3. Lally, M., & Vlentine-French, S. (2017). Lifespan development:
A psychological perspective. College of Lake County Foundation. http://dept.clcillinois.edu/psy/LifespanDevelopment.pdf.
4. Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Lecture transcript: Developmental theories. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/lifespandevelopment2/chapter/lesson-2-lecture-transcript/. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.12%3A_1950s%3A_Piaget.txt |
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
Erik Erikson suggested that our relationships and society’s expectations motivate much of our behavior in his theory of psychosocial development. Unlike Freud, Erikson believed that we are not driven by unconscious urges. He is considered the father of developmental psychology because his model gives us a guideline for the entire life span and suggests certain primary psychological and social concerns throughout life.[1]
Erikson expanded on Freud’s theory by emphasizing the importance of culture in parenting practices and motivations. He also added three stages of social and emotional domains regarding adult development. He believed that we are aware of what motivates us throughout life and that the ego has greater importance in guiding our actions than the id does.[2] We make conscious choices in life and these choices focus on meeting certain social and cultural needs rather than purely biological ones. Humans are motivated, for instance, by the need to feel that the world is a trustworthy place, that we are capable individuals, that we can make a contribution to society, and that we have lived a meaningful life. These are all psychosocial issues.
Figure 1. Erikson’s Lifespan Stages (Image Source: Brianne Thompson)
Erikson divided the lifespan into eight stages. In each stage, we have a major psychosocial task to accomplish or crisis to overcome. Successful completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy. Erikson believed that our personality continues to take shape throughout our lifespan as we face these challenges in living.[3]
These eight stages form a foundation for discussions on emotional and social development during the life span. However, these stages or crises can occur more than once and can occur at different ages.[4] For instance, a person may struggle with a lack of trust beyond infancy under certain circumstances. Erikson’s theory has been criticized for focusing so heavily on stages and assuming that the completion of one stage is a prerequisite for the next development crisis.[5] His theory also focuses on the social expectations that are found in some cultures, but not in others. For instance, the idea that adolescence is a time of searching for identity might translate well in the middle-class culture of the United States, but not as well in cultures where the transition into adulthood coincides with puberty through rites of passage and where adult roles offer fewer choices. Here is a brief overview of the eight stages[6]:
Table 1. Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
Name of Stage and Age Description of Stage
Trust vs. mistrust (0-1 year) The infant must have basic needs met in a consistent way in order to feel that the world is a trustworthy place.
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (1-2 years) Mobile toddlers have newfound freedom that they like to exercise and by being allowed to do so, they learn some basic independence.
Initiative vs. guilt (3-5 years) Preschoolers like to initiate activities and emphasize doing things “all by myself.”
Industry vs. inferiority (6-11 years) School-aged children focus on accomplishments and begin making comparisons between themselves and their classmates.
Identity vs. role confusion (adolescence) Teenagers try to gain a sense of identity as they experiment with various roles, beliefs, and ideas.
Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood) In our 20s and 30s, we make some of our first long-term commitments in intimate relationships.
Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood) In the 40s through the early 60s we focus on being productive at work and home and are motivated by wanting to feel that we’ve made a contribution to society.
Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood) We look back on our lives and hope to like what we see — that we have lived well and have a sense of integrity because we lived according to our beliefs.
Trust vs. Mistrust
Figure 2. An infant grimacing in laughter. (Photo Source: Engin Akyurt on Pixabay)
From birth to 12 months of age, infants must learn that adults can be trusted. This occurs when adults meet a child’s basic needs for survival. Infants are dependent upon their caregivers, so caregivers who are consistently and appropriately responsive and sensitive to their infant’s needs help their baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will see the world as a safe, predictable place. Unresponsive or inconsistent caregivers who do not meet their baby’s needs can elicit feelings of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; their baby may see the world as unpredictable and unsafe. If infants are treated cruelly or their needs are not met appropriately, they will likely grow up with a sense of mistrust for people in the world.
Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
As toddlers (ages 1–3 years) begin to explore their world, they learn that they can control their actions and act on their environment to get results. They begin to show clear preferences for certain elements of the environment, such as food, toys, and clothing. A toddler’s main task is to resolve the issue of autonomy vs. shame and doubt by working to establish independence. This is the “me do it” stage. For example, we might observe a budding sense of autonomy in a 2-year-old child who wants to choose her clothes and dress herself. Although her outfits might not be appropriate for the situation, her input in such basic decisions has an effect on her sense of independence. If denied the opportunity to act on her environment (within developmentally-appropriate measures), she may begin to doubt her abilities, which could lead to low self-esteem and feelings of shame.
Figure 3. A mother helps her son cut his food.
Initiative vs. Guilt
Once children reach the preschool stage (ages 3–6 years), they are typically capable of initiating activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play. According to Erikson, preschool children must resolve the task of initiative vs. guilt. By learning to plan and achieve goals while interacting with others, preschool children can master this task. Initiative, a sense of ambition and responsibility, occurs when parents allow a child to explore within limits and then support the child’s choice. These children tend to develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who are unsuccessful at this stage—with their initiative stifled by over-controlling caregivers—may develop feelings of guilt.
Industry vs. Inferiority
During the elementary school stage (ages 6–12 years), children face the task of industry vs. inferiority. Many children begin to compare themselves to their peers to see how they measure up. They either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate because they feel that they don’t measure up. If children do not learn to get along with others or have negative experiences at home or with peers, an inferiority complex might develop into adolescence and adulthood.
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Figure 4. High school cliques may be a movie cliche, but adolescent relationships do influence identity. (Photo Source: Eliott Reyna on Unsplash)
In adolescence (ages 12–18 years), children face the task of identity vs. role confusion. According to Erikson, an adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self. Adolescents struggle with questions such as “Who am I?” and “What do I want to do with my life?” Along the way, most adolescents try on many different “selves” or identities to see which ones fit; they explore various roles and ideas, set goals, and attempt to discover their “adult” selves.
Adolescents who are successful at this stage have a strong sense of identity and are able to remain true to their beliefs and values in the face of problems and other people’s perspectives. When adolescents are apathetic, do not make a conscious search for identity, or are pressured to conform to their caregivers’ ideas for the future, they may develop a weak sense of self and experience role confusion. They may be unsure of their identity and confused about the future. Teenagers who have difficulty adopting a positive role may struggle to “find” themselves as adults.
Intimacy vs. Isolation
People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are concerned with intimacy vs. isolation. After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, many of us are ready to share our life with others. However, if the previous developmental stages have not been successfully resolved, young adults may have trouble creating and maintaining healthy relationships with others. Erikson said that we must have a strong sense of self before we can form strong, successful intimate relationships. Adults who do not develop a positive self-concept in adolescence may experience feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation.
Generativity vs. Stagnation
When people reach their 40s, they enter the time known as middle adulthood, which extends to the mid-60s. The social task of middle adulthood is generativity vs. stagnation. Generativity involves finding your “life’s work” and fostering the development of others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and rearing children. During this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next generation, often through childbirth and caring for others; they also engage in meaningful and productive work which positively benefits society. Those who do not master this task may experience stagnation and feel as though they are not leaving a mark on the world in a meaningful way; they may have little connection with others and little interest in productivity and self-improvement.
Figure 5. An elderly person holding a baby doll may be reflecting on an earlier stage in their life.
Integrity vs. Despair
From the mid-60s to the end of life, we are in a period of development known as late adulthood. Erikson’s task at this stage is called integrity vs. despair. He said that people in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure. People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what “would have,” “should have,” and “could have” been. They may face the end of their lives with feelings of bitterness, depression, and despair.
Key Takeaways
Erikson was a student of Freud but focused on conscious thought.
• His stages of psychosocial development address the entire lifespan and suggest a primary psychosocial crisis in some cultures that adults can use to understand how to support children’s social and emotional development.
• Certain cultures may need to resolve the stages in different ways based upon their cultural and survival needs.
• During each of Erikson’s eight development stages, two conflicting ideas must be resolved successfully in order for a person to become a confident, contributing member of society. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy.
• The stages include: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of Child Growth and Development by Paris, Ricardo, and Rymond, used under a CC BY 4.0 license. ↵
2. Erikson, E. (1959). Identity and the life cycle. International Universities Press. ↵
3. Erikson, E. (1959). Identity and the life cycle. International Universities Press. ↵
4. Erikson, E. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. W.W. Norton & Company. ↵
5. Marcia, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson, (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 159-187). John Wiley & Sons. ↵
6. Erikson's Eight Stages is adapted from Lumen Learning's8 Stages of Psychosocial Development, used under a CC BY SA license. ↵
1960s: Erikson by Jennifer Paris, Antoinette Ricardo, Dawn Rymond, Lumen Learning, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.13%3A_1960s%3A_Erikson.txt |
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory and Observational Learning
Observational learning is a component of Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, which asserts that individuals can learn new responses via observation of key others’ behaviors.[1] Observational learning does not necessarily require reinforcement, but instead hinges on the presence of others, referred to as social models. Social models typically possess a higher status or authority compared to the observer, examples of which include parents, teachers, or police officers.[2]
Bandura theorized that the observational learning process consists of four parts. The first is attention-one must pay attention to what one is observing in order to learn. The second part is retention. To learn, one must be able to retain the observed behavior into one’s memory. The third part of observational learning, initiation, acknowledges that the learner must be able to execute, or initiate the learned behavior. Lastly, the observer must possess the motivation to engage in observational learning.
Figure 1. Children observe a social model (an experienced chess player) to learn the rules of the game. (Photo Source: David R. Tribble, CC BY-SA 3.0.)
Imagine a child walking up to a group of children playing a game on the playground. The game looks fun, but it is new and unfamiliar. Rather than joining the game immediately, the child opts to sit back and watch the other children play a round or two. While observing the others, the child takes note of the ways in which they behave while playing the game. By watching the behavior of the other kids, the child can figure out the rules of the game and even some strategies for performing well at the game. This is called observational learning.
In the example here, the child must want to learn how to play the game in order to properly engage in observational learning. The children who already know how to play the game could be thought of as being authorities—and are therefore social models—even though they are the same age as the observer.
By observing how the social models behave, an individual is able to learn how to act in a certain situation. Other examples of observational learning might include a child learning to place her napkin in her lap by watching her parents at the dinner table, or a child learning how to use a pair of scissors after watching another child successfully use a pair of scissors.
The Bobo Doll Experiment
Figure 2. Bobo doll diagram (Image Source: Sémhur, CC BY SA 3.0)
Researchers have conducted countless experiments designed to explore observational learning, the most famous of which is Albert Bandura’s “Bobo doll experiment.” In this experiment, Bandura had children individually observe an adult social model interact with a clown doll (“Bobo”).[3]
For one group of children, the adult interacted aggressively with Bobo: punching it, kicking it, throwing it, and even hitting it in the face with a toy mallet. Another group of children watched the adult interact with other toys, displaying no aggression toward Bobo. In both instances, the adult left and the children were allowed to interact with Bobo on their own.
Bandura found that children exposed to the aggressive social model were significantly more likely to behave aggressively toward Bobo, hitting and kicking him, compared to those exposed to the non-aggressive model. The researchers concluded that the children in the aggressive group used their observations of the adult social model’s behavior to determine that aggressive behavior toward Bobo was acceptable.
Video Example
While reinforcement was not required to elicit the children’s behavior in Bandura’s first experiment, it is important to acknowledge that consequences do play a role within observational learning. A future adaptation of this study demonstrated that children in the aggression group showed less aggressive behavior if they witnessed the adult model receive punishment for aggressing against Bobo.[4] Bandura referred to this process as vicarious reinforcement, as the children did not experience the reinforcement or punishment directly, yet were still influenced by observing it.
Key Takeaways
• Individuals learn through observing others.
• Bobo doll experiment—children were more aggressive toward the Bobo doll if they witnessed models being aggressive.
Further Reading
Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning: It’s not what you think it is. American Psychologist, 43(1), 151–160.
Bouton, M. E. (2007). Learning and behavior: A contemporary synthesis. Sinauer Associates.
Bouton, M. E. (2009). Learning theory. In B. J. Sadock, V. A. Sadock, & P. Ruiz (Eds.), Kaplan & Sadock’s comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (9th ed., pp. 647-658). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Domjan, M. (2010). The principles of learning and behavior (6th ed.). Wadsworth.
1. Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Prentice Hall. ↵
2. This chapter is an adaptation of Conditioning and Learning by Mark E. Bouton, used under a CC BY NC SA 4.0 license. ↵
3. Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through the imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 575–582. ↵
4. Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. (1963). Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66(1), 3-11. ↵
1960s: Bandura by Mark Bouton and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.14%3A_1960s%3A_Bandura.txt |
Rudolf Dreikurs
Rudolf Dreikurs was an American psychiatrist and educator who developed Alfred Adler’s system of individual psychology into a pragmatic method for understanding the purposes of misbehavior in children and stimulating cooperative behavior without punishment or reward. His primary focus was on pre-adolescents, and he reasoned that their problematic behavior resulted from feelings of lack of significance in their social group. He described four “mistaken goals” that such children would resort to, and outlined the most effective ways that teachers and parents could respond.[1]
He saw the family as the first social setting in which education takes place, with the school environment as an extension of the family. Thus, his techniques for preventing misbehavior and encouraging appropriate behavior could be applied equally in both settings. Dreikurs’ work continues through the training centers he and his colleagues established to train counselors in addressing the social problems of youth.
Individual Psychology
Dreikurs was often credited with “elaborating, building, and working out in a clear, systematic and logical form, the basic ideas of Individual Psychology.”[2] While most agree that his greatest contribution was in the application and practice of individual psychology, some felt he also contributed to the creation of the original theory. He is most well-known for his simplification and application of Adler’s principles for use by parents and educators. In 1964, he and Vicki Soltz wrote Children: The Challenge, and in 1968, he and Loren Grey wrote A Parent’s Guide to Child Discipline.
Figure 1. Sports is often seen as a method of building social competence in children and adolescents. (Photo Source: Deeann Arant, CC0 1.0)
Adler and Dreikurs firmly believed that encouragement was essential to the improvement of behavior and human relationships. Their basic assumption was that human behavior is not predetermined by genetics, or merely the result of outside forces beyond one’s control. They argued that behavior is a result of a search for significance within a social setting. Dreikurs said “anticipation influences outcome—the fear of making a mistake leads to mistakes. Anyone who can alter the expectations of people can change their behavior.”[3] Accordingly, encouragement and positive support have a direct correlation with improved behavior in others.
Adlerian Parent Education aims to give children the skills to meet life challenges in a constructive, positive way and the courage to circumvent the many pitfalls and dangers that confront children in society. It supports parents by providing them with tools to ease and handle the stress of being a parent and to raise children with courage and compassion.
Dreikurs believed that all behavior has a purpose. He constructed what is often considered the most effective tool in helping to understand children’s behavior: The Four Goals of Misbehavior and the techniques of effectively revealing these to a misbehaving child. The development of the system of natural and logical consequences and the application of these techniques may well be Dreikurs’ finest contribution to the betterment of human society.
The Roots of Misbehavior
Figure 2. Children squabbling in a public environment may be dealing with internal conflicts they don’t yet understand. (Photo Source: Jtneill, CC by 2.0)
Dreikurs suggested that human misbehavior is the result of not having one’s basic needs of belonging to, and contributing to, a social group met. The child then resorts to one of four mistaken goals: attention, power, revenge, or avoidance of failure.
Dreikurs’ main theory dealt with the misbehavior of pre-adolescents. He reasoned that these students will “act out” based on these four, principled “mistaken goals.”[4] The first reason for their misbehavior is that they desire attention. If they do not receive the attention they crave through their actions (good or bad, e.g., doing well on a paper or throwing a tantrum), they move onto seeking power (e.g., they may refuse to complete a paper). If their power struggle is thwarted, they seek revenge. If even revenge does not achieve the desired response, they begin to feel inadequate.
His books list many ways to combat these behaviors. The first step is for teachers to identify the mistaken goal while also noting their own response to the misbehavior, and observe the students’ reactions. Second, a teacher should confront the mistaken goal by providing an explanation of it along with a discussion of the faulty logic involved. By doing so, students are given an opportunity to examine and change their behavior. Third, Dreikurs emphasized the importance of avoiding power struggles with students. One way is simply by withdrawing as an authority figure; teachers can also redirect students’ ambitions for power by having them participate in making decisions or giving directions. This is called “democratic teaching.”[5]
Dreikurs also recommended taking positive steps against revenge-seeking behavior. The teacher is instructed to set up situations where the students can exhibit talents and strengths and ultimately experience acceptance. Lastly, teachers should encourage students who display inadequacy by offering these students encouragement and support for even minimal efforts.[6] His overall goal was that students would learn to cooperate reasonably, without being penalized or rewarded, because they would feel that they are valuable contributors to the classroom.
Logical and Natural Consequences
Figure 3. A teenage girl smoking. (Photo Source: Valentin Ottone, CC by 2.0)
Dreikurs described two types of consequences: logical and natural. Logical consequences refer to “reasonable results that follow behavior either desirable or non-desirable.” They typically require students to make right of what they have done wrong. For example, if students do not complete their work during class, they are required to do it for homework. In a democratic classroom, the students would know in advance the consequences of their misbehavior because as part of the classroom they helped formulate the consequences.
Natural consequences differ from logical consequences in that the results following the behavior occur naturally. For example, if a student tips his chair backward and falls, leaving him hurt or embarrassed, this would be a natural consequence, because the hurt and embarrassment alone is a sufficient consequence for his misbehavior.
Dreikurs did not consider punishment an effective method of discipline. He viewed punishment as an action taken by the teacher as an act of revenge to show the students who is in charge. He believed that punishment was humiliating and offensive to students.
Dreikurs believed in prevention, and his main focus was on constructive behavior rather than coercive discipline. He recommended that teachers have a democratic classroom and teaching style to help students gain a sense of belonging which is the genuine goal. In this manner, students would have a social interest: a condition in which students would realize themselves that it is to their advantage to contribute to the welfare of a group. Therefore, to understand children, they must be observed in a social setting and in relationship to others, to discover the reasons for their behavior.
Key Takeaways
• Children who do not feel the basic need of belonging to a social group turn to attention, power, revenge, and avoidance of failure.
• Misbehavior can be modified without punishment through implementing natural and logical consequences.
• Dreikurs focused on pre-adolescents’ reasons for their problematic behaviors and how teachers and parents can respond to it.
• Humans have a basic need for unconditional positive regard and acceptance.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of Rudolf Dreikurs by contributors to the the Wikimedia Foundation and New World Encyclopedia, and is used under a CC BY SA 3.0 license. ↵
2. Adler University. (n.d.). Rudolf Dreikurs. https://www.adler.edu/page/community-engagement/center-for-adlerian-practice-and-scholarship/history/rudolf-dreikurs.
3. Dreikurs, R. (1968). Psychology in the classroom: A manual for teachers. Harper & Row. ↵
4. Dreikurs, R. (1968). Psychology in the classroom: A manual for teachers. Harper & Row. ↵
5. Dreikurs, R., Grunwald, B. B., & Pepper, F. C. (1982). Maintaining sanity in the classroom. Harper Collins. ↵
6. Dreikurs, R., & Cassell, P. (1999). Discipline without tears: A reassuring and practical guide to teaching your child positive behavior (2nd ed.). Plume. (Original work published 1991). ↵
1960s: Dreikurs by New World Encyclopedia, Wikimedia contributors, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.15%3A_1960s%3A_Dreikurs.txt |
Bioecological Systems Theory
Urie Bronfenbrenner was one of the first psychologists to adopt a holistic perspective on human development via his Bioecological Systems Theory, which had a widespread influence on the way psychologists and other social scientists approach the study of human beings and their environments.[1]
Figure 1. Children lounging on a rock. (Photo Source: Maj Heath Allen)
Bronfenbrenner emphasized the importance of the social environments in which children are raised, and saw the breakdown of the family as the leading cause of the ever-growing rates of alienation, apathy, rebellion, delinquency, and violence among American youth. His work led to new directions in research and the design of programs and policies affecting the well-being of children and families.
Figure 2. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological theory diagram (Image Source: Alyla.K, CC BY SA)
Bronfenbrenner’s primary theoretical contribution was his Bioecological Systems Theory, in which he identified four types of nested systems.[2] Bronfenbrenner recognized that is it necessary to understand how not only the family or school influences human development, but how broader influences do as well.
The four systems are:
• Microsystem: Immediate environments such as family, school, peer group, neighborhood, and childcare environments.
• Mesosystem: A system comprised of connections between immediate environments (i.e., a child’s home and school).
• Exosystem: External environmental settings which only indirectly affect development, such as parent’s workplace.
• Macrosystem: The larger cultural context (Eastern vs. Western culture, national economy, political culture, subculture).
Later a fifth system was added:
• Chronosystem: The patterning of environmental events and transitions over the course of life.
Each system contains roles, norms, and rules that can powerfully shape development (See Table 1.). For example, in order to understand the issues a learner is having with math, we can’t simply look at that individual and what challenges they face directly with the subject. We have to look at the interactions that occur between the teacher and the child. Perhaps the teacher needs to make modifications as well. The teacher may be responding to regulations made by the school, such as new expectations for students in math or constraints on time that interferes with the teacher’s ability to instruct. These new demands may be a response to national efforts to promote math and science deemed important by political leaders in response to relations with other countries at a particular time in history.
Table 1. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model
Name of System Description of System
Microsystems Microsystems impact a child directly. These are the people with whom the child interacts such as parents, peers, and teachers. The relationship between individuals and those around them need to be considered. For example, to appreciate what is going on with a student in math, the relationship between the student and teacher should be known.
Mesosystems Mesosystems are interactions between environments closely surrounding the individual. The relationship between parents and schools, for example, will indirectly affect the child.
Exosystem Larger institutions such as the mass media or the healthcare system are referred to as the ecosystem. These have an impact on families, peers, and schools that operate under policies and regulations found in these institutions.
Macrosystems We find cultural values and beliefs at the level of macrosystems. These larger ideals and expectations inform institutions that will ultimately impact the individual.
Chronosystem All of this happens in a historical context referred to as the chronosystem. Cultural values change over time, as do the policies of educational institutions or governments in certain political climates. Development occurs at a point in time.
According to the Bioecological theory, if the relationships in the immediate microsystem break down, the child will not have the tools to explore other parts of his environment. Children looking for the affirmations that should be present in the child/parent (or child/other important adult) relationship look for attention in inappropriate places. These deficiencies tend to show themselves in adolescence as anti-social behavior, lack of self-discipline, and inability to provide self-direction.[3]
The major assumptions of The (Bio)Ecology of Human Development, have had widespread influence on the way psychologists and other social scientists approach the study of human beings and their environments.[4] It has been said that before Bronfenbrenner, child psychologists studied the child, sociologists examined the family, anthropologists the society, economists the economic framework of the times, and political scientists the political structure.
As a result of Bronfenbrenner’s groundbreaking work in human ecology, these environments, from the family to economic and political structures, have come to be viewed as part of the life course from childhood through adulthood. The “bioecological” approach to human development broke down barriers among the social sciences and built bridges between the disciplines that have allowed findings to emerge about which key elements in the larger social structure, and across societies, are vital for optimal human development.
The Human Ecology Framework
Figure 3. Protests for gun reform in the United States. (Photo Source: Lorie Shaull on Flickr, CC by SA 2.0)
The human ecology framework assumes that families interact within multiple environments that mutually influence each other. These environments include the biophysical (personal variables), the microsystem (the systems in immediate surroundings, such as family, neighborhood, church, work, or school), the mesosystem (the ways in which these immediate systems connect, such as the relationships between family and work), the exosystem (the larger social system, such as the stress of another family member’s job), and the macrosystem (the cultural values and the larger social system, such as immigration policy that influences admission and social system access).[6]
In the context of a refugee family, the family might be influenced by their biophysical (e.g., whether or not members were injured as they fled the persecution), their microsystem (e.g., parental conflict while fleeing), their mesosystem (e.g., teachers and school personnel who are struggling with their own trauma from fleeing conflict and thus their ability to provide robust services is impaired), their exosystem (e.g., local leaders who do not consult with women living in shelters regarding their resources needs and don’t provide feminine hygiene products or children’s toys), and countless other environments.[7] The family may have access to and be able to directly influence their mesosystem and at the same time feel powerless to make changes in the exosystem. Each of these environments will contribute to their coping.
Figure 4. Protesting for immigrants. (Photo Source: Minneapolis protest against Arizona immigrant law SB 1070, CC BY 2.0.)
With its focus on interaction within multiple environments, the human ecology framework is an incredibly useful lens to employ cross-cultural contexts such as when considering immigrant families. For example, a researcher could ask, “How do Hmong immigrant families manage financial resources in their new environment in the United States?” and “How did Hmong families manage their financial resources while still living in Laos?” The assumptions and central concepts of human ecology theory would apply equally in either culture. The needs, values, and environment would be sensitively identified within each culture.[8]
Additionally, human ecology theory assumes that families are intentional in their decision-making and that they work toward biological sustenance, economic maintenance, and psychosocial function. As patterns in the social environment are more and more threatening to the family’s quality of life in these three areas, the system will be more and more likely to seek change, possibly by a move to a new country.
The family system has certain needs, including physical needs for resources and interpersonal needs for relationships. If their current situation is not meeting these needs, the family system will engage in management to meet these needs within their value system.
Key Takeaways
• Bioecological Systems Theory—the study of how individual development can be shaped by one’s interactions with the various systems and how an individual can impact the nested systems.
• Five nested systems: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, and Chronosystem.
• Each system contains roles, norms, and rules that can impact human development.
• Head Start educates and provides services to parents and children to address multiple systems and domains of development.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of Urie Bronfenbrenner at the New World Encyclopedia, by contributors to Wikimedia, used under a CC BY SA 3.0 license. ↵
2. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. Annals of Child Development, 6(1), 187-249. ↵
3. Addison, J. T. (1992). Urie Bronfenbrenner. Human Ecology, 20(2), 16-20. ↵
4. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1981). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press. ↵
5. Lang, S. S. (2005, September 26). Urie Bronfenbrenner, father of Head Start program and pre-eminent 'human ecologist,' dies at age 88. Cornell Chronicle. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2005/09/head-start-founder-urie-bronfenbrenner-dies-88.
6. Human Ecology Framework is an adaptation of Family Theories: A New Direction for Research with Resettled Populations by Jaime Ballard, Elizabeth Wieling, and Catherine Solheim, used under a CC BY 4.0 license. ↵
7. Hoffman, M. A., & Kruczek, T. (2011). A bioecological model of mass trauma: Individual, community, and societal effects. The Counseling Psychologist, 39(8), 1087-1127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000010397932. ↵
8. Solheim, C. A., & Yang, P. N. D. (2010). Understanding generational differences in financial literacy in Hmong immigrant families. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal 38(4), 435-454. ↵
1970s: Bronfenbrenner by New World Encyclopedia, Wikimedia contributors, Jaime Ballard, Elizabeth Wieling, Catherine Solheim, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.16%3A_1970s%3A_Bronfenbrenner.txt |
Galinsky’s Six Stages of Parenthood
Ellen Galinsky, a researcher who studies changing family dynamics, was one of the first scholars to emphasize the development of parents themselves, how they respond to their children’s development, and how they grow as parents.[1] Parenthood is an experience that transforms one’s identity as one takes on new roles. Children’s growth and development force parents to change their roles. They must develop new skills and abilities in response to children’s development. Galinsky identified six stages of parenthood that focus on different tasks and goals (See Table 1.).[2]
Table 1. Galinsky’s Stages of Parenthood
Stage Age of Child Main Tasks and Goals
Stage 1: The Image-Making Stage Planning for a child; Pregnancy Prospective parents consider what it means to be a parent and plan for changes to accommodate a child.
Stage 2: The Nurturing Stage Infancy Parents develop an attachment relationship with the child and adapt to the new baby.
Stage 3: The Authority Stage Toddler and pre-school Parents create rules and figure out how to effectively guide their child’s behavior.
Stage 4: The Interpretive Stage Middle childhood Parents help their children interpret their experiences within the social world beyond the family.
Stage 5: The Interdependent Stage Adolescence Parents renegotiate their relationship with their children to allow for shared power in decision-making.
Stage 6: The Departure Stage Early adulthood Parents evaluate their successes and failures as parents as their children become independent.
According to Galinsky, all people have the innate desire to learn. There are seven essential life skills that we learn including focus and self control, perspective taking (understanding how others think), communicating, making connections (creatively), critical thinking, taking on challenges, and self-directed, engaged learning.
Video Example
The video below showcases how we learn these seven essential life skills and why they are important in the 21st century.
1. The Image-Making Stage
Prospective parents enter the image-making stage when they (a) think about and form images about their roles as parents, (b) contemplate what will emerge as a result of parenthood, and (c) prepare for changes associated adding an infant to their family. Future parents develop ideas about what it will be like to be a parent and what type of parent they want to be. Individuals may evaluate their relationships with their own parents as a model for their upcoming roles as parents.
2. The Nurturing Stage
Figure 1. A parent holding her infant child. (Photo Credit: Jonathan Borba, Pexels License)
The second stage, the nurturing stage, occurs at the birth of the baby. A parent’s main goal during this stage is to develop an attachment relationship with their baby. Parents must adapt their romantic relationships, their relationships with their other children, and their relationships with their own parents to include the new infant. Some parents feel attached to their baby immediately, but for other parents, this occurs more gradually. Parents may have imagined their infant in specific ways, but they now have to reconcile those images with their actual baby. In incorporating their relationship with their child into their other relationships, parents often have to reshape their conceptions of themselves and their identity. Parenting responsibilities are the most demanding during infancy because infants are completely dependent on caregiving.
3. The Authority Stage
The authority stage occurs when children are 2 years old until about 4 or 5 years old. In this stage, parents make decisions about how much authority to exert over their children’s behavior. Parents must establish rules to guide their child’s behavior and development. They have to decide how strictly they should enforce rules and what to do when rules are broken.
4. The Interpretive Stage
Figure 2. A family with children of various ages.
The interpretive stage occurs when children enter school (preschool or kindergarten) and lasts until the beginning of adolescence. Parents interpret their children’s experiences as they are increasingly exposed to the world outside of the family. Parents answer their children’s questions, provide explanations, and determine what behaviors and values to teach. They decide what experiences to provide their children in terms of schooling, neighborhood, and extracurricular activities. By this time, parents have experience in the parenting role and often reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as parents, review their images of parenthood, and determine how realistic they have been. Parents have to negotiate how involved to be with their children, when to step in, and when to encourage children to make choices independently.
5. The Interdependent Stage
Parents of teenagers are in the interdependent stage. They must redefine their authority and renegotiate their relationship with their adolescent as the children increasingly make decisions independent of parental control and authority. On the other hand, parents do not permit their adolescent children to have complete autonomy over their decision-making and behavior, and thus adolescents and parents must adapt their relationship to allow for greater negotiation and discussion about rules and limits.
6. The Departure Stage
During the departure stage of parenting, parents evaluate their entire parenting experience. They prepare for their child’s departure, redefine their identity as the parent of an adult child, and assess their parenting accomplishments and failures. This stage forms a transition to a new era in parents’ lives. This stage usually spans a long time period from when the oldest child moves away (and often returns) until the youngest child leaves. The parenting role must be redefined as a less central role in a parent’s identity.
Despite the interest in the development of parents, little research has examined developmental changes in parents’ experiences and behaviors over time. Thus, it is not clear whether these theoretical stages are generalizable to parents of different races, ages, cultures, and religions, nor do we have empirical data on the factors that influence individual differences in these stages. On a practical note, how-to books and websites geared toward parental development should be evaluated with caution, as not all advice provided is supported by research.
Figure 3. When a child achieves a new level of independence and leaves the home it marks another turning point in the identity of a parent. (Photo Source: State Farm, licensed CC BY 2.0)
Key Takeaways
• Parents’ roles pass through stages as children develop.
• Parenthood stages—image-making, nurturing, authority, interpretive, interdependent, and departure.
1. Galinsky, E. (1987). The six stages of parenthood. Perseus Books. ↵
2. This chapter is an adaptation of The Developing Parentby Marissa L. Diener and is used under a CC BY NC SA license.
1980s: Galinsky by Marissa Diener and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.17%3A_1980s%3A_Galinsky.txt |
Jacques Rousseau and Childlike Innocence
Figure 1. Photo of a painting by Bouguereau: “L’Innocence”
During the eighteenth century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views started to change parenting practices. Rousseau contended that children were inherently innocent (not sinful, as Hobbes believed), weak, and easily tempted. He believed that humans were born pure until one’s interactions with the environment caused negative effects on one’s development.[1] Rousseau also believed that children needed protection from child labor and negative influences within civilization.
Rousseau’s work is credited as being the first developmental account of childhood via his emphasis on maturation and stages of development:[2]
• Childhood (0 to 12 years): children are guided by simple impulses and simply react to their surroundings.
• Pre-Adolescence (12 to 16 years): children begin to develop reason and are able to comprehend more abstract ideas.
• Puberty and Adulthood (16 years and onward): children develop into adults that can navigate society and its moral issues.
These stages elicited guidelines outlining “developmentally-appropriate” practices in parenting and education. Rousseau’s work also emphasized the importance of play and teaching within the early years of childhood education:[3]
“When the child flies a kite he is training eye and hand to accuracy; when he whips a top, he is increasing his strength by using it, but without learning anything. I have sometimes asked why children are not given the same games of skill as men; tennis, mall, billiards, archery, football, and musical instruments. I was told that some of these are beyond their strength, that the child’s senses are not sufficiently developed for others. These do not strike me as valid reasons; a child is not as tall as a man, but he wears the same sort of coat; I do not want him to play with our cues at a billiard-table three feet high; I do not want him knocking about among our games, nor carrying one of our racquets in his little hand; but let him play in a room whose windows have been protected; at first let him only use soft balls, let his first racquets be of wood, then of parchment, and lastly of gut, according to his progress.”
Key Takeaways
• Children were born innocent and exposure to certain circumstances resulted in them acting negatively.
• Parents were to shelter children from negative circumstances and interactions.
• Children mature over time throughout three stages–childhood, pre-adolescence, puberty, and adulthood.
• Maturation and development worked alongside each other.
1. Friend, C. (n.d.). Social contract theory. In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/#SH2c
2. Rousseau, J. (1762). Emile, or On Education. (B.Foxley, Trans.). J.M. Dent & Sons. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5427/5427-h/5427-h.htm
3. Rousseau, J. (1762). Emile, or On Education. (B. Foxley, Trans.). J.M. Dent & Sons. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5427/5427-h/5427-h.htm
02.3: Late 1900s: Stanley Hall
Stanley Hall and Pedagogy
Figure 1. Children in a classroom environment.
Hall was one of the first scientific psychologists who gained notoriety as an educational expert; his work was often geared toward parents and educators in addition to psychologists.[1]
Hall presented public lectures to educators on the psychology underlying childhood and how to “best” teach children (otherwise known as “pedagogy”). This work made significant contributions to the study of, and improvements within, parenting and educational practices.
Hall believed that a child’s nature should guide educational practices so children could become healthy, productive members of society. Overall, Hall’s in-person presentations started the movement for the U.S. to integrate psychological and scientific studies within educational endeavors.[2]
Key Takeaways
• One of the first psychologists to be known as an educational expert.
• Developed “pedagogy” (how to “best” teach for optimal learning).
• A child’s nature should guide educational practices in order to become a healthy, productive member of society.
1. Ross, D. (1972). G. Stanley Hall: The psychologist as prophet. University of Chicago Press. ↵
2. Young, J. L. (2016). G. Stanley Hall, child study, and the American public. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 177(6): 195-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2016.1240000
02.4: Late 1900s: Montessori
Maria Montessori: The Montessori Method
Figure 1. This child in a Montessori classroom is experimenting with crafts. (Photo Source: Eric Blocher, CC BY SA 3.0)
Maria Montessori scientifically observed and measured the behaviors of young children which resulted in her development of The Montessori Method–an educational teaching method and philosophy. According to Montessori, a child’s mind is quickly developing within the first six years of life (“the absorbent mind”) whereby a child takes in as much as possible from one’s environment.[1]
Key hallmarks of The Montessori Method include self-directed, hands-on experiential learning, collaborative play, and freedom of movement and activity within a safe, multi-sensory environment. Trained teachers maximize these hallmarks by offering developmentally-appropriate activities that promote individualized learning to optimize children’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
Children work at their own pace and engage in free choice activities within clear, firm, reasonable, and developmentally-appropriate boundaries established by trained teachers. Montessori’s research deduced that these practices stimulate deeper learning experiences, independent thinking, problem-solving, creativity, confidence, and lifelong enthusiasm for learning.
Key Takeaways
• The “absorbent mind”—children are capable of taking in the maximum learning from their environment during the first six years of life.
• The Montessori Method emphasizes self-directed, hands-on, experiential learning, collaborative play, and freedom of movement in a safe and multi-sensory environment.
• Teachers offer developmentally-appropriate activities and foster individualized learning.
1. Montessori, M. (1917). The Montessori elementary manual (A. Livingston, Trans.). Frederick A. Stokes Company. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42869/42869-h/42869-h.htm | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.2%3A_Early_1800s%3A_Rousseau.txt |
Watson: Behaviorism
John B. Watson was an influential American psychologist whose most famous work occurred during the early 20th century at Johns Hopkins University. Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child-rearing, and advertising. Along with this research, he conducted the controversial “Little Albert” study.[1]
Figure 1. A photograph of John Watson
Watson believed that an objective analysis of the mind was impossible; therefore, he preferred to focus directly on observable behavior and attempted to modify it. Watson was a major proponent in shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behavior, and this approach of observing and controlling behavior came to be known as behaviorism. A major object of study by behaviorists was learned behavior and its interaction with the inborn qualities of the organism.
Behaviorism commonly used animals in experiments under the assumption that what was learned using animal models could, to some degree, be applied to human behavior. This famous quote from Watson explains his contentions:[2]
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.”
Watson believed that children should be treated as young adults. In his book, he warned against the inevitable dangers of a mother providing too much love and affection. Watson’s slogan was ‘not more babies but better brought up babies’. Watson argued for the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate and contended that everything is built into a child through their interactions with their environment.
Thus, according to Watson, parents and caregivers hold complete responsibility for their children’s actions since they choose the environment into which their child is reared.[3] Based on the results from his “Little Albert” study, Watson concluded that caregivers can shape a child’s behavior and development simply by taking control of all stimulus-response associations.
The Little Albert Experiment (1920)
The goal of the Little Albert Experiment was to show how the principles of classical conditioning could be applied to a 9-month-old boy. Watson and his assistant conditioned “Little Albert” to fear a white rat by clanging an iron rod when a white rat was shown to Albert.[4]
First, they presented a white rat to the boy and observed that he was not afraid of it. Second, they showed him a white rat and then clanged an iron rod. “Little Albert” responded by crying. This second presentation was repeated several times. Finally, the researchers introduced the white rat by itself and the boy showed fear.
Later, in an attempt to see if the fear transferred to other objects, Watson presented Albert with a rabbit, a dog, and a fur coat. “Little Albert” cried at the sight of all of them.[5]
Video Example
Watch this video of the Little Albert study to get an overview of how the study was carried out.
This study demonstrated how emotions could become conditioned responses. Analyses of Watson’s film footage of Albert have caused some to conclude that “Little Albert” may have had cognitive or developmental delays.[6] An ethical problem with the study was that Watson never reversed this conditioned response in Little Albert.[7]
Watson Today
Watson’s advice to treat children with respect, but with relative emotional detachment, has been strongly criticized. However, behaviorism is still evident today and is largely responsible for establishing psychology as a scientific discipline through its objective methods and experimentation. It is currently used in behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapies, in classroom settings, and in child-rearing.
Key Takeaways
• Objective analysis of the mind was impossible, therefore Watson coined “behaviorism” where the focus of psychology is to observe and control behavior.
• Individuals can be trained to behave in certain ways as a result of their environment and the types of stimuli applied.
• The Little Albert experiment—emotional responses can be conditioned in humans.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of The History of Psychology Continued by Lumen Learning, and is used under a CC BY 4.0 license.
2. Watson, J. B. (1930). Behaviorism (Revised edition). University of Chicago Press. ↵
3. Watson, J. B. (1928). Psychological Care of Infant and Child. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc. ↵
4. This section is an adaptation of Little Albert Experiment (1920) on Wikipedia and is used under a CC BY SA 3.0 license. ↵
5. Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1921). Studies in infant psychology. The Scientific Monthly, 13(6): 493–515. ↵
6. Irons, G. (2012). Little Albert: A neurologically impaired child. History of Psychology, 15(4): 302–327. doi:10.1037/a0026720. ↵
7. O'Donnell, J. M. (1985). The origins of behaviorism. New York University Press. ↵
1920s: Watson by Lumen Learning, Wikimedia contributors, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.5%3A_1920s%3A_Watson.txt |
Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory
Lev Vygotsky believed that a person has both a set of abilities and a set of potential abilities that can be reached if given the proper guidance from others.[1]
Figure 1. An adolescent working with a tutor through guided participation. (Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels License)
His Sociocultural Theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities. Vygotsky concentrated more on children’s immediate social and cultural environment and their interactions with adults and peers. He saw a child as more of an apprentice, learning through a social environment with others who had more experience and were sensitive to the child’s needs and abilities.
Vygotsky theorized that through guided participation with a teacher or a more capable person, also known as scaffolding, a child can learn cognitive skills within a certain range known as the zone of proximal development. According to Vygotsky, development occurs first through children’s immediate social interactions and then moves to the individual level as they began to internalize their learning.
Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
Figure 2. A simple visualization of the zone of proximal development.
Have you ever taught children how to perform a task? Maybe it was brushing their teeth or tying their shoestrings. Chances are you spoke to them and described what you were doing while you demonstrated the skill and let them work along with you throughout the process. You provided them assistance when they seemed to need it, but once they knew what to do, you stood back and let them perform the task alone. This is an example of scaffolding.[2]
Examples of scaffolding, the temporary support that parents, peers or teachers give a child to perform a task, can be seen throughout the world in an unlimited number of situations. Vygotsky’s theory contends that instead of assessing what people are doing, people should be understood in terms of what they are capable of doing with the proper guidance. This approach to teaching has also been adopted by educators.
Video Example
An example of the zone of proximal development can be seen in how to tie your shoes.
Figure 3. A park ranger teaching children.
The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the distance between a child’s potential to learn and the actual learning that takes place. Vygotsky hypothesized that a “quality teacher” first identifies a child’s ZPD and then helps the child learn beyond their ZPD.[3]
After this, the teacher (or any person with more advanced skills) gradually withdraws support until the child can perform the task without assistance. At this point, the child has reached a new developmental level and can begin progressing further in their studies.
Of course, this learning and teaching can occur with people of all ages and skill levels.
Key Takeaways
• Culture and interactions are key to the development of cognitive abilities.
• Scaffolding—a process of teaching by explaining a process, demonstrating the process, and performing the process.
• Zone of proximal development—the distance between a person’s potential to learn and their actual learning.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of Child Growth and Development by Paris, Ricardo, and Rymond, and is used under a CC BY 4.0 license. ↵
2. This section is an adaptation of Children’s Development by Ana R. Leon, used under a CC BY 4.0. license.
3. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.6%3A_1930s%3A_Vygotsky.txt |
Freud and Psychodynamic Theories of Personality: The Role of the Unconscious
Figure 1. A photograph of Sigmund Freud.
One of the most important psychological approaches to understanding personality is based on the theorizing of the Austrian physician and psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), who founded what is known today as the psychodynamic approach to understanding personality.[1] Many people know about Freud because his work has had a long-standing impact on our everyday thinking about psychology, and the psychodynamic approach is one of the most important approaches to psychological therapy.[2][3] Freud is probably the best known psychologist, in part because of his impressive observation and analyses of personality (there are 24 volumes of his writings). As is true of all theories, many of Freud’s ingenious ideas have turned out to be at least partially incorrect, but yet other aspects of his theories are still influencing psychology.
Freud used the observations that he and French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893) made to develop his theory regarding the sources of personality and behavior, and his insights are central to the fundamental themes of psychology. In terms of free will, Freud did not believe that we are able to control our own behaviors. Rather, he believed that all behaviors are predetermined by motivations that lie outside our awareness, in the unconscious. These forces show themselves in our dreams, in neurotic symptoms such as obsessions, while we are under hypnosis, and in Freudian “slips of the tongue” in which people reveal their unconscious desires in language. Freud argued that we rarely understand why we do what we do, although we can make up explanations for our behaviors after the fact. For Freud the mind was like an iceberg – many motivations of the unconscious being much larger, but out of sight, in comparison to the consciousness of which we are aware.
Figure 2. The mind as an iceberg. Note how the Ego is largely visible above the water in the image, while the superego and id are submerged at varying depths.
Id, Ego, and Superego
Freud proposed that the mind is divided into three components: the id, ego, and superego, and that the interactions and conflicts among the components create a personality.[4] According to Freudian theory, the id is the component of personality that forms the basis of our most primitive impulses. The id is entirely unconscious, and it drives our most important motivations, including the sexual drive (libido) and the aggressive or destructive drive (Thanatos). According to Freud, the id is driven by the pleasure principle—the desire for immediate gratification of our sexual and aggressive urges. The id is why we smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, view pornography, tell mean jokes about people, and engage in other fun or harmful behaviors, often at the cost of doing more productive activities.
The function of the ego is based on the reality principle—the idea that we must delay gratification of our basic motivations until the appropriate time with the appropriate outlet. The ego is the largely conscious controller or decision-maker of personality. The ego serves as the intermediary between the desires of the id and the constraints of society contained in the superego (Figure 2. “Ego, Id, and Superego in Interaction”). We may wish to scream, yell, or hit, and yet our ego normally tells us to wait, reflect, and choose a more appropriate response.
In stark contrast to the id, the superego represents our sense of morality and doing what is “right”. The superego tells us all the things that we shouldn’t do, or the duties and obligations of society. The superego strives for perfection, and when we fail to live up to its demands we feel guilty.
Figure 3. The ego, id, and superego interact to help an individual solve and work through problems.
Freud believed that psychological disorders, particularly the experience of anxiety, occur when there is conflict or imbalance among the motivations of the id, ego, and superego. When the ego finds that the id is pressing too hard for immediate pleasure, it attempts to correct or compensate for this problem, often through the use of defense mechanisms—unconscious psychological strategies used to cope with anxiety and to maintain a positive self-image. Freud believed that defense mechanisms were essential for effective coping with everyday life, but that any of them could be overused (See Table 1. “The Major Freudian Defense Mechanisms”).
Table 1. The Major Freudian Defense Mechanisms
Defense mechanism Definition Possible behavioral example
Displacement Diverting threatening impulses away from the source of the anxiety and toward a more acceptable source A student who is angry at her professor for a low grade lashes out at her roommate, who is a safer target of her anger.
Projection Disguising threatening impulses by attributing them to others A man with powerful unconscious sexual desires for women claims that women use him as a sex object.
Rationalization Generating self-justifying explanations for our negative behaviors A drama student convinces herself that getting the part in the play wasn’t that important after all.
Reaction formation Making unacceptable motivations appear as their exact opposite Jane is sexually attracted to friend Jake, but she claims in public that she intensely dislikes him.
Regression Retreating to an earlier, more childlike, and safer stage of development A college student who is worried about an important test begins to suck on his finger.
Repression (or denial) Pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts into the unconscious A person who witnesses his parents having sex is later unable to remember anything about the event.
Sublimation Channeling unacceptable sexual or aggressive desires into acceptable activities A person participates in sports to sublimate aggressive drives. A person creates music or art to sublimate sexual drives.
The most controversial, and least scientifically valid, part of Freudian theory is its explanations of personality development. Freud argued that personality is developed through a series of psychosexual stages, each focusing on pleasure from a different part of the body (See Table 2. “Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development”). Freud believed that sexuality begins in infancy and that the appropriate resolution of each stage has implications for later personality development.
Table 2. Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
Stage Approximate ages Description
Oral Birth to 18 months Pleasure comes from the mouth in the form of sucking, biting, and chewing.
Anal 18 months to 3 years Pleasure comes from bowel and bladder elimination and the constraints of toilet training.
Phallic 3 years to 6 years Pleasure comes from the genitals, and the conflict is with sexual desires for the opposite-sex parent.
Latency 6 years to puberty Sexual feelings are less important.
Genital Puberty and older If prior stages have been properly reached, mature sexual orientation develops.
Figure 4. An infant chewing on their toy, exhibiting the “oral stage.” (Photo Credit: Polina Tankilevitch, Pexels License)
In the first of Freud’s proposed stages of psychosexual development, which begins at birth and lasts until about 18 months of age, the focus is on the mouth. During this oral stage, the infant obtains sexual pleasure by sucking and drinking. Infants who receive either too little or too much gratification become fixated or “locked” in the oral stage, and are likely to regress to these points of fixation under stress, even as adults.
According to Freud, a child who receives too little oral gratification (e.g., who was underfed or neglected) will become orally dependent as an adult and be likely to manipulate others to fulfill his or her needs rather than becoming independent. On the other hand, the child who was overfed or overly gratified will resist growing up and try to return to the prior state of dependency by acting helpless, demanding satisfaction from others, and acting in a needy way.
The anal stage, lasting from about 18 months to 3 years of age is when children first experience psychological conflict. During this stage, children desire to experience pleasure through bowel movements, but they are also being toilet trained to delay this gratification. Freud believed that if this toilet training was either too harsh or too lenient, children would become fixated in the anal stage and become likely to regress to this stage under stress as adults. If the child received too little anal gratification (i.e., if the parents had been very harsh about toilet training), the adult personality would be anal retentive—stingy, and compulsively seeking order and tidiness. On the other hand, if the parents had been too lenient, the anal expulsive personality would be the result, characterized by a lack of self-control and a tendency toward messiness and carelessness.
The phallic stage, which lasts from age 3 to age 6, is when the penis (for boys) and clitoris (for girls) become the primary erogenous zone for sexual pleasure. During this stage, Freud believed that children develop a powerful but unconscious attraction for the opposite-sex parent, as well as a desire to eliminate the same-sex parent as a rival. Freud based his theory of sexual development in boys (the “Oedipus complex”) on the Greek mythological character Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, and then gouged his own eyes out when he learned what he had done. Freud argued that boys will normally eventually abandon their love of the mother, and instead identify with the father, also taking on the father’s personality characteristics, but that boys who do not successfully resolve the Oedipus complex will experience psychological problems later in life. Although it was not as important in Freud’s theorizing, in girls the phallic stage is often termed the “Electra complex,” after the Greek character who avenged her father’s murder by killing her mother. Freud believed that girls frequently experienced penis envy, the sense of deprivation supposedly experienced by girls because they do not have a penis. Scholars have heavily criticized this concept in the decades since Freud’s work and it is no longer taken seriously in the psychological community.[5]
The latency stage is a period of relative calm that lasts from about 6 years to 12 years of age. During this time, Freud believed that sexual impulses were repressed, leading boys and girls to have little or no interest in members of the opposite sex.
The fifth and last stage, the genital stage, begins about 12 years of age and lasts into adulthood. According to Freud, sexual impulses return during this time frame, and if development has proceeded normally to this point, the child is able to move into the development of mature romantic relationships. But if earlier problems have not been appropriately resolved, difficulties with establishing intimate love attachments are likely.
Key Takeaways
• Stages of sexual and emotional development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
• Human personality contains the id, ego, and superego.
• Individuals have unconscious drives and should be allowed to follow their own instincts.
• A more relaxed approach to child-rearing for improved well-being.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of The Origins of Personality by Saylor Academy and [Author removed at request of publisher] and is used under a CC BY NC SA license. ↵
2. Roudinesco, E. (2003). Why psychoanalysis? New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ↵
3. Taylor, E. (2009). The mystery of personality: A history of psychodynamic theories. Springer Science. ↵
4. Freud, S. (1949). The ego and the id. Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923). ↵
5. Thompson, C. (1943). "Penis envy" in women. Psychiatry, 6(2): 123. ↵
1930s: Freud by Saylor Academy and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.7%3A_1930s%3A_Freud.txt |
Benjamin Spock: A Child-Centered Approach
Figure 1. An example of one of Dr. Spock’s published books on child care. (Image source: Flickr, CC by 2.0)
Benjamin Spock was the first American pediatrician to study psychoanalysis in an attempt to understand children’s needs and family dynamics.[1] His ideas about childcare significantly changed overall attitudes toward the rearing of infants and children via his book, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946), one of the best selling volumes in history. The book’s premises to parents are that “you know more than you think you do,” and if you “feel like comforting the child, do it.”[2] He encouraged parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children and to treat them as individuals.
Spock’s first edition advised mothers to indulge their own impulses and as well as their children’s, assuring them on the basis of the latest scientific studies that it was safe to do so. In the process, the book changed child-rearing advice from the previous generation and authorized mothers to express their “natural” feelings toward their children. However, his theories were criticized by colleagues for relying too heavily on anecdotal evidence rather than academic research.[3] Spock recommended spontaneity, warmth, and a fair amount of fun for parents and children.
Figure 2. A photograph of Dr. Spock holding an infant
In subsequent editions of his book, Spock also included fathers in the contexts of childcare and child-rearing, acknowledged gender roles, and addressed divorce and single parenting.[4]
Overall, Spock’s advice encouraged caregivers to help children fit into the current needs of society and become contributing members of that society. He highly advocated for caregivers to instill values of cooperativeness and congeniality and help their child be likable. Spock was one of the most notable American authors of child-rearing advice during the twentieth century due to publications in contemporary, mainstream magazines.
Key Takeaways
• Parents should be adaptable, loving and encourage individuality within each child.
• Parents should have balanced relationships with their children composed of spontaneity, warmth, and fun.
• Parents should help children become contributing members of society by teaching cooperativeness and congeniality.
• The first American pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to understand children’s needs and family dynamics.
Further Reading
Spock, B., & Morgan, M. (1989). Spock on Spock: A memoir of growing up with the century. Pantheon.
Bloom, L. (1972). Doctor Spock: Biography of a conservative radical. Bobbs-Merrill.
Mitford, J. (1969). The trial of Dr. Spock, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, and Marcus Raskin. Knopf.
Watson, J. B. (1928). Psychological care of infant and child. Norton.
Zuckerman, M. (1993). Doctor Spock: The confidence man. In Almost chosen people: Oblique biographies in the American grain. University of California Press.
1. This chapter is an adaptation of Benjamin Spock and The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Wikimedia Foundation contributors and is used under a CC BY SA license. ↵
2. Spock, B. (1946). The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. Duell, Sloan, and Pearce. ↵
3. Maier, T. (1998). Doctor Spock: An American life. Harcourt Brace. ↵
4. Spock, B., & Rothenberg, M. B. (1985). Dr. Spock's baby and child care for the nineties (5th ed.). E.P. Dutton. ↵
1940s: Spock by Wikimedia contributors and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.8%3A_1940s%3A_Spock.txt |
René Spitz: The Effects of Emotional Deprivation
René Spitz, a psychoanalyst, performed research in the 1930s and ’40s on the effects of maternal deprivation and hospitalism in infants who were institutionalized for long periods and deprived of substitute maternal care. His studies focused on infants who had experienced abrupt, long-term separation from their primary caregiver, such as when the primary caregiver was sent to prison. Spitz was one of the first to directly observe infants.[1]
Spitz adopted the term anaclitic depression to describe the child’s reaction of grief, anger, and apathy to partial emotional deprivation[2] (the loss of a loved object) and proposed that when the loved object is returned to the child within three to five months, recovery is prompt, but after five months, a child will show symptoms of increasingly serious deterioration. He called this reaction to total deprivation hospitalism.[3][4]
Video Example
Watch this silent video to see actual footage of the research conducted by Spitz.
Figure 1. Old Royal Adelaide Hospital (Photo Source: Wikimedia, CC BY SA)
Spitz studied children who were evacuated and orphaned as a result of World War II to assess their reactions to separation, including the ability to cope by forming relationships with other children. Results demonstrated that these children experienced stunted development related to height, weight, motor functioning, emotions, relations, and affective expressions. Many forms of these overall developmental deteriorations were thought to be irreversible and some led to child deaths.
Spitz defined these “total affective deficiencies” as hospitalism and concluded that children who have at least six months of satisfactory relations with their mother could improve once the child was reunited with the mother; Spitz defined the latter as anaclitic depression and partial deficiency.
Most of this research was not published until after the war and only gradually contributed to the understanding of young children’s reactions to loss.[5] Ultimately, these studies of young infants being separated from their maternal caregiver led to recommendations that children need responsive, nurturing caregivers for their overall well-being.
Key Takeaways
• Infants without warm, nurturing, supportive care and affection will develop anaclitic depression.
• When this type of care and affection are returned to infants within three to five months, the infant will most likely recover.
• When this type of care is denied to infants for more than five months, the infant’s anaclitic depression will continually worsen.
• Anaclitic depression can stunt development in height, weight, motor function, emotions, relations, and affective expressions.
• Hospitalism—a child’s reaction to total deprivation.
Further Reading
Ainsworth, M. D. (1962). The effects of maternal deprivation: a review of findings and controversy in the context of research strategy. In M.D. Ainsworth & R.G. Andry (Eds.), Deprivation of maternal care (pp. 97-165). World Health Organization.
Spitz, R. A. (1946). Hospitalism: a follow-up report. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 2(1), 113-118.
1. Spitz, R. (1950). Relevance of direct infant observation. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 5(1), 66–73. ↵
2. Spitz, R. (1946). Anaclitic depression. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 2(1), 313-342. ↵
3. Spitz, R. (1945). Hospitalism: An inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1(1), 53-74. ↵
4. Hospitalism. (n.d.). International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. https://www.encyclopedia.com/psychology/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/hospitalism.
5. Freud, A., & Burlingham, D. T. (1943). War and children. Medical War Books. ↵
1940s: Spitz by Wikimedia contributors and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/02%3A_Parenting_Theory/02.9%3A_1940s%3A_Spitz.txt |
The Double ABC-X Stress Model
Figure 1. The image above is an adaptation of the ABC-X model by McCubbin, H. I., & Patterson, J. M. (1983). The family stress process: The Double ABCX Model of family adjustment and adaptation. In H. I. McCubbin, M. Sussman, & J. M. Patterson (Eds.), Social stress and the family: Advances and developments in family stress theory and research (pp. 7–37). Haworth.
The Double ABC-X model describes the impact of crises on a family. It states that the combination of stressors (A), the family’s resources (B), and the family’s definition of the event (C) will produce the family’s experience of a crisis (X).[1][2]
Figure 2. An impoverished home along a roadside.
The family’s multiple environments influence each component of the model, consistent with the human ecology framework. The Double ABC-X suggests that there are multiple paths of recovery following a crisis, and these paths will be determined by the family’s resources and coping processes, both personal and external.
This model is relevant to families that come from another country (e.g., those who self-identify as immigrant or refugee) and live in a new country, as many families experience significant transitions in the process of resettlement. Whether or not this transition, or the events that precipitate it, are interpreted as crises will depend on the family’s other stressors, such as employment, housing, healthcare, and family conflict; family meaning-making,(cultural and family values), and resources (socioeconomic, family support, community).
Key Takeaway
• The Double ABC-X Model describes how a crisis affects a family using environmental and biological perspectives.
1. McCubbin, H. I., & Patterson, J. M. (1983). The family stress process: The Double ABCX Model of family adjustment and adaptation. In H. I. McCubbin, M. Sussman, & J. M. Patterson (Eds.), Social stress and the family: Advances and developments in family stress theory and research (pp. 7–37). Haworth. ↵
2. The Double ABCX Stress Model section is an adaptation of Family Theories: A New Direction for Research with Resettled Populations by Jaime Ballard, Elizabeth Wieling, and Catherine Solheim, used under a CC BY NC license. ↵
The Double ABC-X Model of Family Stress by Jaime Ballard, Elizabeth Wieling, Catherine Solheim, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
03.2: Family Systems Theory
The Family Systems Theory assumes that a family is understood best by examining the family as one whole system. This one system is a complex, deeply-connected changing collection of parts, subsystems and family members, where each member has a known purpose or function.[1]
Other key concepts within the Family Systems Theory include:
• boundaries (e.g., who is a member of the system),
• equilibrium (e.g., during stressors or crises, the system attempts to return to its original state wherein members are functional and comfortable), and
• bidirectional (e.g., a change with one member will impact at least one other member, and hence impact the whole system).
Based on this theory, individuals experiencing a crisis or problem are best-served by assessments that include other members of the system as opposed to examining only one family member.[2]
This theory also assumes that families can examine their own processes and set deliberate goals. Change can occur when a family system acknowledges that a particular family pattern is dysfunctional and identifies new processes that support the family’s goals. Resettlement is one example of a large change that a family system may choose or be forced to make.
Figure 1. Doctors ask patients medical questions during a visit to a family practice clinic in Vietnam. (Photo Source: U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Timothy Lundberg)
In order to assess patterns of adjustment in families that have resettled into a new country, we must examine the structure of the family unit and the processes that occur within that family system.
For example, one study collected data from parents and their children who immigrated to the United States from Vietnam and Cambodia to assess the role of family processes in disagreements over cultural values. The researchers found that cultural clashes were linked to parent-child conflict, which in turn was linked to reduced parent-child bonding, both of which increase adolescent behavioral problems.[3]This demonstrates one family pattern related to resettlement that is best understood at the family system level.[4]
Key Takeaways
• A family is a whole, complex, single system; each member’s behaviors can impact another member.
• Key concepts—boundaries, equilibrium, bidirectional, patterns, roles, and functions.
1. Hammond, R., Cheney, P., & Pearsey, R. (2015). Sociology of the Family Textbook. Rocky Ridge Press. http://freesociologybooks.com/.
2. Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. Jason Aronson. ↵
3. Choi, Y., He, M., & Harachi, T. W. (2008). Intergenerational cultural dissonance, family conflict, parent-child bonding, and youth antisocial behaviors among Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrant families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37(1), 85-96. ↵
4. This text is taken from Family Theories: A New Direction for Research with Resettled Populations by Jaime Ballard, Elizabeth Wieling, Lekie Dwanyen, and Catherine Solheim, used under a CC BY NC 4.0 license. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/03%3A_Family_Theories/03.1%3A_The_Double_ABC-X_Model_of_Family_Stress.txt |
The Systemic Family Development Theory asserts that families are (a) complex, (b) extremely diverse related to the types, numbers, and timing of transitions and stressors, and (c) multigenerational systems. It also assumes that
Figure 1. Extended family members of multiple generations celebrating at an event. (Photo Source: Lee Hnetinka, Pexels License)
families share common processes through their development, but the processes must take into account intergenerational influences and variations within and between all families. No two families are alike.[1]
Many studies have shown that patterns of family interactions are similar within families across generations.[2][3] Intergenerational transmissions of conflict, trauma, communication styles, parenting practices, etc., continue to be examined.
The following genogram (a pictorial display of family relationships and medical history) shows relationship patterns across generations within a family.
Figure 2. A genogram, a family tree that displays connections and relationships with more detail (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA)
Figure 3. This legend explains what different kinds of connectors in a genogram represent.
Key Takeaways
• Families are complex, diverse, and multigenerational.
• Families share common processes through their development, but there are intergenerational influences and variations between the number and types of crises, transitions, and stressors.
• Family interactions are typically similar across generations (intergenerational).
1. Laszloffy, T. A. (2002). Rethinking family development theory: Teaching with the Systemic Family Development (SFD) Model. Family Relations, 51(3), 206-214. ↵
2. Kovan, N. M., Chung, A. L., & Sroufe, L. (2009). The intergenerational continuity of observed early parenting: A prospective, longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 45(5), 1205–1213. ↵
3. Conger, R. D., Belsky, J., & Capaldi, D. M. (2009). The intergenerational transmission of parenting: Closing comments for the special section. Developmental Psychology, 45(5), 1276-1283. ↵
03.4: Family Development Theory
Duvall’s Family Development Theory
According to Duvall’s Family Development Theory (1988), families move through stages in a particular order across time after members successfully master tasks for each stage.[1]
Figure 1. A set of parents smile at their toddler and new baby. (Photo Source: Pixabay)
This theory was different from other theories during this time because:
“(a) its family life cycle dimension that provides a basis for study of families over time; (b) its emphasis on the developmental tasks of individual family members and of families at every stage of their development; (c) its built-in recognition of family stress at critical periods in development; and (d) its recognition ever since 1947 of the need for services, supports, and programs for families throughout their family life cycles.”[2]
It is important to note that this theory is based on the traditional, nuclear, intact family, which is evidenced by the following stages:[3]
Table 1. Stages and tasks of family development
STAGE TASKS
Married couple without children Navigating how to live together.
Adjusting relationships with families-of-origin and social networks to include a partner.
Childbearing families with the oldest child between birth and 30 months. Preparing and adjusting the family system to accommodate children.
Developing roles as parents.
Redefining roles with extended families.
Families with preschool children. Socializing, educating and guiding children.
Assessing and adjusting parenting roles as children age and more children join the family.
Families with school-age children. Providing guidance to children while collaborating with outside resources (e.g., school, extracurricular activities).
Families with adolescents. Adjusting parent-child relationships with adolescents to provide more independence with safe limits.
Tending to parents’ midlife relationship and career issues.
Launching families (first to last child is leaving home). Navigating adult-to-adult relationships with children.
Resolving midlife issues.
Caring for aging family members.
Middle-age families (“empty/spacious nest” to retirement). Adjusting to being a couple without children living at home.
Caring for aging family members.
Aging families (retirement to death of both spouses). Learning new roles related to retirement, becoming grandparents, losing a partner, and health-related changes.
Key Takeaways
• Duvall’s theory is based on the traditional, nuclear, intact family.
• Families will move through each stage in order across time.
• A family will move from one stage to the next after all members successfully master the tasks within a stage.
1. Duvall, E. M. (1988). Family development's first forty years. Family Relations, 37(1) 127-134. ↵
2. Duvall, E. M. (1988). Family development's first forty years. Family Relations, 37(1) 127-134. ↵
3. Laszloffy, T. A. (2004). Rethinking family development theory: Teaching with the Systematic Family Development (SFD) Model. Family Relations, 51(3), 206-214. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/03%3A_Family_Theories/03.3%3A_Systemic_Family_Development_Theory.txt |
Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles
The parenting style used to rear a child will likely impact that child’s future success in romantic, peer and parenting relationships. Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist, coined the following parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive/indulgent, Later, Maccoby and Martin added the uninvolved/neglectful style.[1]
Figure 1. Like effective teaching, effective parenting requires a mix of authoritative and considerate responses to a child’s needs. This balance can lead to more appreciative child behavior.
It is beneficial to evaluate the support and demandingness of a caregiver in order to determine which style is being used and how to effectively use it. Support refers to the amount of affection, acceptance, and warmth a parent provides to a child. Demandingness refers to the degree a parent controls a child’s behavior.
Authoritative Parenting
In general, children tend to develop greater competence and self-confidence when parents have high-but reasonable and consistent- expectations for children’s behavior, communicate well with them, are warm and responsive, and use reasoning rather than coercion to guide children’s behaviors. This kind of parenting style has been described as authoritative.[2] Parents who use this style are supportive and show interest in their kids’ activities but are not overbearing and allow children to make constructive mistakes. This “tender teacher” approach deemed the most optimal parenting style to use in western cultures. Children whose parents use the authoritative style are generally happy, capable, and successful.[3]
Authoritarian Parenting
Figure 2. Authoritarian parenting called “rigid ruler” in part because wooden rulers were often used for capital punishment in the 20th century.
Parents using the authoritarian (“rigid ruler”) approach are low in support and high in demandingness. These parents expect and demand obedience because they are “in charge” and they do not provide any explanations for their orders.[4] Parents also provide well-ordered and structured environments with clearly stated rules.
Many would conclude that this is the parenting style used by Harry Potter’s harsh aunt and uncle, and Cinderella’s vindictive stepmother. Children reared in environments using the authoritarian approach are more likely to be obedient and proficient, but score lower in happiness, social competence, and self-esteem.
Permissive Parenting
Parents who are high in support and low in demandingness are likely using the permissive-also called the indulgent-style. Their children tend to rank low in happiness and self-regulation, and are more likely to have problems with authority. Parents using this approach are lenient, do not expect their children to adhere to boundaries or rules, and avoid confrontation.[5]
Uninvolved Parenting
Children reared by parents who are low in both support and demandingness tend to rank lowest across all life domains, lack self-control, have low self-esteem, and are less competent than their peers. Parents using the uninvolved (or sometimes referred to as indifferent or neglectful) approach are neglectful or rejecting of their children and do not provide most, if any, necessary parenting responsibilities.
Video Example
Watch this video about Baumrind’s parenting styles.
Parenting Styles and Outcomes for Children
Parenting style has been found to predict child well-being in the domains of social competence, academic performance, psychosocial development, and problem behavior. Research in the United States, based on parent interviews, child reports, and parent observations consistently finds:
• Children and adolescents whose parents use the authoritative style typically rate themselves and are rated by objective measures as more socially and instrumentally competent than those whose parents do not use the authoritative style (Baumrind, 1991; Weiss & Schwarz, 1996; Miller et al., 1993).
• Children and adolescents whose parents are uninvolved typically perform most poorly in all domains.
In general, parental responsiveness tends to predict social competence and psychosocial functioning, while parental demandingness is typically associated with instrumental competence and behavioral control (e.g., academic performance and deviance). These findings indicate:
• Children and adolescents reared in households using the authoritarian style (high in demandingness, but low in responsiveness) tend to perform moderately well in school and be uninvolved in problem behavior, but tend to have poorer social skills, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of depression when compared to their peers who are reared in households using the authoritative approach.
• Children and adolescents reared in homes using the indulgent style (high in responsiveness, low in demandingness) tend to be more involved in problem behavior and perform less well in school, but they have been shown to have higher self-esteem, better social skills, and lower levels of depression when compared to their peers who are not reared using the indulgent style.[6]
Table 1. Four parenting styles. Other, less advantageous parenting styles include authoritarian (in contrast to authoritative), permissive, and uninvolved.
Support (Low) Support (High)
Demand (Low) Uninvolved Permissive
Demand (High Authoritarian Authoritative
In reviewing the literature on parenting styles, it is apparent that using the authoritative parenting style is associated with both instrumental and social competence and lower levels of problem behavior at all developmental stages for youth in the United States. The benefits of using the authoritative parenting style and the detrimental effects of the uninvolved parenting style are evident as early as the preschool years and continue throughout adolescence and into early adulthood.
Support for Baumrind’s Authoritative Parenting
Support for the benefits of authoritative parenting has been found in countries as diverse as the Czech Republic,[7] India,[8] China,[9] Israel,[10] and Palestine.[11] In fact, authoritative parenting appears to be superior in Western, individualistic societies—so much so that some people have argued that there is no longer a need to study it.[12]
Other researchers are less certain about authoritative parenting and point to differences in cultural values and beliefs. For example, while many children reared in European-American cultures fare poorly with too much strictness (authoritarian parenting), children reared in Chinese cultures often perform well, especially academically. The reason for this likely stems from Chinese culture viewing strictness in parenting as related to training, which is not central to American parenting beliefs.[13]
As children mature, parent-child relationships should naturally adapt to accommodate developmental changes. Parent-child relationships that do not adapt to a child’s abilities can lead to high parent-child conflict and ultimately a reduced parent-child relationship quality.[14]
Key Takeaways
• The authoritative (the “tender teacher”) approach is the most optimal style for use in the U.S.
• The ways in which parents rear children can have lifelong impacts on children’s development.
1. Baumrind's Parenting Styles is an adaptation of Child, Family, and Community (Chapter 6: A Closer Look at Parenting) by Laff & Ruiz (2019), licensed CC BY 4.0 and Social and Personality Development in Childhood by Ross Thompson, licensed CC BY NC SA. ↵
2. Baumrind, D. (2013). Authoritative parenting revisited: History and current status. In R. E. Larzelere, A. Sheffield, & A. W. Harrist (Eds.), Authoritative parenting: Synthesizing nurturance and discipline for optimal child development. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
3. Maccoby, E. E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology, 28(6), 1006–1017. ↵
4. Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In J. Brooks-Gunn, R. M. Lerner, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), The encyclopedia on adolescence (pp. 746-758). New York: Garland Publishing. ↵
5. Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In J. Brooks-Gunn, R. M. Lerner, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), The Encyclopedia on Adolescence (pp. 746-758). New York: Garland Publishing. ↵
6. Darling, N. (1999). Parenting style and its correlates. ERIC digest. Retrieved from https://www.ericdigests.org/1999-4/parenting.htm
7. Dmitrieva, J., Chen, C., Greenberger, E., & Gil-Rivas, V. (2004). Family relationships and adolescent psychosocial outcomes: Converging findings from Eastern and Western cultures. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14, 425-447. ↵
8. Carson, D., Chowdhurry, A., Perry, C., & Pati, C. (1999). Family characteristics and adolescent competence in India: Investigation of youth in southern Orissa. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 211-233. ↵
9. Pilgrim, C., Luo, Q., Urberg, K.A., & Fang, X. (1999). Influence of peers, parents, and individual characteristics on adolescent drug use in two cultures. Merril-Palmer Quarterly, 45, 85-107. ↵
10. Mayseless, O., Scharf, M., & Sholt, M. (2003). From authoritative parenting practices to an authoritarian context: Exploring the person-environment fit. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17, 23-50. ↵
11. Punamaki, R., Qouta, S., & Sarraj, E. (1997). Models of traumatic experiences and children’s psychological adjustment: The roles of perceived parenting and the children’s own resources and activity. Child Development, 68, 718-728. ↵
12. Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Adolescent-parent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 1-19. ↵
13. Chao, R. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child Development, 65, 1111-1119. ↵
14. Support for Baumrind's Authoritative Parenting is taken from The Family by Joel A Muraco, licensed CC BY NC SA. ↵
Baumrind's Parenting Styles by Joel A. Muraco, Wendy Ruiz, Rebecca Laff, Ross Thompson, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/04%3A_Parenting_Styles/04.1%3A_Baumrind%27s_Parenting_Styles.txt |
Researchers have identified additional parenting approaches that are not applicable to Baumrind’s styles, definitions, or outcomes. Below is an overview of three of these approaches–overindulgent parenting, helicopter parenting, and traditional parenting.
Overindulgent Parenting
Overindulgent parenting is providing children with too much of what “looks good, too soon, too long.”[1] Oftentimes, it appears that parents implement these strategies to fulfill their own unmet needs or feelings of neglect from their own childhood.
Examples include giving children an overabundance of:
• things or experiences that are not developmentally appropriate for the child,
• family resources that appear to meet the child’s needs but do not,
• anything that actively harms or prevents a child from developing and achieving one’s full potential, and
• freedom with minimal boundaries and limits that are developmentally-inappropriate for the child.[2]
Risks of Overindulgence
To learn 12 risks of overindulging a child, visit the Overindulgence website’s Resources for Parents page.
Figure 1. An overindulged child might become prone to outbursts or tantrums when faced with limitations (Photo Source: Mohamed Abdelgaffar on Pexels)
Many negative outcomes have been linked to overindulgent parenting, which include, but are not limited to, children who exhibit:
1. extreme self-centeredness,
2. excessive degrees of a sense of entitlement,
3. poor decision-making and coping skills, and
4. stifled developmental growth as a result of not experiencing or learning “necessary” life lessons.
Helicopter Parenting
Helicopter parenting is characterized by caregivers who are extremely overinvolved in their child’s life due to the belief that they can protect their child’s physical and/or emotional well-being. Caregivers using this approach appear overbearing and overprotective due to the close attention they pay to all of their child’s problems and successes. Parents “hover overhead” by constantly overseeing or being excessively interested in every aspect of their child’s life. Some contend that cell phones are “the world’s longest umbilical cord” which is contributing to this phenomenon.[3]
Figure 2. Helicopter parents don’t literally ride in helicopters, but their hovering, overwatch mentality is similar. (Photo Source: Army Staff Sgt. Roberto Di Giovine)
Many negative outcomes have been linked to helicopter parenting, which may include, but are not limited to, children and adults who exhibit:
1. stifled developmental growth as a result of not experiencing or learning “necessary” life lessons,
2. long-term mental health problems,
3. rebellious behaviors in adolescence,[4] and
4. a lack of independence coupled with poor decision-making, motivational, and coping skills. [5]
Traditional Parenting Style
Figure 3. A family eating a large meal. (Photo Source: National Cancer Institute)
The traditional parenting style is more commonly used in families with non-Western cultural values. Parents using this approach expect their children to respect and obey authority (e.g., parents, elders, etc.) and comply with their cultural beliefs and values without questions. Parents using this approach are high in demandingness, warmth, and responsiveness, similar to the authoritative approach, however, they do not engage in democratic discussions.[6] This style was created because many parenting styles in non-Western cultures do not meet the criteria for authoritarian (due to expressing warmth) or authoritative (due to lack of communication).
For example, many families who self-identify as Asian Americans and Latino Americans engage in high demandingness and expect respect and obedience of their children. However, these caregivers also value closeness and love which is different from the authoritarian parenting style. Adolescents who grow up in families using traditional parenting style characteristics tend to show higher academic achievements and lower behavioral and psychological problems when compared to their peers who are reared by caregivers using the authoritarian approach. These positive outcomes may be related to the closeness and love shown to children, which is different from the “cold” or “distant” characteristics consistent with the authoritarian style. [7] Additional, less-researched parenting styles are listed below.
Table 1. Lemasters and Defrain Parenting Styles[8]
Style Description Possible Outcomes
Martyr Will do anything for the child; even tasks that the child should do for himself or herself; may use all they do for the child to guilt the child into compliance Child learns to be dependent and manipulative
Pal Wants to be the child’s friend; lets children do what they want and focuses mostly on being entertaining and fun; sets few limits Child may have little self-discipline and may try to test limits with others
Police officer/drill sergeant Focuses primarily on making sure that the child is obedient and that the parent has full control of the child; may scold or punish child for not doing things right; struggles to allow child to grow and learn to make decisions independently Child may have a lot of resentment toward parent that is displaced on others
Teacher-counselor Pays a lot of attention to expert advice on parenting and who believes that as long as all of the steps are followed, the parent can rear a perfect child Puts all responsibility of outcomes on parent
Athletic coach Helps the child understand what needs to happen in certain situations and encourages and advises the child about how to manage these situations; does not intervene or do things for the child; sets consistent and objective rules Child is supported and guided while they learn firsthand how to handle situations
Key Takeaways
• Overindulgent parenting is when parents over-provide things which are typically not developmentally-appropriate for their child.
• This style of parenting can result in the child having poor decision-making and coping skills and being highly self-centered.
• Helicopter parenting is when parents are over-involved in their child’s life, many times as a way to protect their child.
• This style can result in the child lacking independence, having poor decision-making and coping skills, etc.
• Traditional parenting is when parents expect their children to respect and obey authority, as well as comply with their cultural beliefs and values.
• This style of parenting can result in higher academic achievements and lower behavioral and psychological problems.
1. Clarke, J. I., Dawson, C., & Bredehoft, D. (N.D.). Definition of childhood overindulgence. http://www.overindulgence.org/how-much-is-too-much/what-is-overindulgence.html. ↵
2. Clarke, J. I., Dawson, C., & Bredehoft, D. (N.D.). Raising likeable, responsible, respectful children in an age of overindulgence. http://overindulgence.org/.
3. Swann, S. (2014). Am I a helicopter parent? KTAR News. https://ktar.com/story/280372/. ↵
4. Wallace, M., Weybright, E., Rohner, B., & Crawford, J. (2015). Over-involved parenting and competition in youth development programs. Washington State University Extension. http://pubs.cahnrs.wsu.edu/publications/pubs/fs179e/.
5. Helicopter Parenting by Diana Lang is an adaptation of Helicopter Parent by Wikimedia Foundation contributors, licensed CC BY SA. ↵
6. Chao, R. K. (2001). Extending Research on the Consequences of Parenting Style for Chinese Americans and European Americans. Child Development, 72(6), 1832-1843. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00381 ↵
7. Chao, R. K. (2001). Extending Research on the Consequences of Parenting Style for Chinese Americans and European Americans. Child Development, 72(6), 1832-1843. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00381 ↵
8. Lifespan Development - Module 5: Early Childhood by Lumen Learning references Psyc 200 Lifespan Psychology by Laura Overstreet, licensed under CC BY 4.0 | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/04%3A_Parenting_Styles/04.2%3A_Additional_Parenting_Styles.txt |
Parents and caregivers have a responsibility to guide and promote positive socialization strategies for children in their care. These activities are known as discipline or guidance-two words that are often used interchangeably in parenting education. Discipline is defined as “ongoing teaching and nurturing that facilitates self-control, self-direction, competence, and care for others”. [1] It is recommended that caregivers utilize a comprehensive disciplinary approach for guiding children’s behaviors.
Figure 1. A family teaching a child to ride a bicycle with support. (Photo Source: Agung Pandit Wiguna, Pexel License)
Caregivers should proactively teach children how to regulate their own behaviors by using age- and developmentallyappropriate strategies that enhance:
• positive, supportive, and nurturing caregiver-child relationships,
• safety, permanency, and consistency,
• acceptable behavioral patterns by removing reinforcements to eliminate undesired behaviors and providing positive reinforcements to strengthen desired behaviors, and
• cognitive, socioemotional, and executive functioning skills.
For optimal outcomes, all of the above components must consistently function well in an individualized manner for each child, and within the context of youth, feeling loved, safe, and secure. Recommended child-rearing strategies are outlined in upcoming pages.
Examples
Examples of caregivers’ guidance by stage:
• Newborns: recognize and respond flexibly to infant’s needs while providing generally structured daily routines.
• Infants and toddlers: use limitations, protection, and structure to create safe spaces for play and exploration.
• Early childhood: utilize creative and individualized strategies to guide children’s desirable behavior patterns to become their “typical interactions”.
• School-age: increase children’s own responsibility for self-control via the integration of previously-developed internalized rules of conduct.
• Adolescence: change strategies to foster more autonomy, self-regulation, and responsibility while guiding teens’ safety and positive decision-making skills.
For more information about positive parenting strategies by ages and stages, visit the CDC website.
Corporal Punishment
Worldwide initiatives have recommended banning the use of corporal punishment with or in children of all ages. According to the Global Initiative to End all Corporal Punishment of Children, corporal punishment is defined as “any punishment in which physical force issued and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light”. [2] Examples include shaking, kicking, forcing ingestion (e.g., soap, hot sauce), and “smacking,” “slapping,” or “spanking” with any object or a hand. Nonphysical forms of punishment (e.g., verbal and emotional abuse) include activities that are intended to cause shame to a person such as humiliation, threats, ridicules, etc.
Vast amounts of research have consistently demonstrated strong correlations between youth who experienced harsh punishment (e.g., spanking) by their parents and increased risks of:
• changes in brain physiology that show on MRI studies,
• mental health disorders such as depression or anxiety,
• elevated cortisol levels,
• cognitive problems,
• aggressive behaviors,
• unhealthy caregiver-child relationships,
• suicide attempts,
• moderate-to-heavy drinking,
• substance use disorders,
• misconduct, and
• adverse outcomes that extend into adulthood.
Key Takeaways
• Corporal punishment is not an effective method for teaching or changing performance.
• Corporal punishment has been linked to many negative outcomes.
• Caregivers should utilize methods other than corporal punishment to effectively and optimally guide children’s behaviors and learning.
1. Sege, R. D., Siegel, B. S., Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (2018). Effective discipline to raise healthy children. Pediatrics, 142(6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-3112
2. Wolraich, M. L., Aceves, J., Feldman, H. M., Hagan, J.F, Howard, B.J., Richtsmeier, A. J., Tolchin, D., & Tolmas, H. C. (1998). Guidance for Effective Discipline. Pediatrics, 101(4) 723-728; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.101.4.723. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/05%3A_Child-Rearing_Strategies/05.1%3A_Discipline_Guidance_and_Punishment.txt |
For definitions and examples of natural and logical consequences see the Dreikurs chapter.
Figure 1. A young girl plays with a toy doll. (Photo Source: Graham Crumb/Imagicity.com, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Caregivers can use both natural and logical consequences for children to learn better behaviors. Both natural and logical consequences encourage children to take responsibility for their actions and behaviors, but in different ways. [1]
Natural consequences allow children to learn from the natural outcomes of a situation [2] and logical consequences allow the parent to set the consequences of a child’s undesired actions or behaviors. [3]
Logical consequences work best when consequences are immediate and consistent. It is also important to talk with the child about the behavior and to discuss what alternative behaviors would be better to use. [4]
Examples
• Natural consequence: Sophie leaves her favorite hair styling doll outside overnight. It rains on Sophie’s doll and ruins its hair. Now Sophie’s doll is ruined and she is no longer able to style the doll’s hair.
• Logical consequence: Juan hits a baseball into his neighbor’s yard and breaks the neighbor’s window. Juan’s parents require Juan to apologize to the neighbor and to complete chores around their own home in order to pay for the neighbor’s broken window.
Key Takeaways
• Natural consequences are when a child learns from and experiences the natural outcomes of situations.
• Logical consequences are when parents set the consequences of a child’s behaviors.
• This works best when the consequences are immediate and consistent.
1. Matthews, D. (2017). Logical consequences: Helping kids learn from their mistakes. Retrieved from www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/beyond-intelligence/201710/logical-consequences-helping-kids-learn-their-mistakes↵
2. Morin, A. (2019). How to make natural consequences an effective discipline tool. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/natural-consequences-as-a-discipline-strategy-1094849
3. Allen, R. A., & Boelter, L. A. (2016). Using natural and logical consequences. Retrieved from extension.umn.edu/encouragingrespectful-behavior/using-natural-and-logical-consequences↵
4. Wise, R. W. R. (2019). How to use natural and logical consequences to improve children's behavior. Retrieved from https://www.educationandbehavior.com/examples-of-logical-consequences-in-parenting/
05.11: No-lose Method
This is a democratic approach that results in caregivers and children resolving conflict in a manner in which all parties are satisfied with the solution.
How to use this method:
• Define: All parties communicate their perspectives of the “problem”.
• Brainstorm Solutions: All parties list all possible solutions to resolve the issue.
• Assess Solutions: All parties decide and discuss how they feel about all of the solutions.
• Best Solution: All parties decide upon and agree to implement the best solution.
• Plan in Action: All parties put the best solution into practice.
• Follow-Up: Adult(s) proactively discuss the problem and solution with the child(ren) to revisit the situation[1].
Example
Figure 1. Siblings. (Photo Source: AnukEvo, CCby-SA 4.0)
• Define: The “problem” is that siblings are fighting over a book.
• Brainstorm Solutions: The children can take turns reading the book; each child can read a different book; both children can read with each other at the same time with that book; a parent can remove the book so both children need to find different books.
• Assess Solutions: Both children want to read the book together.
• Best Solution: The children and parent agree that the children will read the book together as long as the children do not fight. If they fight while reading the book, the parent will remove the book and both children will need to take a break.
• Plan in Action: The children read the book together and do not fight.
• Follow-Up: Later that same day, the parent asks if they both enjoyed reading that book together. Both children agreed it was an enjoyable time. The parent praised them for not fighting and for solving the issue.
Key Takeaways
• This method is used to resolve conflict where every party involved discusses their perspective on the problem and possible solutions.
• A solution that satisfies all parties is decided and agreed upon.
1. Heath, P. (2013). Parent-child relations: Context, research, and application (3rd Ed.). Pearson. ↵
05.12: Problem Ownership
Problem ownership is an important tool to utilize when caregivers are communicating with children because it can help avoid blaming and arguing. This is when caregivers take time to reflect on an issue and think, “Whose problem is this? Who is actually upset about this?” Sometimes we may think the child is the one with the problem when actually we are the ones getting upset. In reality, the child is just fine – we are the ones that have a problem. This is when a caregiver should own the problem.
If a caregiver owns the problem, it is a perfect opportunity to utilize effective communication strategies such as I-Messages to express one’s thoughts and feelings regarding the problem.
If, however, the child owns the problem, caregivers can use this as a chance to practice adult-child interaction techniques such as active listening and the CALM method to connect with the child concerning the problem.
Problem ownership helps caregivers determine which problems they need to figure out themselves, and which problems they should allow their children to figure out. This provides a learning experience to gain responsibility for one’s actions that can be utilized in other relationships as well. [1][2]
Example
Third-grader tells his dad, “Caleb is not my friend anymore!”
Figure 1. An elaborate snow fort. (Photo Source: brothersforever)
Dad: (active listening) “So, I hear that you are upset. What happened?”
Third-grader: “Caleb knocked down our entire snow fort during recess today! It took us three entire recesses to build it!”
(Dad feels sad for his son and wants to advocate for his son. Dad contemplates calling the teacher or Caleb’s parents. After reflecting, Dad asks himself, “Whose problem is this? It’s my son who is upset. I need to help him navigate this and let him know he can talk to me about these types of issues.” Dad decides to ask open-ended questions and use active listening to learn more about the entire situation.)
Dad: Why don’t you tell me what happened.
Third-grader: Well… (child has the opportunity to retell the incident and decide for himself, with his dad’s nurturing and understanding support, what to do about the problem).
This type of interaction allows a parent to provide support while assisting the child with ways to resolve or work through a problem.
Key Takeaways
• Problem ownership is when an issue is reflected upon and analyzed to determine who is upset and who owns the problem in a situation.
• A solution can be determined based on who owns the problem.
1. Taylor, M. (n.d.). Problem Ownership - key to solving your family/inter-personal dilemmas. Retrieved from www.lubish.com/problemownership.html↵
2. Heath, P. (2013). Parent-child relations: Context, research, and application (3rd Ed.). Pearson. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/05%3A_Child-Rearing_Strategies/05.10%3A_Natural_and_Logical_Consequences.txt |
Figure 1. Communicating on a child’s level can remove stress from an otherwise concerning situation. (Photo Source: Taryn Elliott, Pexels License)
The manner in which parents communicate with their child can largely determine the child’s own communication methods and language development and can affect the child’s vocabulary and speaking skills over time. Using positive language can greatly support and encourage the child as they get older. [1]
How to use this method:
• Respond quickly and kindly to a child’s needs.
• Provide a listening ear or advice even at inconvenient times.
• Be responsive and consistent.
• Use positive and encouraging words when speaking with a child.
• Set a good example of how to talk to other people in public as well as at home by using manners and respect, such as saying “please,” “thank you,” and “I’m sorry.”
• Avoid sarcasm or ill-willed teasing.
• Use positive, communicative forms of guidance and avoid any form of violent discipline such as spanking.
• Spend time alone with each child, even at a young age. Quality time coupled with open communication encourages the child to feel safe and comfortable with their parents and creates a reliable relationship. [2]
Examples
• Peter and Dan’s mother always says, “Thank you for picking up your toys” after they put away the toys in their playroom.
• Kaila returns home from school and says that she has had a bad day at school. Kaila’s dad asks her what had made it a bad day and listens to Kaila explain what had happened.
Key Takeaway
• Using phrases such as, “I’m sorry,” “please,” “thank you”, and “I love you” often for children of all ages are recommended!
1. Feldman, H. M., (2019). The Importance of Language-Learning Environments to Child Language Outcomes. Pediatrics, 144(4). doi:10.1542/peds.2019-2157 ↵
2. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2019). Showing Love for Your Child - Tips From the American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved from www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/news-features-and-safety-tips/Pages/Showing-Love-for-Your-Child-Tips-From-the-American-Academy-of-Pediatrics.aspx.↵
05.14: Reward-oriented Parenting and Positive Reinforcement
There are many ways to increase the likelihood of children exhibiting desirable behaviors by using positive reinforcements and rewards. [1]To learn how to effectively reinforce behaviors, please re-visit the Skinner chapter.
Parents or teachers may wish to reinforce children for:
• Listening attentively;
• Using appropriate manners (e.g., saying “please,” “you are welcome,” and “thank you”);
• Moving and talking in a manner appropriate for the environment (e.g., using “library voices;” “walking feet”);
• Playing nicely;
• Completing tasks without reminders; and
• Calling or texting if they will be late.
Examples of rewards and positive reinforcements include:[2]
• Complimenting a child’s behavior (e.g., “I really like the way you put all of your clothes away in your room”);
• Praising a child’s actions (e.g., “I am proud of how hard you studied for your spelling quiz.”);
• Giving additional privileges;
• Clapping or cheering;
• Thanking them for behaving a certain way (e.g., “Thank you very much for asking such a detailed question;” “I really appreciate you using your inside voice while we were at the museum.”);
• Making sure they overhear you telling someone else about their positive behavior;
• Smiling at them; and
• Giving tangible rewards (e.g., stickers, incentives).
In order for these methods to be effective, rewards or incentives must:
• be important or valuable to the child,
• occur immediately after the desired behavior, and
• consistently be implemented.
To learn how to create a reward program, visit the CDC’s website for information.
Examples
Here is a common example of (unintentionally and positively) rewarding inappropriate behavior: An aunt provides candy to her nephew every time he throws a tantrum in the store because he wants candy at the checkout lane.
Figure 1. A child panicking in public. (Photo Source: pxfuel, DMCA)
The aunt reinforces the poor behavior (e.g., a tantrum) by providing reinforcers (e.g., candy and attention) every time he throws a tantrum at the grocery store.
Here is an example of positively rewarding the same child to stop the tantrums: Now that this child throws a tantrum with his parents when they go to the grocery store, his parents provide their son with candy only when he does not throw a tantrum in the store.
His parents reinforce the appropriate behavior (e.g., not throwing a tantrum) by providing reinforcers (e.g., candy and attention) every time they go to the grocery store and he refrains from throwing a tantrum.
1. Craighead, W. E., Kazdin, A. E., & Mahoney, M. J., (1981). Behavior modification: principles, issues, and applications. 2nd ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. ↵
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). How to use rewards. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/consequences/rewards.html | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/05%3A_Child-Rearing_Strategies/05.13%3A_Positive_Language.txt |
Children (and most people of all ages) thrive in flexibly-structured environments. For children, the sense of knowing what to expect typically elicits feelings of safety and security. Caregivers can help children reduce feelings of chaos by providing flexible, but consistent:
• Routines,
• Rules, and
• Concrete, explicit directions with easy-to-understand expectations.
Rules and Routines
Figure 1. Setting routines is particularly important at bedtime. (Photo Source: Staff Sgt. Russ Scalf)
In order to maintain consistent routines (e.g., bedtimes, traditions) and rules (e.g., not eating food in certain areas of the house, curfews, wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle) it is important to facilitate and adhere to them as much as possible. Expectations should be developmentally-appropriate and communicated in a manner that can be easily understood. [1]
For instance, perhaps family meals are at 6:30 p.m. because this is the time that everyone gets home from work and school activities. This expectation and all moderations should be communicated with all members on a daily basis but also remain flexible. Exceptions that may change a family mealtime might include attending a school-related activity or having a large family gathering every Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Video Example
Watch this YouTube video about creating structure.
Directions
Specific, warm, concrete, understandable directions and expectations can improve behaviors, prevent dangerous circumstances, reduce caregivers’ frustrations, and foster children’s learning of appropriate behaviors. It is most effective to tell children exactly what behaviors you desire.
Examples
• “Please use your walking feet while we are in the library,” is more detailed than saying, “Stop that!”
• Another example is, “We must hold hands in the parking lot to avoid getting hit by a car,” instead of “Hey, come back here!” as the child runs through the parking lot.
• Visit this website from the CDC to learn how to give good directions.
• Watch this YouTube video to learn how to provide quality directions.
Consistency, consistency, consistency with warmth
Figure 2. Children playing together comfortably. (Image Source: Caitlin Guinazu)
Research shows that children’s abilities to anticipate change, use appropriate behaviors, and develop independence are fostered by warm, safe, stable, nurturing, caring, compassionate caregiving on a consistent basis! This means that routines, rules, directions, expectations, and consequences should be responded to or applied every time in a nurturing, warm, consistent manner.[2][3]
Key Takeaways
• Providing a warm, close, nurturing, and openly-communicative environment with consistent routines, directions, and rules with reasonable flexibility are key for eliciting feelings of predictability and security. [4]
• It is not too late to learn, teach, and reinforce these skills for caregivers and youth. However, it may take time and practice to elicit changes.
1. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2007, June 1). The importance of family routines. Retrieved from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/Pages/The-Importance-of-Family-Routines.aspx
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Building structure. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/structure/building.html
3. Gillespie, L. (2015). Rocking and Rolling – It takes two: The role of co-regulation in building self-regulation skills. Young Children 70(3). 94-96. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/jul2015/rocking-rolling
4. American Psychological Association. (2014). Resilience booster: Parent tip tool. Retrieved from www.apa.org/topics/parenting/resilience-tip-tool↵
05.16: Taking Away Privileges
Figure 1. Children learning in a classroom. (Photo Source: Rex Pe, CC BY 2.0)
Taking away privileges can be used both at home and in the classroom as a way to discipline children. Within the classroom, teachers may take away privileges, such as the ability to participate in extracurricular activities (e.g., sports, music) if students are not performing well academically. At-home caregivers may take away privileges such as allowances, technology, toys, or time with friends when the child does not follow the rules. [1]
Both within the classroom and at home, setting and communicating standards are extremely important parts of this child-rearing strategy. When standards are set and communicated with the children, it allows children to know what is expected of them and when they do not meet these expectations then consequences, such as taking away privileges will happen. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Building blocks. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/structure/building.html[/footnote]
Example
• A child does not do their homework, so their caregiver takes away the child's cell phone until they have done their homework.
Key Takeaways
• Taking away privileges can be an effective discipline method used both within the classroom and at home.
• Communication of standards that are set are an important aspect of this strategy.
1. American Academy of Pediatrics. (n.d.). Discipline. Retrieved from www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/aap-press-room-media-center/Pages/Discipline.aspx↵
05.17: Time-ins and Time-outs
Figure 1. A parent talking to their child. (Photo Source: piqsels, CC0)
Time-ins are a positive child guidance strategy in which the caregiver stays with the child until they are both calm and can communicate about the issue at hand. When using a time-in the caregiver should stay with the child, and listen to the child and what they are feeling. Once the child has calmed down then the caregiver and child can discuss the child’s behavior and what needs to be changed. Time-ins allow for children to not feel threatened and learn in a positive way. The caregiver and child are able to connect reducing power struggles since everyone’s feelings and needs are considered. [1]
A more common and somewhat opposite approach is the use of time-outs. Time-outs are a less positive approach and can be less effective compared to time-ins. Time-outs are where a child is left to sit alone somewhere away from the caregiver for a set amount of time. To learn about time-outs, such as how and when to use them, visit the cdc’s parent essentials site.
Example
Watch this video from the CDC to learn about using time-outs.
Both time-ins and time-outs are used to:
• stop undesirable behavior,
• help children learn better coping skills, and
• give parents and children a chance to calm down.
Key Takeaways
• Threats and punishments (e.g., time-outs) are often less effective than positive parenting strategies (e.g., time-ins) for changing behaviors.
• Not all children respond well to time-outs.
• Time-ins can reduce power struggles and calm brains.
1. Siegel, D. J., & Bryson, T. P. (2016). No-drama discipline: the whole-brain way to calm the chaos and nurture your child’s developing mind. New York: Bantam Books. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/05%3A_Child-Rearing_Strategies/05.15%3A_Structure_%28with_Flexibility%29%3A_Routines_Rules_Directions.txt |
Active listening is a type of communication strategy between two or more people that consists of paying attention to what someone is saying and attempting to understand what is being said. Clinical research studies demonstrate that active listening can be a catalyst in one’s personal growth. For example, children are more likely to listen to themselves if someone else allows them to speak and successfully convey their message. [1]
Figure 1. A doctor stops and listens to a child explain how they feel. (Image Source: Latrobebohs, CC by-SA 3.0)
Learning how to actively listen takes time, practice, and full commitment. Once achieved, it can build a strong foundation for positive communication resulting in a strong caregiver-child relationship by building trust throughout the lifespan. This strategy also tends to improve the quality of conversations by connecting with others on a deeper level, [2] which can lead to more positive and healthy relationships.[3]
How to use this method:
• Caregivers should be on the child’s level and listen in an attentive, nonjudgmental, non-interrupting manner.
• Listeners should pay close attention to possible hidden messages and meanings contained in the verbal communication and should note all non-verbal communication from the child.[4]
• It is important to remember that you are not giving your opinion and thoughts regarding what the child relays to you; you are paraphrasing what the child said and expressing back to the child the emotions the child conveyed.
Example
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website provides useful information about active listening.[5]
Key Takeaways
• Active listening is paying attention and attempting to understand what someone else is saying.
• It is important to note hidden messages in verbal and non-verbal communications.
• It is important to refrain from giving opinions while paraphrasing what the other person is saying.
1. Rogers, C. R., & Farson, R. E. (2015). Active listening. Martino Publishing. Retrieved from www.amazon.com/Active-Listening-Carl-R-Rogers/dp/1614278725.↵
2. Hoppe, M. H. (n.d.). Active listening: Improve your ability to listen and lead, first edition. Retrieved from https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/active-listening-improve/9781882197941/xhtml/07_Chapter02.xhtml. ↵
3. Rogers, C. R., & Farson, R. E. (2015). Active listening. Martino Publishing. Retrieved from www.amazon.com/Active-Listening-Carl-R-Rogers/dp/1614278725. ↵
4. Active Listening. (2002). In D. H. Yarn (Ed.), Dictionary of conflict resolution, Wiley. Wiley. Credo Reference: proxy.lib.iastate.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/co...itutionId=1110. ↵
5. Active Listening. (2019). https://www.cdc.gov/parents/essentials/communication/activelistening.html. ↵
05.3: Anticipatory Structure
Figure 1. A parent talking to their child at their height can help remove stress from a situation. (Photo Source: Josh Willink, Pexels License)
Anticipatory structure is a strategy where caregivers share plans and provide forewarnings to children regarding upcoming transitions between activities. This can help establish routines and facilitate more smooth changes in routines. It also allows time for children to prepare for changes, which can heighten their cooperation when the change happens.
Anticipatory structure is most effective when caregivers provide multiple forewarnings before transitions, give reasoning for what the child is being asked to do, and use age-appropriate language that the child can understand. [1] It is helpful for parents to provide praise or compliments for their children as they follow each step and meet the end goal.
Example
• A parent tells their children that it is almost time to go to bed and they have ten minutes to finish playing and then they need to put their toys away. Later the parent reminds the children again and tells them that they have five minutes left to play and then they need to have all of their toys put away. After five minutes, the parent makes sure the children’s toys are put away and asks them to get ready for bed by reminding them of their regular bedtime routine.
Key Takeaway
• Anticipatory structure provides forewarnings to changes in activities and can help establish routines and cooperation.
1. Bigner, J. J., & Gerhardt, C. (2019). Parent-child relations: An introduction to parenting(10th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson ↵
05.4: CALM
The CALM method is a technique for parents to use to communicate with their children, whether that be talking through a conflict or just sharing about what happened that day. The goal of this method is to give children a voice and help them feel heard. The “best-practice” way to utilize this method would be to implement it every time your child wants to have a conversation one-on-one with you.
• Connect
• Affect
• Listen
• Mirroring
How to use this method:
Figure 1. Parents often have to juggle giving attention to multiple children, which may lead to outbursts if one child feels neglected. In these cases, the CALM method may be of help. (Photo Source: Anna Shvets, Pexels License)
CONNECT. The first step in the CALM method is connecting with the child. This means putting aside any and all distractions in order to give your full and undivided attention to what the child says to you.
AFFECT. The second step is affect, which is emotion. This means you want to share and show your emotions and feelings with your children and let them know that you have the same emotions as they do. Through this, they can see that you understand and empathize with what they are going through or telling you.
LISTEN. The third step is listening to the child by repeating what is said back to you or asking for clarifications to help the child feel listened to and heard.
MIRRORING. The fourth and final step is mirroring. This is when you (a) make sure you fully understand what the child is telling you, (b) clear up any questions or misunderstandings by paraphrasing (back to the child) what the child said, and (c) sharing in your child’s thoughts and feelings.[1]
Example and Video
Figure 2. A parent comforts their crying child. (Photo Source: codewan, CC0)
Your daughter, Deidre, came to you upset because she didn’t win a contest at school.
First, you would connect by removing all of your distractions (putting away phone, stopping what you are doing), turning your attention to her, and making eye contact with her.
Next, you would show how her actions affected you by having an upset look on your face and tone in your voice to show you understand her emotions.
After this, you would listen to what she tells you and then clarify details to show Deidre you are invested in the conversation.
Lastly, you would mirror the interaction back to Deidre by paraphrasing what she told you to show you care about her thoughts and feelings.
By using this technique, children will be able to see and feel that you are listening, caring, and involved in what they are telling you. You want them to feel that they can come to you and trust you about anything going on in their life, big or small.
Watch this video from tvo parents for an overview of the technique.
1. tvoparents. (2012, April 26). Jennifer Kolari: The CALM Technique and Child Brain Development. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28IrZq14hk | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/05%3A_Child-Rearing_Strategies/05.2%3A_Active_Listening.txt |
Figure 1. A child playing with toy vehicles. (Photo Source: Pxfuel, DMCA)
Constructive choices are a child-rearing strategy where parents provide the child with options for the child when making decisions. This allows children to be involved in making choices in their everyday activities, while still maintaining choices that are positive and safe.
This strategy can help children learn how to make decisions, and it teaches and guides children about how to analyze their decision-making abilities so they can eventually make decisions on their own. [1]
How to use this method:
• Limit the number of times you give a child a choice,
• Limit the number of choices you give a child (two to four choices work well),
• Provide developmentally-appropriate choices that keep the child safe and healthy,
• Support the child’s decision, and
• Help children think about their choices and the reasoning behind making each decision.
Example
• A caregiver may give a child a choice to keep playing with their toys inside or to clean up the toys and go play outside.
Key Takeaway
• Caregivers provide specific options to help guide children’s activities and decision-making abilities.
1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Committee on Supporting the Parents of Young Children. (2016). Parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK402020/
05.6: Four Pluses and a Wish
Four Pluses and a Wish is a parenting strategy aimed at creating cooperation and motivation for children to comply with parental requests. Along with leading to better behavior outcomes, it also works to foster healthy communication and is a good example of parental supportive speech. Four Pluses and a Wish involves the parent providing three pluses, which are positive actions toward their child, before making a request. This helps the child feel more respected by their parents and therefore more likely to comply with parental wishes and requests. There are four steps to follow for this strategy. [1]
Figure 1. A parent works with their child to create a gingerbread dessert. (Photo Source: Alan Wat, CC by 2.0)
How to use this method:
Plus 1
Smile: The parent approaches the child with a smile and a happy facial expression to show the child that nothing is wrong.
Plus 2
Relaxed body language: The parent displays a relaxed body and uses a friendly voice to communicate friendliness and acceptance toward the child.
Plus 3
Say the child’s name: For children, hearing a parent say their name feels more personal, is affirming, and helps make them feel included and respected in the communication.
Plus 4
Compliment the child: Make a positive comment on something the child is doing, wearing, etc., to make the child feel appreciated.
The Wish
Make the request: After providing four pluses for the child, the parent can then make a request (the wish). [2]
Example
Luke is playing with blocks and his mother comes into the room.
Luke’s mother: “Luke, it’s almost time for dinner, please clean up your toys and wash your hands.”
Luke: “I don’t want to clean up yet. I want to keep playing.”
Luke’s mother smiles at Luke and with relaxed body language, kneels to his level. “Luke, that is a great car you built with your blocks, you did a good job building it. Could you put it away for a while and come wash your hands for dinner, please?”
Luke smiled and complied with his mother’s request.
Key Takeaways
• Three positive actions are made towards the child before making a request.
• This method promotes cooperation and compliance with requests.
1. Heath, P. (2013). Parent-child relations: Context, research, and application (3rd Ed.). Pearson. ↵
2. The Therapy Centre. (2019). Four Pluses and a Wish - Parenting Strategy Tip. Retrieved March 30, 2020, from https://thetherapycentre.ca/four-pluses-and-a-wish-parenting-strategy-tip/. ↵
05.7: Grounding
Grounding is a technique in which parents teach children that there are consequences to their actions by taking away certain privileges or freedoms. This is especially beneficial to start using at around 12 years of age, when many children are starting to gain new freedoms and may push the limits.
The goals of grounding are to provide the child with appropriate limits and boundaries and teach the child that there are consequences to behaving in certain ways, such as pushing these limits or crossing these boundaries. If a child chooses to behave in contrast to the limits or boundaries set by a parent, grounding can be the logical consequence for the child’s behavior. [1]
How to use this method:
Figure 1. Cell phones are a common item removed when grounding a child. (Image Source: pxfuel,CC0 1.0)
• Start early: From as early on as preschool, the parent can begin to set boundaries and family rules for the child and should warn the child that not following these will lead to consequences.
• Choose specific activities to take away that are desirable to the child: When grounding, choose a tangible activity, privilege, or freedom to take away from the child such as toys, television time, or playing with friends. The activity, privilege, or freedom must be something the child enjoys or this method will be ineffective.
• Do not give in to guilt: Even though the parent may feel bad and want to give the privileges back to the child early, the child must learn that poor decisions lead to negative consequences; a child will not learn the lessons that grounding aims to teach if a parent does not follow through with the entire process.
• Consistency is key: Parents must consistently follow through with all consequences in order for grounding, or any other parenting technique, strategy, or method, to be beneficial and successful in their child’s life. [2]
Example
• Lucy’s parents have established the rule that Lucy can only be out with friends until 11 p.m. on weeknights.
• One night, Lucy did not follow this rule and came back home at 1 a.m.
• As a consequence, Lucy’s parents decide to not allow Lucy to go out with her friends in the evening for the next week and take her cell phone away from her for three days.
Key Takeaways
• Grounding is when parents take away certain privileges or freedoms from their child as a consequence for undesirable behaviors.
• The goal is to provide limits and boundaries to teach children that there are consequences when boundaries are crossed.
• The removed privilege or freedom MUST be desirable to the child or it will not be effective in changing the behavior.
• Once parents state the consequences, they must follow through with the consequence or the child’s behavior will likely remain the same.
1. Brooks, R., & Goldstein, S. (2001). Raising Resilient Children: Fostering Strength, Hope, and Optimism in Your Child. New York: McGraw-Hill. ↵
2. Zolten, K., & Long, N. (2006). Modified Grounding. Retrieved from https://extension.tennessee.edu/centerforparenting/TipSheets/Modified%20Grounding.pdf | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/05%3A_Child-Rearing_Strategies/05.5%3A_Constructive_Choices.txt |
I-messages are effective communication techniques to use when talking with another person. The goals of I-messages are to keep interactions positive, and avoid blame, guilt, judgment, and shame. I-messages express your own feelings, while “you” messages place assumptions or judgments onto the person with whom you are speaking. A “you” message would sound like, “You need to pay more attention!” or “You shouldn’t be acting like that.”[1]
Figure 1. A child playing with blocks (Photo Source: Tatiana Syrikova, Pexels License)
Here is an example of turning a “you” message into an I-message. The “you” message might be something like, “You always disobey our rules and do whatever you want!” However, turning it into an I-message might sound more like this, “I feel angry when you disobey the rules we’ve laid out for you because I feel disrespected. I like it when you obey the rules, guidelines, and boundaries we have in this family because it makes me feel like you care about me, yourself, and the whole family.”[2]
How to use this method:
• “I feel ___
• When ___
• Because ___
• I like ___”[3]
This outline expresses how you feel about a given situation, action, or behavior by explaining what you feel, why you feel that way, and what you would like the desired behavior to be.
Example
• “I feel worried and anxious when it is one hour past the time you were to be home and I have not heard from you because I fear something bad has happened. I like it when you keep in touch with me if you might be late. I need you to contact me if you will be late.”
Key Takeaway
• I-messages start with the word “I,” express your own feelings to keep communication positive, and help avoid blame and judgment onto the other person.
1. Eastman, K. L., Corona, R. A., & Schuster, M. (2006, October). Talking Parents, Healthy Teens: A Worksite-based Program for Parents to Promote Adolescent Sexual Health. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2006/oct/06_0012.htm
2. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2015, November 21). Components of Good Communication. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/communication-discipline/Pages/Components-of-Good-Communication.aspx
3. Heath, P. (2013). Parent-child relations: Context, research, and application (3rd Ed.). Pearson. ↵
05.9: Induction
Induction can be used to help youth develop empathy,[1] guide their behaviors, take ownership of their actions, learn acceptable behaviors, and understand how their actions may impact themselves (self-centered induction) and others (other-oriented induction).[2]
How to use this method:
Figure 1. Riding a bicycle in the road can be dangerous, but explaining that to a child requires patience and understanding. (Photo Source: Pixabay, Pixabay License)
When you have a child’s full attention:
• Explain how one’s actions can affect themselves and others (positively and negatively).
• Use a child’s actions as an example to discuss and recommend expectations for acceptable behavior.
• Model desired behaviors for a child to imitate.
• Use others’ actions as examples to discuss and assess how behaviors can impact others’ feelings.
• Encourage, discuss, and reward desired behaviors.
• Explain and discourage undesirable actions.
• Be consistent and proactive by communicating expectations, discussing outcomes, and identifying feelings related to behaviors on an ongoing basis.
Children reared in an environment that uses this approach tend to have higher moral reasoning, internalized standards for behaviors, prosocial skills, and resistance to external influences when compared to their peers who have not been exposed to this technique[3].
Example
• If a child is taking her sibling’s toys, a parent can explain, “When you take your brother’s toys, it causes him to feel sad and that you do not like him. How might you feel if your friend took your bike out of our yard without asking you?”
Key Takeaway
• Induction is used to help children understand how their behaviors affect themselves and others, take ownership of their actions, and guide them to engage in acceptable behaviors.
1. Krevans, J., & Gibbs, J. (1996). Parents' Use of Inductive Discipline: Relations to Children's Empathy and Prosocial Behavior. Child Development, 67(6), 3263-3277. doi:10.2307/1131778. ↵
2. Heath, P. (2013). Parent-child relations: Context, research, and application (3rd Ed.). Pearson. ↵
3. Bannon R.S. (2011). Inductive Parenting. In: Goldstein S., Naglieri J. A. (eds). Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. ↵ | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/05%3A_Child-Rearing_Strategies/05.8%3A_I-messages.txt |
Child abuse takes many forms. Children can be physically or sexually assaulted, and they may also suffer from emotional abuse and neglect of many different forms. Whatever form it takes, child abuse is a serious problem.
It is especially difficult to know how much child abuse occurs. Infants obviously cannot talk, and toddlers and older children who are abused usually do not tell anyone about the abuse. They might not define it as abuse, they might be scared to tell a trusted adult, they might blame themselves for being abused, or they might not know with whom they could talk about their abuse. Whatever the reason, children usually remain silent, thus making it very difficult to know how much abuse takes place. Up-to-date statistics on the different types of child abuse in the United States can be found at the U.S. Children’s Bureau website.
Abuse
Abuse can occur in multiple forms and across all family relationships. Breiding, Basile, Smith, Black, and Mahendra (2015) define the forms of abuse as:
• Physical abuse, the use of intentional physical force to cause harm. Scratching, pushing, shoving, throwing, grabbing, biting, choking, shaking, slapping, punching, and hitting are common forms of physical abuse;
• Sexual abuse, the act of forcing someone to participate in a sex act against his or her will. Such abuse is often referred to as sexual assault or rape. A marital relationship does not grant anyone the right to demand sex or sexual activity from anyone, even a spouse;
• Psychological abuse, aggressive behavior that is intended to control someone else. Such abuse can include threats of physical or sexual abuse, manipulation, bullying, and stalking.[1]
Abuse between partners is referred to as intimate partner violence; however, such abuse can also occur between a parent and child (child abuse), adult children and their aging parents (elder abuse), and between siblings.[2]
The most common form of child abuse is neglect. Child neglect is a deficit in meeting a child’s basic needs, such as failure to provide adequate nutrition, supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physical, emotional, social, educational, and safety needs. All societies have established necessary behaviors a caregiver must provide in order for a child to develop well within the domains of physical, social, and emotional development. Causes of neglect may result from caregivers experiencing problems associated with mental disorders, unplanned pregnancy, substance abuse, unemployment, over-employment, domestic violence, and, in special cases, poverty.
Child neglect depends on how a child and society perceives the caregivers’ behaviors; it is not how parents or caregivers believe they are behaving toward their child.[3] Caregiver’s failure to provide for a child, when options are available, is different from failure to provide when options are not available. Poverty and lack of resources are often contributing factors that may prevent caregivers from meeting children’s needs, when they otherwise would be able to meet those needs.[4]
There are various types of child neglect which include:
• Physical neglect is the failure to provide a child with basic necessities of life such as adequate food, shelter, and clothing.
• Medical neglect is the failure of caregivers to meet a child’s basic health care needs. Examples include not brushing teeth on a daily basis, not bathing a child, and/or taking children to doctor visits when needed.
• Emotional neglect is the failure to provide emotional support such as emotional security and encouragement (love, nurturance, etc.).
• Educational and developmental neglect include the failure to provide children with experiences necessary for normative growth and development. These may include failing to ensure children receive adequate education or experiences that help foster normative, developmental standards.
• Depending on the laws and child protective policies in one’s area, leaving a young child unsupervised may be considered neglect, especially if doing so places the child in danger.
Figure 1. While physical abuse might be the easiest to see, neglect is much more common. (Photo Source: US Air Force)
All types of abuse are complex issues, especially within families. There are many reasons people may become abusers, such as poverty, stress, and substance abuse are common characteristics shared by abusers, although abuse can happen in any family. There are also many reasons adults might stay in abusive relationships, which include, but are not limited to: (a) learned helplessness (the abused persons believing they have no control over the situation); (b) the belief that the abuser can/will change; (c) shame, guilt, self-blame, and/or fear; and (d) economic dependence.[5]
Children who experience any type of abuse may “act out” or respond in a variety of unhealthful ways. These may include acts of self-destruction, withdrawal, and aggression, and struggles with depression, anxiety, and academic performance. Researchers have found that abused children’s brains may produce higher levels of stress hormones. These hormones can lead to decreased brain development, lower stress thresholds, suppressed immune responses, and lifelong difficulties with learning and memory. [6] Abused children are much more likely than children who are not abused to end up with various developmental, psychological, and behavioral problems throughout their life course. In particular, they are more likely to be aggressive, to use alcohol and other drugs, to be anxious and depressed, and to get divorced if they marry.[7]
Children who experience abuse or neglect are at risk of developing lifelong social, emotional, and health problems, particularly if neglected before the age of two years. This is consistent with what we learned about ACEs. However, it is important to note that not all children who experience abuse and neglect will have the same outcomes. As we learned, there are many ways in which we can foster stable, permanent, safe, secure, nurturing, loving care for children who have been associated with reduced effects of ACEs.
It is extremely important to understand the ways in which child abuse and neglect can be prevented, such as those listed in this infographic from the CDC. For more information, visit cdc.gov/violenceprevention.
Foster Care
In the United States and in some other countries, another way to immediately protect children from further abuse is to remove them from their primary caregivers and place them into foster care or with family members. Foster care is a system in which a minor is placed into a group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a “foster parent,” or with a family member approved by the state. The placement of the child is normally arranged through the government or a social service agency. The institution, group home, or foster parent is typically compensated for expenses unless the child is placed with a family member.[8]
In the United States, on any given day, there are more than 400,000 youth living in foster care (out-of-home care) primarily due to abuse and/or neglect. And, more than 100,000 of these youth are waiting to be adopted from foster care. This means that these parents have lost permanent legal rights and custody of their children, leaving their children without any permanently legal caregivers (the government assumes this responsibility until someone adopts the children). The average age of youth waiting to be adopted from foster care is eight years old. Contrary to popular belief, it typically does not cost any money to adopt a child from foster care. For more information about becoming a foster parent or adopting from foster care, visit: www.adoptuskids.org. For additional statistics about adoption and foster care visit the Adoption and Foster Care Statistics website.
1. Breiding, M. J., Basile, K. C., Smith, S. G., Black, M. C., & Mahendra, R. (2015). Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Version 2.0. ↵
2. Breiding, M. J., Basile, K. C., Smith, S. G., Black, M. C., & Mahendra, R. (2015). Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Version 2.0. ↵
3. Barnett, W. S., & Belfield, C. R. (2006). Early childhood development and social mobility. The Future of Children. Princeton University. 16(2). 73–98. doi:10.1353/foc.2006.0011 ↵
4. This section is adapted in part from Child neglect by Wikimedia contributors, licensed CC BY SA. ↵
5. Muraco, J. A. (2020). The family. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/3htscypq
6. Middlebrooks, J. S., & Audage, N. C. (2008). The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Atlanta, GA. ↵
7. Laff, R., & Ruiz, W. (2019). Child, Family, and Community. College of the Canyons. Open Textbook Library. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/child-family-and-community
8. Wikipedia. (2020). Foster care. Retrieved from https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_care#cite_note-1
Child Abuse, Neglect, and Foster Care by Diana Lang and Wikimedia contributors is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/06%3A_Child-rearing_in_a_Variety_of_Contexts/06.1%3A_Child_Abuse_Neglect_and_Foster_Care.txt |
Adoption of children is one of many ways in which families are formed. Adoption, the legal transfer of parental rights of a child to another person, can occur in many ways and elicit a wide variety of family types. In the United States, statistics for the total number of all types of adoptions are not compiled on a regular basis and statistics are not at all compiled for some adoption types. Adoption statistics and estimates are based on U.S. Census data and other sources. It is estimated that approximately 2-4% of all Americans are adopted.[1]
As we learned previously, more than 100,000 youth (with an average age of 8 years) are waiting to be adopted from foster care. But, a majority of individuals wish to adopt an infant. According to research, millions of American women have expressed a desire to adopt an infant[2] and tens of thousands of families are waiting to adopt an infant.
However, it is also estimated that fewer than 20,000 babies are voluntarily placed for adoption each year in the United States. Certainly, there are thousands fewer infants placed for adoption than families waiting to adopt an infant. Research has shown that placing a baby for adoption can serve as a preventive option of child abuse and neglect for individuals who are not ready to parent, able to parent, or willing to parent.[3] [4] [5]
Thus, it is a best-practice approach that individuals experiencing unplanned or unwanted pregnancies be provided the most accurate information concerning their options for parenting, adoption, the processes associated with all options, etc. [6]
In the U.S., it is common for birth parents to choose their baby’s adoptive parents, and in some cases, adoptive and birth family members are able to maintain some contact with each other. It is important to note that infants who are voluntarily placed are typically taken home immediately from the birthing location by their adopting family. In conclusion, fewer children may end up in foster care if their parents were advised of their options for adoption and parenting. To learn how to educate parents about the option of placing their baby for adoption view this pdf, Adoption: Considering Your Options and Making a Plan [pdf]
Family Types
There are numerous adoptive family types. Below is a brief definition of each family type.
• Infant/newborn/domestic: A child who is born in a country and who is adopted shortly after birth (within the same country).
• Transnational/Intercountry/International: A child who is born in one country and is adopted by a family who lives in another country. Often, the child is orphaned. For statistics and information about intercountry adoptions visit this website.
• Kin: Children adopted by a relative such as an aunt, uncle, sister, brother, grandparent, or other relative.
• Foster care: Children who are no longer able to be cared for by their primary caregiver(s) who are adopted by another family member.
• Stepparent: Children adopted by one parent’s spouse; the spouse agrees to take full responsibility for the child.
The following forms of adoption are a result of assisted reproductive technology (methods that utilize medical technology to achieve conception and birth). In most U.S. states, these forms require the legal transfer of parental rights to another parent(s).
• Embryo: Families can adopt an embryo produced from the sperm and egg of one couple. Clinics and agencies help match donating families and recipient/adopting families.
• Surrogacy: A surrogate mother carries a fertilized egg in utero. After the birth of the child, the intended parent(s) adopt(s) the child.
Below are some of the more commonly-used terms associated with adoption and the legal process.
• Adoption Triad: Birth parents, adoptive parents, and the adopted child(ren).
• Disrupted Adoption: An adoption agreement that ends before finalization.
• Dissolution of Adoption: An adoption that ends after finalization.
• Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children: A law that requires written notice and prior approval of the placement of a child for adoption or foster care from one state with a family in another state.
• Kinship care: The full-time nurturing of a child by someone related to the child by family ties or by prior relationship connection (fictive kin).
• Reunification: The returning of foster children to the custody of their parent(s) after placement outside the home.
• Relinquishment/Termination of Parental Rights: The legal step necessary for parents to voluntarily or involuntarily have their parental rights terminated to allow their child to be adopted by adoptive parents; sometimes referred to as a surrender or as making an adoption plan for one’s child.
• Special Needs: Children with physical, behavioral, or mental impairments, children with siblings in need of adoption, and at-risk children.
Before and after the legal transfer of parental rights, families can decide how they may stay in contact after the child is no longer a legal member of the birth family. This decision is referred to as “levels of openness” or “degrees of contact.”
Levels of Openness/Degrees of Contact
Non-Identifying Information: Information that allows the members of the adoption triad to know about each other, but without identifying information. First names, physical descriptions, occupation, education, personality characteristics, hobbies, interests, religious affiliation, and medical information are examples of non-identifying information.
Semi-open adoption: An adoption in which a child’s birth parents and adoptive parents may exchange primarily non-identifying information. After the child is placed in the adoptive home, contact with the birth family may involve letters or pictures or other communications sent through the intermediary of the adoption agency or the attorney who assisted in the placement.
Closed adoption: An adoption that involves total confidentiality and sealed records; contact does not exist between any members of either family.
Identifying information: Information concerning birth parents which discloses their identities.
Open adoption: An adoption that involves some amount of initial and/or ongoing contact between birth and adoptive families, ranging from sending letters through the agency, to exchanging names, and/or scheduling visits.
Terminology
Using accurate adoption language can stop the spread of adoption-related misconceptions and educate others about adoption. For instance, the phrase “choosing to place your child for adoption” has a much more positive connotation than “giving up your baby.” “Choosing to place your child for adoption” focuses on the fact that parents most likely considered options and chose the option they felt was best for the child. It is important to use appropriate terms so that accurate language may someday be the norm. Below is a list of “accurate adoption terminology.”
Table: Adoption terminology, accurate and inaccurate language
Accurate Language Inaccurate Language
Birthparent, first parent Real parent, natural parent
My child Adopted child
Choosing an adoption plan Giving away/giving up your child
Finding a family to parent your child Putting your child up for adoption
Deciding to parent the child Keeping your baby
To parent To keep
Child in need of a family/parent Adoptable child; Available child
International or intercountry adoption Foreign adoption
Child who has special needs Handicapped child, hard to place
Child from another country Foreign child
Was adopted Is adopted
Key Takeaways
• Adoption is a legal transfer of parental rights of a child
• There are many types of adoption and ways to build a family
• Families can negotiate how they wish to communicate after the adoption process is completed
• Using appropriate adoption terminology is very important
1. Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2016). Trends in U.S. adoptions: 2008–12. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau. Retrieved from www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/adopted0812.pdf↵
2. Jones, J., & Placek, P. (2017). Adoption by the numbers: A comprehensive report of U.S. adoption statistics; retrieved from https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/publications/2017/02/adoption-by-the-numbers
3. Van IJzendoorn, M.H., & Juffer, F. (2006). The Emanuel Miller Memorial Lecture 2006: Adoption as intervention. Meta-analytic evidence for massive catch-up and plasticity in physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(12); 1228–1245 doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01675.x ↵
4. Van IJzendoorn, M.H., Juffer, F., & Klein Poelhuis, C.W. (2005). Adoption and cognitive development: A meta-analytic comparison of adopted and non-adopted children's IQ and school performance. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 301–316. ↵
5. Van IJzendoorn, M.H., & Juffer, F. (2005). Adoption is a successful natural intervention enhancing adopted children's IQ and school performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(6); 326 –330 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00391.x
6. Gallagher, J.R., & Rycraft, J.R. (2014). Evaluation of the Infant Adoption Awareness trainings: Transforming training knowledge to adoption practice. Adoption Quarterly, 17(4), 253-279. DOI: 10.1080/10926755.2014.891552 ↵
06.3: Additional Topics that can Impact Parenting Families and Child Outcomes
There are many different family types (structures) and ways to navigate the complex processes that occur within families. Below are select resources to additional topics that may impact families and children across the world.
Adoption and Foster Care
For additional information concerning parenting within the contexts of adoption and foster care, read these articles on adoption and foster care.
Family Structures and Associated Processes
To learn more about stepfamilies, divorce, same-sex parenting, etc., read these articles on “types of families.”
Shaken Baby Syndrome
Click here to learn more about shaken baby syndrome.
Coping in a Pandemic
The CDC also offers information on helping children cope during the pandemic.
Poverty
An infographic on the effect of poverty on infants and toddlers.
Rituals
To learn more, read this article about family rituals.
Sextortion
A comprehensive list of other topics can be found here. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/06%3A_Child-rearing_in_a_Variety_of_Contexts/06.2%3A_Adoption.txt |
Infants (0-1 year)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 2 months [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 4 months [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 6 months [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 9 months [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 1 year [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development infants (0-1 year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Toddlers (1-2 years)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 18 months [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development toddlers (1-2 year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Toddlers (2-3 years)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 2 years [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development toddlers (2-3 year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Preschoolers (3-5 years)
(Photo Credit: CDC)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 3 years [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 4 years [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental Milestones Checklist at 5 years [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development preschoolers (3-5 year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Video Examples
Video examples of developmental milestones (2 months to 5 years)
Middle Childhood (6-8 years)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development middle childhood (6-8 year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Middle Childhood (9-11 years)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development middle childhood (9-1 1year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Young Teens (12-14 years)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development young teens (12-1 4year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.
Teens (15-17 years)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Positive parenting tips for healthy child development teens (15-17 year of age) [pdf]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/07%3A_Developmental_Milestones/07.1%3A_Developmental_Milestones_and_Positive_Parenting_Tips.txt |
Figure 1. The stages of pregnancy
How did you come to be who you are? From beginning as a one-cell structure to your birth, your prenatal development occurred in an orderly and delicate sequence. There are three stages of prenatal development: germinal, embryonic, and fetal. Keep in mind that this is different than the three trimesters of pregnancy. Let’s take a look at what happens to the developing baby in each of these stages.
Prenatal Development
“The body of the unborn baby is more complex than ours. The preborn baby has several extra parts to his body which he needs only so long as he lives inside his mother. He has his own space capsule, the amniotic sac. He has his own lifeline, the umbilical cord, and he has his own root system, the placenta. These all belong to the baby himself, not to his mother. They are all developed from his original cell.”[1]
Let’s take a look at some of the changes that take place during each of the three periods of prenatal development: the germinal period, the embryonic period, and the fetal period.
The Germinal Period (Weeks 1-2)
Figure 2. Sperm and Ovum at Conception
Conception occurs when a sperm fertilizes an egg and forms a zygote, which begins as a one-cell structure. The mother and father’s DNA is passed on to the child at the moment of conception. The genetic makeup and sex of the baby are set at this point. The germinal period (about 14 days in length) lasts from conception to implantation of the zygote (fertilized egg) in the lining of the uterus.
During the first week after conception, the zygote divides and multiplies, going from a one-cell structure to two cells, then four cells, then eight cells, and so on. The process of cell division is called mitosis. After the fourth division, differentiation of the cells begins to occur as well. Differentiated cells become more specialized, forming different organs and body parts. After 5 days of mitosis, there are 100 cells, and after 9 months there are billions of cells. Mitosis is a fragile process, and fewer than one-half of all zygotes survive beyond the first two weeks (Hall, 2004).
After the zygote divides for about 7–10 days and has 150 cells, it travels down the fallopian tubes and implants itself in the lining of the uterus. It’s estimated that about 60 percent of natural conceptions fail to implant in the uterus. The rate is higher for in vitro conceptions. Once the zygote attaches to the uterus, the next stage begins.
The Embryonic Period (Weeks 3-8)
Figure 3. Human Embryo
The embryonic period begins once the zygote is implanted in the uterine wall. It lasts from the third through the eighth week after conception. Upon implantation, this multi-cellular organism is called an embryo. Now blood vessels grow, forming the placenta. The placenta is a structure connected to the uterus that provides nourishment and oxygen from the mother to the developing embryo via the umbilical cord.
During this period, cells continue to differentiate. Basic structures of the embryo start to develop into areas that will become the head, chest, and abdomen. During the embryonic stage, the heart begins to beat and organs form and begin to function. At 22 days after conception, the neural tube forms along the back of the embryo, developing into the spinal cord and brain.
Growth during prenatal development occurs in two major directions: from head to tail (cephalocaudal development) and from the midline outward (proximodistal development). This means that those structures nearest the head develop before those nearest the feet and those structures nearest the torso develop before those away from the center of the body (such as hands and fingers).
The head develops in the fourth week and the precursor to the heart begins to pulse. In the early stages of the embryonic period, gills and a tail are apparent. But by the end of this stage, they disappear and the organism takes on a more human appearance. The embryo is approximately 1 inch in length and weighs about 4 grams at the end of this period. The embryo can move and respond to touch at this time.
About 20 percent of organisms fail during the embryonic period, usually due to gross chromosomal abnormalities. As in the case of the germinal period, often the mother does not yet know that she is pregnant. It is during this stage that the major structures of the body are taking form making the embryonic period the time when the organism is most vulnerable to the greatest amount of damage if exposed to harmful substances. Potential mothers are not often aware of the risks they introduce to the developing child during this time.
The Fetal Period (Weeks 9-40)
Figure 4. A fetus at 10 weeks of development.
When the organism is about nine weeks old, the embryo is called a fetus. At this stage, the fetus is about the size of a kidney bean and begins to take on the recognizable form of a human being as the “tail” begins to disappear.
From 9–12 weeks, the sex organs begin to differentiate. By the 12th week, the fetus has all its body parts including external genitalia. In the following weeks, the fetus will develop hair, nails, teeth and the excretory and digestive systems will continue to develop. At the end of the 12th week, the fetus is about 3 inches long and weighs about 28 grams.
At about 16 weeks, the fetus is approximately 4.5 inches long. Fingers and toes are fully developed, and fingerprints are visible. During the 4-6th months, the eyes become more sensitive to light and hearing develops. The respiratory system continues to develop. Reflexes such as sucking, swallowing, and hiccuping develop during the 5th month. Cycles of sleep and wakefulness are present at that time as well. Throughout the fetal stage, the brain continues to grow and develop, nearly doubling in size from weeks 16 to 28. The majority of the neurons in the brain have developed by 24 weeks although they are still rudimentary and the glial or nurse cells that support neurons continue to grow. At 24 weeks the fetus can feel pain (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 1997).
The first chance of survival outside the womb, known as the age of viability is reached at about 22 to 26 weeks (Moore & Persaud, 1998). By the time the fetus reaches the sixth month of development (24 weeks), it weighs up to 1.4 pounds. The hearing has developed, so the fetus can respond to sounds. The internal organs, such as the lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines, have formed enough that a fetus born prematurely at this point has a chance to survive outside of the mother’s womb.
Between the 7th and 9th months, the fetus is primarily preparing for birth. It is exercising its muscles, its lungs begin to expand and contract. It is developing fat layers under the skin. The fetus gains about 5 pounds and 7 inches during this last trimester of pregnancy which includes a layer of fat gained during the 8th month. This layer of fat serves as insulation and helps the baby regulate body temperature after birth.
Around 36 weeks, the fetus is almost ready for birth. It weighs about 6 pounds and is about 18.5 inches long, and by week 37 all of the fetus’s organ systems are developed enough that it could survive outside the mother’s uterus without many of the risks associated with premature birth. The fetus continues to gain weight and grow in length until approximately 40 weeks. By then, the fetus has very little room to move around and birth becomes imminent.
Figure 5. During the fetal stage, the baby’s brain develops and the body adds size and weight until the fetus reaches full-term development.
Video Example
This video on prenatal development explains many of the developmental milestones and changes that happen during each month of development for the embryo and fetus.
Environmental Risks
Teratology
Good prenatal care is essential. The developing child is most at risk for some of the most severe problems during the first three months of development. Unfortunately, this is a time at which most mothers are unaware that they are pregnant. It is estimated that 10% of all birth defects are caused by a prenatal exposure or teratogen. Teratogens are factors that can contribute to birth defects which include some maternal diseases, drugs, alcohol, and stress. These exposures can also include environmental and occupational exposures. Today, we know many of the factors that can jeopardize the health of the developing child. Teratogen-caused birth defects are potentially preventable.
The study of factors that contribute to birth defects is called teratology. Teratogens are usually discovered after an increased prevalence of a particular birth defect. For example, in the early 1960’s, a drug known as thalidomide was used to treat morning sickness. Exposure of the fetus during this early stage of development resulted in cases of phocomelia, a congenital malformation in which the hands and feet are attached to abbreviated arms and legs.
A Look at Some Teratogens
Alcohol
Figure 6. Some distinguishing characteristics of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders include more narrow eye openings, A smooth philtrum, meaning a smooth area between the upper lip and the nose, and a thin upper lip.
One of the most commonly used teratogens is alcohol. Because half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, it is recommended that women of child-bearing age take great caution against drinking alcohol when not using birth control and when pregnant (Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol Use During Pregnancy, 2005). Alcohol consumption, particularly during the second month of prenatal development, but at any point during pregnancy, may lead to neurocognitive and behavioral difficulties that can last a lifetime.
There is no acceptable safe limit for alcohol use during pregnancy, but binge drinking (5 or more drinks on a single occasion) or having 7 or more drinks during a single week places a child at particularly high risk. In extreme cases, alcohol consumption can lead to fetal death, but more frequently it can result in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). This terminology is now used when looking at the effects of exposure and replaces the term fetal alcohol syndrome. It is preferred because it recognizes that symptoms occur on a spectrum and that all individuals do not have the same characteristics. Children with FASD share certain physical features such as flattened noses, small eye openings, small heads, intellectual developmental delays, and behavioral problems. Those with FASD are more at risk for lifelong problems such as criminal behavior, psychiatric problems, and unemployment (CDC, 2006).
The terms alcohol-related neurological disorder (ARND) and alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD) have replaced the term Fetal Alcohol Effects to refer to those with less extreme symptoms of FASD. ARBD include kidney, bone and heart problems.
Video Example
Several medical experts debunk common myths about the safety of drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/parentingfamilydiversity/?p=1681
Tobacco
Smoking is also considered a teratogen because nicotine travels through the placenta to the fetus. When the mother smokes, the developing baby experiences a reduction in blood oxygen levels. Tobacco use during pregnancy has been associated with low birth weight, placenta previa, birth defects, preterm delivery, fetal growth restriction, and sudden infant death syndrome. Smoking in the month before getting pregnant and throughout pregnancy increases the chances of these risks. Quitting smoking before getting pregnant is best. However, for women who are already pregnant, quitting as early as possible can still help protect against some health problems for the mother and baby.[2]
Drugs
Prescription, over-the-counter, or recreational drugs can have serious teratogenic effects. In general, if medication is required, the lowest dose possible should be used. Combination drug therapies and first trimester exposures should be avoided. Almost three percent of pregnant women use illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and other amphetamines, and heroin. These drugs can cause low birth-weight, withdrawal symptoms, birth defects, or learning or behavioral problems. Babies born with a heroin addiction need heroin just like an adult addict. The child will need to be gradually weaned from the heroin under medical supervision; otherwise, the child could have seizures and die.
Environmental Chemicals
Environmental chemicals can include exposure to a wide array of agents including pollution, organic mercury compounds, herbicides, and industrial solvents. Some environmental pollutants of major concern include lead poisoning, which is connected with low birth weight and slowed neurological development. Children who live in older housing in which lead-based paints have been used have been known to eat peeling paint chips thus being exposed to lead. The chemicals in certain herbicides are also potentially damaging. Radiation is another environmental hazard that a pregnant woman must be aware of. If a mother is exposed to radiation, particularly during the first three months of pregnancy, the child may suffer some congenital deformities. There is also an increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth. Mercury leads to physical deformities and intellectual disabilities (Dietrich, 1999).
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can complicate pregnancy and may have serious effects on both the mother and the developing baby. Most prenatal care today includes testing for STIs, and early detection is important. STIs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis can all be treated and cured with antibiotics that are safe to take during pregnancy. STIs that are caused by viruses, like genital herpes, hepatitis B, or HIV cannot be cured. However, in some cases these infections can be treated with antiviral medications or other preventive measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of passing the infection to the baby.[3]
Maternal Diseases
Maternal illnesses increase the chance that a baby will be born with a birth defect or have a chronic health problem. Some of the diseases that are known to potentially have an adverse effect on the fetus include diabetes, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, rubella, varicella, hypothyroidism, and Strep B. If the mother contracts Rubella during the first three months of pregnancy, damage can occur in the eyes, ears, heart, or brain of the unborn child. On a positive note, Rubella has been nearly eliminated in the industrial world due to the vaccine created in 1969. Diagnosing these diseases early and receiving appropriate medical care can help improve the outcomes. Routine prenatal care now includes screening for gestational diabetes and Strep B.[4]
Maternal Stress
Stress represents the effects of any factor able to threaten the homeostasis of an organism; these either real or perceived threats are referred to as the “stressors” and comprise a long list of potentially adverse factors, which can be emotional or physical. Because of a link in blood supply between a mother and fetus, it has been found that stress can leave lasting effects on a developing fetus, even before a child is born. The best-studied outcomes of fetal exposure to maternal prenatal stress are preterm birth and low birth weight. Maternal prenatal stress is also considered responsible for a variety of changes in the child’s brain, and a risk factor for conditions such as behavioral problems, learning disorders, high levels of anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and schizophrenia. Furthermore, maternal prenatal stress has been associated with a higher risk for a variety of immune and metabolic changes in the child such as asthma, allergic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and obesity.[5]
Factors influencing prenatal risks
There are several considerations in determining the type and amount of damage that might result from exposure to a particular teratogen (Berger, 2004). These include:
• The timing of the exposure: Structures in the body are vulnerable to the most severe damage when they are forming. If a substance is introduced during a particular structure’s critical period (time of development), the damage to that structure may be greater. For example, the ears and arms reach their critical periods at about 6 weeks after conception. If a mother exposes the embryo to certain substances during this period, the arms and ears may be malformed.
• The amount of exposure: Some substances are not harmful unless the amounts reach a certain level. The critical level depends in part on the size and metabolism of the mother.
• Genetics: Genetic make-up also plays a role in the impact a particular teratogen might have on the child. This is suggested by fraternal twin studies who are exposed to the same prenatal environment, yet do not experience the same teratogenic effects. The genetic make-up of the mother can also have an effect; some mothers may be more resistant to teratogenic effects than others.
• Being male or female: Males are more likely to experience damage due to teratogens than are females. It is believed that the Y chromosome, which contains fewer genes than the X, may have an impact.
Figure 7. Critical Periods of Prenatal Development. This image summarizes the three developmental periods in prenatal development. The blue images indicate where major development is happening and the aqua indicate where refinement is happening. As shown, the majority of organs are particularly susceptible during the embryonic period. The central nervous system still continues to develop in major ways through the fetal period as well.
Interactive Example
Did you know that pregnant women can improve outcomes for themselves and their babies through a balanced diet and adequate exercise? Click through this interactive to learn more about the importance of maternal health.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/parentingfamilydiversity/?p=1681
Complications of Pregnancy and Delivery
Figure 8. Pregnancy affects women in different ways; some notice few adverse side effects, while others feel high levels of discomfort, or develop more serious complications.
There are a number of common side effects of pregnancy. Not everyone experiences all of these nor do women experience them to the same degree. And although they are considered “minor” these problems are potentially very uncomfortable. These side effects include nausea (particularly during the first 3-4 months of pregnancy as a result of higher levels of estrogen in the system), heartburn, gas, hemorrhoids, backache, leg cramps, insomnia, constipation, shortness of breath or varicose veins (as a result of carrying a heavy load on the abdomen). What is the cure? Delivery!
Major Complications
The following are some serious complications of pregnancy which can pose health risks to mother and child and that often require special care.
• Gestational diabetes is when a woman without diabetes develops high blood sugar levels during pregnancy.
• Hyperemesis gravidarum is the presence of severe and persistent vomiting, causing dehydration and weight loss. It is more severe than the more common morning sickness.
• Preeclampsia is gestational hypertension. Severe preeclampsia involves blood pressure over 160/110 with additional signs. Eclampsia is seizures in a pre-eclamptic patient.
• Deep vein thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, most commonly in the legs.
• A pregnant woman is more susceptible to infections. This increased risk is caused by an increased immune tolerance in pregnancy to prevent an immune reaction against the fetus.
• Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a decrease in heart function which occurs in the last month of pregnancy, or up to six months post-pregnancy.
Maternal Mortality
Maternal mortality is unacceptably high. About 830 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications around the world every day. It was estimated that in 2015, roughly 303,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings, and most could have been prevented. The high number of maternal deaths in some areas of the world reflects inequities in access to health services and highlights the gap between rich and poor. Almost all maternal deaths (99%) occur in developing countries. More than half of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and almost one third occur in South Asia.
Almost all maternal deaths can be prevented, as evidenced by the huge disparities found between the richest and poorest countries. The lifetime risk of maternal death in high-income countries is 1 in 3,300, compared to 1 in 41 in low-income. [6]
Figure 9. This graph shows declining maternal mortality rates, as measured as the number of deaths per 100,000 live births. in 1990, 903 out of 100,000 live births resulted in death in the least developed countries, but that number has improved to 436 out of 100,000 births in 2015. Globally, there were 216 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2015. (Image Source: UNICEF.)
Even though maternal mortality in the United States is relatively rare today because of advanced in medical care, it is still an issue that needs to be addressed. The number of reported pregnancy-related deaths in the United States steadily increased from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 to 18.0 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2014. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define a pregnancy-related death as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 1 year of the end of a pregnancy–regardless of the outcome, duration, or site of the pregnancy–from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes. The reasons for the overall increase in pregnancy-related mortality are unclear. What do you think are some reasons for this surprising increase in the United States? What can be done to change this statistic?
Video Example
In the United States, black women are disproportionately more likely to die from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth than any other race; they are three or four times more likely than white women to die due to pregnancy-related death and are more likely to receive worse maternal care.[7] Black women from higher income groups and with advanced education levels also have heightened risks—even tennis superstar Serena Williams had near-deadly complications during the birth of her daughter, Olympia. Why is this the case in our modern world? Watch this video to learn more:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/parentingfamilydiversity/?p=1681
The data below shows percentages of the causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States during 2011–2014:
• Cardiovascular diseases, 15.2%.
• Non-cardiovascular diseases, 14.7%.
• Infection or sepsis, 12.8%.
• Hemorrhage, 11.5%.
• Cardiomyopathy, 10.3%.
• Thrombotic pulmonary embolism, 9.1%.
• Cerebrovascular accidents, 7.4%.
• Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, 6.8%.
• Amniotic fluid embolism, 5.5%.
• Anesthesia complications, 0.3%.
The cause of death is unknown for 6.5% of all 2011–2014 pregnancy-related deaths.[8]
Miscarriage
Spontaneous abortion, or miscarriage, is experienced in an estimated 20-40 percent of undiagnosed pregnancies and in another 10 percent of diagnosed pregnancies. Usually, the body aborts due to chromosomal abnormalities and this typically happens before the 12th week of pregnancy. Cramping and bleeding result and normal periods return after several months. Some women are more likely to have repeated miscarriages due to chromosomal, amniotic, or hormonal problems; but miscarriage can also be a result of defective sperm (Carroll et al., 2003).
1. Day & Liley, The Secret World of a Baby, Random House, 1968, p. 13 ↵
2. Birth Defects Research and Tracking. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/research.html
3. STDs during Pregnancy - CDC Fact Sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/std/pregnancy/stdfact-pregnancy.htm
4. Maternal Illness – Birth Defect Prevention for Expecting Parents. Birth Defect Research for Children. Retrieved from https://www.birthdefects.org/healthy-baby/maternal-illness/
5. Douros Konstantinos, Moustaki Maria, Tsabouri Sophia, Papadopoulou Anna, Papadopoulos Marios, Priftis Kostas N. (2017). Prenatal Maternal Stress and the Risk of Asthma in Children. Frontiers in Pediatrics. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fped.2017.00202
6. Maternal mortality (February 2018). World Health Organization. Retrieved from
7. Black Women’s Maternal Health: A Multifaceted Approach to Addressing Persistent and Dire Health Disparities (April 2018). National Partnership for Women and Families. Retrieved from http://www.nationalpartnership.org/o...al-health.html. ↵
8. Reproductive Health. Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance-system.htm
Prenatal Development by Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/07%3A_Developmental_Milestones/07.2%3A_Prenatal_Development.txt |
We will now turn our attention to the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development during the first two years.[1] Researchers have given this part of the lifespan more attention than any other period, perhaps because changes during this time are so dramatic and so noticeable. We have also assumed that what happens during these years provides a foundation for one’s life to come. However, it has been argued that the significance of development during these years has been overstated.[2]
Figure 1. Changes in Proportions
Overall Physical Growth
The average newborn in the United States weighs about 7.5 pounds (between 5 and 10 pounds) and is about 20 inches in length. For the first few days of life, infants typically lose about 5 percent of their body weight as they eliminate waste and get used to feeding. This often goes unnoticed by most parents but can be cause for concern for those who have a smaller infant. This weight loss is temporary, however, and is followed by a rapid period of growth. By the time an infant is 4 months old, it usually doubles in weight and by one year has tripled the birth weight. By age 2, the weight has quadrupled, so we can expect that a 2-year-old should weigh between 20 and 40 pounds. The average length at one year is about 29.5 inches and at two years it is around 34.4 inches.
Body Proportions: Another dramatic physical change that takes place in the first several years of life is the change in body proportions. The head initially makes up about 50 percent of our entire length when we are developing in the womb. At birth, the head makes up about 25 percent of our length, and by age 25 it comprises about 20 percent our length.
Infant Sleep
A newborn typically sleeps approximately 16.5 hours per 24-hour period. This is usually polyphasic sleep in that the infant is accumulating the 16.5 hours over several sleep periods throughout the day.[3] The infant is averaging 15 hours per 24-hour period by one month, and 14 hours by 6 months. By the time children turn two, they are averaging closer to 10 hours per 24 hours.
Additionally, the average newborn will spend close to 50% of the sleep time in the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase, which decreases to 25% to 30% in childhood.
Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID)
Each year in the United States, there are about 3,500 Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID). These deaths occur among infants less than one year-old and have no immediately obvious cause.[4] The three commonly reported types of SUID are:
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): SIDS is identified when the death of a healthy infant occurs suddenly and unexpectedly, and medical and forensic investigation findings (including an autopsy) are inconclusive. SIDS is the leading cause of death in infants 1 to 12 months old, and approximately 1,500 infants died of SIDS in 2013.[5] Because SIDS is diagnosed when no other cause of death can be determined, possible causes of SIDS are regularly researched. One leading hypothesis suggests that infants who die from SIDS have abnormalities in the area of the brainstem responsible for regulating breathing.
• Unknown Cause: The sudden death of an infant less than one year of age that cannot be explained because a thorough investigation was not conducted and cause of death could not be determined.
• Accidental Suffocation and Strangulation in Bed: Reasons for accidental suffocation include: Suffocation by soft bedding, another person rolling on top of or against the infant while sleeping, an infant being wedged between two objects such as a mattress and wall, and strangulation such as when an infant’s head and neck become caught between crib railings.
As can be seen in the previous graph (Figure 3.6), the combined SUID death rate declined considerably following the release of the American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleep recommendations in 1992, which advocated that infants be placed for sleep on their backs (nonprone position). These recommendations were followed by a major Back to Sleep Campaign in 1994. However, accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed mortality rates remained unchanged until the late 1990s. In 1998 death rates from accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed actually started to increase, and they reached the highest rate at 20.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2013
Should infants be sharing the bed with parents?
Figure 2. An infant holding onto their parent. (Photo Source: Pikrepo, DMCA)
Colvin, Collie-Akers, Schunn, and Moon (2014) analyzed a total of 8207 deaths from 24 states during 2004–2012 that were contained in the National Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths Case Reporting System, a database of death reports from state child death review teams.[6] The results indicated that younger victims (0-3 months) were more likely to die by bed-sharing and sleeping in an adult bed/on a person. A higher percentage of older victims (4 months to 364 days) rolled into objects in the sleep environment and changed position from side/back to prone. Carpenter et al. (2013) compared infants who died of SIDS with a matched control and found that infants younger than three months old who slept in bed with a parent were five times more likely to die of SIDS compared to babies who slept separately from the parents, but were still in the same room.[7]
They concluded that bed-sharing, even when the parents do not smoke or take alcohol or drugs, is related to an increased risk of SIDS. However, when combined with parental smoking and maternal alcohol consumption and/or drug use, risks associated with bed-sharing greatly increased.
The two studies discussed above were based on American statistics. What about the rest of the world? Co-sleeping occurs in many cultures, primarily because of a more collectivist perspective that encourages a close parent-child bond and interdependent relationship.[8] In countries where co-sleeping is common, however, parents and infants typically sleep on floor mats and other hard surfaces which minimize the suffocation that can occur with bedding and mattresses.[9]
Motor Development
Motor development occurs in an orderly sequence as infants move from reflexive reactions (e.g., sucking and rooting) to more advanced motor functioning. As mentioned during the prenatal section, development occurs according to the Cephalocaudal (from head to tail) and Proximodistal (from the midline outward) principles. For instance, babies first learn to hold their heads up, then to sit with assistance, then to sit unassisted, followed later by crawling, pulling up, cruising, and then walking. As motor skills develop, there are certain developmental milestones that young children should achieve. For each milestone there is an average age, as well as a range of ages in which the milestone should be reached. An example of a developmental milestone is a baby holding up its head. Babies on average are able to hold up their head at 6 weeks old, and 90% of babies achieve this between 3 weeks and 4 months old. If a baby is not holding up his head by 4 months old, he is showing a delay. On average, most babies sit alone at 7 months old. Sitting involves both coordination and muscle strength, and 90% of babies achieve this milestone between 5 and 9 months old. If the child is displaying delays on several milestones, that is reason for concern, and the parent or caregiver should discuss this with the child’s pediatrician. Some developmental delays can be identified and addressed through early intervention.
Motor Skills refer to our ability to move our bodies and manipulate objects. Fine motor skills focus on the muscles in our fingers, toes, and eyes, and enable coordination of small actions (e.g., grasping a toy, writing with a pencil, and using a spoon). Newborns cannot grasp objects voluntarily but do wave their arms toward objects of interest. At about 4 months of age, the infant is able to reach for an object, first with both arms and within a few weeks, with only one arm. At this age grasping an object involves the use of the fingers and palm, but no thumbs. This is known as the Palmer Grasp. The use of the thumb comes at about 9 months of age when the infant is able to grasp an object using the forefinger and thumb. Now the infant uses a Pincer Grasp, and this ability greatly enhances the ability to control and manipulate an object and infants take great delight in this newfound ability. They may spend hours picking up small objects from the floor and placing them in containers. By 9 months, an infant can also watch a moving object, reach for it as it approaches, and grab it.
Gross motor skills focus on large muscle groups that control our head, torso, arms and legs and involve larger movements (e.g., balancing, running, and jumping). These skills begin to develop first. Examples include moving to bring the chin up when lying on the stomach, moving the chest up, and rocking back and forth on hands and knees. But it also includes exploring an object with one’s feet as many babies do as early as 8 weeks of age if seated in a carrier or other device that frees the hips. This may be easier than reaching for an object with the hands, which requires much more practice.[10] Sometimes an infant will try to move toward an object while crawling and surprisingly move backward because of the greater amount of strength in the arms than in the legs.
Sensory Capacities
Current research techniques have demonstrated just how developed the newborn is with especially organized sensory and perceptual abilities.
Figure 3. Carefully holding an infant. (Photo Source: Pikrepo, DMCA)
Vision: The womb is a dark environment void of visual stimulation. Consequently, vision is the most poorly developed sense at birth and time is needed to build those neural pathways between the eye and the brain. Newborns typically cannot see further than 8 to 16 inches away from their faces, and their visual acuity is about 20/400, which means that an infant can see something at 20 feet that an adult with normal vision could see at 400 feet. Thus, the world probably looks blurry to young infants. Because of their poor visual acuity, they look longer at checkerboards with fewer large squares than with many small squares. Infants’ thresholds for seeing a visual pattern are higher than adults’. Thus, toys for infants are sometimes manufactured with black and white patterns rather than pastel colors because the higher contrast between black and white makes the pattern more visible to the immature visual system. By about 6 months, infants’ visual acuity improves and approximates adult 20/25 acuity.
When viewing a person’s face, newborns do not look at the eyes the way adults do; rather, they tend to look at the chin a less detailed part of the face. However, by 2 or 3 months, they will seek more detail when exploring an object visually and begin showing preferences for unusual images over familiar ones, for patterns over solids, for faces over patterns, and for three-dimensional objects over flat images. Newborns have difficulty distinguishing between colors, but within a few months they are able to discriminate between colors as well as adults. Sensitivity to binocular depth cues, which require inputs from both eyes, is evident by about 3 months and continues to develop during the first 6 months. By 6 months, the infant can perceive depth perception in pictures as well.[11] Infants who have experience crawling and exploring will pay greater attention to visual cues of depth and modify their actions accordingly.[12]
Hearing
The infant’s sense of hearing is very keen at birth, and the ability to hear is evidenced as soon as the 7th month of prenatal development. In fact, an infant can distinguish between very similar sounds as early as one month after birth and can distinguish between a familiar and non-familiar voice even earlier. Infants are especially sensitive to the frequencies of sounds in human speech and prefer the exaggeration of infant-directed speech, which will be discussed later. Additionally, infants are innately ready to respond to the sounds of any language, but some of this ability will be lost by 7 or 8 months as the infant becomes familiar with the sounds of a particular language and less sensitive to sounds that are part of an unfamiliar language.
Newborns also prefer their mother’s voices over another female when speaking the same material.[13] Additionally, they will register in utero specific information heard from their mother’s voice. DeCasper and Spence (1986) tested 16 infants (average age of hours) whose mothers had previously read to them prenatally.[14] The mothers read several passages to their fetuses, including the first 28 paragraphs of the Cat in the Hat, beginning when they were 7 months pregnant. The fetuses had been exposed to the stories an average of 67 times or 3.5 hours. When the experimental infants were tested, the target stories (previously heard) were more reinforcing than the novel story as measured by their rate of sucking. However, for control infants, the target stories were not more reinforcing than the novel story indicating that the experimental infants had heard them before.
Touch and Pain
Figure 4. Infants are particularly sensitive to touch and pain. (Photo Source: Pikist, DMCA)
Immediately after birth, a newborn is sensitive to touch and temperature, and is also highly sensitive to pain, responding with crying and cardiovascular responses.[15] Newborns who are circumcised, which is the surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis, without anesthesia experience pain as demonstrated by increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, decreased oxygen in the blood, and a surge of stress hormones.[16] Research has demonstrated that infants who were circumcised without anesthesia experienced more pain and fear during routine childhood vaccines. Fortunately, many local pain killers are currently used during circumcision.
Taste and Smell
Studies of taste and smell demonstrate that babies respond with different facial expressions, suggesting that certain preferences are innate. Newborns can distinguish between sour, bitter, sweet, and salty flavors and show a preference for sweet flavors. Newborns also prefer the smell of their mothers. An infant only 6 days old is significantly more likely to turn toward its own mother’s breast pad than to the breast pad of another baby’s mother,[17] and within hours of birth an infant also shows a preference for the face of its own mother.[18],[19]
Infants seem to be born with the ability to perceive the world in an intermodal way; that is, through stimulation from more than one sensory modality. For example, infants who sucked on a pacifier with either a smooth or textured surface preferred to look at a corresponding (smooth or textured) visual model of the pacifier. By 4 months, infants can match lip movements with speech sounds and can match other audiovisual events. Although sensory development emphasizes the afferent processes used to take in information from the environment, these sensory processes can be affected by the infant’s developing motor abilities. Reaching, crawling, and other actions allow the infant to see, touch, and organize his or her experiences in new ways.
Nutrition
Typically, breast milk is considered the ideal diet for newborns (exceptions would include if the milk contains teratogens such as HIV or due to a mother’s consumption of alcohol or other drugs, etc.). Colostrum, the first breast milk produced during pregnancy and just after birth has been described as “liquid gold” (United States Department of Health and Human Services.[20] It is very rich in nutrients and antibodies. Breast milk changes by the third to fifth day after birth, becoming much thinner, but containing just the right amount of fat, sugar, water and proteins to support overall physical and neurological development. For most babies, breast milk is also easier to digest than formula. Formula-fed infants experience more diarrhea and upset stomachs. The absence of antibodies in formula often results in a higher rate of ear infections and respiratory infections. Children who are breastfed tend to have lower rates of childhood leukemia, asthma, obesity, Type 1 and 2 diabetes, and a lower risk of SIDS. The USDHHS recommends that mothers breastfeed their infants until at least 6 months of age and that breast milk be used in the diet throughout the first year or two.[21]
Several recent studies have reported that it is not just babies that benefit from breastfeeding. Breastfeeding stimulates contractions in the uterus to help it regain its normal size, and women who breastfeed are more likely to space their pregnancies further apart. Mothers who breastfeed are at lower risk of developing breast cancer, [22] especially among higher-risk racial and ethnic groups.[23] Women who breastfeed have lower rates of ovarian cancer,[24] reduced risk for developing Type 2 diabetes,[25] and rheumatoid arthritis.[26] In most studies these benefits have been seen in women who breastfeed longer than 6 months.
Mothers can certainly continue to provide breast milk to their babies by expressing and freezing the milk to be bottle fed at a later time or by being available to their infants at feeding time. Some workplaces support breastfeeding mothers by providing flexible schedules and welcoming infants, but many do not. In addition, not all women may be able to breastfeed. Women with HIV are routinely discouraged from breastfeeding as the infection may pass to the infant. Similarly, women who are taking certain medications or undergoing radiation treatment may be told not to breastfeed.[27]
When to Introduce More Solid Foods
Solid foods should not be introduced until the infant is ready. According to The Clemson University Cooperative Extension (2014), some things to look for include that the infant:
• can sit up without needing support
• can hold its head up without wobbling
• shows interest in foods others are eating
• is still hungry after being breastfed or formula-fed
• is able to move foods from the front to the back of the mouth
• is able to turn away when they have had enough[28]
For many infants who are 4 to 6 months of age, breast milk or formula can be supplemented with more solid foods. The first semi-solid foods that are introduced are iron-fortified infant cereals mixed with breast milk or formula. Typically rice, oatmeal, and barley cereals are offered as a number of infants are sensitive to more wheat-based cereals. Finger foods such as toast squares, cooked vegetable strips, or peeled soft fruit can be introduced by 10-12 months. New foods should be introduced one at a time, and the new food should be fed for a few days in a row to allow the baby time to adjust to the new food. This also allows parents time to assess if the child has a food allergy. Foods that have multiple ingredients should be avoided until parents have assessed how the child responds to each ingredient separately. Foods that are sticky (such as peanut butter or taffy), cut into large chunks (such as cheese and harder meats), and firm and round (such as hard candies, grapes, or cherry tomatoes) should be avoided as they are a choking hazard. Honey and Corn syrup should be avoided as these often contain botulism spores. In children under 12 months, this can lead to death.[29]
Piaget and the Sensorimotor Stage
Piaget believed that we are continuously trying to maintain cognitive equilibrium, or a balance, in what we see and what we know.[30] Children have much more of a challenge in maintaining this balance because they are constantly being confronted with new situations, new words, new objects, etc. All this new information needs to be organized, and a framework for organizing information is referred to as a schema. Children develop schemata through the processes of assimilation and accommodation.
When faced with something new, a child may demonstrate assimilation, which is fitting the new information into an existing schema, such as calling all animals with four legs “doggies” because he or she knows the word doggie. Instead of assimilating the information, the child may demonstrate.
Accommodation, which is expanding the framework of knowledge to accommodate the new situation and thus learning a new word to more accurately name the animal. For example, recognizing that a horse is different from a zebra means the child has accommodated, and now the child has both a zebra schema and a horse schema. Even as adults we continue to try and “make sense” of new situations by determining whether they fit into our old way of thinking (assimilation) or whether we need to modify our thoughts (accommodation).
According to the Piagetian perspective, infants learn about the world primarily through their senses and motor abilities.[31] These basic motor and sensory abilities provide the foundation for the cognitive skills that will emerge during the subsequent stages of cognitive development. The first stage of cognitive development is referred to as the Sensorimotor Period.
Development of Object Permanence
A critical milestone during the sensorimotor period is the development of object permanence. Object permanence is the understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists.[32] According to Piaget, young infants do not remember an object after it has been removed from sight. Piaget studied infants’ reactions when a toy was first shown to an infant and then hidden under a blanket. Infants who had already developed object permanence would reach for the hidden toy, indicating that they knew it still existed, whereas infants who had not developed object permanence would appear confused. Piaget emphasizes this construct because it was an objective way for children to demonstrate that they can mentally represent their world. Children have typically acquired this milestone by 8 months. Once toddlers have mastered object permanence, they enjoy games like hide and seek, and they realize that when someone leaves the room they will come back. Toddlers also point to pictures in books and look in appropriate places when you ask them to find objects.
In Piaget’s view, around the same time children develop object permanence, they also begin to exhibit Stranger Anxiety, which is a fear of unfamiliar people.[33] Babies may demonstrate this by crying and turning away from a stranger, by clinging to a caregiver, or by attempting to reach their arms toward familiar faces such as parents. Stranger anxiety results when a child is unable to assimilate the stranger into an existing schema; therefore, she can’t predict what her experience with that stranger will be like, which results in a fear response.
Critique of Piaget
Piaget thought that children’s ability to understand objects, such as learning that a rattle makes a noise when shaken, was a cognitive skill that develops slowly as a child matures and interacts with the environment. Today, developmental psychologists think Piaget was incorrect. Researchers have found that even very young children understand objects and how they work long before they have experience with those objects.[34],[35] For example, Piaget believed that infants did not fully master object permanence until substage 5 of the sensorimotor period.[36]
However, infants seem to be able to recognize that objects have permanence at much younger ages. Diamond (1985) found that infants show earlier knowledge if the waiting period is shorter.[37] At age 6 months, they retrieved the hidden object if their wait for retrieving the object is no longer than 2 seconds, and at 7 months if the wait is no longer than 4 seconds. Even earlier, children as young as 3 months old demonstrated knowledge of the properties of objects that they had only viewed and did not have prior experience with them. In one study, 3-month-old infants were shown a truck rolling down a track and behind a screen. The box, which appeared solid but was actually hollow, was placed next to the track. The truck rolled past the box as would be expected. Then the box was placed on the track to block the path of the truck. When the truck was rolled down the track this time, it continued unimpeded. The infants spent significantly more time looking at this impossible event (Figure 3.16).
Figure 5. A truck moving down a track.
Baillargeon (1987) concluded that they knew solid objects cannot pass through each other.[38] Baillargeon’s findings suggest that very young children have an understanding of objects and how they work, which Piaget (1954) would have said is beyond their cognitive abilities due to their limited experiences in the world.[39]
Language Development
An important aspect of cognitive development is language acquisition. The order in which children learn language structures is consistent across children and cultures.[40] Starting before birth, babies begin to develop language and communication skills. At birth, babies recognize their mother’s voice and can discriminate between the language(s) spoken by their mothers and foreign languages, and they show preferences for faces that are moving in synchrony with audible language.[41],[42]
Do newborns communicate? Of course they do. They do not, however, communicate with the use of oral language. Instead, they communicate their thoughts and needs with body posture (being relaxed or still), gestures, cries, and facial expressions. A person who spends adequate time with an infant can learn which cries indicate pain and which ones indicate hunger, discomfort, or frustration.
Intentional Vocalizations
In terms of producing spoken language, babies begin to coo almost immediately. Cooing is a one-syllable combination of a consonant and a vowel sound (e.g., coo or ba). Interestingly, babies replicate sounds from their own languages. A baby whose parents speak French will coo in a different tone than a baby whose parents speak Spanish or Urdu. These gurgling, musical vocalizations can serve as a source of entertainment to an infant who has been laid down for a nap or seated in a carrier on a car ride. Cooing serves as practice for vocalization, as well as the infant hears the sound of his or her own voice and tries to repeat sounds that are entertaining. Infants also begin to learn the pace and pause of conversation as they alternate their vocalization with that of someone else and then take their turn again when the other person’s vocalization has stopped.
At about four to six months of age, infants begin making even more elaborate vocalizations that include the sounds required for any language. Guttural sounds, clicks, consonants, and vowel sounds stand ready to equip the child with the ability to repeat whatever sounds are characteristic of the language heard. Eventually, these sounds will no longer be used as the infant grows more accustomed to a particular language.
At about 7 months, infants begin babbling, engaging in intentional vocalizations that lack specific meaning and comprise a consonant-vowel repeated sequence, such as ma-ma-ma or da-da-da. Children babble as practice in creating specific sounds, and by the time they are 1 year old, the babbling uses primarily the sounds of the language that they are learning.[43] These vocalizations have a conversational tone that sounds meaningful even though it isn’t. Babbling also helps children understand the social, communicative function of language. Children who are exposed to sign language babble in sign by making hand movements that represent real language.[44]
Children communicate information through gesturing long before they speak, and there is some evidence that gesture usage predicts subsequent language development.[45] Babies who are deaf also use gestures to communicate wants, reactions, and feelings. Because gesturing seems to be easier than vocalization for some toddlers, sign language is sometimes taught to enhance one’s ability to communicate by making use of the ease of gesturing. The rhythm and pattern of language is used when deaf babies sign just as it is when hearing babies babble.
Most infants shake their head “no” around 6–9 months, and they respond to verbal requests to do things like “wave bye-bye” or “blow a kiss” around 9–12 months. Children also use contextual information, particularly the cues that parents provide, to help them learn language. Children learn that people are usually referring to things that they are looking at when they are speaking, and that that the speaker’s emotional expressions are related to the content of their speech.[46]
Children begin using their first words at about 12 or 13 months of age and may use partial words to convey thoughts at even younger ages. These one word expressions are referred to as Holophrasic Speech. For example, the child may say “ju” for the word “juice” and use this sound when referring to a bottle. The listener must interpret the meaning of the holophrase, and when this is someone who has spent time with the child, interpretation is not too difficult. But, someone who has not been around the child will have trouble knowing what is meant. Imagine the parent who to a friend exclaims, “Ezra’s talking all the time now!” The friend hears only “ju da ga” to which the parent explains means, “I want some milk when I go with Daddy.”
The early utterances of children contain many errors, for instance, confusing /b/ and /d/, or /c/ and /z/. The words children create are often simplified, in part because they are not yet able to make the more complex sounds of the real language.[47] Children may say “keekee” for kitty, “nana” for banana, and “vesketti” for spaghetti because it is easier. Often these early words are accompanied by gestures that may also be easier to produce than the words themselves. Children’s pronunciations become increasingly accurate between 1 and 3 years, but some problems may persist until school age.
A child who learns that a word stands for an object may initially think that the word can be used for only that particular object, which is referred to as underextension. Only the family’s Irish Setter is a “doggie”, for example. More often, however, a child may think that a label applies to all objects that are similar to the original object, which is called overextension. For example, all animals become “doggies”.
First words and cultural influences
First words if the child is using English tend to be nouns. The child labels objects such as cup, ball, or other items that they regularly interact with. In a verb-friendly language such as Chinese, however, children may learn more verbs. This may also be due to the different emphasis given to objects based on culture. Chinese children may be taught to notice action and relationships between objects, while children from the United States may be taught to name an object and its qualities (color, texture, size, etc.). These differences can be seen when comparing interpretations of art by older students from China and the United States.
By the time they become toddlers, children have a vocabulary of about 50-200 words and begin putting those words together in telegraphic speech, such as “baby bye-bye” or “doggie pretty”. Words needed to convey messages are used, but the articles and other parts of speech necessary for grammatical correctness are not yet used. These expressions sound like a telegraph, or perhaps a better analogy today would be that they read like a text message. Telegraphic Speech/Text Message Speech occurs when unnecessary words are not used. “Give baby ball” is used rather than “Give the baby the ball.”
Infant-directed Speech
Have you ever wondered why adults tend to use that sing-song type of intonation and exaggeration used when talking to children? This represents a universal tendency and is known as Infant-directed Speech. It involves exaggerating the vowel and consonant sounds, using a high-pitched voice, and delivering the phrase with great facial expression.[48] Why is this done? Infants are frequently more attuned to the tone of voice of the person speaking than to the content of the words themselves and are aware of the target of speech. Werker, Pegg, and McLeod (1994) found that infants listened longer to a woman who was speaking to a baby than to a woman who was speaking to another adult.[49] It may be in order to clearly articulate the sounds of a word so that the child can hear the sounds involved. It may also be because when this type of speech is used, the infant pays more attention to the speaker and this sets up a pattern of interaction in which the speaker and listener are in tune with one another.
Infant Temperament
Figure 6. A happy infant. (Image Source: Noba Project, licensed CC 0).
Perhaps you have spent time with a number of infants. How were they alike? How did they differ? How do you compare with your siblings or other children you have known well. You may have noticed that some seemed to be in a better mood than others and that some were more sensitive to noise or more easily distracted than others. These differences may be attributed to temperament. Temperament is the innate characteristics of the infant, including mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity, noticeable soon after birth.
In a 1956 landmark study, Chess and Thomas (1996) evaluated 141 children’s temperament based on parental interviews.[50] Referred to as the New York Longitudinal Study, infants were assessed on 9 dimensions of temperament including: Activity level, rhythmicity (regularity of biological functions), approach/withdrawal (how children deal with new things), adaptability to situations, intensity of reactions, threshold of responsiveness (how intense a stimulus has to be for the child to react), quality of mood, distractibility, attention span, and persistence. Based on the infants’ behavioral profiles, they were categorized into three general types of temperament:
• Easy Child (40%) who is able to quickly adapt to routine and new situations, remains calm, is easy to soothe, and usually is in a positive mood.
• Difficult Child (10%) who reacts negatively to new situations, has trouble adapting to routine, is usually negative in mood, and cries frequently.
• Slow-to-Warm-Up Child (15%) has a low activity level, adjusts slowly to new situations and is often negative in mood.
The percentages listed above do not equal 100% as some children were not able to be placed neatly into one of the categories. Think about how you might approach each type of child in order to improve your interactions with them. An easy child will not need much extra attention, while a slow to warm up child may need to be given advance warning if new people or situations are going to be introduced. A difficult child may need to be given extra time to burn off their energy. A caregiver’s ability to work well and accurately read the child will enjoy a Goodness- of-Fit, meaning their styles match and communication and interaction can flow. Parents who recognize each child’s temperament and accept it, will nurture more effective interactions with the child and encourage more adaptive functioning. For example, an adventurous child whose parents regularly take her outside on hikes would provide a good “fit” to her temperament.
Parenting is bidirectional
Figure 7. A parent smiling at their child. (Photo Source: Miranda Simpson)
Not only do parents affect their children, but children also influence their parents. Child characteristics, such as temperament, affect parenting behaviors and roles. For example, an infant with an easy temperament may enable parents to feel more effective, as they are easily able to soothe the child and elicit smiling and cooing. On the other hand, a cranky or fussy infant elicits fewer positive reactions from his or her parents and may result in parents feeling less effective in the parenting role.[51] Over time, parents of more difficult children may become more punitive and less patient with their children.[52],[53],[54] Parents who have a fussy, difficult child are less satisfied with their marriages and have greater challenges in balancing work and family roles.[55] Thus, child temperament is one of the child characteristics that influences how parents behave with their children.
Temperament does not change dramatically as we grow up, but we may learn how to work around and manage our temperamental qualities. Temperament may be one of the things about us that stays the same throughout development. In contrast, personality, defined as an individual’s consistent pattern of feeling, thinking, and behaving, is the result of the continuous interplay between biological disposition and experience.
Personality also develops from temperament in other ways.[56] As children mature biologically, temperamental characteristics emerge and change over time. A newborn is not capable of much self-control, but as brain-based capacities for self- control advance, temperamental changes in self-regulation become more apparent. For example, a newborn who cries frequently doesn’t necessarily have a grumpy personality; over time, with sufficient parental support and an increased sense of security, the child might be less likely to cry.
In addition, personality is made up of many other features besides temperament. Children’s developing self-concept, their motivations to achieve or to socialize, their values and goals, their coping styles, their sense of responsibility and conscientiousness, and many other qualities are encompassed into personality. These qualities are influenced by biological dispositions, but even more by the child’s experiences with others, particularly in close relationships, that guide the growth of individual characteristics. Indeed, personality development begins with the biological foundations of temperament but becomes increasingly elaborated, extended, and refined over time. The newborn that parents gazed upon thus becomes an adult with a personality of depth and nuance.
Erikson: Trust vs Mistrust
Figure 8. A happy child. (Photo Source: John H. White, public domain)
As we previously discussed in the Theories section, Erikson formulated an eight-stage theory of psychosocial development. Erikson was in agreement on the importance of a secure base, arguing that the most important goal of infancy was the development of a basic sense of trust in one’s caregivers. Consequently, the first stage, trust vs. mistrust, highlights the importance of attachment. Erikson maintained that the first year to year and a half of life involves the establishment of a sense of trust. [57]Infants are dependent and must rely on others to meet their basic physical needs as well as their needs for stimulation and comfort. A caregiver who consistently meets these needs instills a sense of trust or the belief that the world is a trustworthy place. The caregiver should not worry about overindulging a child’s need for comfort, contact, or stimulation.
Erikson (1982) believed that mistrust could contaminate all aspects of one’s life and deprive the individual of love and fellowship with others.[58] Consider the implications for establishing trust if a caregiver is unavailable or is upset and ill-prepared to care for a child. Or if a child is born prematurely, is unwanted, or has physical problems that make him or her less desirable to a parent. Under these circumstances, we cannot assume that the parent is going to provide the child with a feeling of trust.
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth, a student of John Bowlby, continued studying the development of attachment in infants. Ainsworth and her colleagues created a laboratory test that measured an infant’s attachment to his or her parent. The test is called The Strange Situation Technique because it is conducted in a context that is unfamiliar to the child and therefore likely to heighten the child’s need for his or her parent.[59]
During the procedure, that lasts about 20 minutes, the parent and the infant are first left alone, while the infant explores the room full of toys. Then a strange adult enters the room and talks for a minute to the parent, after which the parent leaves the room. The stranger stays with the infant for a few minutes, and then the parent again enters and the stranger leaves the room. During the entire session, a video camera records the child’s behaviors, which are later coded by trained coders. The investigators were especially interested in how the child responded to the caregiver leaving and returning to the room, referred to as the “reunion.” On the basis of their behaviors, the children are categorized into one of four groups where each group reflects a different kind of attachment relationship with the caregiver. One style is secure and the other three styles are referred to as insecure.
• A child with a secure attachment style usually explores freely while the caregiver is present and may engage with the stranger. The child will typically play with the toys and bring one to the caregiver to show and describe from time to time. The child may be upset when the caregiver departs but is also happy to see the caregiver return.
• A child with an ambivalent (sometimes called resistant) attachment style is wary about the situation in general, particularly the stranger, and stays close or even clings to the caregiver rather than exploring the toys. When the caregiver leaves, the child is extremely distressed and is ambivalent when the caregiver returns. The child may rush to the caregiver but then fails to be comforted when picked up. The child may still be angry and even resist attempts to be soothed.
• A child with an avoidant attachment style will avoid or ignore the mother, showing little emotion when the mother departs or returns. The child may run away from the mother when she approaches. The child will not explore very much, regardless of who is there, and the stranger will not be treated much differently from the mother.
• A child with a disorganized/disorientedattachmentstyle seems to have an inconsistent way of coping with the stress of the strange situation. The child may cry during the separation, but avoid the mother when she returns, or the child may approach the mother but then freeze or fall to the floor.
How common are the attachment styles among children in the United States? It is estimated that about 65 percent of children in the United States are securely attached. Twenty percent exhibit avoidant styles and 10 to 15 percent are ambivalent. Another 5 to 10 percent may be characterized as disorganized.
Some cultural differences in attachment styles have been found.[60] For example, German parents value independence and Japanese mothers are typically by their children’s sides. As a result, the rate of insecure-avoidant attachments is higher in Germany and insecure-resistant attachments are higher in Japan. These differences reflect cultural variation rather than true insecurity, however.[61]
Keep in mind that methods for measuring attachment styles have been based on a model that reflects middle-class, U. S. values and interpretation. Newer methods for assessment attachment styles involve using a Q-sort technique in which a large number of behaviors are recorded on cards and the observer sorts the cards in a way that reflects the type of behavior that occurs within the situation.[62] There are 90 items in the third version of the Q-sort technique, and examples of the behaviors assessed include:
• When child returns to mother after playing, the child is sometimes fussy for no clear reason.
• When the child is upset or injured, the child will accept comforting from adults other than mother.
• Child often hugs or cuddles against mother, without her asking or inviting the child to do so
• When the child is upset by mother’s leaving, the child continues to cry or even gets angry after she is gone.
At least two researchers observe the child and parent in the home for 1.5-2 hours per visit. Usually two visits are sufficient to gather adequate information. The parent is asked if the behaviors observed are typical for the child. This information is used to test the validity of the Strange Situation classifications across age, cultures, and with clinical populations.
Caregiver Interactions and the Formation of Attachment
Most developmental psychologists argue that a child becomes securely attached when there is consistent contact from one or more caregivers who meet the physical and emotional needs of the child in a responsive and appropriate manner. However, even in cultures where mothers do not talk, cuddle, and play with their infants, secure attachments can develop.[63]
• The insecure ambivalent style occurs when the parent is insensitive and responds inconsistently to the child’s needs. Consequently, the infant is never sure that the world is a trustworthy place or that he or she can rely on others without some anxiety. A caregiver who is unavailable, perhaps because of marital tension, substance abuse, or preoccupation with work, may send a message to the infant he or she cannot rely on having needs met. An infant who receives only sporadic attention when experiencing discomfort may not learn how to calm down. The child may cry if separated from the caregiver and also cry upon their return. They seek constant reassurance that never seems to satisfy their doubt. Keep in mind that clingy behavior can also just be part of a child’s natural disposition or temperament and does not necessarily reflect some kind of parental neglect. Additionally, a caregiver that attends to a child’s frustration can help teach them to be calm and to relax.
• The insecure avoidant style is marked by insecurity, but this style is also characterized by a tendency to avoid contact with the caregiver and with others. This child may have learned that needs typically go unmet and learns that the caregiver does not provide care and cannot be relied upon for comfort, even sporadically. An insecure avoidant child learns to be more independent and disengaged.
• The insecure disorganized/disoriented style represents the most insecure style of attachment and occurs when the child is given mixed, confused, and inappropriate responses from the caregiver. For example, a mother who suffers from schizophrenia may laugh when a child is hurting or cry when a child exhibits joy. The child does not learn how to interpret emotions or to connect with the unpredictable caregiver. This type of attachment is also often seen in children who have been abused. Research has shown that abuse disrupts a child’s ability to regulate their emotions.[64]
Having a consistent caregiver may be jeopardized if the infant is cared for in a daycare setting with a high turn-over of staff or if institutionalized and given little more than basic physical care. Infants who, perhaps because of being in orphanages with inadequate care, have not had the opportunity to attach in infancy may still form initial secure attachments several years later. However, they may have more emotional problems of depression, anger, or be overly friendly as they interact with others.[65]
Social Deprivation
Severe deprivation of parental attachment can lead to serious problems. According to studies of children who have not been given warm, nurturing care, they may show developmental delays, failure to thrive, and attachment disorders.[66]Non-organic failure to thrive is the diagnosis for an infant who does not grow, develop, or gain weight on schedule. In addition, postpartum depression can cause even a well-intentioned mother to neglect her infant.
Children who experience social neglect or deprivation, repeatedly change primary caregivers that limit opportunities to form stable attachments, or are reared in unusual settings (such as institutions) that limit opportunities to form stable attachments can certainly have difficulty forming attachments. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, those children experiencing neglectful situations and also displaying markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate attachment behavior, such as being inhibited and withdrawn, minimal social and emotional responsiveness to others, and limited positive affect, may be diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder.[67] This disorder often occurs with developmental delays, especially in cognitive and language areas. Fortunately, the majority of severely neglected children do not develop Reactive Attachment Disorder, which occurs in less than 10% of such children. The quality of the caregiving environment after serious neglect affects the development of this disorder.
Being able to overcome challenges and successfully adapt is Resiliency. Even young children can exhibit strong resiliency to harsh circumstances. Resiliency can be attributed to certain personality factors, such as an easy-going temperament. Some children are warm, friendly, and responsive, whereas others tend to be more irritable, less manageable, and difficult to console, and these differences play a role in attachment.[68],[69] It seems safe to say that attachment, like most other developmental processes, is affected by an interplay of genetic and socialization influences.
Receiving support from others also leads to resiliency. A positive and strong support group can help a parent and child build a strong foundation by offering assistance and positive attitudes toward the newborn and parent. In a direct test of this idea, Dutch researcher van den Boom (1994) randomly assigned some babies’ mothers to a training session in which they learned to better respond to their children’s needs.[70] The research found that these mothers’ babies were more likely to show a secure attachment style in comparison to the mothers in a control group that did not receive training.
Erikson: Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt
As the child begins to walk and talk, an interest in independence or autonomy replaces a concern for trust. The toddler tests the limits of what can be touched, said, and explored. Erikson (1982) believed that toddlers should be allowed to explore their environment as freely as safety allows and in so doing will develop a sense of independence that will later grow to self-esteem, initiative, and overall confidence.[71] If a caregiver is overly anxious about the toddler’s actions for fear that the child will get hurt or violate other’s expectations, the caregiver can give the child the message that he or she should be ashamed of their behavior and instill a sense of doubt in their own abilities. Parenting advice based on these ideas would be to keep your toddler safe, but let them learn by doing.
Conclusion
We have explored the dramatic story of the first two years of life. Rapid physical growth, neurological development, language acquisition, the movement from hands on to mental learning, an expanding emotional repertoire, and the initial conceptions of self and others make this period of life very exciting. These abilities are shaped into more sophisticated mental processes, self-concepts, and social relationships during the years of early childhood.
1. This chapter is adapted from Lifespan Development by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French, licensed CC BY NC SA. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-lifespandevelopment/
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35. Baillargeon, R., Li, J., Gertner, Y, & Wu, D. (2011). How do infants reason about physical events? In U. Goswami (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of childhood cognitive development. MA: John Wiley. ↵
36. Thomas, R. M. (1979). Comparing theories of child development. Santa Barbara, CA: Wadsworth. ↵
37. Diamond, A. (1985). Development of the ability to use recall to guide actions, as indicated by infants’ performance on AB. Child Development, 56, 868-883. ↵
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40. Hatch, E. M. (1983). Psycholinguistics: A second language perspective. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers. ↵
41. Blossom, M., & Morgan, J. L. (2006). Does the face say what the mouth says? A study of infants’ sensitivity to visual prosody. In 30th annual Boston University conference on language development, Somerville, MA. ↵
42. Pickens, J., Field, T., Nawrocki, T., Martinez, A., Soutullo, D., & Gonzalez, J. (1994). Full-term and preterm infants' perception of face-voice synchrony. Infant Behavior and Development, 17(4), 447-455. ↵
43. de Boysson-Bardies, B., Sagart, L., & Durand, C. (1984). Discernible differences in the babbling of infants according to target language. Journal of Child Language, 11(1), 1–15. ↵
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45. Iverson, J. M., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2005). Gesture paves the way for language development. Psychological science, 16(5), 367-371. ↵
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47. Dobrich, W., & Scarborough, H. S. (1992). Phonological characteristics of words young children try to say. Journal of Child Language, 19(3), 597–616. ↵
48. Clark, E. V. (2009). What shapes children’s language? Child-directed speech and the process of acquisition. In V. C. M. Gathercole (Ed.), Routes to language: Essays in honor of Melissa Bowerman. NY: Psychology Press. ↵
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50. Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1996). Temperament: Theory and practice. New York: Brunner/Mazel. ↵
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65. O'Connor, T.G., Marvin, R., Rutter, M., Olrick, J., & Britner, P. (2003). Child-parent attachment following early institutional deprivation. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579403000026
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Infancy and Toddlerhood by Suzanne Valentine-French, Martha Lally, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/07%3A_Developmental_Milestones/07.3%3A_Infancy_and_Toddlerhood.txt |
Our discussion will now focus on the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development during the ages from two to six, referred to as early childhood. Early childhood represents a time period of continued rapid growth, especially in the areas of language and cognitive development. Those in early childhood have more control over their emotions and begin to pursue a variety of activities that reflect their personal interests. Parents continue to be very important in the child’s development, but now teachers and peers exert an influence not seen with infants and toddlers.[1]
Figure 1. Children sitting on a staircase. (Image Source: Samer Daboul, Pexels)
Children between the ages of two and six years tend to grow about 3 inches in height and gain about 4 to 5 pounds in weight each year. Just as in infancy, growth occurs in spurts rather than continually. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000) the average 2-year-old weighs between 23 and 28 pounds and stands between 33 and 35 inches tall.[2] The average 6-year-old weighs between 40 and 50 pounds and is about 44 to 47 inches in height. The 3-year-old is still very similar to a toddler with a large head, large stomach, and short arms and legs. By the time the child reaches age 6, however, the torso has lengthened and body proportions have become more like those of adults.
This growth rate is slower than that of infancy and is accompanied by a reduced appetite between the ages of 2 and 6. This change can sometimes be surprising to parents and lead to the development of poor eating habits. However, children between the ages of 2 and 3 need 1,000 to 1,400 calories, while children between the ages of 4 and 8 need 1,200 to 2,000 calories.[3]
Toilet Training
Toilet training typically occurs during the first two years of early childhood (24-36 months). Some children show interest by age 2, but others may not be ready until months later. The average age for girls to be toilet trained is 29 months and for boys it is 31 months, and 98% of children are trained by 36 months.[4] The child’s age is not as important as his/her physical and emotional readiness. If started too early, it might take longer to train a child. According to The Mayo Clinic (2016b) the following questions can help parents determine if a child is ready for toilet training:
• Does your child seem interested in the potty chair or toilet, or in wearing underwear?
• Can your child understand and follow basic directions?
• Does your child tell you through words, facial expressions or posture when he or she needs to go?
• Does your child stay dry for periods of two hours or longer during the day?
• Does your child complain about wet or dirty diapers?
• Can your child pull down his or her pants and pull them up again?
• Can your child sit on and rise from a potty chair? (p. 1)[5]
If a child resists being trained or is not successful after a few weeks, it is best to take a break and try again later. Most children master daytime bladder control first, typically within two to three months of consistent toilet training. However, nap and nighttime training might take months or even years.
Some children experience elimination disorders that may require intervention by the child’s pediatrician or a trained mental health practitioner. Elimination disorders include enuresis, or the repeated voiding of urine into bed or clothes (involuntary or intentional) and encopresis, the repeated passage of feces into inappropriate places (involuntary or intentional).[6] The prevalence of enuresis is 5%-10% for 5 year-olds, 3%-5% for 10 year-olds, and approximately 1% for those 15 years of age or older. Around 1% of 5 year- olds have encopresis, and it is more common in males than females.
Sleep
During early childhood, there is wide variation in the number of hours of sleep recommended per day. For example, two-year-olds may still need 15-16 hours per day, while a six-year-old may only need 7-8 hours. The National Sleep Foundation’s 2015 recommendations based on age are listed in the figure below.
Figure 2. As we age, the amount of sleep recommended for our health decreases steadily.
Piaget
According to Piaget, the preoperational stage is associated with early childhood and occurs from 2 to 7 years of age. In this stage, children use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, which is why children in this stage tend to engage in pretend play. A child’s arms might become airplane wings as she zooms around the room, or a child with a stick might become a brave knight with a sword. Children also begin to use language in the preoperational stage, but they cannot typically understand adult logic. The term operational refers to logical manipulation of information, so children at this stage are considered pre-operational. Children’s logic is based on their own personal knowledge of the world so far, rather than on conventional knowledge.[7]
Video Example
Watch this video illustrating children’s accurate portrayal of Piaget’s preoperational thinking
The preoperational period is divided into two stages: The Symbolic Function Substage occurs between 2 and 4 years of age and is characterized by the child being able to mentally represent an object that is not present and a dependence on perception in problem solving. The Intuitive Thought Substage, lasting from 4 to 7 years, is marked by greater dependence on intuitive thinking rather than just perception.[8] At this stage, children ask many questions as they attempt to understand the world around them using immature reasoning. Let’s examine some of Piaget’s assertions about children’s cognitive abilities at this age.
Figure 3. Children learn to use pretend play to mode behaviors they have observed and to devise scenarios they haven’t encountered.
Pretend Play
Pretending is a favorite activity at this time. A toy has qualities beyond the way it was designed to function and can now be used to stand for a character or object unlike anything originally intended. A teddy bear, for example, can be a baby or the queen of a faraway land. Piaget believed that children’s pretend play helped children solidify new schemata they were developing cognitively. This play, then, reflected changes in their conceptions or thoughts. However, children also learn as they pretend and experiment. Their play does not simply represent what they have learned.[9]
Egocentrism
Egocentrism in early childhood refers to the tendency of young children not to be able to take the perspective of others. Instead, the child thinks that everyone sees, thinks, and feels just as they do. An egocentric child is not able to infer the perspective of other people and instead attributes his own perspective to situations. For example, ten-year-old Keiko’s birthday is coming up, so her mom takes 3-year-old Kenny to the toy store to choose a present for his sister. He selects an Iron Man action figure for her, thinking that if he likes the toy, his sister will too.
Piaget’s classic experiment on egocentrism involved showing children a three dimensional model of a mountain and asking them to describe what a doll that is looking at the mountain from a different angle might see (see Figure 4.9). Children tend to choose a picture that represents their own, rather than the doll’s view. By age 7 children are less self-centered.
However, even younger children when speaking to others tend to use different sentence structures and vocabulary when addressing a younger child or an older adult. This indicates some awareness of the views of others.
Conservation Errors
Conservation refers to the ability to recognize that moving or rearranging matter does not change the quantity. Let’s look at Kenny and Keiko again. Dad gave a slice of pizza to 10-year-old Keiko and another slice to 3-year-old Kenny. Kenny’s pizza slice was cut into five pieces, so Kenny told his sister that he got more pizza than she did. Kenny did not understand that cutting the pizza into smaller pieces did not increase the overall amount. This was because Kenny exhibited Centration, or focused on only one characteristic of an object to the exclusion of others. Kenny focused on the five pieces of pizza to his sister’s one piece even though the total amount was the same. Keiko was able to consider several characteristics of an object than just one. Because children have not developed this understanding of conservation, they cannot perform mental operations.
The classic Piagetian experiment associated with conservation involves liquid.[10] As seen in Figure 4.10, the child is shown two glasses (as shown in a) which are filled to the same level and asked if they have the same amount. Usually the child agrees they have the same amount.
The experimenter then pours the liquid in one glass to a taller and thinner glass (as shown in b). The child is again asked if the two glasses have the same amount of liquid. The preoperational child will typically say the taller glass now has more liquid because it is taller (as shown in c). The child has centrated on the height of the glass and fails to conserve.
Video Example
Watch this video illustrating children’s classification errors (they have not yet mastered all parts of Piaget’s conservation tasks)
Classification Errors: Preoperational children have difficulty understanding that an object can be classified in more than one way. For example, if shown three white buttons and four black buttons and asked whether there are more black buttons or buttons, the child is likely to respond that there are more black buttons. They do not consider the general class of buttons. As the child’s vocabulary improves and more schemata are developed, the ability to classify objects improves.
Animism refers to attributing life-like qualities to objects. The cup is alive, the chair that falls down and hits the child’s ankle is mean, and the toys need to stay home because they are tired. Cartoons frequently show objects that appear alive and take on lifelike qualities. Young children do seem to think that objects that move may be alive, but after age three, they seldom refer to objects as being alive.[11]
Critiques of Piaget
Similar to the critique of the sensorimotor period, several psychologists have attempted to show that Piaget also underestimated the intellectual capabilities of the preoperational child. For example, children’s specific experiences can influence when they are able to conserve. Children of pottery makers in Mexican villages know that reshaping clay does not change the amount of clay at much younger ages than children who do not have similar experiences. [12]Crain (2005) indicated that preoperational children can think rationally on mathematical and scientific tasks, and they are not as egocentric as Piaget implied.[13] Research on Theory of Mind (discussed later in the chapter) has demonstrated that children overcome egocentrism by 4 or 5 years of age, which is sooner than Piaget indicated.
Children’s Understanding of the World
Both Piaget and Vygotsky believed that children actively try to understand the world around them. More recently, developmentalists have added to this understanding by examining how children organize information and develop their own theories about the world.
Theory of mind refers to the ability to think about other people’s thoughts. This mental mind reading helps humans to understand and predict the reactions of others, thus playing a crucial role in social development. One common method for determining if a child has reached this mental milestone is the false belief task, described below.
Figure 4. Object permanence comic.
The research began with a clever experiment by Wimmer and Perner (1983), who tested whether children can pass a false-belief test.[14] The child is shown a picture story of Sally, who puts her ball in a basket and leaves the room. While Sally is out of the room, Anne comes along and takes the ball from the basket and puts it inside a box. The child is then asked where Sally thinks the ball is located when she comes back to the room. Is she going to look first in the box or in the basket? The right answer is that she will look in the basket, because that’s where she put it and thinks it is; but we have to infer this false belief against our own better knowledge that the ball is in the box. This is very difficult for children before the age of four because of the cognitive effort it takes. Three-year-olds have difficulty distinguishing between what they once thought was true and what they now know to be true. They feel confident that what they know now is what they have always known.[15]
Even adults need to think through this task.[16] To be successful at solving this type of task the child must separate what he or she “knows” to be true from what someone else might “think” is true. In Piagetian terms, they must give up a tendency toward egocentrism. The child must also understand that what guides people’s actions and responses are what they “believe” rather than what is reality. In other words, people can mistakenly believe things that are false and will act based on this false knowledge. Consequently, prior to age four children are rarely successful at solving such a task.[17]
Language Development
A child’s vocabulary expands between the ages of two to six from about 200 words to over 10,000 words. This “vocabulary spurt” typically involves 10-20 new words per week and is accomplished through a process called fast-mapping. Words are easily learned by making connections between new words and concepts already known. The parts of speech that are learned depend on the language and what is emphasized. Children speaking verb-friendly languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, learn verbs more readily, while those speaking English tend to learn nouns more readily. However, those learning less verb-friendly languages, such as English, seem to need assistance in grammar to master the use of verbs.[18]
Literal meanings
Children can repeat words and phrases after having heard them only once or twice, but they do not always understand the meaning of the words or phrases. This is especially true of expressions or figures of speech which are taken literally. For example, a classroom full of preschoolers hears the teacher say, “Wow! That was a piece of cake!” The children began asking “Cake? Where is my cake? I want cake!”
Overregularization
Children learn rules of grammar as they learn language but may apply these rules inappropriately at first. For instance, a child learns to add “ed” to the end of a word to indicate past tense. Then form a sentence such as “I goed there. I doed that.” This is typical at ages two and three. They will soon learn new words such as “went” and “did” to be used in those situations.
The Impact of Training
Remember Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal Development? Children can be assisted in learning language by others who listen attentively, model more accurate pronunciations, and encourage elaboration. The child exclaims, “I’m goed there!” and the adult responds, “You went there? Say, ‘I went there.’ Where did you go?” Children may be ripe for language as Chomsky suggests, but active participation in helping them learn is important for language development as well. The process of scaffolding is one in which the guide provides needed assistance to the child as a new skill is learned.
Preschool
Providing universal preschool has become an important lobbying point for federal, state, and local leaders throughout our country. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama called upon Congress to provide high-quality preschool for all children. He continued to support universal preschool in his legislative agenda, and in December 2014 the President convened state and local policymakers for the White House Summit on Early Education.[19] However, universal preschool covering all four-year-olds in the country would require significant funding. Further, how effective preschools are in preparing children for elementary school, and what constitutes high-quality preschool have been debated. To set criteria for designation as a high quality preschool, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) identifies 10 standards.[20] These include:
• Positive relationships among all children and adults are promoted.
• A curriculum that supports learning and development in social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive areas.
• Teaching approaches that are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate.
• Assessment of children’s progress to provide information on learning and development.
• The health and nutrition of children are promoted, while they are protected from illness and injury.
• Teachers possess the educational qualifications, knowledge, and commitment to promote children’s learning.
• Collaborative relationships with families are established and maintained.
• Relationships with agencies and institutions in the children’s communities are established to support the program’s goals.
• Indoor and outdoor physical environments are safe and well-maintained.
• Leadership and management personnel are well qualified, effective, and maintain licensure status with the applicable state agency.
Figure 5. Head Start students learning in class.
Parents should review preschool programs using the NAEYC criteria as a guide and template for asking questions that will assist them in choosing the best program for their child. Selecting the right preschool is also difficult because there are so many types of preschools available. Zachry (2013) identified Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, High Scope, Parent Co-Ops, and Bank Street as types of preschool programs that focus on children learning through discovery. Teachers act as guides and create activities based on the child’s developmental level.[21]
Head Start
For children who live in poverty, Head Start has been providing preschool education since 1965 when it was begun by President Lyndon Johnson as part of his war on poverty. It currently serves nearly one million children and annually costs approximately 7.5 billion dollars.[22]
However, concerns about the effectiveness of Head Start have been ongoing since the program began. Armor (2015) reviewed existing research on Head Start and found there were no lasting gains, and the average child in Head Start had not learned more than children who did not receive preschool education.[23]
A recent report dated July 2015 evaluating the effectiveness of Head Start comes from the What Works Clearinghouse. The What Works Clearinghouse identifies research that provides reliable evidence of the effectiveness of programs and practices in education and is managed by the Institute of Education Services for the United States Department of Education. After reviewing 90 studies on the effectiveness of Head Start, only one study was deemed scientifically acceptable and this study showed disappointing results.[24] This study showed that 3 and 4-year-old children in Head Start received “potentially positive effects” on general reading achievement, but no noticeable effects on math achievement and social-emotional development.
Nonexperimental designs are a significant problem in determining the effectiveness of Head Start programs because a control group is needed to show group differences that would demonstrate educational benefits. Because of ethical reasons, low-income children are usually provided with some type of preschool programming in an alternative setting. Additionally, head Start programs are different depending on the location, and these differences include the length of the day or qualification of the teachers. Lastly, testing young children is difficult and strongly dependent on their language skills and comfort level with an evaluator.[25]
Autism Spectrum Disorder in Early Childhood
A greater discussion on disorders affecting children and special educational services to assist them will occur in chapter 5. However, because characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder must be present in the early developmental period, as established by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), this disorder will be presented here.[26]
Autism spectrum disorder is probably the most misunderstood and puzzling of neurodevelopmental disorders. Children with this disorder show signs of significant disturbances in three main areas: (a) deficits in social interaction, (b) deficits in communication, and (c) repetitive patterns of behavior or interests. These disturbances appear early in life and cause serious impairments in functioning.[27] The child with autism spectrum disorder might exhibit deficits in social interaction by not initiating conversations with other children or turning their head away when spoken to. These children do not make eye contact with others and seem to prefer playing alone rather than with others. In a certain sense, it is almost as though these individuals live in a personal and isolated social world others are simply not privy to or able to penetrate. Communication deficits can range from a complete lack of speech, to one word responses (e.g., saying “Yes” or “No” when replying to questions or statements that require additional elaboration), to echoed speech (e.g., parroting what another person says, either immediately or several hours or even days later), to difficulty maintaining a conversation because of an inability to reciprocate others’ comments. These deficits can also include problems in using and understanding nonverbal cues (e.g., facial expressions, gestures, and postures) that facilitate normal communication.
Figure 6. Dr. Temple Grandin, an advocate for individuals with autism.
Repetitive patterns of behavior or interests can be exhibited a number of ways. The child might engage in stereotyped, repetitive movements (rocking, head-banging, or repeatedly dropping an object and then picking it up), or she might show great distress at small changes in routine or the environment. For example, the child might throw a temper tantrum if an object is not in its proper place or if a regularly- scheduled activity is rescheduled. In some cases, the person with autism spectrum disorder might show highly restricted and fixated interests that appear to be abnormal in their intensity. For instance, the child might learn and memorize every detail about something even though doing so serves no apparent purpose. Importantly, autism spectrum disorder is not the same thing as intellectual disability, although these two conditions can occur together. The DSM-5 specifies that the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder are not caused or explained by intellectual disability.
The qualifier “spectrum” in autism spectrum disorder is used to indicate that individuals with the disorder can show a range, or spectrum, of symptoms that vary in their magnitude and severity: Some severe, others less severe. The previous edition of the DSM included a diagnosis of Asperger’s disorder, generally recognized as a less severe form of autistic disorder; individuals diagnosed with Asperger’s disorder were described as having average or high intelligence and a strong vocabulary, but exhibiting impairments in social interaction and social communication, such as talking only about their special interests.[28] However, because research has failed to demonstrate that Asperger’s disorder differs qualitatively from autistic disorder, the DSM-5 does not include it. Some individuals with autism spectrum disorder, particularly those with better language and intellectual skills, can live and work independently as adults. However, most do not because the symptoms remain sufficient to cause serious impairment in many realms of life.[29]
Currently, estimates indicate that nearly 1 in 88 children in the United States has autism spectrum disorder; the disorder is 5 times more common in boys (1 out of 54) than girls (1 out of 252).[30] Rates of autistic spectrum disorder have increased dramatically since the 1980s. Although it is difficult to interpret this increase, it is possible that the rise in prevalence is the result of the broadening of the diagnosis, increased efforts to identify cases in the community, and greater awareness and acceptance of the diagnosis. In addition, mental health professionals are now more knowledgeable about autism spectrum disorder and are better equipped to make the diagnosis, even in subtle cases.[31]
The exact causes of autism spectrum disorder remain unknown despite massive research efforts over the last two decades.[32] Autism appears to be strongly influenced by genetics, as identical twins show concordance rates of 60%– 90%, whereas concordance rates for fraternal twins and siblings are 5%–10%.[33] Many different genes and gene mutations have been implicated in autism.[34] Among the genes involved are those important in the formation of synaptic circuits that facilitate communication between different areas of the brain.[35] A number of environmental factors are also thought to possibly be associated with increased risk for autism spectrum disorder, at least in part, because they contribute to new mutations. These factors include exposure to pollutants, such as plant emissions and mercury, urban versus rural residence, and vitamin D deficiency.[36]
There is no scientific evidence that a link exists between autism and vaccinations.[37] Indeed, a recent study compared the vaccination histories of 256 children with autism spectrum disorder with that of 752 control children across three time periods during their first two years of life (birth to 3 months, birth to 7 months, and birth to 2 years).[38] At the time of the study, the children were between 6 and 13 years old, and their prior vaccination records were obtained. Because vaccines contain immunogens (substances that fight infections), the investigators examined medical records to see how many immunogens children received to determine if those children who received more immunogens were at greater risk for developing autism spectrum disorder. The results of this study clearly demonstrated that the quantity of immunogens from vaccines received during the first two years of life were not at all related to the development of autism spectrum disorder.
Erikson: Initiative versus Guilt
The trust and autonomy of previous stages develop into a desire to take initiative or to think of ideas and initiative action.[39] Children may want to build a fort with the cushions from the living room couch or open a lemonade stand in the driveway or make a zoo with their stuffed animals and issue tickets to those who want to come. Or they may just want to get themselves ready for bed without any assistance. To reinforce taking initiative, caregivers should offer praise for the child’s efforts and avoid being critical of messes or mistakes. Placing pictures of drawings on the refrigerator, purchasing mud pies for dinner, and admiring towers of legos will facilitate the child’s sense of initiative.
Sibling Relationships
Figure 7. Siblings playing together (Photo Source: Pikrepo , DMCA)
Siblings spend a considerable amount of time with each other and offer a unique relationship that is not found with same-age peers or with adults. Siblings play an important role in the development of social skills. Cooperative and pretend play interactions between younger and older siblings can teach empathy, sharing, and cooperation,[40] as well as, negotiation and conflict resolution.[41] However, the quality of sibling relationships is often mediated by the quality of the parent-child relationship and the psychological adjustment of the child (Pike et al., 2005). For instance, more negative interactions between siblings have been reported in families where parents had poor patterns of communication with their children.[42] Children who have emotional and behavioral problems are also more likely to have negative interactions with their siblings. However, the psychological adjustment of the child can sometimes be a reflection of the parent-child relationship. Thus, when examining the quality of sibling interactions, it is often difficult to tease out the separate effect of adjustment from the effect of the parent-child relationship.
While parents want positive interactions between their children, conflicts are going to arise, and some confrontations can be the impetus for growth in children’s social and cognitive skills. The sources of conflict between siblings often depend on their respective ages. Dunn and Munn (1987) revealed that over half of all sibling conflicts in early childhood were disputes about property rights.[43] By middle childhood this starts shifting toward control over social situations, such as what games to play, disagreements about facts or opinions, or rude behavior.[44] Researchers have also found that the strategies children use to deal with conflict change with age, but that this is also tempered by the nature of the conflict. Abuhatoum and Howe (2013) found that coercive strategies (e.g., threats) were preferred when the dispute centered on property rights, while reasoning was more likely to be used by older siblings and in disputes regarding control over the social situation.[45] However, younger siblings also use reasoning, frequently bringing up the concern of legitimacy (e.g., “You’re not the boss”) when in conflict with an older sibling. This is a very common strategy used by younger siblings and is possibly an adaptive strategy in order for younger siblings to assert their autonomy. A number of researchers have found that children who can use non-coercive strategies are more likely to have a successful resolution, whereby a compromise is reached and neither child feels slighted.[46],[47]
Not surprisingly, friendly relationships with siblings often lead to more positive interactions with peers. The reverse is also true. A child can also learn to get along with a sibling, with, as the song says “a little help from my friends.”[48]
1. This chapter is adapted from Lifespan Development by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French, licensed CC BY NC SA. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-lifespandevelopment/
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2000). 2000 CDC Growth Charts for the United States: Methods and Development. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/...1/sr11_246.pdf
3. Mayo Clinic Staff. (2016a). Nutrition for kids: Guidelines for a healthy diet. Retrieved from www.mayoclinic.org/healthy- lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/nutrition-for-kids/art-20049335 ↵
4. Boyse, K. & Fitgerald, K. (2010). Toilet training. University of Michigan Health System. Retrieved from http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/toilet.htm
5. Mayo Clinic Staff. (2016b). Potty training: How to get the job done. Retrieved from www.mayoclinic.org/healthy- lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/indepth/potty-training/art-20045230 ↵
6. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edition (DSM-V). Washington, DC: Author. ↵
7. Adapted from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-lifespandevelopment/chapter/piagets-preoperational-stage-of-cognitive-development/
8. Thomas, R. M. (1979). Comparing theories of child development. Santa Barbara, CA: Wadsworth. ↵
9. Berk, L. E. (2007). Development through the life span (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. ↵
10. Crain, W. (2005). Theories of development concepts and applications (5th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson. ↵
11. Berk, L. E. (2007). Development through the life span (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. ↵
12. Price-Williams, D.R., Gordon, W., & Ramirez, M. (1969). Skill and conservation: A study of pottery making children. Developmental Psychology, 1, 769. ↵
13. Crain, W. (2005). Theories of development concepts and applications (5th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson. ↵
14. Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children’s understanding of deception. Cognition, 13, 103–128. ↵
15. Birch, S., & Bloom, P. (2003). Children are cursed: An asymmetric bias in mental-state attribution. Psychological Science, 14(3), 283-286. ↵
16. Epley, N., Morewedge, C. K., & Keysar, B. (2004). Perspective taking in children and adults: Equivalent egocentrism but differential correction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 760–768. ↵
17. Wellman, H.M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory of mind development: The truth about false belief. Child Development, 72(3), 655-684. ↵
18. Imai, M., Li, L., Haryu, E., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Shigematsu, J. (2008). Novel noun and verb learning in Chinese, English, and Japanese children: Universality and language-specificity in novel noun and verb learning. Child Development, 79, 979-1000. ↵
19. White House Press Secretary. (2014). Fact Sheet: Invest in US: The White House Summit on Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...-house-summit- early-childhood-education ↵
20. National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2016). The 10 NAEYC program standards. Retrieved from http://families.naeyc.org/accredited...gram-standards
21. Zachry, A. (2013). 6 Types of Preschool Programs. Retrieved from www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/starting - preschool/preparing/types-of-preschool-programs/ ↵
22. United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2015). Head start program facts fiscal year 2013. Retrieved from eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/da...sheet-2013.pdf ↵
23. Armor, D. J. (2015). Head start or false start. USA Today Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1...or-false-start
24. Barshay, J. (2015). Report: Scant scientific evidence for Head Start programs’ effectiveness. U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved from www.usnews.com/news/articles/...or-head-start- programs-effectiveness ↵
25. Barshay, J. (2015). Report: Scant scientific evidence for Head Start programs’ effectiveness. U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved from www.usnews.com/news/articles/...or-head-start- programs-effectiveness ↵
26. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edition (DSM-V). Washington, DC: Author. ↵
27. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edition (DSM-V). Washington, DC: Author. ↵
28. Wing, L., Gould, J., & Gillberg, C. (2011). Autism spectrum disorders in the DSM-V: Better or worse than the DSM IV? Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 768–773. ↵
29. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edition (DSM-V). Washington, DC: Author. ↵
30. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders, autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 14 sites, United States, 2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Surveillance Summaries, 61(3), 1–19. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6103.pdf
31. Novella, S. (2008). The increase in autism diagnoses: Two hypotheses [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/...wo-hypotheses/
32. Meek, S. E., Lemery-Chalfant, K., Jahromi, L. D., & Valiente, C. (2013). A review of gene-environment correlations and their implications for autism: A conceptual model. Psychological Review, 120, 497–521. ↵
33. Autism Genome Project Consortium. (2007). Mapping autism risk loci using genetic linkage and chromosomal rearrangements. Nature Genetics, 39, 319–328. ↵
34. Meek, S. E., Lemery-Chalfant, K., Jahromi, L. D., & Valiente, C. (2013). A review of gene-environment correlations and their implications for autism: A conceptual model. Psychological Review, 120, 497–521. ↵
35. Gauthier, J., Siddiqui, T. J., Huashan, P., Yokomaku, D., Hamdan, F. F., Champagne, N., . . . Rouleau, G.A. (2011). Truncating mutations in NRXN2 and NRXN1 in autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. Human Genetics, 130, 563–573. ↵
36. Kinney, D. K., Barch, D. H., Chayka, B., Napoleon, S., & Munir, K. M. (2009). Environmental risk factors for autism: Do they help or cause de novo genetic mutations that contribute to the disorder? Medical Hypotheses, 74, 102–106. ↵
37. Hughes, V. (2007). Mercury rising. Nature Medicine, 13, 896-897. ↵
38. DeStefano, F., Price, C. S., & Weintraub, E. S. (2013). Increasing exposures to antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides in vaccines is not associated with risk of autism. The Journal of Pediatrics, 163, 561–567. ↵
39. Erikson, E. (1982). The life cycle completed. NY: Norton & Company. ↵
40. Pike, A., Coldwell, J., & Dunn, J. F. (2005). Sibling relationships in early/middle childhood: Links with individual adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19(4), 523-532. ↵
41. Abuhatoum, S., & Howe, N. (2013). Power in sibling conflict during early and middle childhood. Social Development, 22, 738- 754. ↵
42. Brody, G. H., Stoneman, Z., & McCoy, J. K. (1994). Forecasting sibling relationships in early adolescence from child temperament and family processes in middle childhood. Child development, 65, 771-784. ↵
43. Dunn, J., & Munn, P. (1987). Development of justification in disputes with mother and sibling. Developmental Psychology, 23, 791-798. ↵
44. Howe, N., Rinaldi, C. M., Jennings, M., & Petrakos, H. (2002). “No! The lambs can stay out because they got cozies”: Constructive and destructive sibling conflict, pretend play, and social understanding. Child Development, 73, 1406- 1473. ↵
45. Abuhatoum, S., & Howe, N. (2013). Power in sibling conflict during early and middle childhood. Social Development, 22, 738- 754. ↵
46. Ram, A., & Ross, H. (2008). “We got to figure it out”: Information-sharing and siblings’ negotiations of conflicts of interest. Social Development, 17, 512-527. ↵
47. Abuhatoum, S., & Howe, N. (2013). Power in sibling conflict during early and middle childhood. Social Development, 22, 738- 754. ↵
48. Kramer, L., & Gottman, J. M. (1992). Becoming a sibling: “With a little help from my friends.” Developmental Psychology, 28, 685-699. ↵
Early Childhood by Martha Lally, Suzanne Valentine-French, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/07%3A_Developmental_Milestones/07.4%3A_Early_Childhood.txt |
Middle and late childhood spans the ages between early childhood and adolescence, approximately ages 6 to 11 years. Children gain greater control over the movement of their bodies, mastering many gross and fine motor skills that eluded the younger child. Changes in the brain during this age enable not only physical development, but contributes to greater reasoning and flexibility of thought. School becomes a big part of middle and late childhood, and it expands their world beyond the boundaries of their own family. Peers start to take center-stage, often prompting changes in the parent-child relationship. Peer acceptance also influences children’s perception of self and may have consequences for emotional development beyond these years.[1]
Rates of growth generally slow during these years. Typically, a child will gain about 5-7 pounds a year and grow about 2-3 inches per year.[2] They also tend to slim down and gain muscle strength and lung capacity making it possible to engage in strenuous physical activity for long periods of time. The beginning of the growth spurt, which occurs prior to puberty, begins two years earlier for females than males. The mean age for the beginning of the growth spurt for girls is nine, while for boys it is eleven. Children of this age tend to sharpen their abilities to perform both gross motor skills, such as riding a bike, and fine motor skills, such as cutting their fingernails. In gross motor skills (involving large muscles) boys typically outperform girls, while with fine motor skills (small muscles) girls outperform the boys. These improvements in motor skills are related to brain growth and experience during this developmental period.
Two major brain growth spurts occur during middle/late childhood.[3] Between ages 6 and 8, significant improvements in fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination are noted. Then between 10 and 12 years of age, the frontal lobes become more developed and improvements in logic, planning, and memory are evident.[4] Children in middle to late childhood are also better able to plan, coordinate activity using both left and right hemispheres of the brain, and to control emotional outbursts. Paying attention is also improved as the prefrontal cortex matures.[5]
Childhood Obesity
The decreased participation in school physical education and youth sports is just one of many factors that has led to an increase in children being overweight or obese. The current measurement for determining excess weight is the Body Mass Index (BMI) which expresses the relationship of height to weight. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children’s whose BMI is at or above the 85th percentile for their age are considered overweight, while children who are at or above the 95th percentile are considered obese. Excess weight and obesity in children are associated with a variety of medical and cognitive conditions including high blood pressure, insulin resistance, inflammation, depression, and lower academic achievement.[6]
Being overweight has also been linked to impaired brain functioning, which includes deficits in executive functioning, working memory, mental flexibility, and decision making.[7] Children who ate more saturated fats performed worse on relational memory tasks while eating a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids promoted relational memory skills.[8] Using animal studies Davidson et al. (2013) found that large amounts of processed sugars and saturated fat weakened the blood-brain barrier, especially in the hippocampus.[9] This can make the brain more vulnerable to harmful substances that can impair its functioning. Another important executive functioning skill is controlling impulses and delaying gratification. Children who are overweight show less inhibitory control than normal-weight children, which may make it more difficult for them to avoid unhealthy foods.[10] Overall, being overweight as a child increases the risk for cognitive decline as one ages.
A growing concern is the lack of recognition from parents that children are overweight or obese. Katz (2015) referred to this as “Oblivobesity”.[11] Black et al. (2015) found that parents in the United Kingdom (UK) only recognized their children as obese when they were above the 99.7th percentile while the official cut-off for obesity is at the 85th percentile.[12][/footnote] Oude Luttikhuis, Stolk, and Sauer (2010) surveyed 439 parents and found that 75% of parents of overweight children said the child had a normal weight and 50% of parents of obese children said the child had a normal weight.[13] For these parents, overweight was considered normal and obesity was considered normal or a little heavy. Doolen, Alpert, and Miller (2009) reported on several studies from the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, and the United States, and in all locations parents were more likely to misperceive their children’s weight.[14] Black, Park, and Gregson (2015) concluded that as the average weight of children rises, what parents consider normal also rises.[15] Needless to say, if parents cannot identify if their children are overweight they will not be able to intervene and assist their children with proper weight management.
An added concern is that the children themselves are not accurately identifying if they are overweight. In a United States sample of 8-15 year-olds, more than 80% of overweight boys and 70% of overweight girls misperceived their weight as normal.[16] Also noted was that as the socioeconomic status of the children rose, the frequency of these misconceptions decreased. It appeared that families with more resources were more conscious of what defines a healthy weight.
Children who are overweight tend to be rejected, ridiculed, teased and bullied by others more than their peer counterparts (Stopbullying.gov). This can certainly be damaging to their self-image and popularity. In addition, children who are obese run the risk of suffering orthopedic problems such as knee injuries, and they have an increased risk of heart disease and stroke in adulthood. It is hard for a child who is obese to become a non-obese adult. In addition, the number of cases of pediatric diabetes has risen dramatically in recent years.
Behavioral interventions, including training children to overcome impulsive behavior, are being researched to help children achieve and maintain a healthy weight.[17] Practicing inhibition has been shown to strengthen the ability to resist unhealthy foods. Parents can help their children the best when they are warm and supportive without using shame or guilt. Parents can also act like the child’s frontal lobe until it is developed by helping them make correct food choices and praising their efforts.[18] Research also shows that exercise, especially aerobic exercise, can help improve cognitive functioning in children.[19] Parents should take caution against emphasizing diet alone to avoid the development of any obsession about dieting that can lead to eating disorders. Instead, increasing a child’s activity level is most helpful.
Recall from earlier chapters that children in early childhood are in Piaget’s preoperational stage, and during this stage, children are learning to think symbolically about the world. Cognitive skills continue to expand in middle and late childhood as thought processes become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete information. Children at this age understand concepts such as past, present, and future, giving them the ability to plan and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process complex ideas such as addition and subtraction and cause-and-effect relationships.
Concrete Operational Thought
From ages 7 to 11, children are in what Piaget referred to as the Concrete Operational Stage of cognitive development.[20]This involves mastering the use of logic in concrete ways. The word concrete refers to that which is tangible; that which can be seen, touched, or experienced directly. The concrete operational child is able to make use of logical principles in solving problems involving the physical world. For example, the child can understand the principles of cause and effect, size, and distance.
The child can use logic to solve problems tied to their own direct experience, but has trouble solving hypothetical problems or considering more abstract problems. The child uses Inductive Reasoning, which is a logical process in which multiple premises believed to be true are combined to obtain a specific conclusion. For example, a child has one friend who is rude, another friend who is also rude, and the same is true for a third friend. The child may conclude that friends are rude. We will see that this way of thinking tends to change during adolescence being replaced with deductive reasoning. We will now explore some of the major abilities that the concrete child exhibits.
Figure 2. Children in the concrete operational stage understand how to classify organisms
• Classification: As children’s experiences and vocabularies grow, they build schemata and are able to organize objects in many different ways. They also understand classification hierarchies and can arrange objects into a variety of classes and subclasses.
• Identity: One feature of concrete operational thought is the understanding that objects have qualities that do not change even if the object is altered in some way. For instance, mass of an object does not change by rearranging it. A piece of chalk is still chalk even when the piece is broken in two.
• Reversibility: The child learns that some things that have been changed can be returned to their original state. Water can be frozen and then thawed to become liquid again. But eggs cannot be unscrambled. Arithmetic operations are reversible as well: 2 + 3 = 5 and 5 – 3 = 2.
Many of these cognitive skills are incorporated into the school’s curriculum through mathematical problems and in worksheets about which situations are reversible or irreversible.
• Conservation: Remember the example in our last chapter of preoperational children thinking that a tall beaker filled with 8 ounces of water was “more” than a short, wide bowl filled with 8 ounces of water? Concrete operational children can understand the concept of conservation which means that changing one quality (in this example, height or water level) can be compensated for by changes in another quality (width). Consequently, there is the same amount of water in each container, although one is taller and narrower and the other is shorter and wider.
• Decentration: Concrete operational children no longer focus on only one dimension of any object (such as the height of the glass) and instead consider the changes in other dimensions too (such as the width of the glass). This allows for conservation to occur.
• Seriation: Arranging items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight, in a methodical way is now demonstrated by the concrete operational child. For example, they can methodically arrange a series of different-sized sticks in order by length, while younger children approach a similar task in a haphazard way.
These new cognitive skills increase the child’s understanding of the physical world, however according to Piaget, they still cannot think in abstract ways. Additionally, they do not think in systematic scientific ways. For example, when asked which variables influence the period that a pendulum takes to complete its arc, and given weights they can attach to strings in order to do experiments, most children younger than 12 perform biased experiments from which no conclusions can be drawn.[21]
Intellectual Disability and Giftedness
The results of studies assessing the measurement of intelligence show that IQ is distributed in the population in the form of a Normal Distribution (or bell curve), which is the pattern of scores usually observed in a variable that clusters around its average. In a normal distribution, the bulk of the scores fall toward the middle, with many fewer scores falling at the extremes. The normal distribution of intelligence shows that on IQ tests, as well as on most other measures, the majority of people cluster around the average (in this case, where IQ = 100), and fewer are either very smart or very dull (see Figure 5.13). Because the standard deviation of an IQ test is about 15, this means that about 2% of people score above an IQ of 130, often considered the threshold for giftedness, and about the same percentage score below an IQ of 70, often being considered the threshold for an intellectual disability.
Although Figure 5.13 presents a single distribution, the actual IQ distribution varies by sex such that the distribution for men is more spread out than is the distribution for women. These sex differences mean that about 20% more men than women fall in the extreme (very smart or very dull) ends of the distribution.[22] Boys are about five times more likely to be diagnosed with the reading disability dyslexia than are girls, and are also more likely to be classified as having an intellectual disability.[23] However, boys are also about 20% more highly represented in the upper end of the IQ distribution.
Figure 3. Distribution of IQ Scores in the General PopulationThe normal distribution of IQ scores in the general population shows that most people have about average intelligence, while very few have extremely high or extremely low intelligence.
One end of the distribution of intelligence scores is defined by people with very low IQ. Intellectual disability (or intellectual developmental disorder) is assessed based on cognitive capacity (IQ) and adaptive functioning. The severity of the disability is based on adaptive functioning, or how well the person handles everyday life tasks. About 1% of the United States population, most of them males, fulfill the criteria for intellectual developmental disorder, but some children who are given this diagnosis lose the classification as they get older and better learn to function in society. A particular vulnerability of people who have a low IQ is that they may be taken advantage of by others, and this is an important aspect of the definition of intellectual developmental disorder.[24]
One cause of intellectual developmental disorder is Down syndrome, a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. The incidence of Down syndrome is estimated at approximately 1 per 700 births, and the prevalence increases as the mother’s age increases.[25] People with Down syndrome typically exhibit a distinctive pattern of physical features, including a flat nose, upwardly slanted eyes, a protruding tongue, and a short neck.
Fortunately, societal attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities have changed over the past decades. We no longer use terms such as “retarded,” “moron,” “idiot,” or “imbecile” to describe people with intellectual deficits, although these were the official psychological terms used to describe degrees of what was referred to as mental retardation in the past. Laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of mental and physical disability, and there has been a trend to bring people with mental disabilities out of institutions and into our workplaces and schools.
Giftedness refers to children who have an IQ of 130 or higher.[26] Having extremely high IQ is clearly less of a problem than having extremely low IQ, but there may also be challenges to being particularly smart. It is often assumed that schoolchildren who are labeled as “gifted” may have adjustment problems that make it more difficult for them to create social relationships. To study gifted children, Lewis Terman and his colleagues selected about 1,500 high school students who scored in the top 1% on the Stanford-Binet and similar IQ tests (i.e., who had IQs of about 135 or higher), and tracked them for more than seven decades (the children became known as the “termites” and are still being studied today).[27] This study found that these students were not unhealthy or poorly adjusted, but rather were above average in physical health and were taller and heavier than individuals in the general population. The students also had above-average social relationships and were less likely to divorce than the average person.[28]
Terman’s study also found that many of these students went on to achieve high levels of education and entered prestigious professions, including medicine, law, and science.[29] Of the sample, 7% earned doctoral degrees, 4% earned medical degrees, and 6% earned law degrees. These numbers are all considerably higher than what would have been expected from a more general population. Another study of young adolescents who had even higher IQs found that these students ended up attending graduate school at a rate more than 50 times higher than that in the general population.[30]
As you might expect based on our discussion of intelligence, kids who are gifted have higher scores on general intelligence “g”, but there are also different types of giftedness. Some children are particularly good at math or science, some at automobile repair or carpentry, some at music or art, some at sports or leadership, and so on. There is a lively debate among scholars about whether it is appropriate or beneficial to label some children as “gifted and talented” in school and to provide them with accelerated special classes and other programs that are not available to everyone. Although doing so may help the gifted kids, it also may isolate them from their peers and make such provisions unavailable to those who are not classified as “gifted.”[31]
Education
Remember the ecological systems model that we explored? This model helps us understand an individual by examining the contexts in which the person lives and the direct and indirect influences on that person’s life. School becomes a very important component of children’s lives during middle and late childhood, and parents and the culture contribute to children’s experiences in school as indicated by the ecological systems model through their interaction with the school.
Parental Involvement in School
Parents vary in their level of involvement with their children’s schools. Teachers often complain that they have difficulty getting parents to participate in their child’s education and devise a variety of techniques to keep parents in touch with daily and overall progress. For example, parents may be required to sign a behavior chart each evening to be returned to school or may be given information about the school’s events through websites and newsletters. There are other factors that need to be considered when looking at parental involvement. To explore these, first ask yourself if all parents who enter the school with concerns about their child be received in the same way?
Horvat (2004) found that teachers seek a particular type of involvement from particular types of parents.[32] While teachers thought they were open and neutral in their responses to parental involvement, in reality teachers were most receptive to support, praise and agreement coming from parents who were most similar in race and social class with the teachers. Parents who criticized the school or its policies were less likely to be given voice. Parents who have higher levels of income, occupational status, and other qualities favored in society have family capital. This is a form of power that can be used to improve a child’s education. Parents who do not have these qualities may find it more difficult to be effectively involved. The authors suggest that teachers closely examine their biases. Schools may also need to examine their ability to dialogue with parents about school policies in more open ways. Any efforts to improve effective parental involvement should address these concerns.
Children with Disabilities
A Learning Disability (or LD) is a specific impairment of academic learning that interferes with a specific aspect of schoolwork and that reduces a student’s academic performance significantly. An LD shows itself as a major discrepancy between a student’s ability and some feature of achievement: The student may be delayed in reading, writing, listening, speaking, or doing mathematics, but not in all of these at once. A learning problem is not considered a learning disability if it stems from physical, sensory, or motor handicaps, or from generalized intellectual impairment. It is also not an LD if the learning problem really reflects the challenges of learning English as a second language. Genuine LDs are the learning problems left over after these other possibilities are accounted for or excluded. Typically, a student with an LD has not been helped by teachers’ ordinary efforts to assist the student when he or she falls behind academically, though what counts as an “ordinary effort”, of course, differs among teachers, schools, and students. Most importantly, though, an LD relates to a fairly specific area of academic learning. A student may be able to read and compute well enough, for example, but not be able to write. LDs are by far the most common form of special educational need, accounting for half of all students with special needs in the United States and anywhere from 5 to 20 percent of all students, depending on how the numbers are estimated.[33],[34] Students with LDs are so common, in fact, that most teachers regularly encounter at least one per class in any given school year, regardless of the grade level they teach.
These difficulties are identified in school because this is when children’s academic abilities are being tested, compared, and measured. Consequently, once academic testing is no longer essential in that person’s life (as when they are working rather than going to school) these disabilities may no longer be noticed or relevant, depending on the person’s job and the extent of the disability.
Dyslexia is one of the most commonly diagnosed disabilities and involves having difficulty in the area of reading. This diagnosis is used for a number of reading difficulties. Common characteristics are difficulty with phonological processing, which includes the manipulation of sounds, spelling, and rapid visual/verbal processing. Additionally, the child may reverse letters, have difficulty reading from left to right, or may have problems associating letters with sounds. It appears to be rooted in neurological problems involving the parts of the brain active in recognizing letters, verbally responding, or being able to manipulate sounds. Recent studies have identified a number of genes that are linked to developing dyslexia.[35] Treatment typically involves altering teaching methods to accommodate the person’s particular problematic area.
ADHD
Figure 4. Some adolescents find it difficult to concentrate on complex tasks due to ADHD.
A child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) shows a constant pattern of inattention and/or hyperactive and impulsive behavior that interferes with normal functioning. [36]Some of the signs of inattention include great difficulty with, and avoidance of, tasks that require sustained attention (such as conversations or reading), failure to follow instructions (often resulting in failure to complete schoolwork and other duties), disorganization (difficulty keeping things in order, poor time management, sloppy and messy work), lack of attention to detail, becoming easily distracted, and forgetfulness. Hyperactivity is characterized by excessive movement, and includes fidgeting or squirming, leaving one’s seat in situations when remaining seated is expected, having trouble sitting still (e.g., in a restaurant), running about and climbing on things, blurting out responses before another person’s question or statement has been completed, difficulty waiting for one’s turn for something, and interrupting and intruding on others. Frequently, the hyperactive child comes across as noisy and boisterous. The child’s behavior is hasty, impulsive, and seems to occur without much forethought; these characteristics may explain why adolescents and young adults diagnosed with ADHD receive more traffic tickets and have more automobile accidents than do others their age.[37]
Figure 5. Children may be hyperactive or exceptionally quiet when exhibiting signs of ADHD. Symptoms tend to display differently in girls.
ADHD occurs in about 5% of children.[38] On average, boys are 3 times more likely to have ADHD than are girls; however, such findings might reflect the greater propensity of boys to engage in aggressive and antisocial behavior and thus incur a greater likelihood of being referred to psychological clinics.[39] Children with ADHD face severe academic and social challenges. Compared to their non-ADHD counterparts, children with ADHD have lower grades and standardized test scores and higher rates of expulsion, grade retention, and dropping out.[40] They also are less well-liked and more often rejected by their peers.[41]
ADHD can persist into adolescence and adulthood.[42] A recent study found that 29.3% of adults who had been diagnosed with ADHD decades earlier still showed symptoms.[43] Somewhat troubling, this study also reported that nearly 81% of those whose ADHD persisted into adulthood had experienced at least one other comorbid disorder, compared to 47% of those whose ADHD did not persist. Additional concerns when an adult has ADHD include Worse educational attainment, lower socioeconomic status, less likely to be employed, more likely to be divorced, and more likely to have non-alcohol-related substance abuse problems.[44]
Causes of ADHD
Family and twin studies indicate that genetics play a significant role in the development of ADHD. Burt (2009), in a review of 26 studies, reported that the median rate of concordance for identical twins was .66, whereas the median concordance rate for fraternal twins was .20.[45] The specific genes involved in ADHD are thought to include at least two that are important in the regulation of the neurotransmitter dopamine,[46] suggesting that dopamine may be important in ADHD. Indeed, medications used in the treatment of ADHD, such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) and amphetamine with dextroamphetamine (Adderall), have stimulant qualities and elevate dopamine activity. People with ADHD show less dopamine activity in key regions of the brain, especially those associated with motivation and reward,[47] which provides support to the theory that dopamine deficits may be a vital factor in the development of this disorder.[48]
Brain imaging studies have shown that children with ADHD exhibit abnormalities in their frontal lobes, an area in which dopamine is in abundance. Compared to children without ADHD, those with ADHD appear to have smaller frontal lobe volume, and they show less frontal lobe activation when performing mental tasks. Recall that one of the functions of the frontal lobes is to inhibit our behavior. Thus, abnormalities in this region may go a long way toward explaining the hyperactive, uncontrolled behavior of ADHD.
Although some food additives have been shown to increase hyperactivity in non-ADHD children, the effect is rather small.[49] Numerous studies, however, have shown a significant relationship between exposure to nicotine in cigarette smoke during the prenatal period and ADHD.[50] Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with the development of more severe symptoms of the disorder.[51]
Treatment for ADHD
Recommended treatment for ADHD includes behavioral interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, parent and teacher education, recreational programs, and lifestyle changes, such as getting more sleep.[52] For some children medication is prescribed. Parents are often concerned that stimulant medication may result in their child acquiring a substance use disorder. However, research using longitudinal studies has demonstrated that children diagnosed with ADHD who received pharmacological treatment had a lower risk for substance abuse problems than those children who did not receive medication.[53]
Is the prevalence rate of ADHD increasing?
Many people believe that the rates of ADHD have increased in recent years, and there is evidence to support this contention. ADHD may be over-diagnosed by doctors who are too quick to medicate children as a behavior treatment. There is also greater awareness of ADHD now than in the past. Nearly everyone has heard of ADHD, and most parents and teachers are aware of its key symptoms. Thus, parents may be quick to take their children to a doctor if they believe their child possesses these symptoms, or teachers may be more likely now than in the past to notice the symptoms and refer the child for evaluation. Further, the use of computers, video games, iPhones, and other electronic devices has become pervasive among children in the early 21st century, and these devices could potentially shorten children’s attention spans. Thus, what might seem like inattention to some parents and teachers could simply reflect exposure to too much technology.
Legislation for Learning Disabilities
Since the 1970s political and social attitudes have moved increasingly toward including people with disabilities into a wide variety of “regular” activities. In the United States, the shift is illustrated clearly in the Federal legislation that was enacted during this time. Three major laws were passed that guaranteed the rights of persons with disabilities, and of children and students with disabilities in particular. The third law has had the biggest impact on education.
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504
This law, the first of its kind, required that individuals with disabilities be accommodated in any program or activity that receives Federal funding.[54] Although this law was not intended specifically for education, in practice it has protected students’ rights in some extra-curricular activities (for older students) and in some child care or after-school care programs (for younger students). If those programs receive Federal funding of any kind, the programs are not allowed to exclude children or youths with disabilities, and they have to find reasonable ways to accommodate the individuals’ disabilities.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (or ADA)
This legislation also prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability, just as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act had done.[55] Although the ADA also applies to all people (not just to students), its provisions are more specific and “stronger” than those of Section 504. In particular, ADA extends to all employment and jobs, not just those receiving Federal funding. It also specifically requires accommodations to be made in public facilities such as with buses, restrooms, and telephones. ADA legislation is therefore responsible for some of the “minor” renovations in schools that you may have noticed in recent years, like wheelchair-accessible doors, ramps, and restrooms, and public telephones with volume controls.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (or IDEA)
As its name implied this legislation was more focused on education than either Section 504 or ADA. It was first passed in 1975 and has been amended several times since, including most recently in 2004.[56] In its current form, the law guarantees the following rights related to education for anyone with a disability from birth to age 21. The first two influence schooling in general, but the last three affect the work of classroom teachers rather directly:
• Free, appropriate education: An individual or an individual’s family should not have to pay for education simply because the individual has a disability, and the educational program should be truly educational; i.e., not merely care-taking or babysitting the person.
• Due process: In case of disagreements between an individual with a disability and the schools or other professionals, there must be procedures for resolving the disagreements that are fair and accessible to all parties, including the person himself or herself or the person’s representative.
• Fair evaluation of performance in spite of disability: Tests or other evaluations should not assume test-taking skills that a person with a disability cannot reasonably be expected to have, such as holding a pencil, hearing or seeing questions, working quickly, or understanding and speaking orally. Evaluation procedures should be modified to allow for these differences. This provision of the law applies both to evaluations made by teachers and to school-wide or “high-stakes” testing programs.
• Education in the “least restrictive environment”: Education for someone with a disability should provide as many educational opportunities and options for the person as possible, both in the short term and in the long term. In practice, this requirement has meant including students in regular classrooms and school activities as much as possible, though often not totally.
• An individualized educational program: Given that every disability is unique, instructional planning for a person with a disability should be unique or individualized as well. In practice, this provision has led to classroom teachers planning individualized programs jointly with other professionals (like reading specialists, psychologists, or medical personnel) as part of a team.
Evaluation and diagnosis can be the first step in helping provide children with disabilities the type of instruction and resources that will benefit them educationally, but diagnosis and labeling also have social implications. It is important to consider that children can be misdiagnosed and that once a child has received a diagnostic label, the child, teachers, and family members may tend to interpret actions of the child through that label. The label can also influence the child’s self-concept. Consider, for example, a child who is misdiagnosed as learning disabled. That child may expect to have difficulties in school, lack confidence, and because of these expectations experience trouble. This self-fulfilling prophecy calls our attention to the power that labels can have whether or not they are accurately applied. It is also important to consider that children’s difficulties can change over time; a child who has problems in school may improve later or may live under circumstances as an adult where the problem (such as a delay in math skills or reading skills) is no longer relevant. That person, however, will still have a label as learning disabled. It should be recognized that the distinction between abnormal and normal behavior is not always clear; some abnormal behavior in children is fairly common.
Erikson: Industry vs. Inferiority
According to Erikson, children in middle and late childhood are very busy or industrious.[57] They are constantly doing, planning, playing, getting together with friends, and achieving. This is a very active time, and a time when they are gaining a sense of how they measure up when compared with peers. Erikson believed that if these industrious children can be successful in their endeavors, they will get a sense of confidence for future challenges. If not, a sense of inferiority can be particularly haunting during middle and late childhood.
Bullying
According to Stopbullying.gov, a federal government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Further, aggressive behavior happens more than once or has the potential to be repeated. There are different types of bullying, including verbal bullying, which is saying or writing mean things, teasing, name calling, taunting, threatening, or making inappropriate sexual comments. Social bullying, also referred to as relational bullying, involves spreading rumors, purposefully excluding someone from a group, or embarrassing someone on purpose. Physical Bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions.
A more recent form of bullying is Cyberbullying, which involves electronic technology. Examples of cyberbullying include sending mean text messages or emails, creating fake profiles, and posting embarrassing pictures, videos, or rumors on social networking sites. Children who experience cyberbullying have a harder time getting away from the behavior because it can occur at any time of day and without being in the presence of others. Additional concerns of cyberbullying include that messages and images can be posted anonymously, distributed quickly, and be difficult to trace or delete. Children who are cyberbullied are more likely to experience in-person bullying, be unwilling to attend school, receive poor grades, use alcohol and drugs, skip school, have lower self-esteem, and have more health problems (Stopbullying.gov).
The National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice statistics indicate that in 2010-2011, 28% of students in grades 6-12 experienced bullying, and 7% experienced cyberbullying. The 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which monitors six types of health-risk behaviors, indicates that 20% of students in grades 9-12 experienced bullying and 15% experienced cyberbullying (Stopbullying.gov).
Bullying can happen to anyone, but some students are at an increased risk for being bullied including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) youth, those with disabilities, and those who are socially isolated. Additionally, those who are perceived as different, weak, less popular, overweight, or having low self-esteem, have a higher likelihood of being bullied.
Bullies are often thought of as having low self-esteem, and then bully others to feel better about themselves. Although this can occur, many bullies in fact have high levels of self-esteem. They possess considerable popularity and social power and have well-connected peer relationships. They do not lack self-esteem, and instead lack empathy for others. They like to dominate or be in charge of others.
Unfortunately, most children do not let adults know that they are being bullied. Some fear retaliation from the bully, while others are too embarrassed to ask for help. Those who are socially isolated may not know who to ask for help or believe that no one would care or assist them if they did ask for assistance. Consequently, it is important for parents and teachers to know the warning signs that may indicate a child is being bullied. These include unexplainable injuries, lost or destroyed possessions, changes in eating or sleeping patterns, declining school grades, not wanting to go to school, loss of friends, decreased self-esteem and/or self-destructive behaviors.
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48. Swanson, J. M., Kinsbourne, M., Nigg, J., Lamphear, B., Stefanatos, G. A., Volkow, N., …& Wadhwa, P. D. (2007). Etiologic subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: brain imaging, molecular genetic and environmental factors and the dopamine hypothesis. Neuropsychological Review, 17(1), 39-59. ↵
49. McCann, D., Barrett, A., Cooper, A., Crumpler, D., Dalen, L., Grimshaw, K., . . . Stevenson, J. (2007). Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet, 370(9598), 1560–1567. ↵
50. Linnet, K. M., Dalsgaard, S., Obel, C., Wisborg, K., Henriksen, T. B., Rodriquez, A., . . . Jarvelin, M. R.(2003). Maternal lifestyle factors in pregnancy risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and associated behaviors: A review of current evidence. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1028–1040. ↵
51. Thakur, G. A., Sengupta, S. M., Grizenko, N., Schmitz, N., Page, V., & Joober, R. (2013). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and ADHD: A comprehensive clinical and neurocognitive characterization. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 15, 149– 157. ↵
52. Clay, R. A. (2013). Psychologists are using research-backed behavioral interventions that effectively treat children with ADHD. Monitor on Psychology, 44(2), 45-47. ↵
53. Wilens, E., Fararone, S.V., Biederman, J., & Gunawardene, S. (2003). Does the treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with stimulants contribute to use/abuse? Pediatrics, 111(1), 97-109. ↵
54. Public Law 93-112, 87 Stat. 394 (Sept. 26, 1973). Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. ↵
55. Public Law 101-336, 104 Stat. 327 (July 26, 1990). Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. ↵
56. Public Law 108-446, 118 Stat. 2647 (December 3, 2004). Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. ↵
57. Erikson, E. (1982). The life cycle completed. NY: Norton & Company. ↵
Middle and Late Childhood by Martha Lally, Suzanne Valentine-French, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/07%3A_Developmental_Milestones/07.5%3A_Middle_and_Late_Childhood.txt |
Adolescence is a period that begins with puberty and ends with the transition to adulthood (approximately ages 10–18). Physical changes associated with puberty are triggered by hormones. Changes happen at different rates in distinct parts of the brain and increase adolescents’ propensity for risky behavior. Cognitive changes include improvements in complex and abstract thought. Adolescents’ relationships with parents go through a period of redefinition in which many adolescents become more autonomous. Peer relationships are important sources of support, but companionship during adolescence can also promote problem behaviors. Identity formation occurs as adolescents explore and commit to different roles and ideological positions. Because so much is happening in these years, psychologists have focused a great deal of attention on the period of adolescence.[1]
The Adolescent Brain
The brain undergoes dramatic changes during adolescence. Although it does not get larger, it matures by becoming more interconnected and specialized.[2] The myelination and development of connections between neurons continues. This results in an increase in the white matter of the brain, and allows the adolescent to make significant improvements in their thinking and processing skills. Different brain areas become myelinated at different times. For example, the brain’s language areas undergo myelination during the first 13 years. Completed insulation of the axons consolidates these language skills, but makes it more difficult to learn a second language. With greater myelination, however, comes diminished plasticity as a myelin coating inhibits the growth of new connections.[3]
Even as the connections between neurons are strengthened, synaptic pruning occurs more than during childhood as the brain adapts to changes in the environment. This synaptic pruning causes the gray matter of the brain, or the cortex, to become thinner but more efficient.[4] The corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres, continues to thicken allowing for stronger connections between brain areas. Additionally, the hippocampus becomes more strongly connected to the frontal lobes, allowing for greater integration of memory and experiences into our decision making.
Figure 1. The Limbic System.
The limbic system, which regulates emotion and reward, is linked to the hormonal changes that occur at puberty. The limbic system is also related to novelty seeking and a shift toward interacting with peers. In contrast, the prefrontal cortex which is involved in the control of impulses, organization, planning, and making good decisions, does not fully develop until the mid-20s. According to Giedd (2015) the significant aspect of the later developing prefrontal cortex and early development of the limbic system is the “mismatch” in timing between the two.[5] The approximately ten years that separates the development of these two brain areas can result in risky behavior, poor decision making, and weak emotional control for the adolescent. When puberty begins earlier, this mismatch extends even further.
Teens often take more risks than adults and according to research, it is because they weigh risks and rewards differently than adults do.[6] For adolescents, the brain’s sensitivity to the neurotransmitter dopamine peaks, and dopamine is involved in reward circuits so the possible rewards outweigh the risks. Adolescents respond especially strongly to social rewards during activities, and they prefer the company of others their same age. In addition to dopamine, the adolescent brain is affected by oxytocin which facilitates bonding and makes social connections more rewarding. With both dopamine and oxytocin engaged, it is no wonder that adolescents seek peers and excitement in their lives that could end up actually harming them.
Because of all the changes that occur in the adolescent brain, the chances for abnormal development can occur, including mental illness. In fact, 50% of the mental illness occurs by the age 14 and 75% occurs by age 24.[7] Additionally, during this period of development the adolescent brain is especially vulnerable to damage from drug exposure. For example, repeated exposure to marijuana can affect cellular activity in the endocannabinoid system. Consequently, adolescents are more sensitive to the effects of repeated marijuana exposure.[8]
However, researchers have also focused on the highly adaptive qualities of the adolescent brain which allow the adolescent to move away from the family towards the outside world.[9],[10] Novelty seeking and risk-taking can generate positive outcomes including meeting new people and seeking out new situations. Separating from the family and moving into new relationships and different experiences are actually quite adaptive for society.
Adolescent Sleep
According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) (2016), adolescents need about 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night to function best.[11] The most recent Sleep in America poll in 2006 indicated that adolescents between sixth and twelfth grade were not getting the recommended amount of sleep. On average adolescents only received 7 ½ hours of sleep per night on school nights with younger adolescents getting more than older ones (8.4 hours for sixth graders and only 6.9 hours for those in twelfth grade). For older adolescents, only about one in ten (9%) get an optimal amount of sleep, and they are more likely to experience negative consequences the following day. These include feeling too tired or sleepy, being cranky or irritable, falling asleep in school, having a depressed mood, and drinking caffeinated beverages (NSF, 2016). Additionally, they are at risk for substance abuse, car crashes, poor academic performance, obesity, and a weakened immune system.[12]
Why don’t adolescents get adequate sleep? In addition to known environmental and social factors, including work, homework, media, technology, and socializing, the adolescent brain is also a factor. As adolescents go through puberty, their circadian rhythms change and push back their sleep time until later in the evening.[13] This biological change not only keeps adolescents awake at night, but it also makes it difficult for them to get up in the morning. When they are awake too early, their brains do not function optimally. Impairments are noted in attention, behavior, and academic achievement, while increases in tardiness and absenteeism are also demonstrated.
Adolescent Sexual Activity
By about age ten or eleven, most children experience increased sexual attraction to others that affects their social life, both in school and out.[14]
Adolescent Pregnancy
Figure 2. Teenage birth rates have been declining steadily since the 1990s, with a particular drop around 2007 for all groups.
Although adolescent pregnancy rates have declined since 1991, teenage birth rates in the United States are higher than most developed countries. In 2014 females aged 15–19 years experienced a birth rate of 24.2 per 1,000 women. This is a drop of 9% from 2013. Birth rates fell 11% for those aged 15–17 years and 7% for 18–19 year-olds. It appears that adolescents seem to be less sexually active than in previous years, and those who are sexually active seem to be using birth control.[15] Figure 6.6 shows the birth rates (live births) per 1,000 females aged 15– 19 years for all races and Hispanic ethnicity in the United States, 1991, 2007, 2011, 2012, & 2013.
Risk Factors for Adolescent Pregnancy
Miller, Benson, and Galbraith (2001) found that parent/child closeness, parental supervision, and parents’ values against teen intercourse (or unprotected intercourse) decreased the risk of adolescent pregnancy.[16] In contrast, residing in disorganized/dangerous neighborhoods, living in a lower SES family, living with a single parent, having older sexually active siblings or pregnant/parenting teenage sisters, early puberty, and being a victim of sexual abuse place adolescents at an increased risk of adolescent pregnancy.
Consequences of Adolescent Pregnancy
After the child is born life can be difficult for a teenage mother. Teenagers who have a child before age 18 years of age are less likely to graduate from high school. Without a high school degree, job prospects are limited and economic independence is difficult. Teen mothers are more likely to live in poverty, and more than 75% of all unmarried teen mothers receive public assistance within 5 years of the birth of their first child. Approximately, 64% of children born to an unmarried teenage high-school dropout live in poverty. Further, a child born to a teenage mother is 50% more likely to repeat a grade in school and is more likely to perform poorly on standardized tests and drop out before finishing high school.[17] Research analyzing the age that men father their first child and how far they complete their education have been summarized by the Pew Research Center (2015) and reflect the research for females.[18] Among dads ages 22 to 44, 70% of those with less than a high school diploma say they fathered their first child before the age of 25. In comparison, less than half (45%) of fathers with some college experience became dads by that age. Additionally, becoming a young father occurs much less for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher as just 14% had their first child prior to age 25. Like men, women with more education are likely to be older when they become mothers.
Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage
During the formal operational stage, adolescents are able to understand abstract principles which have no physical reference. They can now contemplate such abstract constructs as beauty, love, freedom, and morality. The adolescent is no longer limited by what can be directly seen or heard. Additionally, while younger children solve problems through trial and error, adolescents demonstrate hypothetical-deductive reasoning, which is developing hypotheses based on what might logically occur. They are able to think about all the possibilities in a situation beforehand, and then test them systematically.[19] Now they are able to engage in true scientific thinking. Formal operational thinking also involves accepting hypothetical situations. Adolescents understand the concept of transitivity, which means that a relationship between two elements is carried over to other elements logically related to the first two, such as if A<B and B<C, then A<C.[20] For example, when asked: If Maria is shorter than Alicia and Alicia is shorter than Caitlyn, who is the shortest? Adolescents are able to answer the question correctly as they understand the transitivity involved.
According to Piaget, most people attain some degree of formal operational thinking, but use formal operations primarily in the areas of their strongest interest.[21] In fact, most adults do not regularly demonstrate formal operational thought, and in small villages and tribal communities, it is barely used at all. A possible explanation is that an individual’s thinking has not been sufficiently challenged to demonstrate formal operational thought in all areas.
Adolescent Egocentrism
Once adolescents can understand abstract thoughts, they enter a world of hypothetical possibilities and demonstrate egocentrism or a heightened self-focus. The egocentricity comes from attributing unlimited power to their own thoughts.[22] Piaget believed it was not until adolescents took on adult roles that they would be able to learn the limits to their own thoughts.
David Elkind (1967) expanded on the concept of Piaget’s adolescent egocentricity.[23] Elkind theorized that the physiological changes that occur during adolescence result in adolescents being primarily concerned with themselves. Additionally, since adolescents fail to differentiate between what others are thinking and their own thoughts, they believe that others are just as fascinated with their behavior and appearance. This belief results in the adolescent anticipating the reactions of others, and consequently constructing an imaginary audience. “The imaginary audience is the adolescent’s belief that those around them are as concerned and focused on their appearance as they themselves are” (p. 441).[24] Elkind thought that the imaginary audience contributed to the self-consciousness that occurs during early adolescence. The desire for privacy and reluctance to share personal information may be a further reaction to feeling under constant observation by others.
Another important consequence of adolescent egocentrism is the personal fable or a belief that one is unique, special, and invulnerable to harm. Elkind (1967) explains that because adolescents feel so important to others (imaginary audience) they regard themselves and their feelings as being special and unique.[25] Adolescents believe that only they have experienced strong and diverse emotions, and therefore others could never understand how they feel. This uniqueness in one’s emotional experiences reinforces the adolescent’s belief of invulnerability, especially to death. Adolescents will engage in risky behaviors, such as drinking and driving or unprotected sex, and feel they will not suffer any negative consequences. Elkind believed that adolescent egocentricity emerged in early adolescence and declined in middle adolescence, however, recent research has also identified egocentricity in late adolescence.[26]
Consequences of Formal Operational Thought
As adolescents are now able to think abstractly and hypothetically, they exhibit many new ways of reflecting on information.[27] For example, they demonstrate greater introspection or thinking about one’s thoughts and feelings. They begin to imagine how the world could be which leads them to become idealistic or insisting upon high standards of behavior. Because of their idealism, they may become critical of others, especially adults in their life. Additionally, adolescents can demonstrate hypocrisy, or pretend to be what they are not. Since they are able to recognize what others expect of them, they will conform to those expectations for their emotions and behavior seemingly hypocritical to themselves.
Information Processing
Executive functions, such as attention, increases in working memory, and cognitive flexibility have been steadily improving since early childhood. Studies have found that executive function is very competent in adolescence. However, self-regulation, or the ability to control impulses, may still fail. A failure in self- regulation is especially true when there is high stress or high demand on mental functions.[28] While high stress or demand may tax even an adult’s self-regulatory abilities, neurological changes in the adolescent brain may make teens particularly prone to more risky decision making under these conditions.
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
Figure 3. Inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning visualized.
Inductive reasoning emerges in childhood, and is a type of reasoning that is sometimes characterized as “bottom-up- processing” in which specific observations, or specific comments from those in authority, may be used to draw general conclusions. However, in inductive reasoning the veracity of the information that created the general conclusion does not guarantee the accuracy of that conclusion. For instance, a child who has only observed thunder on summer days may conclude that it only thunders in the summer.
In contrast, deductive reasoning, sometimes called “top-down-processing”, emerges in adolescence. This type of reasoning starts with some overarching principle, and based on this propose specific conclusions. Deductive reasoning guarantees a truthful conclusion if the premises on which it is based are accurate.
Intuitive versus Analytic Thinking: Cognitive psychologists often refer to intuitive and analytic thought as the Dual-Process Model; the notion that humans have two distinct networks for processing information.[29]Intuitive thought is automatic, unconscious, and fast,[30] and it is more experiential and emotional. In contrast, Analytic thought is deliberate, conscious, and rational. While these systems interact, they are distinct.[31] Intuitive thought is easier and more commonly used in everyday life. It is also more commonly used by children and teens than by adults.[32] The quickness of adolescent thought, along with the maturation of the limbic system, may make teens more prone to emotional intuitive thinking than adults.
Erikson: Identity vs. Role Confusion
Erikson believed that the primary psychosocial task of adolescence was establishing an identity. Teens struggle with the question “Who am I?” This includes questions regarding their appearance, vocational choices and career aspirations, education, relationships, sexuality, political and social views, personality, and interests. Erikson saw this as a period of confusion and experimentation regarding identity and one’s life path. During adolescence we experience psychological moratorium, where teens put on hold commitment to an identity while exploring the options. The culmination of this exploration is a more coherent view of oneself. Those who are unsuccessful at resolving this stage may either withdraw further into social isolation or become lost in the crowd. However, more recent research, suggests that few leave this age period with identity achievement and that most identity formation occurs during young adulthood.[33]
Developmental psychologists have researched several different areas of identity development and some of the main areas include:
• Religious identity: The religious views of teens are often similar to that of their families.[34] Most teens may question specific customs, practices, or ideas in the faith of their parents, but few completely reject the religion of their families.
• Political identity: The political ideology of teens is also influenced by their parents’ political beliefs. A new trend in the 21st century is a decrease in party affiliation among adults. Many adults do not align themselves with either the democratic or republican party, but view themselves as more of an “independent”. Their teenage children are often following suit or become more apolitical.[35]
• Vocational identity: While adolescents in earlier generations envisioned themselves as working in a particular job, and often worked as an apprentice or part-time in such occupations as teenagers, this is rarely the case today. Vocational identity takes longer to develop, as most of today’s occupations require specific skills and knowledge that will require additional education or are acquired on the job itself. In addition, many of the jobs held by teens are not in occupations that most teens will seek as adults.
• Gender identity: This is also becoming an increasingly prolonged task as attitudes and norms regarding gender keep changing. The roles appropriate for males and females are evolving. Some teens may foreclose on a gender identity as a way of dealing with this uncertainty, and they may adopt more stereotypic male or female roles.[36]
• Ethnic identity refers to how people come to terms with who they are based on their ethnic or racial ancestry. “The task of ethnic identity formation involves sorting out and resolving positive and negative feelings and attitudes about one’s own ethnic group and about other groups and identifying one’s place in relation to both” (p. 119).[37] When groups differ in status in a culture, those from the non- dominant group have to be cognizant of the customs and values of those from the dominant culture. The reverse is rarely the case. This makes ethnic identity far less salient for members of the dominant culture. In the United States, those of European ancestry engage in less exploration of ethnic identity, than do those of non-European ancestry.[38] However, according to the U.S. Census (2012) more than 40% of Americans under the age of 18 are from ethnic minorities.[39] For many ethnic minority teens, discovering one’s ethnic identity is an important part of identity formation.
Phinney’s model of ethnic identity formation is based on Erikson’s and Marcia’s model of identity formation.[40],[41] Through the process of exploration and commitment, individuals come to understand and create an ethnic identity. Phinney suggests three stages or statuses with regard to ethnic identity:
1. Unexamined Ethnic Identity: Adolescents and adults who have not been exposed to ethnic identity issues may be in the first stage, unexamined ethnic identity. This is often characterized by a preference for the dominant culture, or where the individual has given little thought to the question of their ethnic heritage. This is similar to diffusion in Marcia’s model of identity.[42] Included in this group are also those who have adopted the ethnicity of their parents and other family members with little thought about the issues themselves, similar to Marcia’s foreclosure status.[43]
2. Ethnic Identity Search: Adolescents and adults who are exploring the customs, culture, and history of their ethnic group are in the ethnic identity search stage, similar to Marcia’s moratorium status.[44] Often some event “awakens” a teen or adult to their ethnic group; either personal experience with prejudice, a highly profiled case in the media, or even a more positive event that recognizes the contribution of someone from the individual’s ethnic group. Teens and adults in this stage will immerse themselves in their ethnic culture. For some, “it may lead to a rejection of the values of the dominant culture” (p. 503).[45]
3. Achieved Ethnic Identity: Those who have actively explored their culture are likely to have a deeper appreciation and understanding of their ethnic heritage, leading to progress toward an achieved ethnic identity.[46] An achieved ethnic identity does not necessarily imply that the individual is highly involved in the customs and values of their ethnic culture. One can be confident in their ethnic identity without wanting to maintain the language or other customs.
The development of ethnic identity takes time, with about 25% of tenth graders from ethnic minority backgrounds having explored and resolved the issues.[47] The more ethnically homogeneous the high school, the less identity exploration and achievement.[48] Moreover, even in more ethnically diverse high schools, teens tend to spend more time with their own group, reducing exposure to other ethnicities. This may explain why, for many, college becomes the time of ethnic identity exploration. “[The] transition to college may serve as a consciousness-raising experience that triggers exploration.”[49]
It is also important to note that those who do achieve ethnic identity may periodically reexamine the issues of ethnicity. This cycling between exploration and achievement is common not only for ethnic identity formation but in other aspects of identity development.[50]
Bicultural/Multiracial Identity
Ethnic minorities must wrestle with the question of how, and to what extent, they will identify with the culture of the surrounding society and with the culture of their family. Phinney (2006) suggests that people may handle it in different ways.[51] Some may keep the identities separate, others may combine them in some way, while others may reject some of them. Bicultural identity means the individual sees himself or herself as part of both the ethnic minority group and the larger society. Those who are multiracial, that is whose parents come from two or more ethnic or racial groups, have a more challenging task. In some cases their appearance may be ambiguous. This can lead to others constantly asking them to categorize themselves. Phinney (2006) notes that the process of identity formation may start earlier and take longer to accomplish in those who are not mono-racial.[52]
Parents and Teens: Autonomy and Attachment
While most adolescents get along with their parents, they do spend less time with them.[53] This decrease in the time spent with families may be a reflection of a teenager’s greater desire for independence or autonomy. It can be difficult for many parents to deal with this desire for autonomy. However, it is likely adaptive for teenagers to increasingly distance themselves and establish relationships outside of their families in preparation for adulthood. This means that both parents and teenagers need to strike a balance between autonomy, while still maintaining close and supportive familial relationships.
Children in middle and late childhood are increasingly granted greater freedom regarding moment-to-moment decision making. This continues in adolescence, as teens are demanding greater control in decisions that affect their daily lives. This can increase conflict between parents and their teenagers. For many adolescents, this conflict centers on chores, homework, curfew, dating, and personal appearance. These are all things many teens believe they should manage that parents previously had considerable control over. Teens report more conflict with their mothers, as many mothers believe they should still have some control over many of these areas, yet often report their mothers to be more encouraging and supportive.[54] As teens grow older, more compromise is reached between parents and teenagers.[55] Parents are more controlling of daughters, especially early-maturing girls, than they are sons.[56] In addition, culture and ethnicity also play a role in how restrictive parents are with the daily lives of their children.[57]
Having supportive, less conflict-ridden relationships with parents also benefits teenagers. Research on attachment in adolescence find that teens who are still securely attached to their parents have less emotional problems,[58] are less likely to engage in drug abuse and other criminal behaviors,[59] and have more positive peer relationships.[60]
1. This chapter is adapted from Lifespan Development by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French, licensed CC BY NC SA. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-lifespandevelopment/
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45. Phinney, J. S. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults: Review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 499-514. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.499 ↵
46. Phinney, J. S. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults: Review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 499-514. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.499 ↵
47. Phinney, J. S. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity development in minority group adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 9, 34- 49. ↵
48. Umana-Taylor, A. (2003). Ethnic identity and self-esteem. Examining the roles of social context. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 139-146. ↵
49. Syed, M., & Azmitia, M. (2009). Longitudinal trajectories of ethnic identity during the college years. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 19, 618. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00609.x ↵
50. Grotevant, H. (1987). Toward a process model of identity formation. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2, 203-222 ↵
51. Phinney, J. S. (2006). Ethnic identity exploration. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.) Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st Century. (pp. 117-134) Washington DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
52. Phinney, J. S. (2006). Ethnic identity exploration. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.) Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st Century. (pp. 117-134) Washington DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
53. Smetana, J. G. (2011). Adolescents, families, and social development. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. ↵
54. Costigan, C. L., Cauce, A. M., & Etchinson, K. (2007). Changes in African American mother-daughter relationships during adolescence: Conflict, autonomy, and warmth. In B. J. R. Leadbeater & N. Way (Eds.), Urban girls revisited: Building strengths (pp. 177-201). New York NY: New York University Press. ↵
55. Smetana, J. G. (2011). Adolescents, families, and social development. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. ↵
56. Caspi, A., Lynam, D., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1993). Unraveling girls’ delinquency: Biological, dispositional, and contextual contributions to adolescent misbehavior. Developmental Psychology, 29(1), 19-30. ↵
57. Chen, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Beyers, W., Soensens, B., & Van Petegem, S. (2013). Autonomy in family decision making for Chinese adolescents: Disentangling the dual meaning of autonomy. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44, 1184- 1209. ↵
58. Rawatlal, N., Kliewer, W., & Pillay, B. J. (2015). Adolescent attachment, family functioning and depressive symptoms. South African Journal of Psychiatry, 21(3), 80-85. doi:10.7196/SAJP.8252 ↵
59. Meeus, W., Branje, S., & Overbeek, G. J. (2004). Parents and partners in crime: a six-year longitudinal study on changes in supportive relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 45(7), 1288-1298. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00312.x ↵
60. Shomaker, L. B., & Furman, W. (2009). Parent-adolescent relationship qualities, internal working models, and attachment styles as predictors of adolescents’ interactions with friends. Journal or Social and Personal Relationships, 2, 579-603. ↵
Adolescence by Martha Lally, Suzanne Valentine-French, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/07%3A_Developmental_Milestones/07.6%3A_Adolescence.txt |
Historically, early adulthood spanned from approximately 18 years (the end of adolescence) until 40 to 45 years (beginning of middle adulthood). More recently, developmentalists have divided this age period into two separate stages: Emerging adulthood followed by early adulthood. Although these age periods differ in their physical, cognitive, and social development, overall the age period from 18 years to 45 years is a time of peak physical capabilities and the emergence of more mature cognitive development, financial independence, and intimate relationships.[1]
Emerging Adulthood
Figure 1. A young adult enjoying a saxophonist performance. (Photo Source: pxfuel, DMCA)
Emerging adulthood is the period between the late teens and early twenties; ages 18-25 years, although some researchers have included up to age 29 years in the definition.[2] Jeffrey Arnett (2000) argues that emerging adulthood is neither adolescence nor is it young adulthood.[3] Individuals in this age period have left behind the relative dependency of childhood and adolescence, but have not yet taken on the responsibilities of adulthood. “Emerging adulthood is a time of life when many different directions remain possible, when little about the future is decided for certain, when the scope of independent exploration of life’s possibilities is greater for most people than it will be at any other period of the life course” (p. 469).[4]
Arnett has identified five characteristics of emerging adulthood that distinguishes it from adolescence and young adulthood.[5]
1. It is the age of identity exploration. In 1950, Erik Erikson proposed that it was during adolescence that humans wrestled with the question of identity. Yet, even Erikson (1968) commented on a trend during the 20th century of a “prolonged adolescence” in industrialized societies. Today, most identity development occurs during the late teens and early twenties rather than adolescence. It is during emerging adulthood that people are exploring their career choices and ideas about intimate relationships, setting the foundation for adulthood.
2. Arnett also described this time period as the age of instability.[6]. Exploration generates uncertainty and instability. Emerging adults change jobs, relationships, and residences more frequently than other age groups.
3. This is also the age of self-focus. Being self-focused is not the same as being “self- centered.” Adolescents are more self-centered than emerging adults. Arnett reports that in his research, he found emerging adults to be very considerate of the feelings of others, especially their parents. They now begin to see their parents as people not just parents, something most adolescents fail to do.[7] Nonetheless, emerging adults focus more on themselves, as they realize that they have few obligations to others and that this is the time where they can do what they want with their life.
4. This is also the age of feeling in-between. When asked if they feel like adults, more 18 to 25 year-olds answer “yes and no” than do teens or adults over the age of 25.[8] Most emerging adults have gone through the changes of puberty, are typically no longer in high school, and many have also moved out of their parents’ home. Thus, they no longer feel as dependent as they did as teenagers. Yet, they may still be financially dependent on their parents to some degree, and they have not completely attained some of the indicators of adulthood, such as finishing their education, obtaining a good full-time job, being in a committed relationship, or being responsible for others. It is not surprising that Arnett found that 60% of 18 to 25 year-olds felt that in some ways they were adults, but in some ways they were not.[9]
5. Finally, emerging adulthood is the age of possibilities. It is a time period of optimism as more 18 to 25 year-olds feel that they will someday get to where they want to be in life. Arnett suggests that this optimism is because these dreams have yet to be tested.[10],
For example, it is easier to believe that you will eventually find your soul mate when you have yet to have had a serious relationship. It may also be a chance to change directions, for those whose lives up to this point have been difficult. The experiences of children and teens are influenced by the choices and decisions of their parents. If the parents are dysfunctional, there is little a child can do about it. In emerging adulthood, people can move out and move on. They have the chance to transform their lives and move away from unhealthy environments. Even those whose lives were happier and more fulfilling as children, now have the opportunity in emerging adulthood to become independent and make decisions about the direction they would like their life to take.
Cultural Variations
The five features proposed in the theory of emerging adulthood originally were based on research involving about 300 Americans between ages 18 and 29 from various ethnic groups, social classes, and geographical regions.[11] To what extent does the theory of emerging adulthood apply internationally?
The answer to this question depends greatly on what part of the world is considered. Demographers make a useful distinction between the developing countries that comprise the majority of the world’s population and the economically developed countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), including the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The current population of OECD countries (also called developed countries) is 1.2 billion, about 18% of the total world population.[12] The rest of the human population resides in developing countries, which have much lower median incomes, much lower median educational attainment, and much higher incidence of illness, disease, and early death. Let us consider emerging adulthood in other OECD countries as little is known about the experiences of 18- 25 year-olds in developing countries.
The same demographic changes as described above for the United States have taken place in other OECD countries as well. This is true of participation in postsecondary education, as well as median ages for entering marriage and parenthood.[13] However, there is also substantial variability in how emerging adulthood is experienced across OECD countries. Europe is the region where emerging adulthood is longest and most leisurely. The median ages for entering marriage and parenthood are near 30 in most European countries.[14]
Europe today is the location of the most affluent, generous, and egalitarian societies in the world, in fact, in human history.[15] Governments pay for tertiary education, assist young people in finding jobs, and provide generous unemployment benefits for those who cannot find work. In northern Europe, many governments also provide housing support. Emerging adults in European societies make the most of these advantages, gradually making their way to adulthood during their twenties while enjoying travel and leisure with friends.
Figure 2. Is your culture one that promotes romantic relationships for emerging adults? Or does it encourage you to wait till you’re older? What would it be like to live in the opposite culture?
The lives of emerging adults in developed Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, are in some ways similar to the lives of emerging adults in Europe and in some ways strikingly different. Like emerging European adults, emerging adults in Asian tend to enter marriage and parenthood around age 30 years.[16] Like emerging adults in Europe, emerging adults in Japan and South Korea enjoy the benefits of living in affluent societies with generous social welfare systems that provide support for them in making the transition to adulthood, including free university education and substantial unemployment benefits.
However, in other ways, the experience of emerging adulthood in Asian OECD countries is markedly different than in Europe. Europe has a long history of individualism, and today’s emerging adults carry that legacy with them in their focus on self-development and leisure during emerging adulthood. In contrast, most Asian cultures have a shared cultural history emphasizing collectivism and family obligations.
Although Asian cultures have become more individualistic in recent decades, as a consequence of globalization, the legacy of collectivism persists in the lives of emerging adults. They pursue identity explorations and self-development during emerging adulthood, like their American and European counterparts, but within narrower boundaries set by their sense of obligations to others, especially their parents.[17] For example, in their views of the most important criteria for becoming an adult, emerging adults in the United States and Europe consistently rank financial independence among the most important markers of adulthood. In contrast, emerging adults with an Asian cultural background especially emphasize becoming capable of supporting parents financially as among the most important criteria.[18],[19] This sense of family obligation may curtail their identity explorations in emerging adulthood to some extent, as they pay more heed to their parents’ wishes about what they should study, what job they should take, and where they should live than emerging adults do in the West.[20]
When Does Adulthood Begin?
According to Rankin and Kenyon (2008), historically the process of becoming an adult was more clearly marked by rites of passage.[21] For many individuals, marriage and becoming a parent were considered entry into adulthood. However, these role transitions are no longer considered as the important markers of adulthood.[22] Economic and social changes have resulted in increase in young adults attending college and a delay in marriage and having children.[23],[24] Consequently, current research has found financial independence and accepting responsibility for oneself to be the most important markers of adulthood in Western culture across age and ethnic groups.[25]
In looking at college students’ perceptions of adulthood, Rankin and Kenyon (2008) found that some students still view rites of passage as important markers.[26] College students who had placed more importance on role transition markers, such as parenthood and marriage, belonged to a fraternity/sorority, were traditionally aged (18–25), belonged to an ethnic minority, were of a traditional marital status; i.e., not cohabitating, or belonged to a religious organization, particularly for men. These findings supported the view that people holding collectivist or more traditional values place more importance on role transitions as markers of adulthood. In contrast, older college students and those cohabitating did not value role transitions as markers of adulthood as strongly.
Obesity
Although at the peak of physical health, a concern for early adults is the current rate of obesity. Results from the 2015 National Center for Health Statistics indicate that an estimated 70.7% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over are overweight and 37.9% are obese.[27]Body mass index (BMI), expressed as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg/m2), is commonly used to classify overweight (BMI 25.0–29.9), obesity (BMI greater than or equal to 30.0), and extreme obesity (BMI greater than or equal to 40.0). The 2015 statistics are an increase from the 2013-2014 statistics that indicated that an estimated 35.1% were obese, and 6.4% extremely obese.[28] In 2003-2004, 32% of American adults were identified as obese. The CDC also indicated that one’s 20s are the prime time to gain weight as the average person gains one to two pounds per year from early adulthood into middle adulthood. The average man in his 20s weighs around 185 pounds and by his 30s weighs approximately 200 pounds. The average American woman weighs 162 pounds in her 20s and 170 pounds in her 30s.
Figure 3. Waist Circumference
The American obesity crisis is also reflected worldwide.[29] In 2014, global obesity rates for men were measured at 10.8% and among women 14.9%. This translates to 266 million obese men and 375 million obese women in the world, and more people were identified as obese than underweight. Although obesity is seen throughout the world, more obese men and women live in China and the USA than in any other country. Figure 2 illustrates how waist circumference is also used as a measure of obesity. Figure 3 demonstrates the percentage of growth for males and females identified as obese between 1960 and 2012.
Causes of Obesity
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016), obesity originates from a complex set of contributing factors, including one’s environment, behavior, and genetics. Societal factors include culture, education, food marketing and promotion, the quality of food, and the physical activity environment available. Behaviors leading to obesity include diet, the amount of physical activity, and medication use. Lastly, there does not appear to be a single gene responsible for obesity. Rather, research has identified variants in several genes that may contribute to obesity by increasing hunger and food intake. Another genetic explanation is the mismatch between today’s environment and “energy-thrifty genes” that multiplied in the distant past, when food sources were unpredictable. The genes that helped our ancestors survive occasional famines are now being challenged by environments in which food is plentiful all the time. Overall, obesity most likely results from complex interactions among the environment and multiple genes.
Obesity Health Consequences
Figure 4. Adult Obesity Trends NOTE: Age-adjusted by the direct method to the year 2000 U.S. Census Bureau estimates using age groups 20–39, 40–59, and 60–74. Pregnant females were excluded. SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Health Examination Survey.
Obesity is considered to be one of the leading causes of death in the United States and worldwide. Additionally, the medical care costs of obesity in the United States were estimated to be \$147 billion in 2008. According to the CDC (2016) compared to those with a normal or healthy weight, people who are obese are at increased risk for many serious diseases and health conditions including:[30]
• All-causes of death (mortality)
• High blood pressure (Hypertension)
• High LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, or high levels of triglycerides (Dyslipidemia)
• Type 2 diabetes
• Coronary heart disease
• Stroke
• Gallbladder disease
• Osteoarthritis (a breakdown of cartilage and bone within a joint)
• Sleep apnea and breathing problems
• Some cancers (endometrial, breast, colon, kidney, gallbladder, and liver)
• Low quality of life
• Mental illness such as clinical depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders
• Body pain and difficulty with physical functioning
A Healthy, but Risky Time
Doctor’s visits are less frequent in early adulthood than for those in midlife and late adulthood and are necessitated primarily by injury and pregnancy.[31] However, the top five causes of death in emerging and early adulthood are non-intentional injury (including motor vehicle accidents), homicide, and suicide with cancer and heart disease completing the list.[32] Rates of violent death (homicide, suicide, and accidents) are highest among young adult males, and vary by race and ethnicity. Rates of violent death are higher in the United States than in Canada, Mexico, Japan, and other selected countries. Males are more likely to die in auto accidents than are females.[33]
Alcohol Abuse
A significant contributing factor to risky behavior is alcohol. According to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 88% of people ages 18 or older reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime; 71% reported that they drank in the past year; and 57% reported drinking in the past month.[34] Additionally, 6.7% reported that they engaged in heavy drinking in the past month. Heavy drinking is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of five or more days in the past 30 days. Nearly 88,000 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making it the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States. In 2014, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 9,967 deaths (31% of overall driving fatalities).
The NIAAA defines binge drinking when blood alcohol concentration levels reach 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after four drinks for women and five drinks for men in approximately two hours. In 2014, 25% of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month. According to the NIAAA (2015) “Binge drinking poses serious health and safety risks, including car crashes, drunk-driving arrests, sexual assaults, and injuries. Over the long term, frequent binge drinking can damage the liver and other organs,” (p. 1).[35]
Alcohol and College Students
Results from the 2014 survey demonstrated a difference between the amount of alcohol consumed by college students and those of the same age who are not in college.[36] Specifically, 60% of full-time college students’ ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month compared with 51.5% of other persons of the same age not in college. In addition, 38% of college students’ ages 18–22 engaged in binge drinking; that is, five or more drinks on one occasion in the past month, compared with 33.5% of other persons of the same age. Lastly, 12% of college students’ (ages 18–22) engaged in heavy drinking; that is, binge drinking on five or more occasions per month, in the past month. This compares with 9.5% of other emerging adults not in college.
The consequences for college drinking are staggering, and the NIAAA (2016) estimates that each year the following occur:
• 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor-vehicle crashes.
• 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.
• Roughly 1 in 5 college students meet the criteria for an Alcohol Use Disorder.
• About 1 in 4 college students report academic consequences from drinking, including missing class, falling behind in class, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall. (p. 1)
• 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.
The role alcohol plays in predicting acquaintance rape on college campuses is of particular concern. “Alcohol use in one the strongest predictors of rape and sexual assault on college campuses,” (p. 454).[37] Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Fisher and Martin (2009) found that over 80% of sexual assaults on college campuses involved alcohol.[38] Being intoxicated increases a female’s risk of being the victim of date or acquaintance rape.[39] Females are more likely to blame themselves and to be blamed by others if they were intoxicated when raped. College students view perpetrators who were drinking as less responsible, and victims who were drinking as more responsible for the assaults.[40]
Factors Affecting College Students’ Drinking
Several factors associated with college life affect a student’s involvement with alcohol.[41] These include the pervasive availability of alcohol, inconsistent enforcement of underage drinking laws, unstructured time, coping with stressors, and limited interactions with parents and other adults. Due to social pressures to conform and expectations when entering college, the first six weeks of freshman year are an especially susceptible time for students. Additionally, more drinking occurs in colleges with active Greek systems and athletic programs. Alcohol consumption is lowest among students living with their families and commuting, while it is highest among those living in fraternities and sororities.
College Strategies to Curb Drinking
Strategies to address college drinking involve the individual-level and campus community as a whole. Identifying at-risk groups, such as first year students, members of fraternities and sororities, and athletes has proven helpful in changing students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding alcohol.[42] Interventions include education and awareness programs, as well as intervention by health professionals. At the college-level, reducing the availability of alcohol has proven effective by decreasing both consumption and negative consequences.
Non-Alcohol Substance Use
Illicit drug use peaks between the ages of 19 and 22 and then begins to decline. Additionally, 25% of those who smoke cigarettes, 33% of those who smoke marijuana, and 70% of those who abuse cocaine began using after age 17.[43] Emerging adults (18 to 25) are the largest abusers of prescription opioid pain relievers, anti-anxiety medications, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder medication.[44] In 2014 more than 1700 emerging adults died from a prescription drug overdose. This is an increase of four times since 1999. Additionally, for every death there were 119 emergency room visits.
Daily marijuana use is at the highest level in three decades.[45] For those in college, 2014 data indicate that 6% of college students smoke marijuana daily, while only 2% smoked daily in 1994. For non-college students of the same age, the daily percentage is twice as high (approximately 12%). Additionally, daily cigarette smoking is lower for those in college as only 13% smoked in the past month, while for those not in college it was almost 25%.
Rates of violent death are influenced by substance use which peaks during emerging and early adulthood. Drugs impair judgment, reduce inhibitions, and alter mood, all of which can lead to dangerous behavior. Reckless driving, violent altercations, and forced sexual encounters are some examples. Drug and alcohol use increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections because people are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior when under the influence. This includes having sex with someone who has had multiple partners, having anal sex without the use of a condom, having multiple partners, or having sex with someone whose history is unknown. Lastly, as previously discussed, drugs and alcohol ingested during pregnancy have a teratogenic effect on the developing embryo and fetus.
Beyond Formal Operational Thought
According to Piaget’s theory, adolescents acquire formal operational thought as they. The hallmark of this type of thinking is the ability to think abstractly or to consider possibilities and ideas about circumstances never directly experienced. Thinking abstractly is only one characteristic of adult thought, however. If you compare a 15 year-old with someone in their late 30s, you would probably find that the latter considers not only what is possible, but also what is likely. Why the change? The adult has gained experience and understands why possibilities do not always become realities. They learn to base decisions on what is realistic and practical, not idealistic, and can make adaptive choices. Adults are also not as influenced by what others think. This advanced type of thinking is referred to as postformal Thought.[46]
In addition to moving toward more practical considerations, thinking in early adulthood may also become more flexible and balanced. Abstract ideas that the adolescent believes in firmly may become standards by which the adult evaluates reality. Adolescents tend to think in dichotomies; ideas are true or false; good or bad; and there is no middle ground. However, with experience, the adult comes to recognize that there is some right and some wrong in each position, some good or some bad in a policy or approach, some truth and some falsity in a particular idea. This ability to bring together salient aspects of two opposing viewpoints or positions is referred to as dialectical thought and is considered one of the most advanced aspects of postformal thinking.[47] Such thinking is more realistic because very few positions, ideas, situations, or people are completely right or wrong. So, for example, parents who were considered angels or devils by the adolescent eventually become just people with strengths and weaknesses, endearing qualities, and faults to the adult.
Does everyone reach post-formal or even formal operational thought?
Formal operational thought involves being able to think abstractly; however, this ability does not apply to all situations or all adults. Formal operational thought is influenced by experience and education. Some adults lead lives in which they are not challenged to think abstractly about their world. Many adults do not receive any formal education and are not taught to think abstractly about situations they have never experienced. Further, they are also not exposed to conceptual tools used to formally analyze hypothetical situations. Those who do think abstractly, in fact, may be able to do so more easily in some subjects than others. For example, psychology majors may be able to think abstractly about psychology, but be unable to use abstract reasoning in physics or chemistry. Abstract reasoning in a particular field requires a knowledge base that we might not have in all areas. Consequently, our ability to think abstractly depends to a large extent on our experiences.
Attachment in Young Adulthood
Hazan and Shaver (1987) described the attachment styles of adults, using the same three general categories proposed by Ainsworth’s research on young children; secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent.[48] Hazan and Shaver developed three brief paragraphs describing the three adult attachment styles. Adults were then asked to think about romantic relationships they were in and select the paragraph that best described the way they felt, thought, and behaved in these relationships (See Table 1).
Table 1. Which of the following best describes you in your romantic relationships?[49]
Secure
I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t often worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.
Avoidant
I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, love partners want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.
Anxious/Ambivalent
I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t stay with me. I want to merge completely with another person, and this sometimes scares people away.
Figure 5. Four-Category Model with the Two- Dimensions of Attachment
Bartholomew (1990) challenged the categorical view of attachment in adults and suggested that adult attachment was best described as varying along two dimensions; attachment related-anxiety and attachment-related avoidance.[50] Attachment-related anxiety refers to the extent to which an adult worries about whether their partner really loves them. Those who score high on this dimension fear that their partner will reject or abandon them.[51] Attachment-related avoidance refers to whether an adult can open up to others, and whether they trust and feel they can depend on others. Those who score high on attachment-related avoidance are uncomfortable with opening up and may fear that such dependency may limit their sense of autonomy. According to Bartholomew (1990) this would yield four possible attachment styles in adults; secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and fearful-avoidant (see Figure 7.19).[52]
Securely attached adults score lower on both dimensions. They are comfortable trusting their partners and do not worry excessively about their partner’s love for them. Adults with a dismissing style score low on attachment-related anxiety, but higher on attachment-related avoidance. Such adults dismiss the importance of relationships. They trust themselves but do not trust others, thus do not share their dreams, goals, and fears with others. They do not depend on other people and feel uncomfortable when they have to do so.
Those with a preoccupied attachment are low in attachment-related avoidance, but high in attachment-related anxiety. Such adults are often prone to jealousy and worry that their partner does not love them as much as they need to be loved. Adults whose attachment style is fearful-avoidant score high on both attachment-related avoidance and attachment-related anxiety. These adults want close relationships, but do not feel comfortable getting emotionally close to others. They have trust issues with others and often do not trust their own social skills in maintaining relationships.
Research on attachment in adulthood has found that:
• Adults with insecure attachments report lower satisfaction in their relationships.[53]
• Those high in attachment-related anxiety report more daily conflict in their relationships.[54]
• Those with avoidant attachment exhibit less support to their partners.[55]
• Young adults show greater attachment-related anxiety than do middle-aged or older adults.[56]
• Some studies report that young adults show more attachment-related avoidance,[57] while other studies find that middle-aged adults show higher avoidance than younger or older adults.[58]
• Young adults with more secure and positive relationships with their parents make the transition to adulthood more easily than do those with more insecure attachments.[59]
Do people with certain attachment styles attract those with similar styles?
When people are asked what kinds of psychological or behavioral qualities they are seeking in a romantic partner, a large majority of people indicate that they are seeking someone who is kind, caring, trustworthy, and understanding, that is the kinds of attributes that characterize a “secure” caregiver.[60] However, we know that people do not always end up with others who meet their ideals. Are secure people more likely to end up with secure partners, and, vice versa, are insecure people more likely to end up with insecure partners? The majority of the research that has been conducted to date suggests that the answer is “yes.” Frazier, Byer, Fischer, Wright, and DeBord (1996) studied the attachment patterns of more than 83 heterosexual couples and found that, if the man was relatively secure, the woman was also likely to be secure.[61]
One important question is whether these findings exist because (a) secure people are more likely to be attracted to other secure people, (b) secure people are likely to create security in their partners over time, or (c) some combination of these possibilities. Existing empirical research strongly supports the first alternative. For example, when people have the opportunity to interact with individuals who vary in security in a speed-dating context, they express a greater interest in those who are more secure rather than those who are more insecure.[62] However, there is also some evidence that people’s attachment styles mutually shape one another in close relationships. For example, in a longitudinal study, Hudson, Fraley, Vicary, and Brumbaugh (2012) found that, if one person in a relationship experienced a change in security, his or her partner was likely to experience a change in the same direction.[63]
Do early experiences as children shape adult attachment?
The majority of research on this issue is retrospective; that is, it relies on adults’ reports of what they recall about their childhood experiences. This kind of work suggests that secure adults are more likely to describe their early childhood experiences with their parents as being supportive, loving, and kind.[64] A number of longitudinal studies are emerging that demonstrate prospective associations between early attachment experiences and adult attachment styles and/or interpersonal functioning in adulthood. For example, Fraley, Roisman, Booth-LaForce, Owen, and Holland (2013) found in a sample of more than 700 individuals studied from infancy to adulthood that maternal sensitivity across development prospectively predicted security at age 18.[65] Simpson, Collins, Tran, and Haydon (2007) found that attachment security, assessed in infancy in the strange situation, predicted peer competence in grades one to three, which, in turn, predicted the quality of friendship relationships at age 16, which, in turn, predicted the expression of positive and negative emotions in their adult romantic relationships at ages 20 to 23.[66]
It is easy to come away from such findings with the mistaken assumption that early experiences “determine” later outcomes. To be clear: Attachment theorists assume that the relationship between early experiences and subsequent outcomes is probabilistic, not deterministic. Having supportive and responsive experiences with caregivers early in life is assumed to set the stage for positive social development. But that does not mean that attachment patterns are set in stone. In short, even if an individual has far from optimal experiences in early life, attachment theory suggests that it is possible for that individual to develop well-functioning adult relationships through a number of corrective experiences, including relationships with siblings, other family members, teachers, and close friends. Security is best viewed as a culmination of a person’s attachment history rather than a reflection of his or her early experiences alone. Those early experiences are considered important, not because they determine a person’s fate, but because they provide the foundation for subsequent experiences.
Relationships with Parents and Siblings
In early adulthood the parent-child relationship has to transition toward a relationship between two adults. This involves a reappraisal of the relationship by both parents and young adults. One of the biggest challenges for parents, especially during emerging adulthood, is coming to terms with the adult status of their children. Aquilino (2006) suggests that parents who are reluctant or unable to do so may hinder young adults’ identity development.[67] This problem becomes more pronounced when young adults still reside with their parents. Arnett (2004) reported that leaving home often helped promote psychological growth and independence in early adulthood.[68]
Sibling relationships are one of the longest-lasting bonds in people’s lives. Yet, there is little research on the nature of sibling relationships in adulthood.[69] What is known is that the nature of these relationships change, as adults have a choice as to whether they will maintain a close bond and continue to be a part of the life of a sibling. Siblings must make the same reappraisal of each other as adults, as parents have to with their adult children. Research has shown a decline in the frequency of interactions between siblings during early adulthood, as presumably peers, romantic relationships, and children become more central to the lives of young adults. Aquilino (2006) suggests that the task in early adulthood may be to maintain enough of a bond so that there will be a foundation for this relationship in later life.[70] Those who are successful can often move away from the “older-younger” sibling conflicts of childhood, toward a more equal relationship between two adults. Siblings that were close to each other in childhood are typically close in adulthood,[71] and in fact, it is unusual for siblings to develop closeness for the first time in adulthood. Overall, the majority of adult sibling relationships are close.[72]
Figure 6. Young adults find companionship in both friend groups and prospective partners. (Photo Source: Pikrepo, DMCA)
Erikson: Intimacy versus Isolation
Erikson’s sixth stage focuses on establishing intimate relationships or risking social isolation.[73] Intimate relationships are more difficult if one is still struggling with identity. Achieving a sense of identity is a life-long process, as there are periods of identity crisis and stability. However, once identity is established intimate relationships can be pursued.[74]
These intimate relationships include acquaintanceships and friendships, but also the more important close relationships, which are the long-term romantic relationships that we develop with another person, for instance, in a marriage.[75]
1. This chapter is adapted from Lifespan Development by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French, licensed CC BY NC SA. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-lifespandevelopment/
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3. Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469-480. ↵
4. Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469-480. ↵
5. Arnett, J. J. (2006). G. Stanley Hall’s adolescence: Brilliance and non-sense. History of Psychology, 9, 186-197. ↵
6. Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469-480. ↵
7. Arnett, J. J. (2006). G. Stanley Hall’s adolescence: Brilliance and non-sense. History of Psychology, 9, 186-197. ↵
8. Arnett, J. J. (2001). Conceptions of the transitions to adulthood: Perspectives from adolescence to midlife. Journal of Adult Development, 8, 133-143. ↵
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10. Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469-480. ↵
11. Arnett, J. J. (2004). Conceptions of the transition to adulthood among emerging adults in American ethnic groups. In J. J. Arnett & N. Galambos (Eds.), Cultural conceptions of the transition to adulthood: New directions in child and adolescent development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ↵
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18. Arnett, J. J. (2003). Conceptions of the transition to adulthood among emerging adults in American ethnic groups. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 100, 63–75. ↵
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22. Arnett, J. J. (2001). Conceptions of the transitions to adulthood: Perspectives from adolescence to midlife. Journal of Adult Development, 8, 133-143. ↵
23. Rankin, L. A. & Kenyon, D. B. (2008). Demarcating role transitions as indicators of adulthood in the 21st century. Who are they? Journal of Adult Development, 15(2), 87-92. doi: 10.1007/s10804-007-9035-2 ↵
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26. Rankin, L. A. & Kenyon, D. B. (2008). Demarcating role transitions as indicators of adulthood in the 21st century. Who are they? Journal of Adult Development, 15(2), 87-92. doi: 10.1007/s10804-007-9035-2 ↵
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38. Krebs, C., Lindquist, C., Warner, T., Fisher, B., & Martin, S. (2009). College women’s experiences with physically forced, alcohol or other drug-enabled, and drug-facilitated sexual assault before and since entering college. Journal of American College Health, 57(6), 639-649. ↵
39. Carroll, J. L. (2007). Sexuality now: Embracing diversity (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning. ↵
40. Untied, A., Orchowski, L., Mastroleo, N., & Gidycz, C. (2012). College students’ social reactions to the victim in a hypothetical sexual assault scenario: The role of victim and perpetrator alcohol use. Violence and Victims, 27(6), 957-972. ↵
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46. Sinnott, J. D. (1998). The development of logic in adulthood. NY: Plenum Press. ↵
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50. Bartholomew, K. (1990). Avoidance of intimacy: An attachment perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7, 147-178. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3524.61.2.226. ↵
51. Fraley, R. C., Hudson, N. W., Heffernan, M. E., & Segal, N. (2015). Are adult attachment styles categorical or dimensional? A taxometric analysis of general and relationship-specific attachment orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109 (2), 354-368. ↵
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53. Butzer, B., & Campbell, L. (2008). Adult attachment, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction: A study of married couples. Personal Relationships, 15, 141-154. ↵
54. Campbell, L., Simpson, J. A., Boldry, J., & Kashy, D. A. (2005). Perceptions of conflict and support in romantic relationships: The role of attachment anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 510-532. ↵
55. Simpson, J. A., Rholes, W. S., Oriña, M. M., & Grich, J. (2002). Working models of attachment, support giving, and support seeking in a stressful situation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 598-608. ↵
56. Chopik, W. J., Edelstein, R. S., & Fraley, R. C. (2013). From the cradle to the grave: Age differences in attachment from early adulthood to old age. Journal or Personality, 81 (2), 171-183 DOI: 10.1111/j. 1467-6494.2012.00793 ↵
57. Schindler, I., Fagundes, C. P., & Murdock, K. W. (2010). Predictors of romantic relationship formation: Attachment style, prior relationships, and dating goals. Personal Relationships, 17, 97-105. ↵
58. Chopik, W. J., Edelstein, R. S., & Fraley, R. C. (2013). From the cradle to the grave: Age differences in attachment from early adulthood to old age. Journal or Personality, 81 (2), 171-183 DOI: 10.1111/j. 1467-6494.2012.00793 ↵
59. Fraley, R. C. (2013). Attachment through the life course. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from nobaproject.com. ↵
60. Chappell, K. D., & Davis, K. E. (1998). Attachment, partner choice, and perception of romantic partners: An experimental test of the attachment-security hypothesis. Personal Relationships, 5, 327–342. ↵
61. Frazier, P. A, Byer, A. L., Fischer, A. R., Wright, D. M., & DeBord, K. A. (1996). Adult attachment style and partner choice: Correlational and experimental findings. Personal Relationships, 3, 117–136. ↵
62. McClure, M. J., Lydon., J. E., Baccus, J., & Baldwin, M. W. (2010). A signal detection analysis of the anxiously attached at speed-dating: Being unpopular is only the first part of the problem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1024–1036. ↵
63. Hudson, N. W., Fraley, R. C., Vicary, A. M., & Brumbaugh, C. C. (2012). Attachment coregulation: A longitudinal investigation of the coordination in romantic partners’ attachment styles. Manuscript under review. ↵
64. Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52 (3), 511-524. ↵
65. Fraley, R. C., Roisman, G. I., Booth-LaForce, C., Owen, M. T., & Holland, A. S. (2013). Interpersonal and genetic origins of adult attachment styles: A longitudinal study from infancy to early adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 8817-838. ↵
66. Simpson, J. A., Collins, W. A., Tran, S., & Haydon, K. C. (2007). Attachment and the experience and expression of emotions in adult romantic relationships: A developmental perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 355–367. ↵
67. Aquilino, W. S. (2006). Family relationships and support systems in emerging adulthood. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 193-217). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
68. Arnett, J. J. (2004). Conceptions of the transition to adulthood among emerging adults in American ethnic groups. In J. J. Arnett & N. Galambos (Eds.), Cultural conceptions of the transition to adulthood: New directions in child and adolescent development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ↵
69. Aquilino, W. S. (2006). Family relationships and support systems in emerging adulthood. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 193-217). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
70. Aquilino, W. S. (2006). Family relationships and support systems in emerging adulthood. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 193-217). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
71. Dunn, J. (1984). Sibling studies and the developmental impact of critical incidents. In P.B. Baltes & O.G. Brim (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol 6). Orlando, FL: Academic Press. ↵
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74. Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton. ↵
75. Hendrick, C., & Hendrick, S. S. (Eds.). (2000). Close relationships: A sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ↵
Emerging and Early Adulthood by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Parenting_and_Family_Diversity_Issues_(Lang)/07%3A_Developmental_Milestones/07.7%3A_Emerging_and_Early_Adulthood.txt |
We are so excited you have decided to join us on your journey into the wonderful world of young children!
If you are reading this, you’re likely interested in learning more about becoming an early childhood professional. Perhaps you’re just curious and want to know a little bit more about young children. Maybe you want to make up your mind after finding out a little bit more about what is involved. In either case, your interest and curiosity are two key characteristics that will make this a positive growth experience for you.
You probably had other options but made coming to this class a priority. You care about children. You have an audacity of kindness and passion for teaching. Adhering to these qualities is the launching pad for successful early childhood professionals.
00: Introduction to Principles and Practices of Teaching Young Children
You will notice that each chapter begins with important information that pertains to the field of early childhood education as well as providing you with the learning objectives for each chapter. This will help you navigate the content with a deeper understanding.
1. Learning Objectives – Those objectives are identified in the course outline of record this book was based on (College of the Canyons). This is what we plan for in setting up the course content. There is an overall arching objective which is called the Course Student Learning Outcome or CSLO.
2. California Early Childhood Educator Competencies – This is a robust document created by a group of professionals to help to guide the field in creating early childhood professionals with the competencies that they need to become quality educators of young children.
3. National Association for the Education of Young Children Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation – These are national competencies, referred to as standards, that help to inform the field and to provide our department with the structure to ensure that when you finish our course of study, you will be prepared to work with young children and their families.
4. National Association for the Education of Young Children Code of Ethical Conduct – This code is our promise to provide children, families, our colleagues, and the community with the integrity needed to be professional early childhood educators.
0.5: College of the Canyons Course of Study
In looking over these 7 standards, we hope that you are able to make the connection to our course of study. ECE 100 - Principles and Practices of Early Childhood Education, the course you are currently enrolled in, is a survey course. It looks at the broad spectrum of the field. As you continue on your journey through our program, you will take courses that specifically address each standard. We hope that when you have completed the 24 units of Early Childhood Education, you will meet the competencies needed to begin your journey as an early childhood professional. Those courses are
• ECE 100 Principles and Practices of Early Childhood Education
• ECE 101 Child Growth and Development
• ECE 102 Child, Family, and Community
• ECE 103 Observation and Assessment
• ECE 104 Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education
• ECE 105 Health, Safety, and Nutrition in Early Childhood Education
• ECE 106 The Role of Equity and Diversity in Early Childhood Education
• ECE 200 Practicum – Field Experience
Of course, you can always continue on that journey enrolling in any of our other courses:
• ECE 130 Infant/Toddler Development and Curriculum
• ECE 135 School Age Child Care Programs and Curriculum
• ECE 140 Curriculum for School-Age Children
• ECE 144 Music and Movement for the Young Child
• ECE 151 Art and Creativity for Young Children
• ECE 155 Science and Math for the Young Child
• ECE 156 Literature and Language Development for the Young Child
• ECE 160 Understanding and Education of Children with Special Needs
• ECE 201 Supervision and Administration of Children’s Programs
• ECE 202 Advanced Supervision and Administration of Children’s Programs
• ECE 203 Adult Supervision and the Mentor Process in Early Childhood Education
or in other higher educational coursework learning more deeply, how to serve children and families with an intentional, supportive disposition.
Welcome to the field future colleagues, we wish you well!
College of the Canyons, Early Childhood Education Department
1.01: New Page
You will notice that each chapter begins with important information that pertains to the field of early childhood education as well as providing you with the learning objectives for each chapter. This will help you navigate the content with a deeper understanding.
1. Learning Objectives – Those objectives are identified in the course outline of record this book was based on (College of the Canyons). This is what we plan for in setting up the course content. There is an overall arching objective which is called the Course Student Learning Outcome or CSLO.
2. California Early Childhood Educator Competencies – This is a robust document created by a group of professionals to help to guide the field in creating early childhood professionals with the competencies that they need to become quality educators of young children.
3. National Association for the Education of Young Children Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation – These are national competencies, referred to as standards, that help to inform the field and to provide our department with the structure to ensure that when you finish our course of study, you will be prepared to work with young children and their families.
4. National Association for the Education of Young Children Code of Ethical Conduct – This code is our promise to provide children, families, our colleagues, and the community with the integrity needed to be professional early childhood educators. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/00%3A_Introduction_to_Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children/0.1%3A_Structure_of_this_Book.txt |
The flow of the text is designed with chapters that build upon each other, so starting at the beginning and moving through in order may make the most sense. In addition to content, we include images, quotes, links (which we will update frequently but may change without our knowledge, so we apologize in advance if that is the case for you), and places to pause and reflect about what you have just read.
The chapters are as follows:
• Chapter 1 History: presents a little about the history of our field and encourages you to dig deeper as your interest dictates
• Chapter 2 Theories: introduces you to some of the major ideas and frameworks used to guide our practices with young children
• Chapter 3 The Early Childhood Teaching Profession: answers many initial questions students may ask about roles, responsibilities, and opportunities in the field of early childhood education
• Chapter 4 Observation and Assessment: Introduces you to the skills of gathering information about young children
• Chapter 5 Developmental Ages and Stages: builds on observational skills to understand the unique characteristics of children at various ages and stages of development
• Chapter 6 Curriculum Basics: builds even further on observational skills and an understanding of developmental ages and stages to provide appropriate interactions and learning experiences for young children
• Chapter 7 Environments: expands beyond curriculum to bring an awareness of the many aspects of planning physical spaces, routines and an interpersonal tone that meet the needs of young children
• Chapter 8 Partnering with Families: introduces the concept of valuing families as a child’s first teacher and the importance of partnering to provide positive collaboration between a child’s most important worlds, home and school.
Information moving forward to other ECE courses:
• The content in Chapter 1 (History), Chapter 2 (Developmental Theories), and Chapter 5 (Developmental Ages and Stages) will be touched upon in many of your other ECE courses.
• The content in Chapter 4 (Observation and Assessment), Chapter 6 (Curriculum Basics), Chapter 7 (Environments), and Chapter 8 (Partnering with Families) will each have their own course where you will study that particular topic in much more detail.
This class will prepare you to work in the field of early care and education as required by CA licensing (Title 22 and Title 5) and Accreditation.
The State of California, Department of Social Services houses a Community Care Licensing Division. A portion of Title 22 of these regulations stipulates requirements for early childhood programs, which includes educational requirements, of which this course applies.
The State of California Department of Education further regulates early childhood programs receiving any form of state funding through Title V (5). This course meets a portion of that academic requirement.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children offers Accreditation to those programs that apply and meet all qualifications of a quality program as defined by this organization. This course is included in the academic requirements.
The regulations above covered in Chapter 3 (The Early Childhood Teaching Profession) with the links included for you to investigate further. Knowledge of the regulations that govern our work with children and families is important as it provides the basis for our profession.
You will also find useful information about the ECE Department at College of the Canyons, as well as state and national content in Chapter 3. Our department website has many links in place to assist you in your endeavors. We encourage you to visit it often and take full advantage of the content that is there for you. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/00%3A_Introduction_to_Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children/1.02%3A_New_Page.txt |
As a department, we believe strongly in supporting future educators, as a group and as individuals. As you begin your course work with us, we see you as just that. You are now beginning your college journey that will end with your successful completion of the coursework required to work with young children and their families. As such, we are here to hold you to high standards and to support you in meeting those standards. Working with children can be very rewarding as well as challenging.
In your work with young children and families, you will be expected to:
• work hard
• arrive on time
• come prepared
• participate fully
• continue to grow and learn
• be respectful to yourself, others and property
• maintain confidentiality
• behave in a professional and ethical manner at all times
What better place to practice these skills than in your ECE courses. We will expect that you will practice each of the skills mentioned above in every early childhood course you take so that they are perfected by the time you begin your career. This is also a time for you to
• Ask questions
• Try new things
• Step outside your comfort zone
• Join our campus organizations
• Get to know your current classmates who will be your future colleagues
• Get to know your professors, they are here to support you
• Have fun and enjoy the experience
What a wonderful balance! Learning new content as well as the professional skills needed to succeed in your future career!
1.04: New Page
As mentioned early, the beginning of each chapter includes a list of the professional standards that the chapter will be addressing. At College of the Canyons, we are in the process of applying for NAEYC Higher Education Accreditation. What that means, is that we need to use the standards to frame what we teach you and why. You can think of them as competencies that help to inform what early educators need to know to become professionals. They include.
• Standard 1: Having knowledge of how children grow and develop and using that to create respectful learning environments. (ECE 100, 101, & 104)
• Standard 2: Engaging with families to respect their diversity and involve them in their children’s school life promotes more satisfactory school experiences for both the child and the family. (ECE 100 & 102)
• Standard 3: Using observation and assessment to guide what we do in the classroom is critical in supporting young children and their families. (ECE 100, 103 & 106)
• Standard 4: The use of positive relationships coupled with strategies that are geared toward the development of the child, allows us to connect with children and families. (ECE 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, & 200)
• Standard 5: Understanding how to build meaningful curriculum comes from your understanding of how children grow and develop, what is meaningful to them, and what is appropriate for them to explore. Increasing skills of inquiry, specifically, acknowledgment of children’s curiosity, guides how we plan and implement our curriculum and environment. (ECE 100, 104, 105, & 106)
• Standard 6: Engaging in continuous learning, reflective practice, advocacy for children and their families, upholding ethical and professional standards is our professional responsibility. (ECE 200 and ECE 203 – which is not one of the 8 core courses you need for your ADT degree in ECE)
• Standard 7: Engaging in field experience enhances our connection with high quality programs that follow the previous standards, applying the knowledge learned in your course of study, affords you opportunities to develop your beliefs (philosophy) of how children grow and develop and your role as a future teacher. (ECE 103, 104, 105, 106, & 200) | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/00%3A_Introduction_to_Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children/1.03%3A_New_Page.txt |
Learning Objective
• Examine historical and theoretical frameworks as they apply to current early childhood practices.
01: The History of Early Childhood Education
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation are addressed in this chapter:
Standard 1: Promoting child development and learning
Standard 2: Building family and community relationships
Standard 6: Becoming a professional
1.02: California Early Childhood Educator Competencies
The following competencies are addressed in this chapter:
• Child Development and Learning
• Culture, Diversity, and Equity
• Family and Community Engagement
• Health, Safety, and Nutrition
• Learning Environments and Curriculum
• Professionalism
• Relationships, Interaction, and Guidance
• Special Needs and Inclusion
1.03: NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children
Ideals: – I-1.1, I-1.2, I-1.5, I-1.8, I-1.9
Principles: P-1.1, P-1.2, P-1.7, P-1.11
Section II: Ethical Responsibilities to Families
Ideals: I-2.1, I-2.2, I-2.4, I-2.7, I-2.8, I-2.9
Principles: P-2.2, P-2.3
Section IV: Ethical Responsibilities to Community and Society
Ideals: I:4.1 (individual), I-4.6, I-4.7, I-4.8
Quotable
“History is a kind of introduction to more interesting people than we can possibly meet in our restricted lives; let us not neglect the opportunity.”
- Dexter Perkins
1.04: Preview
This chapter covers the historical underpinnings of the field of Early Childhood Education. You will discover the various influences that have been used as principles that have shaped current practices in early childhood settings.
As you begin your journey exploring the field that studies young children, you will come across several terms that are commonly used. While they are often used interchangeably, there are subtle differences which should be clarified at the start:
• Early Childhood: the stage of development from birth to age 8
• Child Development: the ways a child develops over time
• Early Childhood Education: the unique ways young children "learn" and the ways they are "taught". Part of the larger field of "education".
• Early Care and Education: A blend of the care young children need as well as the way they are "educated". Sometimes called "educare".
In this text we will use them interchangeably to mean the many ways children develop blended with their unique care and educational needs.
1.05: History of Early Childhood Education
Childhood from a Historical Perspective
The field of Early Childhood Education has a rich history. As you will soon discover, history has not only provided us with a strong foundation, it has shaped our beliefs, instilled an appreciation for children, and it has provided us with a context that guides our current practices
It is hard to imagine but children were not always considered valued members of society. You might say, children were thought to be second class citizens. In the past, many believed that children should be seen and not heard, and that children should be ruled by might (e.g. “spare the rod spoil the child”). Often time’s children were punished harshly for behaviors that today we understand to be “typical” development.
In the past, childhood was not seen as a separate stage of development. There was not time for childhood curiosity and playful experiences. Children were thought of as little adults and they were expected to “earn their keep”. The expectation was that they would learn the family trade and carry on their family lineage.
Going to school was thought to be a privilege and only children of a certain class, race and status were given the opportunity to have a formal education. The primary curriculum for that era was based on biblical teachings and a typical school day consisted of lessons being taught by an adult in charge who wasn’t trained as a teacher.
A Time for Change
It’s important to note that historically, parents had no formal training on how to raise a healthy well-adjusted child. The only “parenting book” for that time was the Bible and even then, many were not able to read it. They parented based on what the church taught, and it was these strict morals and values that informed societal beliefs and guided child rearing. It wasn’t until the 1400-1600’s, during the Renaissance, that children were seen as pure and good. New ideals began to surface. Individuals that thought differently (outside the box) began to question and investigate treatment of children. They began to observe and notice there was more to children. These were the first advocates to try and enlighten society and change the adult viewpoint in an effort to improve outcomes and support children’s growth and development. Unfortunately, many were persecuted or ostracized for being outspoken and going against the society beliefs.
Let’s take a look at some of the historical contributors to early care and education.
1.07: Educational Influences
The individuals mentioned in roadmap were noted philosophers and educators who sought to change the status quo. By advocating for the welfare and education of children they were instrumental in bringing an awareness that childhood is an important stage of life. It is critical to note that there were other influences from the field of psychology and medicine that also informed the field of early care and education.
The following interdisciplinary influences have contributed directly and indirectly to education, they run separate but parallel from the philosophers and educators on the roadmap, moving through time on their own track. As you consider these influences think about how their philosophies and theories intersected with education and child development.
1.08: Interdisciplinary Influences
Interdisciplinary refers to more than one branch of knowledge. In the case of Early Childhood Education, the disciplines include medicine, psychology, biology, parent educators and other early childhood professionals who have knowledge that helps to inform our practices with children and families. The collective knowledge we gain from these contributions, gives our field the evidence to support the role of the teacher in providing engaging environments, meaningful curriculum, guidance strategies, etc. This is often referred to as “best practices.” As you continue to engage with this textbook, this will become more apparent to you as it relates to the unique role of an early childhood professional.
1.10: In Closing
In Closing
This chapter has exposed you to some of the historical influences that have informed the field of early childhood education. In the next chapter, you will be given the opportunity to investigate theoretical ideologies that have been shaped by these influences. When we combine the historical content with theory, we have a stronger foundation for providing the care and support that children need as they grow and develop.
Pause to Reflect
How has history informed our current trends and practices in the field of early care and education? What stands out to you as your future or current role as an early childhood professional? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/01%3A_The_History_of_Early_Childhood_Education/1.01%3A_NAEYC_Standards.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Examine historical and theoretical frameworks as they apply to current early childhood practices.
02: Developmental and Learning Theories
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation are addressed in this chapter:
Standard 1: Promoting child development and learning
Standard 5: Using content knowledge to build meaningful curriculum
Standard 6: Becoming a professional
2.02: California Early Childhood Educator Competencies
Child Development and Learning
Culture, Diversity, and Equity
Dual Language Development
Learning Environments and Curriculum
Observation, Screening, Assessment, and Documentation
Relationships, Interactions, and Guidance
Special Needs and Inclusion
2.03: NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children
Ideals: – I-1.1 through I-1.11
Principles: P-1.1, P-1.2, P – 1.3, P-1.7
Section IV: Ethical Responsibilities to Community and Society
Ideals: I:4.1, I-4.6, I-4.8
2.04: Preview
This chapter begins with the developmental and learning theories that guide our practices with young children who are in our care. The theories presented in this chapter help us to better understand the complexity of human development. The chapter concludes by looking at some of the current topics about children’s development that inform and influence the field. With this valuable insight, we can acquire effective strategies to support the whole child – physically, cognitively, and affectively.
Quotable
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults.”
- F. Douglas
2.05: What is a theory and why is it important
As with the historical perspectives that were discussed in Chapter 1, theories provide varied and in-depth perspectives that can be used to explain the complexity of human development.
Human development is divided into 3 main areas: Physical, Cognitive, and Affective. Together these address the development of the whole child.
Physical-motor development – this includes our gross motor, fine motor, and perceptual-motor. [5]
Cognitive or intellectual development – this includes our thoughts and how our brain processes information, as well as utilizes language so that we can communicate with one another. [6]
Affective development – this includes our emotions, social interactions, personality, creativity, spirituality, and the relationships we have with ourselves and others. [7]
All three areas of development are of critical importance in how we support the whole child. For example, if we are more concerned about a child’s cognitive functioning we may neglect to give attention to their affective development. We know that when a child feels good about themselves and their capabilities, they are often able to take the required risks to learn about something new to them. Likewise, if a child is able to use their body to learn, that experience helps to elevate it to their brain.
Quotable
“If it isn’t in the body, it can’t be in the brain.”
- Bev Boss
Quotable
“Students who are loved at home come to school to learn, and students who aren’t, come to school to be loved.”
- Nicholas A. Ferroni
Figure \(1\): Whole Child Flower. [8]
Theories help us to understand behaviors and recognize developmental milestones so that we can organize our thoughts and consider how to best support a child’s individual needs. With this information, we can then plan and implement learning experiences that are appropriate for the development of that child (called, “developmentally appropriate practice, which is discussed more later in this chapter), set up engaging environments, and most importantly, we can develop realistic expectations based on the child’s age and stage of development.
theory is defined as “a supposition, or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained, a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based.” [9]
The theories we chose to include in this text form the underlying “principles” that guide us in the decisions we make about the children in our care, as well as provide us with insight on how to best support children as they learn, grow, and develop. The theories that have been selected were proposed by scientists and theorists who studied human development extensively. Each, with their own unique hypothesis, set out to examine and explain development by collecting data through observations/experiments. The theorists we selected, strived to answer pertinent questions about how we develop and become who we are. Some sought to explain why we do what we do, while others studied when we should achieve certain skills. Here are a few of the questions developmental theorists have considered:
• Is development due to maturation or due to experience? This is often described as the nature versus nurture debate. Theorists who side with nature propose that development stems from innate genetics or heredity. It is believed that as soon as we are conceived, we are wired with certain dispositions and characteristics that dictate our growth and development. Theorists who side with nurture claim that it is the physical and temporal experiences or environment that shape and influence our development. It is thought that our environment -our socio-economic status, the neighborhood we grow up in, and the schools we attend, along with our parents’ values and religious upbringing impact our growth and development. Many experts feel it is no longer an “either nature OR nurture” debate but rather a matter of degree; which influences development more?
• Does one develop gradually or does one undergo specific changes during distinct time frames? This is considered the continuous or discontinuous debate. On one hand, some theorists propose that growth and development are continuous; it is a slow and gradual transition that occurs over time, much like an acorn growing into a giant oak tree. While on the other hand, there are theorists that consider growth and development to be discontinuous; which suggests that we become different organisms altogether as we transition from one stage of development to another, similar to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Pause to Reflect… Personal Growth and Development
Think about your own growth and development.
1. Do you favor one side of the nature vs nurture debate?
2. Which premise seems to make more sense – continuous or discontinuous development?
Take a moment to jot down some ideas. Your ideas help to create opportunities to deepen our understanding and to frame our important work with young children and their families.?
As suggested earlier, not only do theories help to explain key components of human development, theories also provide practitioners with valuable insight that can be utilized to support a child’s learning, growth, and development. At this time, we would like to mention that although theories are based on notable scientific discoveries, it is necessary to emphasize the following:
• No one theory exclusively explains everything about a child’s development.
• Theories are designed to help us make educated guesses about children’s development
• Each theory focuses on a different aspect of human development
• Theories often build on previous theoretical concepts and may seek to expand ideals or explore new facets.
Let’s take a look at the theories:
Figure \(2\): The Theory Tree. [10]
We are going to break it up as follows:
Table \(1\): Roots - Foundational Theories [11]
Theory Key Points Application
Maturational
Arnold Gesell
1880 - 1961
• All children move through stages as they grow and mature
• On average, most children of the same age are in the same stage
• There are stages in all areas of development (physical, cognitive, language, affective)
• You can’t rush stages
• There are “typical” ages and stages
• Understand current stage as well as what comes before and after
• Give many experiences that meet the children at their current stage of development
• When child is ready they move to the next stage
Ecological “Systems”
Urie Bronfenbrenner
1917 – 2005
• There is broad outside influence on development
• (Family, school, community, culture, friends ….)
• There “environmental” influences impact development significantly
• Be aware of all systems that affect child
• Learning environment have impact on the developing child
• Home, school, community are important
• Supporting families supports children
This content was created by Sharon Eyrich. It is used with permission and should not be altered.
Table \(2\): Branches – Topical Theories [12]
Theory Key Points Application
Psycho-Analytic
Sigmund Freud
1856 – 1939
• Father of Psychology
• Medical doctor trying to heal illness
• We have an unconscious
• Early experiences guide later behavior
• Young children seek pleasure (id)
• Ego is visible; when wounded can get defensive
• Early stages of development are critical to healthy development
• Understand unconscious motivations
• Create happy and healthy early experiences for later life behaviors
• Know children are all about “ME”
• Expect ego defenses
• Keep small items out of toddlers reach
• Treat toileting lightly
Psycho-Social
Erik Erikson
1902 – 1994
• Relationships are crucial and form the social context of personality
• Early experiences shape our later relationships and sense of self
• Trust, autonomy, initiative – are the early stages of development
• Humans like to feel competent and valued
• Provide basic trust (follow through on promises, provide stability and consistency, …)
• Create a sense of “belongingness”
• Support autonomy and exploration
• Help children feel confident
• Encourage trying things and taking safe risks
• See mistakes as learning opportunities
Humanistic
Abraham Maslow
1908-1970
• We have basic and growth needs
• Basic needs must be met first
• We move up the pyramid toward self-actualization
• Make sure basic needs like nutrition, sleep, safety is taken care of
• Understand movement between needs
• Know needs may be individual or as a group
Ethology/Attachment
John Bowlby
1907-1990
Mary Ainsworth
1913 - 1999
• Biological basis for development
• Serve evolutionary function for humankind
• There are sensitive periods
• Attachment is crucial for survival
• Dominance hierarchies can serve survival function
• Understand evolutionary functions
• Offer positive and appropriate opportunities doing sensitive periods
• Facilitate healthy attachments
This content was created by Sharon Eyrich. It is used with permission and should not be altered.
Table \(3\): Branches – Cognitive Theories [13]
Theory
Key Points
Application
Constructivist
Jean Piaget
1896 – 1980
• We construct knowledge from within
• Active learning and exploration
• Brains organize and adapt
• Need time and repetition
• Distinct stages (not mini-adults)
• Sensory-motor, pre-operational
• Provide exploration and active learning
• Ask open ended questions/promote thinking
• Repeat often
• Don’t rush
• Allow large blocks of time
• Value each unique stage
• Provide sensory and motor experiences
• Provide problem solving experience
Socio-cultural
Lev Vygotsky
1896 – 1934
• Learning occurs within a social context
• Scaffolding – providing appropriate support to increase learning
• “Zone of proximal development” = “readiness to learn” something
• Provide appropriate adult-child interactions
• Encourage peer interactions
• Provide a little help, then step back
• Understand when a child is ready; don’t push them or do it for them
Information Processing
(Computational Theory)
1970 -
• Brain is like a computer
• Input, process, store, retrieve
• Early experiences create learning pathways
• Cortisol – stress hormone shuts down thinking
• Endorphins – “happy” hormone, increases learning
• Develop healthy brains (nutrition, sleep, exercise)
• Decrease stress, increase happiness
• Know sensory input (visual, auditory ….)
• Understand individual differences
• Allow time to process
Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner
1943 -
• Once information enters the brain, each brain processes information differently
• Provide learning experiences to meet a wide range of learning styles
• Help learners learn how they learn best
• Offer many experiences in a variety of ways
This content was created by Sharon Eyrich. It is used with permission and should not be altered.
Table \(4\): Branches – Behaviorist Theories
Theory
Key Points
Application
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
1849 - 1936
• We respond automatically to some stimuli
• When we pair a neutral stimulus with the one that elicits a response we can train the subject to respond to it
• Over time we can “un-pair” stimulus and response
• Be aware of conditioning
• Pair stimuli to elicit desired responses
• Look for pairings in undesirable behaviors
Operant Conditioning
B. F. Skinner
1904 – 1990
• Behavior is related to consequences
• Reinforcement/Rewards/Punishment
• Goals of behavior (motivators)
• Understand what is motivating behavior
• Reinforce behavior we want
• Don’t reinforce behavior we don’t want
• Consider small increments
Social Learning
Albert Bandura
1925 -
• Children (and adults) learn through observation
• Children (and adults) model what they see
• Know what children are watching
• Model what you want children to do
This content was created by Sharon Eyrich. It is used with permission and should not be altered. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/02%3A_Developmental_and_Learning_Theories/2.01%3A_NAEYC_Standards.txt |
Brain Functioning
In the 21 st century, we have medical technology that has enabled us to discover more about how the brain functions. “Neuroscience research has developed sophisticated technologies, such as ultrasound; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); positron emission tomography (PET); and effective, non-invasive ways to study brain chemistry (such as the steroid hormone cortisol).” [14] These technologies have made it possible to investigate what is happening in the brain, both how it is wired and how the chemicals in our brain affect our functioning. Here are some important aspects, from this research, for us to consider in working with children and families:
Rushton (2011) provides these four principles that help us to connect the dots to classroom practice:
Principle #1 : “Every brain is uniquely organized” When setting up our environments, it is important to use this lens so we can provide varied materials, activities, and interactions that are responsive to each individual child. (We expand on this in Chapter 5 – Developmental Ages and Stages/Guidance).
Principle #2 : “The brain is continually growing, changing, and adapting to the environment.”
• The brain operates on a “lose it or use it” principle. Why is this important? We know that we are born with about 100 billion brain cells and 50 trillion connections among them. We know that we need to use our brain to grow those cells and connections or they will wither away. Once they are gone, it is impossible to get them back.
• Children who are not properly nourished, both with nutrition and stimulation suffer from deterioration of brain cells and the connections needed to grow a healthy brain.
• Early experiences help to shape the brain. Attunement (which is a bringing into harmony,) with a child, creates that opportunity to make connections.
Principle #3 : “A brain-compatible classroom enables connection of learning to positive emotions.”
• Give children reasonable choices.
• Allow children to make decisions. (yellow shovel or blue shovel, jacket on or off, etc.)
• Allow children the full experience of the decisions they make. Mistakes are learning opportunities. (F.A.I.L. – First attempt in learning). Trying to do things multiple times and in multiple ways provides children with a healthy self-image.
Principle #4 : “Children’s brains need to be immersed in real life, hands-on, and meaningful learning experiences that are intertwined with a commonality and require some form of problem-solving.”
• Facilitate exploration in children’s individual and collective interests.
• Give children the respect to listen and engage regarding their findings.
• Give children time to explore.
• Give children the opportunity to make multiple hypotheses about what they are discovering.
Developmentally Appropriate Practices
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), one of the professional organizations in the field of early childhood education, has a position statement from 2009 (note they are currently revising this position statement and are looking for feedback from the field, if you are interested in advocacy for young children, you may want to take the opportunity to review it and give feedback: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap .) There are three important aspects of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP): [15]
1. What is known about child development and learning – referring to knowledge of age-related characteristics that permits general predictions about what experiences are likely to best promote children’s learning and development.
2. What is known about each child as an individual – referring to what practitioners learn about each child that has implications for how best to adapt and be responsive to that individual variation.
3. What is known about the social and cultural contexts in which children live – referring to the values, expectations, and behavioral and linguistic conventions that shape children’s lives at home and in their communities that practitioners must strive to understand in order to ensure that learning experiences in the program or school are meaningful, relevant, and respectful for each child and family.
What does this mean?
Utilizing the core components of DAP is important as practitioners of early learning. Here are some things to consider:
• Knowledge about child development and learning helps up to make predictions about what children of a particular age group are like typically. This helps us to make decisions with some confidence about how we set up the environment, what learning materials we use in our classrooms, and what are the kinds of interactions and activities that will support the children in our class. In addition, this knowledge tells us that groups of children and the individual children within that group will be the same in some ways and different in other ways.
• To be an effective early childhood professional, we must use a variety of methods – such as observation, clinical interviews, examination of children’s work, individual child assessments, and talking with families so we get to know each individual child in the group well. When we have compiled the information we need to support each child, we can make plans and adjustments to promote each child’s individual development and learning as fully as possible.
• Each child grows up in a family and in a broader social and cultural community. This provides our understanding of what our group considers appropriate, values, expects, admires, etc. (think Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory and Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory). These understandings help us to absorb “rules” about behaviors – how do I show respect in my culture, how do I interact with people I know well and I have just met (as a teacher you will be in the just met category for a while), how do I regard time and personal space, how should I dress, etc. When young children are in a group setting outside their home, what makes the most sense to them, how they use language to interact, and how they experience this new world depend on the social and cultural contexts to which they are accustomed. Skilled teachers consider such contextual factors along with the children’s ages and their individual differences, in shaping all aspects of the learning environments. (More content will be in Chapters 4, 5, and 6 that will help you to deeply understand DAP)
To summarize how to make use of DAP, an effective teacher begins by thinking about what children of that chronological and developmental age are like. This knowledge provides a general idea of the activities, routines, interactions, and curriculum that will be effective with that group of children. The teacher must also consider how each child is an individual within the context of family, community, culture, linguistic norms, social group, past experience, and current circumstances. Once the teacher can fully see children as they are, they are able to make decisions that are developmentally and culturally appropriate for each of the children in their care.
Identity Formation
Who we are is a very important aspect of our well-being. As children grow and develop, their identity is shaped by who they are when they arrive on this planet and the adults and peers whom they interact with throughout their lifespan. Many theories give us supportive evidence that helps us to see that our self-concept is critical to the social and emotional health of human beings. (ex. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory, John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, etc.) As early childhood professionals, we are called upon to positively support the social/emotional development of the children and the families that we serve. We do this by:
• Honoring each unique child and the family they are a part of.
• Acknowledging their emotions with attunement and support.
• Listening to hear not to respond.
• Providing an emotionally safe space in our early childhood environments.
• Recognizing that all emotions are important and allowing children the freedom to express their emotions while providing them the necessary containment of safety.
Our social-emotional life or our self-concept has many aspects to it. We are complex beings and we have several identities that early childhood professionals need to be aware of when interacting with the children and families in their early childhood environments. Our identities include but are not limited to the following categories:
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Race
• Economic Class
• Sexual Identity
• Religion
• Language
• (Dis)abilities
• Age
Understanding our own identities and that we are all unique, helps us to build meaningful relationships with children and families that enable us to have understanding and compassion. Being aware (using reflective practice) that all humans are diverse and our environments, both emotionally and physically, need to affirm all who come to our environments to learn and grow.
While we begin to form our identities from the moment we are conceived, identity formation is not stagnant. It is a dynamic process that develops throughout the life span. Hence, it is our ethical responsibility as early childhood professionals to create supportive language, environments, and inclusive practices that will affirm all who are a part of our early learning programs.
While we delve more into guiding the behavior of young children in Chapter 5, there is evidence that when children feel supported and accepted by adults for who they are, this helps to wire and equip the brain for self-regulation. As we model regulation behavior (this is often identified as co-regulation behavior) which includes acceptance, compassion, belonging, and empathy, we are helping children to develop the regulation skills needed to get along and live in a diverse society.
Pause to Reflect… Gender Stereotypes
In American society, we have established and readily accept gender stereotypes. We have many biases about how boys and girls should look and behave. If you have grown up in America, you may be familiar with some of the following gender stereotypes:
• Only girls cry.
• Boys are stronger than girls.
• Boys are active and girls are passive.
• It’s ok for boys to be physically and emotionally aggressive after all they are just being boys.
What other gender stereotypes have you heard?
These stereotypes are so ingrained in us that we are often unconscious of how we perpetuate them. For example, we may compliment girls on their clothing and boys on their strength. We are called to look at our stereotypes/biases and find ways to counteract them when we are faced with the variety of ways in which boys and girls behave in our early childhood classrooms. How can we do that? We do that by engaging in dialogue with others to challenge our stereotypes and change our practices to create more inclusive and supportive environments.
Note- This is an example of only one of the identity categories that is mentioned above. Think about what other stereotypes you have about the other categories of identity listed above. What can you do to challenge your assumptions/biases to help you in becoming an early childhood professional who engages in inclusive and supportive practices?
Attachment
Attachment is the tendency of human infants and animals to become emotionally close to certain individuals and to be calm and soothed while in their presence. Human infants develop strong emotional bonds with a caregiver, particularly a parent, and attachment to their caregivers is a step toward establishing a feeling of security in the world. When fearful or anxious the infant is comforted by contact with their object. For humans, attachment also involves and affects the tendency in adulthood to seek emotionally supportive relationships.” [16]
As noted in Attachment Theory, co-created by Bowlby and Ainsworth, it is clear to us that attachment is a critical component of healthy development. Our brains are wired for attachment. Many of you may have witnessed a newborn baby as they interact with their parents/caregivers. Their very survival hinges on the attachment bonds that develop as they grow and develop. Children who are not given the proper support for attachment to occur may develop reactive attachment disorder. Reactive attachment disorder is a rare but serious condition in which an infant or young child does not establish healthy attachments with parents or caregivers. Reactive attachment disorder may develop if the child’s basic needs for comfort, affection, and nurturing are not met and loving, caring, stable attachments with others are not established. [17]
Why is this important for early childhood practitioners to know? The role of an early childhood professional is one of caregiving. While you are not the parent, nor a substitute for the parent, you do provide care for children in the absence of their parent. Families bring their children to early childhood centers for a whole host of reasons, but one thing that they share is that they trust their child’s caregivers to meet the need of their child is a loving and supportive way.
Healthy attachments begin with a bond with the child’s primary caregivers (usually their family) and then extend to others who provide care for their child. How we as early childhood professionals care and support children, either adds or detracts from their healthy attachment. Our primary role is to ensure that the needs of children are met with love and support.
It is also possible that children may enter our early childhood environment with unhealthy attachment or could possibly have reactive attachment disorder. In this case, it is our ethical and moral responsibility to meet with the family (in Chapter 8 – Partnering with Families more context and content will be given to support this statement) and to provide them with resources and support that could they could use to help their children to have better outcomes. As the course of study of an early childhood professional, affords them with knowledge and understanding of how children grow and develop, families do not often have this foundational knowledge. It is our duty to develop a reciprocal relationship with families that is respectful and compassionate. When we offer them support, we do so without judgment.
The Value of Play in Childhood
There has been much research done in recent years about the importance of play for young children. During the last 20 years, we have seen a decline in valuable play practices for children from birth to age 8. This decline has been shown to be detrimental to the healthy development of young children as play is the vehicle in which they learn about and discover the world.
Quotable
“Play is a legitimate right of childhood, representing a crucial aspect of children’s physical, intellectual, and social development.” [18]
The true sense of play is that it is spontaneous, rewarding and fun. It has numerous benefits for young children as well as throughout the lifespan.
• It helps children build foundational skills for learning to read, write and do math.
• It helps children learn to navigate their social world. How to socialize with peers, how to understand others, how to communicate and negotiate with others, and how to identify who they are and what they like.
• It encourages children to learn, to imagine, to categorize, to be curious, to solve problems, and to love learning.
• It gives children opportunities to express what is troubling them about their daily life, including the stresses that exist within their home and other stresses that arise for them outside of the home.
If you remember from the history chapter (Chapter 1), Fredrich Froebel introduced the concept of Kindergarten which literally means “child’s garden.” If you recall, the focus of the kindergarten that Froebel envisioned, focused on the whole child rather than specific subjects. The primary idea is that children should first develop social, emotional, motor, and cognitive skills in order to transform that learning to be ready for the demands on primary school (Chapter 6 – Early Childhood Programming will provide more detail about this). Play is the primary way in which children learn and grow in the early years.
A teacher who understands the importance and value of play organizes the early childhood environment with meaningful activities and learning opportunities (aka Curriculum) to support the children in their classroom. This means that the collective and individuality of the children are taken into consideration as well as their social and cultural contexts (DAP).
Here are some things to consider in thinking about play:
• Play is relatively free of rules and is child-directed.
• Play is carried out as if it is real life. (As it is real life for the child)
• Play focusing on being rather than doing or the end result. (It is a process, not a product)
• Play requires the interaction and involvement of the children and the support, either direct or indirect, of the early childhood professional.
Throughout the early years of development (0 -8), young children engage in many different forms of play. Those forms of play include but are not limited to: [19]
• Symbolic Play – play which provides children with opportunities to make sense of the things that they see (for example, using a piece of wood to symbolize a person or an object)
• Rough and Tumble Play – this is more about contact and less about fighting, it is about touching, tickling, gauging relative strength, discovering flexibility and the exhilaration of display, it releases energy and it allows children to participate in physical contact without resulting in someone getting hurt
• Socio-Dramatic Play – playing house, going to the store, being a mother, father, etc., it is the enactment of the roles in which they see around them and their interpretation of those roles, it’s an opportunity for adults to witness how children internalize their experiences
• Social Play – this is play in which the rules and criteria for social engagement and interaction can be revealed, explored, and amended
• Creative Play – play which allows new responses, transformation of information awareness of new connections with an element of surprise, allows children to use and try out their imagination
• Communication Play – using words, gestures, charades, jokes, play-acting, singing, whispering, exploring the various ways in which we communicate as humans
• Locomotor Play – movement in any or every direction (for example, chase, tag, hide and seek, tree climbing)
• Deep Play – it allows children to encounter risky or even potentially life-threatening experiences, to develop survival skills, and conquer fear (for example, balancing on a high beam, roller skating, high jump, riding a bike)
• Fantasy Play – the type of play allows the child to let their imagination run wild, to arrange the world in the child’s way, a way that is unlikely to occur (for example, play at being a pilot and flying around the world), pretending to be various characters/people, be wherever and whatever they want to be and do
• Object Play – use of hand-eye manipulations and movements
Communicating with families about the power and importance of play is necessary but can be tricky. In an article entitled, “10 Things Every Parent Should Know About Play” by Laurel Bongiorno published by NAEYC (found on naeyc.org), this is what she states: [20]
1. Children learn through play
2. Play is healthy
3. Play reduces stress
4. Play is more than meets the eye
5. Make time for play
6. Play and learning go hand-in-hand
7. Play outside
8. There’s a lot to learn about play
9. Trust your own playful instincts
10. Play is a child’s context for learning
As you continue your studies in early childhood education, you will begin to form and inform your own ideas about the value of play as you review the literature and research that has been compiled on this subject.
Trauma Informed Care [21]
Over the last few decades, we have seen an increase in childhood trauma. Many types of trauma have a lasting effect on children as they grow and develop. When we think of trauma, we may think of things that are severe; however, we know that trauma comes in small doses that are repeated over time.
There has been much research done to help identify what these adverse childhood experiences are. The compilation of research has identified some traumatic events that occur in childhood (0 – 17 years) that have an impact on children’s well-being that can last into adulthood if not given the proper support to help to mitigate this trauma. Here is a list of some of the traumatic events that may impact children’s mental and physical well-being: [22]
• Experiencing violence or abuse
• Witnessing violence in the home or community
• Having a family member attempt or die by suicide
Also including are aspects of the child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety, stability, and bonding such as growing up in a household with:
• Substance misuse
• Mental health problems
• Emotional abuse or neglect
• Instability due to parental separation or household members being in jail or prison
Pause to Reflect… COVID-19 Trauma
How may COVID-10, with the disruptions, isolations, and uncertainty contribute to trauma in early childhood?
These adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness and substance abuse in adulthood, and a negative impact on educational and job opportunities.
Here are some astounding facts about ACEs:
• ACE’s are common. About 61% of adults surveyed across 25 states reported that they had experienced at least one type of ACE, and nearly 1 in 6 reported they had experienced four or more types of ACEs.
• Preventing ACEs could potentially reduce a large number of health conditions. For example, up to 1.9 million cases of heart disease and 21 million cases of depression could have been potentially avoided by preventing ACEs.
• Some children are at greater risk than others. Women and several racial/ethnic minority groups were at greater risk for having experienced 4 or more types of ACEs.
• ACEs are costly. The economic and social costs to families, communities, and society total hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
Trauma Informed Care is an organizational structure and treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma. Trauma Informed Care also emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety for both consumers and providers, and helps survivors rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.
What can we do in our early childhood programs? We can help to ensure a strong start for children by:
• Creating an early learning program that supports family engagement.
• Make sure we are providing a high-quality child care experience.
• Support the social-emotional development of all children.
• Provide parenting workshops that help to promote the skills of parents.
• Use home visitation as a way to engage and support children and their families.
• Reflect on our own practices that could be unintentionally harmful to children who have experienced trauma.
What can we do in our community? As early childhood professionals, our ethical responsibilities extend to our community as well (NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct, May, 2011):
• Be a part of changing how people think about the causes of ACEs and who could help prevent them.
• Shift the focus from individual responsibility to community solutions.
• Reduce stigma around seeking help with parenting challenges or for substance misuse, depression, or suicidal thoughts.
• Promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments where children live, learn, and play
2.07: In Closing
This chapter explored the developmental and learning theories that guide our practices with young children. This included a look at some of the classic theories that have stood the test of time, as well as, the current developmental topics to give us opportunities to think about what we can do to create the most supportive learning environment for children and their families. Learning is a complex process that involves the whole child – physically, cognitively, and affectively.
As we build upon the previous knowledge of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, Chapter 3 will provide information on the importance of observation and assessment of children in early learning environments. Hopefully, you will note that, while this course looks at the foundational knowledge and skills you need to be an effective early childhood professional, what you are learning is deeply interwoven and connected.
Pause to Reflect… Theory Takeaway
What was the most important information that you learned from this chapter on theory and key developmental topics? Why was it most important to you and how do you plan to incorporate that information in your practices with young children and their families? When we think about what we are learning metacognitively (thinking about thinking), it helps us to make sense of that knowledge and reflect on how it pertains to us. This is a practice that will suit you well in your journey as an early childhood professional. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/02%3A_Developmental_and_Learning_Theories/2.06%3A_Current_Developmental_Topics_to_Inform_Our_Practice_with_Children_and_F.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Examine effective relationships and interactions between early childhood professionals, children, families, and colleagues, including the importance of collaboration.
• Identify professional pathways in early childhood education, including career options and professional preparation.
03: The Early Childhood Teaching Profession
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation addressed in this chapter:
1. Promoting Child Development and Learning
2. Building Family and Community Relationships
3. Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support Young Children and Families
4. Using Developmentally Effective Approaches to Connect with Children and Families
5. Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum
6. Becoming a professional
3.02: California Early Childhood Educator Competencies
California Early Childhood Educator Competencies
Child Development and Learning
Culture, Diversity, and Equity
Family and Community Engagement
Learning Environments and Curriculum
Professionalism
Relationships, Interaction, and Guidance
3.03: NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children
Ideals: 1.1 – 1.12
Principles 1.1 – 1.11
Section II: Ethical Responsibilities to Families
Ideals: 2.1 – 2.9
Principles: 2.1 – 2.15
Section III: Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues (it is broken into two specific responsibilities)
A – Responsibilities to coworkers
Ideals: 3A.1 – 3A.4
Principles: 3A.1 – 3A.4
B – Responsibilities to employers
Ideals: 3B.1 – I – 3B.2
Principles: 3B.1 – P – 3B.5
Section IV: Ethical Responsibility to Community and Society (we have both an individual and a collective responsibility)
Ideals: 4.1 – 4.8
Principles: 4.1 – 4.13
3.04: Preview
Pause to Reflect
What questions do you have about working with young children?
In this chapter, we will cover information about the “nuts and bolts” of working with young children that may answer some of your initial questions (and maybe spark more). In the first draft of this chapter, we invited a new teacher to write with us. What better way to get to know your roles and responsibilities than from someone who is just beginning their own journey? For this edition, we have incorporated portions of her work in this chapter, along with thoughts from other new teachers, and since the questions you reflected upon in the opening exercise probably began with one of the words in the diagram below, we will take that approach to the chapter.
Figure \(1\): Questions to explore as you learn about the profession.
3.05: Why
Simon Sinek encourages us to start with “why”. His Ted Talk (Start with Why)[23] highlights the importance of beginning with this understanding, to help everything else fall into place. So let us start there.
Pause to Reflect
WHY do you want to work with young children?
The way that you answered will have much to do with how you move forward. It will help you define your core beliefs about working with young children, the type of program you will feel comfortable in; how you will approach your career and the tasks you will prefer doing. Revisit your “why” often and use it wisely to guide you.
New Teacher Comment
“The first time I watched Simon Sinek I was blown away!
Whenever I am not sure how to proceed, I go back to my “why.”
When I went on job interviews, some places “felt” like a better place than others to work, a better “fit”. I realized that was my “why” guiding me.
I use “why” as a starting place for guiding behavior. I begin by listing all of the reasons a child might behave a certain way and plan from there.”
While you will have an individual “why”, the field of early childhood education also has a collective “why” that guides our work. Almost every profession has an organizing body that unifies its members’ voices. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), established in 1926 and always evolving, is the premier professional organization for those working with young children and families. We encourage you to visit their website naeyc.org to view the many resources available to you, including articles, books, research, conferences, and position statements. Because there are so many individual “whys”, rather than telling professionals specifically what to do in every situation, NAEYC has compiled two statements that broadly define our unified early childhood “why”.
The first is a Code of Ethical Conduct, which lays the foundation for “why” we behave as we do are provided in the NAEYC Statement of Commitment:
As an individual who works with young children, I commit myself to further the values of early childhood education as they are reflected in the ideals and principles of the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. To the best of my ability, I will:
• Never harm children.
• Ensure that programs for young children are based on current knowledge and research of child development and early childhood education.
• Respect and support families in their task of nurturing children.
• Respect colleagues in early childhood care and education and support them in maintaining the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct.
• Serve as an advocate for children, their families, and their teachers in community and society.
• Stay informed of and maintain high standards of professional conduct.
• Engage in an ongoing process of self-reflection, realizing that personal characteristics, biases, and beliefs have an impact on children and families.
• Be open to new ideas and be willing to learn from the suggestions of others.
• Continue to learn, grow, and contribute as a professional.
• Honor the ideals and principles of the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. [24]
New Teacher Comment
“I was amazed at how much I use the ethical guidelines. At least once a week I run into an issue with a child, parent, or co-worker that is not a straightforward right and wrong. This code helps me put things into perspective and handle them in a professional manner, especially as a new teacher.
When a coworker approached me with juicy gossip about another coworker, I quickly informed her that if that coworker wanted me to know she would tell me herself, no need to talk behind her back. Straight from the Code of Conduct! Boom!
I find these 2 documents blends nicely. When I am faced with planning curriculum, I can look at what is developmentally appropriate and then justify it further by considering it ethically.
Our teaching team has found that planning by using Developmentally Appropriate Practices makes for a happy, healthy classroom of children well prepared to embrace life and learning.
I whole-heartedly agree that what teachers do is the single most important factor in the classroom!”
The second set of guiding principles compiled through years of research on how young children develop and learn, lay a foundation for the general practices we use when planning, implementing, and reflecting up interactions and experiences in our programs. Again, rather than a step-by-step guide on exactly what to do in every situation, these “Developmentally Appropriate Practices” highlight the “whys” that guide what we do with young children. The content presented in this textbook is based on these principles, which include:
Practices that:
• Are appropriate to children’s age and developmental stages, attuned to them as unique individuals, and responsive to the social and cultural contexts in which they live.
• Include comprehensive, effective curriculum incorporating knowledge that all domains of development interrelate.
• Embed what is known about the interrelationships and sequences of ideas, so that children’s later abilities and understandings can be built on those already acquired.
• Know that both child-guided and teacher-guided experiences are vital to children’s development and learning.
• Understand that rather than diminishing children’s learning by reducing the time devoted to academic activities, play promotes key abilities that enable children to learn successfully.
• Hold critical that a teacher’s moment-by-moment actions and interactions with children are the most powerful determinant of learning outcomes and development. Curriculum is very important, but what the teacher does is paramount.
• Ensure that for teachers are able to provide care and education of high quality, they must be well prepared, participate in ongoing professional development, and receive sufficient support and compensation.
• Realize that children are part of families and communities and that partnerships between home and school are crucial. [25]
Pause to Reflect
How does your personal WHY fit into this collective WHY? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/03%3A_The_Early_Childhood_Teaching_Profession/3.01%3A_NAEYC_Standards.txt |
Who are the children?
The children you will work with are as diverse as the people that work with them. Many programs are divided by age groups, so that is one way to define “who”:
• Infants – from birth to about 12 months (1 year) of age
• Toddlers – from about 12 months (1 year) to 30 months (2 ½ years) of age
• Preschool – from about 2 ½ to about 5 years of age
• Pre - Kindergarten or T-Kindergarten – usually 4-5 year of age
• Kindergarten – 5 years of age
• Early Elementary (Grades 1-3) – 6-8 years of age
As you will learn in Chapter 5 (Developmental Ages and Stages), each of these ages presents very different developmental stages and teachers work with each group accordingly. Some programs focus on just one of these age groups while others may incorporate several or all of them.
Figure \(1\): These preschool-aged children all need to feel respected, valued, and loved. [26]
The children you work with can be defined in many others way, some of which you will visit in this class, as well as other early childhood courses. Each child is unique and will come to you with their own experiences, strengths, and temperaments. Some you will connect with right away, and others you will need to stretch yourself to understand. The one thing that EVERY child you work with will have in common is the need to be respected, valued and loved. They need a safe place to trust and make connections, to feel comfortable and included. One of your primary jobs as a teacher is to connect with each child and value them as individuals.
New Teacher Comments
“My team teacher and I start each new school year generally planning for the stages of the children we will have in my classroom. Then we spend the first few weeks getting to know each individual child, focusing on making connections, and then adjust our plans accordingly.
Each new year it takes me quite a bit of time to feel comfortable with the new children. They all start out as a blur and then ever so slowly they come into focus with each bringing their own pieces to the whole picture.
At the start of the school year, I make a list of the children and take a photo. Each night when I go home, I try to make a note about at least 4 different children; personality, interests, and 2 weeks later I know so much!”
Who are their families?
Often, when we choose to work with children, we do not realize that by extension that means working with families. The younger the children, the more they are connected to the people in their home, and best practices for young children include partnerships between their two most important worlds, home and school.
Figure \(2\): Children’s families and homes are important. [27]
In Chapter 8 (Partnering with Families), we visit many aspects of working with families, so here we will simply say, just as your family is important to you and taught you many things, so too it will be for the children and families you work with. We need to conceptualize that families are a child’s first teacher, and will be a strong and valuable teaching partner while their child is with us. They are entrusting us with their most prized possession and expecting that we will cherish that child as they do. A privilege indeed!
Who are the teachers?
As can be imagined, the people that are called to teaching are diverse indeed. Each brings their own set of strengths, interests, beliefs, and experiences. There is no “one right way” to teach; no magical guide you can refer to that will tell you exactly what to do in every situation. Every teacher will approach circumstances differently and this is both the joy and the trial of teaching. Your “why” will determine much of what you do. This will blend with your knowledge, experiences, and dispositional traits to guide you on your teaching journey.
Figure \(3\): A teacher in action.
With that being said, there are some skills and traits that are helpful for high quality teachers to possess. Some of them are knowledge based and you will learn them as you complete your courses and field experiences. Time and time again we hear new teachers reflect on the importance of realizing that the early childhood classes they are taking are “job training” courses that should be valued with time spent understanding and internalizing the content rather than simply trying to pass with minimal effort to complete them.
New Teacher Comment
“In looking back, I wish someone had helped me understand that these ECE classes would be important information for my career. I hate to admit it, but so much of high school and college felt like “busy work” that I did not put in the effort I should have, and now I regret the fact that I did not learn it fully when I should have. I am going back a lot more than other teachers to relearn what I should have in classes.“
This will be particularly true with experiences in the field. Most likely, at some point in your course of study, you will be expected to visit programs to observe and participate. While this can be difficult to fit into your schedule, as well as frightening to undertake, these experiences are crucial to developing your skills as a teacher. You can read and study all of the content you can, but until you actually put it into practice with real children, it cannot come to life for you. We encourage you to try as many different experiences with children as you can. Certainly, some class assignments will lend themselves to this endeavor, as will volunteer opportunities in the community. Ask your instructors or others in the field about these types of experiences. You never know what adventures await until you ask.
While your education, knowledge, and experiences will prove vital to your success as a teacher, there is another realm of traits to be considering.
Pause to Reflect
Think back to a teacher that made a positive impression in your life. What traits did that teacher possess that make them stand out to you?
Perhaps you listed some of their education or experiences, but more than likely you included some “dispositional” traits as well. Lillian Katz was one of the first to define some of the dispositions that high-quality teachers seem to possess. While some of these can be studied and developed, most occur naturally in the noted quality teachers.
High Quality Teachers
Here a list of dispositions and traits frequently noted as occurring in high quality teachers:
• Reflective
• Compassionate
• Authentic
• Supportive
• Respectful
• Encouraging
• Safe
• Trustworthy
• Positive
• Shares control
• Focuses on strengths
• High, realistic expectations
• Kind
• Patient
• Dedicated
• Knows learners
• Engages learners
• Ethical
• Growth Mindset
• Approachable
• Present [28]
Pause to Reflect
Look at the list above. What dispositional traits do you currently possess? Are there some you may not yet have, but can develop? How would you plan to develop them?
One key factor successful teachers share is the ability to continually look inward through reflection. In the yellow-green colored boxes, we have asked you to “Pause to Reflect.” Why?
The Reflective Process
Learning occurs when we take risks, when we make mistakes, when we inquire, and when we experience new things. All humans are unique and process their environment from their own unique perspective. Our perspectives are informed by the interaction of nature (genetics) and nurture (environment) and both have an impact on how we process relationships with our families, our friends, our colleagues, etc. These interactions provide us with a foundation that shapes the way we view current and future relationships. As we engage in relationships with children and their families, we use reflective practices to learn more about ourselves, including our dispositions.
As we learn more about ourselves, we have the opportunity to develop broader ways to engage in relationships with the children and families we serve. The experiences we afford children and families cannot happen without the layers of a healthy relationship. Healthy positive relationships that guide and support children are the foundation of quality teaching. Authenticity and compassion are ways of being that create supportive environments for children to flourish. The strength of a teacher’s knowledge about themselves in relation to others creates opportunities for the children and families they serve to have respectful and reciprocal relationships to ensure that the child is always considered when making the multitude of decisions that are made throughout the day.
You may ask why it is so important for me to know more about myself in relation to others. As the teacher, you are the primary force in the classroom. As the quote below indicates, you, as the teacher, hold the key to creating an environment where children and their families either can flourish or diminish. Being able to value every human comes from our deep knowledge about ourselves. This is done through reflective practice.
Quotable
“I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”
- Haim Ginott
Pause to Reflect
How does this quote resonate with you? Why?
We reflect in many ways, both informally and formally, in private and with others, during the experience and after, knowingly and unknowingly. All are valuable and we encourage you to try many different ways until you internalize the process that makes the most sense for you and moves you toward being an “instrument of inspiration”.
Go back to the list of traits above. As you look through it again, do you notice that almost all include relationships in some way? Relationships are at the core of quality teaching.
Relationships Build Connections in the Brain
How can something as intangible as a relationship affect learning and the brain? Relationships are connection, communication, consideration. The brain is very much an active participant in recording, building, and shaping relationships. Research in human brain mapping has recognized a Neuro-Relational approach that tells us:
“Experience, not simple maturation, changes the brain (neuro).” Moreover, “all learning happens in the context of relationships (relational).” [29] When a child shows distress, a caregiver who has a proven relationship with that infant (or child) through appropriate response and respect can help the child return to a sense of calm. This is shown by tracking brain patterns of distressed children who are being monitored with brain imaging machines. The child’s brain pattern also has an effect on the caregiver’s brain pattern, both regulating each other. Both the child and the caregiver’s stress response system synchronize and return to a frequency that is conducive to learning. [30]
The knowledge that healthy, positive, relationships are primary in creating an environment conducive to learning, helps us to structure the emotional environment with supportive and loving exchanges where children and families feel supported and appreciated. Science has shown us the link between body and mind. It has measured emotions and how different emotions affect brain waves and brain development.
We have learned that children, who experience stress, have brains that are wired to react rather than respond. Dr. Bruce Perry, a renowned psychiatrist, who has dedicated his career to the treatment of and research into childhood mental health, has spoken out about how early traumatic experiences shape the brain and what we can do to counteract the detrimental effects this has for life long mental health. The following are two recent quotes from his presentation at a conference:
“You can’t access the brain without relationships.”
“Lack of belonging activates the stress response. The cortex shuts down and learning can’t happen. Connections are the superhighway to the cortex.”
That, concisely, helps us to see the value of building relationships that help children and families have that sense of belonging that they deserve to thrive in our school environment.
Who are the other professionals supporting children?
Some of you may think you want to work in some way with children and families, but may not be sure that “teaching” is the right fit for you. Many experts will recommend starting as a teacher assistant or teacher, regardless of your later plans. That is because this experience will prove a valuable addition to whatever career you pursue in the field.
Keep in mind that “teaching” may look very different with different age groups. While the forming of relationships will lie at the core of all quality teaching, the interactions, roles, and duties will vary tremendously. We encourage you to spend some time with different age levels to get a feel for your best “fit”.
Whatever age group you are working with, we encourage you to give yourself some time to get comfortable before you decide it is not for you. Teachers go through stages and in the initial stage of survival, it is difficult to discern if it is the age group, the program, or just your limited experience that is feeling overwhelming and uncomfortable.
Below is a table of the stages you can expect to go through over the years on your teaching journey:
Table \(1\): Stages of Teaching Journey
Stage
Common Feelings
Common Needs
Advice from the Field
Survival
Fear, inadequacy, doubt, overwhelmed, exhaustion
Support, practical information and advice, understanding, a mentor or coach, resources
Hang in there
We’ve all been there
It gets easier
Mistakes are learning opportunities…learn a lot
Clarity
Clearer understanding, noticing individual children and needs, a little less fear, moments of adequacy
Continued support, continued resources, a mentor or coach, encouragement to try new things,
You got this
We believe in you
Keep on trying
Focus on what you like to do
Enjoy the children
Growth
Knowledgeable, comfortable, take new risks, reflective
Support, encouragement to do things your way, reflection, team teaching
Way to go
Keep growing
Know your strengths
Try new things
Step outside your comfort zone
Mastery
Accomplished, proud, invigorated, seeking new challenges,
Branching out, mentoring or coaching others, taking on new roles and responsibilities, community connections, professional organizations
Time to support others
Share your strengths
Be a role model
Consider advocacy
Join the profession
Keep in mind that each time you begin a new endeavor (ie: teaching at a new location, new age group, new role) you will move back to survival and through the stages, although the timing may be shorter. Knowing this allows you to give yourself permission to feel the way you need to feel and seek the support you need throughout your career.
Who will be with me?
One of the wonderful aspects of our field is that you are rarely alone. In addition to the children and families, you will have colleagues who can support your journey. You may find yourself working with any or all of the following:
Table \(2\): Who Teachers May Work With
Role
Description
Director/Manager/ Principal
Usually runs the day to day operations, oversees teaching staff, involved in hiring, provides resources and support, budgeting.
Office Staff
Keep records, handle paperwork, phone calls, administrative support.
Team Teacher / Assistant/Aide
Additional person you will collaborate with in your classroom. It’s common practice to provide support for each other, offer a variety of role models for children and families, offer different strengths.
Specialists
Sometimes a specialist works in the classroom with individual children or the group. Usually providing specialized services in Occupational Therapy (OT) (life skills), Physical Therapy (PT), Speech and Language, or Behavioral intervention they may be part of the teaching team all day or for brief segments throughout the week.
Other Staff Members
From time to time, you may work with custodians, food service providers, health specialists, and others performing duties related to the classroom.
Volunteers
Family or other community members working in a variety of capacities as part of the teaching team.
College Students
From time to time college students may work in the classroom as part of their training.
In addition to the above list, we encourage you to find a mentor or coach, someone you can turn to with questions or when you need support. In the field of early childhood, many of us “pay it forward”. Someone provided support for us when we were new to the field with the understanding that we would do the same when our time came. Most early childhood teachers are kind, caring professionals who want to see you succeed. Each time you succeed, our field succeeds and the children and families we work with receive the quality experiences they deserve. Ask your instructor or another resource if they know of any formal or informal mentor programs in your area.
New Teacher Comments
Letter from a Fieldwork Student
My experience is limited. I want to learn. Please don’t expect perfection whenever I interact, guide behavior, lead a lesson, or do bulletin boards. Please be patient with me.
My eyes have not yet been trained to see all the students in the classroom most of the time.
Classroom responsibilities will always be there. I’m only with you for a short time. Please take time to explain things to me and do so willingly.
My feelings are real. Please be sensitive to my needs and don’t get annoyed if I ask a lot of questions and am uncertain about what to do sometimes. Treat me as you would like to be treated.
I am a unique individual, like each one of your students. Please treasure my being, holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to follow, and disciplining me in a professional manner, if need be.
I need your support and encouragement to grow. Pointing out what I am doing correctly and occasional praise can be reassuring and help me feel comfortable to take risks and grow.
Please give me constructive feedback, focused on the things I do, without criticizing me.
Please give me the freedom to make decisions and test them out as long as they don’t jeopardize the well-being and safety of the students. If I fail, I can learn from my mistakes. Then I’ll be better prepared to make decisions life requires of me.
Please invite me to appropriate faculty meetings, seminars, workshops, parent meetings and to join educational organizations, setting a good example for me to follow. I may not be able to attend but I will appreciate your confidence in me as a future fellow professional.
Sincerely,
A New Fieldwork Student [31]
If you want to work with children and families, but are not sure teaching is for you, there are many other career options you are encouraged to explore.
Career options in Early Childhood Education and Child Development
Area
Careers
Child Development Focus
• Teacher Aide
• Assistant Teacher*
• Associate Teacher*
• Teacher*
• Master Teacher*
• Site Supervisor*
• Program/Center Director*
• Early Childhood Special Education Teacher**
• Curriculum Coordinator**
• Infant Specialist
• School Age Specialist
• Owner/Operator of an Early Childhood Program
• Licensed Family Child Care Provider
Elementary Settings
• Instructional Aide
• Credentialed Teacher**
• Transitional Kindergarten Teacher**
• Early Childhood Special Education Teacher**
• Afterschool Program Staff
• Afterschool Program Coordinator
Adult Education and Training
• Child Development Trainer**
• Community College Instructor**
• Infant/Toddler Certified Trainer**
• Parent Educator**
• Vocational Educational Instructor**
Community and Social Services
• Parks and Recreation Aide
• Parks and Recreation Program Supervisor
• School age Enrichment Program Staff/Leader
• Child Life Specialist**
• Community Care Licensing Analyst
• Family Services Advocate
• Resource and Referral Specialist
• Early Intervention Specialist**
• Home Visitor
• Project/Program Administrator in Child Related Agencies**
• Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist**
• City/County Child Care Coordinator**
Other Related Work Options
• Child Development Researcher**
• Child Care and Development Consultant
• Playground Designer
• Sales/Marketing for Early Education Materials
• Child and Family Public Policy Specialist
• Pediatric Nurse**
• Pediatrician**
• Family Therapist**
*Refers to the levels on the Child Development Permit Matrix
**These positions usually require a bachelor’s degree and additional training | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/03%3A_The_Early_Childhood_Teaching_Profession/3.06%3A_Who.txt |
What does that mean?
Like most fields, early childhood has terminology that it is helpful to know. Here is a “starter” list to get you started:
• ECE (Early Childhood Education) and CD (Child Development): often used interchangeably to reflect the science and study of how young children develop and learn.
• Chronological: actual age of a child (or adult) based on their date of birth.
• Program, Site, Center, School: all terms used to reflect early childhood educational locations.
• Pre-K (Pre-Kindergarten and T-K (Transitional-Kindergarten): programs for children the year before they begin kindergarten.
• Teacher: a person who facilitates learning. Sometimes used as a specific label based on educational criteria and other times used more broadly to include all people in a child’s life who facilitate that child’s development and learning.
• Reflection: a growth mindset focusing on divergent thinking and analysis.
• Divergent thinking; brainstorming or broadly thinking of many solutions
• Convergent thinking: narrowing thoughts to one answer
• Whole Child: looking at all aspects of a child (physical, cognitive, emotional and social)
• Domains of development: a way of labeling the various aspects of a “whole child” (defined further in Chapter 5)
• Observation: the primary means of understanding the children we work with to plan appropriate interactions and experiences (defined further in Chapter 4)
• (DAP) Developmentally Appropriate Practices
New Teacher Comment
“I was so confused at first by all of the terms and the use of letters (acronyms) in my classes and at work. At first, I didn’t ask because I thought I should know them all but this just made me less effective. When I finally got over myself and adopted this phrase “I should probably know, but what exactly does that mean?” I was amazed at how helpful people were at explaining. I started a list (part of which is shared above) and pretty soon I was the one sharing what terms meant with other people. This was particularly helpful for me to remember when talking with parents; they don’t know either and can be very intimidated (like I was) to ask.”
What responsibilities will I have?
Preschool teachers play a central role in ensuring the preschool program is of high quality. They bring a wide range of skills and qualities to the job of guiding young children’s learning and development. Since one of them is constantly reflecting, we thought it might be helpful for you to see the basic teacher responsibilities through the lens of a teacher evaluation. Evaluations are a formal way that teachers can assess their strengths and areas for continued growth. The way teachers are evaluated will vary tremendously, but in some way, teachers should be engaging in ongoing reflection on the following core classroom responsibilities.
COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS ECE PRACTICUM
FINAL REFLECTION & FEEDBACK [32]
RATING SCALE
(Please enter a score of 1-5 in each box below to reflect the following):
When calculating scores please consider both effort (process) and outcome (product)
1 2 3 4 5
Need more effort or experience Adequate Mastery
Personal Attributes Student Teacher
• Attendance
• Arrives promptly and does not leave early
• Dresses appropriately
• Appears eager to learn
• Maintains ethical code of conduct
• Learns classroom routine
• Has a positive attitude
• Uses appropriate language in speaking and writing
• Shows initiative
• Completes work on time
• Balances observation and participation appropriately
• Works as part of teaching team
• Reflects on and evaluates own behavior and actions
• Responds appropriately to feedback and suggestions
• Demonstrates respect for all
• Is aware of self as role model
• Takes safe risks and learns from mistakes
Relationships with Children Student Teacher
Appears comfortable around children
• Learns and uses children’s names
• Treats children with kindness and respect
• Listens carefully to what children say
• Responds with interest, concern, and care
• Uses nonverbal communication effectively (body language, facial expressions, down to their level,…)
• Uses verbal communication effectively (voice, volume, tone, open-ended, multiple bounces,…)
• Interacts positively with individual children
• Interacts positively with small groups of children
• Interacts positively with large group of children
• Adapts to children’s individual needs and styles
• Understands developmentally appropriate practices
• Is informed by observations of child
• Encourages development of the “whole child”
• Supports peer interactions
• Fosters problem solving
• Is alert to total classroom dynamics
• Shows patience and understanding with conflict
• Uses a variety of appropriate guidance strategies
• Overall appears to enjoy time with children
Relationships with Adults Student Teacher
• Appears comfortable around adults
• Learns and uses adult’s name
• Treats adults with kindness and respect
• Uses nonverbal and verbal communication appropriately and frequently
• Asks for information/support as needed
• Keeps team members informed of incidents/concerns
• Finds ways to support and be part of teaching team
• Shows respect for parents and family members of the children in the class
• Understands the important role families play in children’s lives
• Maintains confidentially and professionalism
Segments of Routine and Curriculum Student Teacher
• Arrival and greeting of children and families
• Self-care of children (handwashing, toileting, tooth brushing,…)
• Nutrition (meal planning, meal prep, feeding, clean up,…)
• Large Group Time (reading books, telling stories, singing songs, movement activities, transitions, fingerplays, chants, attention getters, group management, modifying for children’s interests in the moment, leading and extending discussions, other)
• Inside Time areas and activities (Dramatic Play, Block Play, Science & Math, fine motor, gross motor, other)
• Outside Time areas and activities
• Dismissal and farewell f children and families
Classroom Implementation Student Teacher
• Understands classroom flow and procedures
• Tries new experiences in various classroom duties
• Aware of goals of program in planning
• Understands age group, abilities, and interests
• Creates opportunities for children to make choices and learn
• Supports the theory that children learn through play
• Works effectively with teacher in planning process
• Understands planning based on children’s interests and development
• Shows skill in preparing written lesson plan
• Plans for children’s involvement in their own learning
• Implements activities appropriately
• Shows flexibility in adapting activities as needed
• Reflects on children’s response to activities
• Reflection indicates learning from the experience
• Documents learning effectively
• Comfortable implementing activities
Pause to Reflect
Look through the responsibilities above. Which do you think will be the easiest for you to master? The most difficult? Why?
Teaching is a process. We learn more as we practice the art of teaching. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book. “The Tipping Point,” says that in order to be an expert at something, you need to spend 10,000 hours doing it. [33] That is quite a long time! Factor in all of the informal teaching that you have done over your lifetime and you still can see that it will take some time to master the skills above and move to the “Mastery” stage of teaching.
In addition to the classroom skills mentioned above, teachers take on a variety of other roles informally that you may not think of right away. These may include:
• Nurse
• Janitor
• Researcher
• Cook
• Interior Designer
• Graphic Designer
• Counselor
• Artist
• Plumber
• Interpreter
• Reporter
• Mediator
• Student
• Performer
• Cheerleader
Pause to Reflect
Look through the additional roles above. Which makes sense for you? Which need further clarification? Can you think of others to add?
New Teacher Comment
“I am surprised each day by the many roles I play. I am glad I am open to trying new things and chipping in where needed. Quality teaching is a team effort in all regards, even if it means plunging the toilet when a child flushes a wooden block and the custodian isn’t available.”
As mentioned earlier, a key way we reflect is through on-going assessments. These are meant less of a “test of performance on evaluation day” and more of an ongoing feedback opportunity.
Assessment affords us the following:
• A key to gaining the knowledge and skills needed to continually grow and change as early childhood professionals.
• The opportunity to address specific goals and how those goals will improve your teaching.
• A feedback loop that is sometimes referred to as “appreciative inquiry.”
Part of the process of becoming an early childhood professional is having a growth mindset. That means that you are able and willing to hear the feedback from others and integrate that feedback through inquiry and reflection. You can hear that feedback in the spirit it is given – for growth.
During the beginning of your career as an early childhood professional, you may engage with a coach, who is often a part of the staff at your program that can help you to improve your knowledge and skills. One of the best ways for someone to coach you is to look at your strengths and to support you with your challenges. Judy Jablon, the author of Coaching with Powerful Interactions, shares about the importance of strength-based coaching. Here is an example of what that may look like:
You have asked your lead teacher to record you reading to a large group of children. Of course, you are nervous, but you trust your lead teacher to be honest and to provide feedback for growth. Later that day, you meet together to discuss together what you both see on the recording. After you both view the recording, your lead teacher begins the discussion:
Lead Teacher : What do you think about this after viewing the recording?
You : I could tell that I was nervous at the beginning, but once the children were engaged, a sense of calm came over me, and I felt pretty good about it.
Lead Teacher : Do you see any areas where you can grow and if so, what advice would you like from me?
You : One of the areas that I struggled with is allowing the children to freely express themselves as I was reading. I notice that you are much more comfortable with that when you read to the children. I would love to read with the ease that you do.
Lead Teacher : Thank you for noticing. Feeling the ease that you mention took a lot of time and guidance with the help of a coach during my early years of teaching. What she taught me with patience and compassion was really a gift. A gift that I am able to share with new teachers.
You : I would like to review the recording a bit more and then try it again next week. I plan to practice reading the book to see if that will give me more comfort. Thank you for being supportive and kind. I appreciate our work together.
New Teacher Comment
“I get very nervous for assessments but they end up being very helpful.
I have started doing “self-assessments” of myself a lot and it helps to be prepared when my director comes to do my formal one.
Although I feel very uncomfortable doing it, I am finding that videoing myself and watching it is the best way for me to get a true picture of my teaching.”
What is a Professional Portfolio?
If an assessment can give you a snapshot of your strengths, imagine what an entire collection can do? That is the essence of a professional portfolio. It is a compilation of all of your strengths, a “brag book” if you will. Most teachers will use a 3 ring notebook or e-portfolio to house their resume, certificates, immunizations, letters of recommendations and samples of their professional work (activity plans, photos, work samples, resources, newsletters, etc.) and professional statements about important concepts (philosophy, core beliefs, best practices, etc.) These can be from classes, work-related endeavors, community service, anywhere that highlights your skills. We encourage you to begin collecting items now and add them often.
New Teacher Comment
“I get so many compliments on my professional portfolio. I decorated it to reflect me and use it often. I brought it on interviews, set it out at Open House, and keep it in my work area to add to often.
I was so nervous in my interviews that I was glad I had my portfolio to show. I found it helped with talking points and helped me show my work better than if I had just explained it. For one interview, I was so nervous that I just walked in, said “hi” and handed them the portfolio. They were impressed and I got the job!”
New Teacher Comments – Advice as you begin your journey
• At the beginning, I felt overwhelmed. It gets better!
• Go to your site's website and learn about their philosophy and school. It helps give an understanding of why they do what they do.
• Always plan ahead and stay on top of things!
• Smile and enjoy the experience. This is what you want to do.
• Get to know the children and your coworkers as soon as you can.
• Intimidating at first, but you will feel comfortable after a while.
• Visit a few times before you start to see how they dress and do things.
• Jump in as soon as you feel comfortable and do things early.
• Feel comfortable to talk about any questions or concerns.
• Observe as much as you can. Come early and stay late if needed.
• Choose your site carefully.
• Step out of your comfort zone.
• Communication is the key!
• Be flexible
• Go back to your previous class materials; it will help a lot
• View your “mistakes” as learning opportunities and always grow from them!
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions
• Ask for feedback
• Pay it forward when you can
• Find out procedures right away (time card, belongings, lunch,…)
• Don’t expect perfection from yourself or others
• Support others and they will do the same for you
• Begin a resource file and keep adding to it
Pause to Reflect
What advice stands out for you? Why? How will you use it? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/03%3A_The_Early_Childhood_Teaching_Profession/3.07%3A_What.txt |
When are most programs open?
There are many different types of programs and the hours of operation, as well as options for attendance, vary. In general, you will find that most programs will operate some or all of the days between Monday and Friday. Typical program hours include:
• Full Day: Monday – Friday from early morning (6 or 7 am) through evening (5 to 7 pm)
• Half Day: Monday-Friday either morning or afternoon.
• Part Days: Usually 2 or 3 days Monday-Friday
• Before and after school programs for elementary school children usually follow a Full Day schedule when the children are not in school
• Most full day programs will include a rest time for children, most half days will not.
• There may be very few programs with evening or weekend options, but the traditional workweek is still the majority of when programs operate.
When will I be working?
If you define a career as one’s life work, and a job as something you do to make money during designated hours, working with children will most definitely be a career.
Inside the Classroom
As seen in the assessment earlier in this chapter, early childhood professionals take on a variety of tasks inside the classroom. During the workday, teachers will be expected to:
• Carefully plan the classroom environment.
• Plan interactions and intentional learning experiences.
• Create warm, respectful relationships with children and families.
• Know how to handle conflict with others.
• Plan a consistent, yet flexible daily routine.
• Extend children’s development and learning.
• Acknowledge and support children’s accomplishments.
• Respond, instead of reacting.
• Find meaningful ways to communicate and collaborate with families.
• Be a positive role model.
• Advocate for children and families.
• Maintain an environment that supports health, safety, and nutrition.
• Collaborate with team teachers and other colleagues
• Attend staff meetings
• Adhere to ethical practices
Outside the Classroom
There will also be a variety of tasks to perform outside of the classroom. These will include:
• Preparing materials
• Researching topics
• Collecting resources
• Attending workshops and conferences
• Joining and participating in professional organizations
• Developing relationships with community resources and advocacy
• Continuing your education
New Teacher Comments
“ I now understand the sign that sits on my directors’ desk, ‘A TEACHER’S WORK IS NEVER DONE.’”
“I’m learning that as a new teacher I am spending much of my time outside of work preparing materials for my class. My friends joke about how I now look at any item to figure out how I might use it. The other day I asked them to save their toilet paper rolls and they laughingly agreed.”
“When teachers aren’t with their classes, they are thinking about their classes.”
Pause to Reflect
Was this what you were expecting? Why or why not?
When should I become more involved than just taking classes?
Because a career in early childhood education is multifaceted, taking classes is a necessary and beneficial start. So is volunteering whenever you can to gain experience. In addition, we encourage you to jump in and get as involved as you like in the profession. Perhaps you want to join attend a workshop or conference? Perhaps you want to join an organization.
As mentioned throughout the course, the "mother ship" of early childhood professionals is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). We mention them again here as a resource for your professional growth and development. Many high quality programs and teachers adhere to their standards and are members of this organization.
While NAEYC is the primary organization for Early Childhood Professionals (naeyc.org), other organizations support our field as well. Here are a few of them:
There are many more, but this is just a taste of how rich the field is in supporting children and families and the practitioners that serve them.
We also encourage you to “look local”. Many community colleges offer clubs and organizations on campus that may feel more comfortable to start with. At College of the Canyons, you may want to look into TEACH or the Future Educators Club. Contact [email protected] to get started.
New Teacher Comments
“I am so happy I found our campus education club. I enjoy the meetings and have met so many people. I actually heard about my job through someone at a meeting who mentioned her program was hiring.
I attended my first workshop and was blown away. I learned so much and had so much fun. I’m definitely signing up for more!”
You might also consider exploring the California (CA) Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Registry: https://www.caregistry.org .The “Registry” is a web-based system designed to track and promote the employment, training, and education accomplishments of the early care and education ECE teachers and providers.
Pause to Reflect
What suggestions might you pursue to get “more involved” in the field?
3.09: Where
Where do early childhood programs take place?
In Chapter 6 (Curriculum) and Chapter 7 (Learning Environments), you will be introduced to different types of programs, which sometimes determines where they occur. For now, here is a list of the most common places for young children to develop and grow:
• The child’s home - this is often a child’s first classroom and many important skills are developed here
• Someone else’s home - often-called home daycare or family childcare, there are a variety of types of programs that are run inside caregivers' homes.
• A church, synagogue, or similar establishment - often built for their own programs that take place on the weekends, these are empty during the week and can accommodate multiple uses. Programs operating in such locations may or may not be affiliated with the establishment that owns the building.
• A school setting - either specifically designed for the age group served or modified to meet the needs of various ages.
• A park or community center – some community spaces are dedicated to serving children in a variety of ways.
• Online - synchronously (at the same time) or asynchronously (at different times independently)
New Teacher Comments
“In my practicum class, I was surprised to learn about all of the different places we could train. I thought a school setting was the only place, but there were so many wonderful options.
COVID 19 meant that our in-person program needed to be moved to an online format. Some teachers got really creative with Zoom, Google Classroom, video chats, and other technology. One of my colleagues started with show and tell where she had each child in the class take a turn sharing whatever they wanted about their home. We saw bedrooms, favorite toys and met so many pets and family members. It was a wonderful way to connect!
Interviewing different places I learned that it is not the building but what goes on inside and outside that makes the magic happen.”
Where do I go to get more involved?
The resources above in the “When” section are a great place to get started. Ask your instructor if you would like to inquire further. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/03%3A_The_Early_Childhood_Teaching_Profession/3.08%3A_When.txt |
As stated above, there are many careers related to working with children and families. Since many of you will look into teaching at some point in your early childhood career, let us take a closer look at how that might happen.
As you hone many of the interpersonal traits and dispositions needed, you will also be taking classes to complete the formal education necessary to meet program requirements. This link will take you to our department website where you are able to find more information specific to your early childhood studies here at College of the Canyons, including your needed coursework and valuable academic information.
Professional Pathways
The field of Early Childhood Education has multiple pathways for those who are interested in directly or indirectly working with children and families. This section will explore the education needed to become an early childhood professional, career options, and continuation of education and professional development.
Education
There are many entrance points along the career path in Early Childhood Education. The following pathways are to be used for those who are seeking employment in the State of California. Each state has different requirements and since this text originated in California for the students at College of the Canyons, we will speak specifically for our students and our state.
Child Development Associate Credential (CDA)
While the CDA has been around for 45 years, this is most recognized in states that do not have comprehensive higher education systems in Child Development or Early Childhood Education. Here is some key information taken directly from the CDA website:
• The CDA is based on a core set of competency standards, which guide early care professionals as they work toward becoming qualified teachers of young children.
• The Council works to ensure that the nationally transferable CDA is a credible and valid credential, recognized by the profession as a vital part of professional development.
• CDAs have knowledge of how to put the CDA Competency Standards into practice and understanding of why those standards help children move with success from one developmental stage to another. CDAs know how to nurture the emotional, physical, intellectual, and social development of children. [34]
For those who hold a CDA Credential, in California, it can be used in the following ways in California:
• Earn your California Child Development Associate Teacher Permit (see permit matrix option 2 under Associate Teacher)
• You can use them as transferable units to a higher education program of study to continue with the additional units you would need to work in a state-funded early education center
Associates Degree for Transfer (ADT) in Early Childhood Education and/or Certificates of Achievement
The California Community College System, to which College of the Canyons belongs, offers several options in the Early Childhood course of study. You can earn an associate’s degree, which requires that you complete 24 specific units of ECE along with the general education requirements of an associate’s degree. The Associate’s Degree you earn at College of the Canyons is a transfer degree, which means that with your degree, you will be accepted at a California State University and you would enter as a junior (provided that you are continuing your education in either Child Development or a related field).
You also can earn one or more of the certificates of specialization that we currently offer for our students. Currently, those certificates include specializations in:
• Preschool – this is one that you can earn along with your ADT, as it requires all of the courses that you took for your ADT.
• Infant-Toddler
• School – Age
• Special Education
• Supervision and Administration of Children’s Programs
It is helpful to make an appointment with a counselor to ensure that you are taking the right courses for general education as well as map out your course of study. It is also important that you speak with the Early Childhood Education department to gain a better understanding of the specific eight courses you need to take to earn your degree or certificate and to follow the suggestions of taking them in order.
Our course of study at College of the Canyons:
• ECE 100 Principles and Practices of Early Childhood Education (this is the class you are currently enrolled in)
• ECE 101 Child Growth and Development
• ECE 102 Child, Family, and Community
• ECE 103 Observation and Assessment
• ECE 104 Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education
• ECE 105 Health, Safety, and Nutrition in Early Childhood Education
• ECE 106 The Role of Equity and Diversity in Early Childhood Education
• ECE 200 Practicum – Field Experience
The following three courses require prior coursework that must be completed with a passing grade before enrollment (called pre-requisites):
• ECE 103 Observation and Assessment requires ECE 100
• ECE 104 Curriculum for Young Children also requires ECE 100
• ECE 200 Practicum/Field Experience requires ECE 100, 101, 102, 103, and 104
We provide this information so you can plan your schedule accordingly should you want to complete your degree in 2 years. Taking them in chronological order is the best strategy when possible, as the information and experiences build upon each other.
Bachelor’s Degree
Several institutions of Higher Education offer Bachelor’s degrees for those pursuing a career in working with children. In-state, those institutions can be California State Universities (CSU’s), University of California (UC’s), or private institutions. One of the best ways to choose an institution is to find one that meets your financial needs and the needs you have as a student to be successful.
Master’s Degree
As indicated above, the same is true for Master’s Degrees. Again, it is best to find an institution that will work best for you and your career goals.
Doctoral Degree
Fewer higher education institutions offer doctoral degrees in Child Development/Early Childhood Education. However, in the state of California, a group of higher education faculty is currently working with institutions to offer this degree. We know from this study - Transforming the Workforce 0 – 8 , that the more knowledge a practitioner has about how children grow and develop, the more prepared that practitioner is to provide high quality environments that are supportive and responsive to the needs of children and their families.
Child Development Permit
In response to the implementation of state-subsidized preschool, California developed a permit structure that details what the personnel at each level are authorized to do and the education and experience requirements for those levels. The current six‐level permit structure is based upon a career ladder approach with each level increasing in coursework preparation and commensurate authorization or responsibility. Please see the Appendix for the Permit Matrix. Most coursework is completed by candidates at community colleges. [35]
New Teacher Comments
When I started my first ECE class I thought I would get my degree, get a job, and be done. Now I know that was just the start. To be a good teacher is to be a lifelong learner.
Don’t be afraid to join organizations and go to workshops and conferences. I was petrified to go to my first one, but it was so much fun. I learned a lot that I could instantly take back to my classroom and met so many new and helpful people.
Find a more seasoned teacher or someone you feel comfortable with. You will have many questions and need a sounding board. Later, when you know more, you can ‘pay it forward’ with another new teacher.
Pause to Reflect
What will help you as you begin your journey into the world of Early Childhood Education? What advice might you have for others as they begin their own journey?
3.11: In Closing
In this chapter, we visited various aspects of the early childhood teaching profession. We focused on clarifying your “why”, who the children, families, and teachers are, what is needed to be a successful early childhood professional, when to get started, where to access information and how to become the best professional you can be.
We focused on many questions throughout this chapter. The remaining chapters will focus on “how”. In Chapter 4 (Observation and Assessment), you will discover how to meaningfully observe and assess children in order to provide quality learning experiences and environments that meet their individual and group needs.
Nikki Savage | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/03%3A_The_Early_Childhood_Teaching_Profession/3.10%3A_How.txt |
Learning Objective
• Develop observational skills that will form the foundation of working effectively with young children.
04: Observation Documentation and Assessment
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation addressed in this chapter:
Standard 3 : Observing, documenting, and assessing to support young children and families.
Standard 6 : Becoming a professional
4.02: New Page
The following competencies are addressed in this chapter:
• Child Development and Learning
• Culture, Diversity, and Equity
• Family and Community Engagement
• Health, Safety, and Nutrition
• Learning Environments and Curriculum
• Observation, Screening, Assessment, and Documentation
• Professionalism
• Relationships, Interaction, and Guidance
• Special Needs and Inclusion
4.03: New Page
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children
Ideals: – I-1.1-, I-1.2, I-1.3, I-1.6, I-1.7, I-1.10
Principles: P-1.1, P-1.2, P-1.4, P-1.5, P-6, P-1.7,
Section II: Ethical Responsibilities to Families
Ideals: I-2.1, I-2.2, I-2.3, I-2.4, I-2.5, I-2.6, I-2.7, I-2.8
Principles: P-2.4, P-2.6, P-2.7, P-2.8, P-2.12, P-2.13
Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues (Co-Workers and Employers)
Ideals: I-3A.3, I-3B.1
Section IV: Ethical Responsibilities to Community and Society
Ideals: I-4.1, I-4.2, I-4.5
4.04: New Page
As discussed in chapter 2, the field of early care and education relies on developmental and learning theories to guide our practices. Not only do theories help us to better understand a child’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs, theories help us to see each child as a unique learner and can also help us to set appropriate expectations. With the information we uncover by watching and listening to children, we can provide developmentally appropriate learning opportunities so they can thrive. In this chapter, we will examine how observation techniques are used to connect theory principles to practical applications. In other words, we will explore how teachers can incorporate observation, documentation, and assessment into their daily routines in order to effectively work with children and their families.
In the field of early care and education, the pursuit of high-quality care is a top priority. Throughout the day, preschool teachers have numerous tasks and responsibilities. In addition to providing a safe and nurturing environment, teachers must plan effective curriculum, assess development, decorate the classroom, stock the shelves with age-appropriate materials, and they must develop respectful relationships with children and their families. So you might be wondering, what does this all have to do with observation, documentation, and assessment? To effectively support a child’s development and to help them thrive, preschool teachers are expected to be accountable and intentional with every interaction and experience. Let’s take a closer look and examine how teachers utilize observation, documentation, and assessment to maintain a high-quality learning environment.
Pause to Reflect
How would you define observation? Compare your definition to the one below.
According to Gordon and Browne (2016) “Observing is more than ordinary supervision. It takes energy and concentration to become an accurate observer.” [36] It also takes time and practice to learn how to distinguish the difference between trivial details and detailed data. Once teachers master objective observation techniques and they can recognize their own biases , they are ready to conduct purposeful observations and support children’s play, learning, growth, and development. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/04%3A_Observation_Documentation_and_Assessment/4.01%3A_New_Page.txt |
Regular and systematic observations allow us to reflect on all aspects of our job as early childhood educators. To ensure high-quality practices we should observe the program environment, the interactions between the children and teachers, and each child’s development. With the information we gather from on-going observations we can:
• Improve teaching practices
• Plan curriculum
• Assess children’s development
• Partner with families
Let’s review each concept more closely to better understand why we observe.
To Improve Teaching Practices
As we watch and listen to children throughout the day, we begin to see them for who they are. With each interaction and experience, we can see how children process information and how they socialize with their peers. We can learn so much about a child if we take the time to watch, listen, and record on a daily basis. Teachers are sometimes influenced by their own ideas of how children should behave. Truth be told, everything passes through a filter that is based on the observer’s beliefs, cultural practices, and personal experiences. As observers, we must be aware that our own biases can impact our objectivity. To gain perspective and to be most effective, we must train ourselves to slow down and step back, we must try to focus on what the child is actually doing, rather than judging how they are doing it or assuming why they are doing it. To practice becoming more objective, imagine you are a camera taking snapshots of key moments. As you observe the children in your care - practice recording just the facts. [37]
To Plan Effective Curriculum
When I was a teacher some years ago, I planned activities and set up the environment based on my interests and ideas of what I thought children should be learning. Today I realize that optimal learning occurs when curriculum reflects the children’s interests. To uncover their interests, teachers need to observe each child as an individual, in addition to observing both small and large group interactions. Let’s look at the curriculum cycle to examine best practices in how to use observation to plan effective curriculum.
Figure \(1\): Reflection. [38]
Reflect
Reflective Practice is at the center of the curriculum planning cycle. Reflective practice helps us to consider our caregiving practices and to develop greater self-awareness so we can be more sensitive and responsive to the children we care for. As we look, listen, and record the conversations and interactions of each child, we are collecting valuable insight. With each observation, we are learning specific details about the children’s interests and abilities, their play patterns, social behaviors, problem-solving skills, and much, much more. With the information we gather, we can reflect on our caregiving practices and look at what we are doing well in addition to where we can improve. To ensure best practices, we can think about how we can become more responsive and how we can meet each child where they are in order to best support their individual needs. Reflective practice can be done alone or with co-workers - if you are team teaching. To create an inclusive learning environment that engages each child in meaningful ways, here are some prompts to help you begin reflecting on your practices:
• look at the space, materials, and daily schedule;
• Consider the cultural diversity of families;
• Think about whether or caregiving routines are meaningful;
• Think about how you are fostering relationships with families
• Consider if you are using a “one size fits all” approach
• Think about if your expectations for children match up with the age and stage of their development
• Reflect on how you are guiding children’s behavior
Let’s take a closer look at how the cycle works to help us plan and implement a developmentally appropriate curriculum.
Observe
To gather useful information about each child, we must first remember to use an objective lens. In other words, rather than assuming you know what a child is thinking or doing, it is important to learn the art of observing. To gather authentic evidence, we must learn how to look and listen with an open mind. We must learn to “see” each child for who they are rather than for who we want them to be or who we think they should be. Be assured, learning to be an objective observer is a skill that requires patience and practice. As you begin to incorporate observation into your daily routine, here are a few things to think about:
1. Who should I observe? Quite simply - every child needs to be observed. Some children may stand out more than others, and you may connect to certain children more than others. In either case, be aware and be mindful to set time aside to observe each child in your care.
2. When should I observe? It is highly suggested that you observe at various times throughout the day – during both morning and afternoon routines. Some key times may include during drop-off and pick-up times, during planned or teacher-directed activities, during open exploration or child-initiated activities. You may have spontaneous observations - which are special moments or interactions that unexpectedly pop up, and you may have planned observations - which are scheduled observations that are more focused around collecting evidence about a particular skill set, interaction, or behavior.
3. Where should I observe? You should observe EVERYWHERE! Because children can behave differently when they are indoors as compared to when they are outdoors, it’s important to capture them interacting in both settings.
4. What should I observe? To understand the “whole child” you need to observe their social interactions, their physical development, how they manage their emotions and feelings, how they problem-solve when tasked with new developmental skills, how they communicate with their peers and adults, and how they use materials and follow directions. In other words – EVERYTHING a child does and says! In addition to observing each child as an individual, it’s important to look at small group interactions, along with large group interactions.
5. How should I observe? To capture all the various moments, you need to know when to step in and when to step back. Sometimes we quietly watch as moments occur, and sometimes we are there to ask questions and prompt (or scaffold) children’s learning. Sometimes we can record our observations at that moment as they occur, and sometimes we have to wait to jot down what we heard or saw at a later time.
Document
As we observe, we must record what we see and hear exactly as it happens. There are several tools and techniques that can be used to document our observations. As you continue along the Early Childhood Education / Child Development pathway, you may take a class on “Observation and Assessment” which will provide you with detailed information on how to effectively document a child’s development. As for now, we will take a brief look at some of the tools and techniques you may want to use as part of your daily routine.
Figure \(2\): Documenting what you observe is an important part of the process. [39]
Tools to Use In Your Daily Routine
Running Record
To gather authentic evidence of everything you see and hear a child doing during a specific timeframe, you can use a running record. The primary goal of using a running record is to “obtain a detailed, objective account of behavior without inference, interpretations, or evaluations”. According to Bentzen, you will know you have gathered good evidence when you can close your eyes and you can “see” the images in your mind as they are described in your running record. [40]
Anecdotal Record
Whereas a running record can be used to gather general information more spontaneously, anecdotal records are brief, focused accounts of a specific event or activity. An anecdotal record is “an informal observation method often used by teachers as an aid to understanding the child’s personality or behavior.” [41] Anecdotal records, also referred to as “anecdotal notes,” are direct observations of a child that offer a window of opportunity to see into a child’s actions, interactions, and reactions to people and events. They are an excellent tool that provides you with a collection of narratives that can be used to showcase a child’s progress over time.
Developmental Checklists
To track a child’s growth development and development in all of the developmental domains including physical, cognitive, language, social, and emotional you will want to use a developmental checklist. With a checklist, you can easily see what a child can do, as well as note the areas of development that need further support. Teachers can create their own checklists based on certain skill sets, or to look at a child’s full range of development they can download a formal developmental milestone checklist from a reputable source (e.g., the CDC Developmental Milestones (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/...checklists.pdf). Checklists can be used to track a large group of children or an individual child.
Frequency Counts
To gather information about a child’s interests, social interactions, play patterns, and temperamental traits you can use a frequency count chart. As you observe the children at play, a tally mark is made every time the noted behavior or action occurs within a set timeframe. Frequency counts are also used to track undesirable or challenging behaviors, as well as prosocial behaviors.
Work Samples
Creating a work sample requires more effort than hanging a child’s picture on the wall. A work sample provides tangible evidence of a child’s effort, progress, and achievement. Not only does a work sample highlight the final product , but it can also highlight the process. To collect authentic evidence, with every work sample you need to include the date and a brief caption that explains the child’s learning experience.
Documentation Boards
In addition to using the above tools and techniques to record observations, teachers can use documentation boards or panels to highlight the learning activities that are happening throughout the week, month, and year. Not only do families enjoy seeing their child’s work posted, but children can also be empowered by seeing all that they have accomplished. Documentation boards are another great way to validate progress over time. Documentation boards can be made with the children as a project or can be assembled by the teacher or parent volunteer. Typically, documentation boards are posted on the wall for all to see and they usually showcase the following information:
• Learning goal and objectives
• Children’s language development
• The process and complete project
• The milestones of development
• Photos with detailed captions
Pause to Reflect
What might be pros and cons of each of the above tools for documenting your observations? Do you have any experience with any of them (as a teacher, family member, or child/student)?
Interpret
After you have captured key evidence, you must now make sense of it all. In other words, you must try to figure out what it all means. As you begin to analyze and interpret your documentation, you will want to compare your current observations to previous observations. As you compare observations, you will want to look for play patterns and track social interactions. You will also want to look for changes in behavior and look for possible triggers (antecedents) when addressing challenging behaviors.
Lastly, you will want to note any new milestones that have developed since the last observation. To help you analyze and interpret your observation data, you will want to ask yourself some reflective questions. Here are some suggested questions:
• What have I learned about this child?
• What are their current interests – who do they play with and what activity centers or areas do they migrate to the most?
• Has this child developed any new skills or mastered any milestones?
• How did this child approach new activities or problem-solve when faced with a challenge?
• How long does the child usually stay focused on a task?
• Is this behavior “typical” for this child?
• *What can I plan to support and encourage this child to progress along at a developmentally appropriate pace?
Another vital step in interpreting your observations is to reflect and connect your observation data to developmental theories. ECE theories provide foundational principles that we use to guide our practices and plan developmentally appropriate curriculum.
Plan
Once you have interpreted your observation data (asked questions, looked for patterns, noted any changes in growth and development) and you have analyzed theory principles, it is time to plan curriculum. First, let’s define curriculum . According to Epstein (2007), c urriculum is “the knowledge and skills teachers are expected to teach and children are expected to learn, and the plans for experiences through which learning will take place (p. 5). I would like to define curriculum as “the activities, experiences, and interactions a child may have throughout their day.” Curriculum supports learning and play and it influences a whole child’s growth and development. As teachers set goals and make plans, they should consider that some curriculum will be planned, while some curriculum will emerge. As you plan your curriculum, you are encouraged to think about the following aspects of curriculum – the environment, materials, and interactions. For example,
• How is the environment set up – is it overstimulating, cluttered, or inviting and well organized?
• What is the mood and tone of the classroom – is it calm or chaotic? Do the children appear happy and engaged? Have you interacted with the children?
• Are there enough materials available – are children having to wait long periods of time for items and are there conflicts because of limited materials ?
• Do the materials reflect the children’s interests - are they engaging and accessible?
• What are the social interactions - who is playing with whom, are there social cliques, is anyone playing alone?
• Are the activities appropriate - do they support development in all areas of learning?
• Are there a variety of activities to encourage both individualized play and cooperative play[42]
Implementation
Probably the more joyful part of our job is implementing curriculum and seeing the children engage in new activities. It is common to hear teachers say that the highlight of their day is “seeing the lightbulb go on” as children make valuable connections to what the teacher has planned and as the children master new skill sets. An important part of implementation is understanding differentiated instruction. According to Gordon and Browne (2016) when teachers can implement activities and materials to match the interests and skill level of each child, they are utilizing developmentally appropriate practices. For light bulbs to go off, intentional teachers must remember to “tailor what is taught to what a child is ready and willing to learn.”
Evaluate
Once you have planned your curriculum, gathered your materials, set up your environment, and implemented your activities, you will need to observe, document, and interpret the interactions so that you can evaluate and plan for the next step. Based on whether the children mastered the goals, expectations, and met the learning outcomes will determine your next step. For example, if the children can quickly and easily complete the task, you may have to consider adding more steps or extending the activity to challenge the children. If some children were unable to complete the task or appeared uninterested, you may consider how to better scaffold their learning either through peer interactions or by redefining the steps to complete the activity. As you evaluate your implemented activities here are some questions that you want to think about:
• How did the child approach the activity and how long did the child stay engaged?
• What problem-solving strategies did the child use?
• Did the child follow the intended directions or find alternative approaches?
• Who did the child interact with?
Based on your answers, you will decide on what is in the child’s best interest and how to proceed moving forward.
Figure \(3\): Evaluating the curriculum you implement helps you decide how to move forward. [43]
To Assess Children’s Development
Early childhood educators use assessments to showcase critical information about a child’s growth and development. As suggested by Gordon and Brown (2016) “Children are evaluated because teachers and parents want to know what the children are learning.” It is important to note that “assessment is not testing.” [44]
Assessment is, however, a critical part of a high-quality early childhood program and is used to :
• Provide a record of growth in all developmental areas: cognitive, physical/motor, language, social-emotional, and approaches to learning.
• Identify children who may need additional support and determine if there is a need for intervention or support services.
• Help educators plan individualized instruction for a child or for a group of children that are at the same stage of development.
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses within a program and information on how well the program meets the goals and needs of the children.
• Provide a common ground between educators and parents or families to use in collaborating on a strategy to support their child.
Pause to Reflect
What is assessment and why is it important? As defined by Gordon & Browne (2016) assessment is “an evaluation or determination of the importance disposition, or state something or someone, such as evaluating a child’s skills, a classroom environment or a teacher’s effectiveness” [45] How could you explain what is assessment it and why assessment is important in your own words?
The key to a good assessment is observation. [46] Whether you obtain your observation evidence through spontaneous or planned observations, it is suggested that you document your observations by utilizing various tools and techniques (e.g. running records, anecdotal notes, checklists, frequency counts, work samples, learning stories). As teachers watch children in natural settings, they can gather evidence that can then be used to track a child’s learning, growth, and development throughout the school year. To start the assessment process, here is a road map for you to follow:
• Step 1: Gather Baseline Data
• Step 2 : Monitor Each Child’s Progress
• Step 3 : Have a Systematic Plan in Place
Let’s look at each step more closely.
Step 1. Establish a Baseline
Before you can assess a child’s development, you must get to know your child. The first step is to gather “baseline” information. Through ongoing observation, you learn about each child’s strengths, interests, and skills. While observing you may also uncover a child’s unique learning styles, needs, or possible barriers that may limit them from optimal learning opportunities. For example, you may notice that when a child arrives in the morning, they tend to sit quietly at the table, and they don’t engage with other children or join in play activities. As you track the behavior, you begin to see a pattern that when a teacher sits with the child and they read a story together, the child warms up much faster than when left alone. Baseline information provides you with a starting point that can help you build a respectful relationship with each child in your class
Step 2. Monitor Progress
“The goal of observing children is to understand them better” (Gordon & Browne, 2016, p.119). Observations help guide our decisions, inform our practices, and help us to develop a plan of action that best fits each child’s individual needs. With every observation, we can begin to see how all the pieces fit together to make the whole child. To successfully monitor a child’s progress, we must look at the following:
• The child’s social interactions
• The child’s play preferences
• How the child handles their feelings and emotions
• The timeframe in which the child masters developmental milestones
• How the child processes information and is able to move onto to the next activity or level
With each observation, you gather more information and more evidence that can be used to assess the child’s development.
Step 3. A Systematic Plan
Once you have gathered an array of evidence, it is time to organize it. There are two different types of assessment systems:
1. Program-developed child assessment tools are developed to align with a specific program’s philosophy and curriculum.
2. Published child assessment tools have been researched and tested and are accepted as a credible source in assessing children’s development.
Forms of Assessment
Whichever system is in place at your program, you will need to be trained accordingly. In this section, we will highlight the use of portfolios and learning stories as well as discuss the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP, 2015) as featured assessment systems that can be used to track a child’s development.
Portfolios
Portfolios help teachers organize all the work samples, anecdotal notes, checklists, and learning stories that they have been collected for each child throughout the school year. A portfolio is similar to a traditional photograph album, but it is much more than an album. A portfolio is “an intentional compilation of materials and resources collected over time” (Gordon and Browne, 2016, p. 112). A portfolio is not an assessment tool in and of itself, it is a collection written observation notes for each photo and work sample. The evidence clearly documents a child’s progression over time. Portfolios are important tools in helping to facilitate a partnership between teachers and parents. During conferences, teachers can showcase the portfolio as they share anecdotes of the child’s progress. Parents (and children) enjoy seeing all the achievements and chronological growth that has occurred during the school year.
Digital portfolios or e-Portfolios are trending now as technology has become more accessible. Not only do e-Portfolios enable teachers to document children's activities faster, but teachers can also now post information and communicate with families on a regular basis, rather than waiting until the end of the school year for a traditional family conference.
What are the strengths of portfolios?
• Information in a portfolio is organized in a chronological order
• Portfolios promote a shared approach to decision making that can include the parent and child and teacher.
• Portfolios do not have the same constraints and narrow focus as standardized tests.
• Portfolios help teachers to keep track of a child’s development over time
• Portfolios can help teachers develop richer relationships with the children in their classroom
What are the limitations of portfolios?
• To create and maintain a portfolio requires a large investment of time and energy
• Currently, there are no valid grading criteria to evaluate portfolios since outcomes can vary from one child to another
• Maintaining objectively can be challenging
Learning Stories
Learning Stories are written records that document what a teacher has observed a child doing. It becomes an actual learning story when the teacher adds his or her interpretation of the child's dispositions toward learning - such as grit, courage, curiosity, and perseverance. The story may be as short as one paragraph or as long as one page. Much like an anecdotal record, teachers observe and document brief moments as a child engages with peers or completes a task. With the learning story, however, the teacher connects learning goals and highlights developmental milestones that the child is mastering. With learning stories, teachers tend to focus on what the child can do rather than what they can't do. With almost all learning stories, teachers will take photographs (or video) to include with the written story.
What are the strengths of learning stories?
• By listening to, observing, and recording children's explorations, you send them a clear message that you value their ideas and thinking.
• As the teacher shares the Learning Story with the child, the child has the opportunity to reflect on his or her own development, thinking, and learning.
• The whole class can listen and participates in each other's stories and ideas.
• Learning stories provide parents with insight into how teachers plan for their children’s learning.
• Parents uncover that teachers are thoughtful and continuous learners.
• Learning Stories encourage families and children to talk about school experiences.
• Learning Stories showcase how powerful and capable children really are
What are the limitations of learning stories?
• The quality of the learning story depends on the teacher’s own subjectivity (ie: viewpoints, values, and feelings towards the child)
• Learning stories provide only a small snapshot of a child's learning.
• It takes time to write a learning story (teachers may only be able to write 1 or 2 stories per month) and critics argue that this may limit the amount of information a teacher will need to truly track a child's development
• Because learning stories are relatively new, there aren’t official guidelines on how often to write learning stories and what exactly they should be included
• Learning stories are written up after the event or interaction has actually happened - so teachers need to have a good and accurate memory!
Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP)
The Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) is a standardized assessment tool that was developed by the California Department of Education (CDE), Child Development Division (CDD). Programs that are sponsored by the CDE, who serve children ages birth through 12 years of age (for example Lab schools, Head Start Programs, Early Start Programs, before and after school programs, SELPA programs, and other programs funded by Title V) are most likely to use the DRDP. The assessment results are intended to guide program improvement and to support teachers as develop curriculum to meet children’s individualized needs.
What are the strengths of the DRDP?
• The DRDP is aligned with California’s learning foundations and educational standards.
• The DRDP includes family support.
• The DRDP incorporates authentic observation, documentation, and reflection.
• The DRDP measures each child’s individual level of growth and development in all domains of development.
What are the limitations of the DRDP?
• Training teachers to be objective observers and aware of their biases can be challenging, especially with limited professional development opportunities.
• The tool may be considered rigid.
• Assessment, in general, is time-consuming
Pause to Reflect
What are your thoughts about using portfolios, learning stories, and the DRDP? Which are you most drawn to? Why?
4.07: New Page
In addition to strengthening relationships with children, sharing observations with children’s families strengthens the home–program connection. Families must be “provided opportunities to increase their child observation skills and to share assessments with staff that will help plan the learning experiences.” [47]
Families are with their child in all kinds of places and doing all sorts of activities. Their view of their child is even bigger than the teacher's. How can families and teachers share their observations, their assessment information, with each other? They can share through brief informal conversations, maybe at drop-off or pickup time, or when parents volunteer or visit the classroom. families and teachers also share their observations during longer and more formal times. Home visits and conferences are opportunities to chat a little longer and spend time talking about what the child is learning, what happens at home as well as what happens at school, how much progress the child is making, perhaps to problem solve if the child is struggling and figure out the best ways to support the child's continued learning. [48] Partnering with families will be discussed more in Chapter 8.
4.08: In Closing
Effectively working with children and families, means that teachers must effectively use observation, documentation, and assessment. We use the cycle of assessment to help improve teaching practices, plan effective curriculum, and assess children’s development. Families should be seen as partners in this process. Teachers must ensure that there is effective communication to support these relationships.
Chapter 5 (Developmental Ages and Stages) will build on observation to explore how we use the information gathered to define each unique stage of a child's development. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/04%3A_Observation_Documentation_and_Assessment/4.06%3A_New_Page.txt |
Learning Objective
• Identify the unique developmental ages and stages of young children and the practices that best meet the developmental needs.
05: Developmental Ages and Stages
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation addressed in this chapter:
1. Promoting Child Development and Learning
2. Building Family and Community Relationships
3. Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support Young Children and Families
4. Using Developmentally Effective Approaches to Connect with Children and Families
5. Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum
6. Becoming a professional
5.02: New Page
Child Development and Learning
Culture, Diversity, and Equity
Dual-Language Development
Family and Community Engagement
Learning Environments and Curriculum
Observation, Screening, Assessment, and Documentation
Professionalism
Relationships, Interaction, and Guidance
Special Needs and Inclusion
5.03: New Page
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children
Ideals: 1.1 – 1.4, 1.10, 1.11
Principles 1.1, 1.2, 1.7
Section II: Ethical Responsibilities to Families
Ideals: 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7
Principles: 2.6
Quotable
“Babies are such a nice way to start people.”
– Don Herald
5.04: New Page
This chapter examines the child as a whole or what we commonly refer to in Early Childhood Education – “the whole child.” The whole child refers to and addresses all areas or domains of the child – physical, cognitive, language, social-emotional, and spiritual. These domains of development are both collective and individual. Children have similar characteristics at different developmental ages, but they also are individuals with their own – “meness” that is important for us to consider when supporting all children in our early learning programs.
5.05: New Page
Pause to Reflect
When you think about young children, what images emerge for you? How do you see them? What are some words that you may use to identify them?
When thinking about children, what comes to your mind? Is it the way they engage with you? Is it their sense of adventure? Is it watching them try to climb a ladder? Is it trying to figure out what they may be thinking about when they have a certain look on their faces that they are not yet able to articulate? Is it their obvious curiosity and imagination? This is how we begin to think of the child as a whole, complex being. An integrated, interrelated series of parts that become the “whole.”
Figure \(1\): Does an image like this come to mind when you think of children? [49]
In the field of Early Childhood Education, we identify these areas of development as domains. These domains (areas) are as follows:
Physical Development
Physical or physical motor development includes their large or gross motor development, their fine motor development, and their perceptual-motor development. The large or gross motor development of children consists of their large motor groups – running, jumping, skipping, swinging with their arms – in other words, the muscle groups that are closer to the body. The fine motor development of children consists of the small motor groups, like writing with their hands, squishing sand in-between their toes – muscle groups that are further away from the body. The last area of physical development is the perceptual-motor – their ability to catch a ball, to use a paintbrush and paint to create something from their memory – in other words, it refers to a child’s developing ability to interact with their environment by combining the use of the senses and motor skills.
The first few years of life is dedicated to the heightened development of these skills. In the first year of life, they go from barely being able to hold their head up to walking upright. As many of you taking this course have varied experiences with children, this may be a refresher, but for some of you, this may be new information. It is crucial to the development of children, that they have many opportunities to use their bodies as their body is developing new pathways for success. In an early learning environment serving children from 0 – 5, there should be ample space and materials for children to explore and practice their emerging physical skills. This includes allowing them to take risks with their bodies allowing them to explore the possibilities. These risks afford children opportunities to feel that they are capable as well as gives them a sense of agency.
Figure \(2\): What physical motor skills is this child practicing? [50]
Cognitive-Language Development
Cognitive or brain development speaks to how we process information, our curiosity/imagination, long and short-term memory, problem-solving, critical thinking, language both receptive and expressive, beginning reading, computing skills, creativity, etc. In other words, how our brain develops to help us to think about and understand the world around us.
We often place much emphasis on this area of development to the determent of the other areas of development. They all work in concert. When thinking about developing the “whole child” we need to be mindful of providing experiences that promote all of their development, not just their cognitive development.
As with the other areas/domains of development, the first 5 years of life are important in establishing the foundation for learning. This includes providing lots of rich experiences for exploration, curiosity, imagination, use of materials and equipment (that also fosters physical development), opportunities for talking (even with pre-verbal babies), etc. The learning experiences that we provide for children will be discussed in Chapter 6 - Curriculum and Chapter 7 - Learning Environments. Both of those chapters are dedicated to looking at the learning experiences (curriculum) and the environments we set up to support children’s whole development.
Social-Emotional Development
Social-emotional development is the relationships that children have with themselves and others, the way they feel about themselves or their self-concept, the way they value themselves or their self-esteem, and he ability to express their feelings to themselves and others.
One of the important dispositions of being an early childhood professional is supporting children’s well-being. It is both a moral and ethical responsibility. By nature, children are trusting and look to the adults in their world to provide them with the necessary skills to be successful in their life’s journey. We can either elevate or diminish a child.
Figure \(3\): What relationship do you think these two children have? [51]
Spiritual Development
Spiritual development, or considering the “spirit” of the child, is something that is a more recent addition to thinking about “whole child” development. In a recent article entitled Supporting Spiritual Development in the Early Childhood Classroom by Amelia Richardson Dress, she cites emerging research that indicates the importance of considering this element of a child. “Spirit is the thing that makes us us. Spirituality is the way we connect our ‘inner us’ to everything else, including other people’s inner ‘usness.” [52] Our spiritual development is a part of our social-emotional development; however, we find it important to call this out specifically to guide our practice of supporting and elevating children’s uniqueness. In Chapter 6 Curriculum, it looks at how to support children’s curiosity. Curriculum that is based on children’s interests, engages their curiosity, is playful, and provides trust, elevates how children see themselves as dynamic, competent human beings. Simply by providing rich, open-ended materials and encouraging their natural desire to ask questions, we support a child’s sense of wonder.
5.10: In Closing
It is of crucial importance that early childhood professionals have an understanding of the stages children move through at various ages. As our foundation, having this knowledge allows us to more effectively set expectations, plan interactions and curriculum, set up appropriate learning environments, and share information with parents that meets the current needs of the children we work with. Once we understand these general developmental patterns, we are able to move to understanding individual children’s interests and abilities within this framework.
As we continue to build upon this chapter, a deep understanding of developmental ages and stages will be the cornerstone for Chapter 6 (Curriculum), Chapter 7 (Environments), and Chapter 8 (Partnering with Families). Referring back to these stages allows us to foster experiences and interactions geared toward children’s current abilities and strengths. Through this lens, we are able to see children for what the CAN do rather than what they cannot do YET, helping them move gradually from one stage to the next when they are ready. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/05%3A_Developmental_Ages_and_Stages/5.01%3A_New_Page.txt |
Pause to Reflect
What do you know about the various ages and stages of child development? What interests you in working with children? Do you have a particular age group that brings you more joy? What do you know about that age group?
Identification of the common characteristics of children at various developmental ages has been around for quite some time. Gesell (mentioned in Chapter 2 – Theories of Early Childhood Education) and Ilg conducted research to identify some of these common characteristics of each developmental age. They published a series of books that provide a comprehensive look at those developmental ages. Parents as well as early childhood professionals have found these helpful to understand how to relate to and interact with children as we socialize and educate them in our homes and our schools
Other theories have used these to define how to interact with children, what to expect from children, and how a child’s brain develops (Refer back to Chapter 2 Theories of Early Childhood Education). For early childhood professionals, theories help us to set up our curriculum, our environments, our expectations, and build meaningful and engaging relationships with children to support the “whole child.”
The following graphics provide an overview of these developmental ages and stages (aka milestones). It is important to note that using these age-level charts require discretion. While they help to define “typical” development, children also are unique in their developmental progress. We use them as guidelines to help inform our practice with young children.
We must always remember:
• The milestones to gain a deeper understanding of the age group as a whole
• That each child, within that developmental age group, is a unique individual
• That children exhibit a range of developmental norms over time
• To resist the tendency to categorize or stereotype children
• To observe each child and assess where they are developmentally
• That each child goes through most of the stages describes, but how they do is the individual nature of who they are
• To focus on what children can do, to build on their strengths, and to find ways to support areas that need to be more developed
• That these milestones refer to typically developing children and are not meant in any way to represent a picture of any “one” child
Note: You may notice that the following charts do not mention spiritual development as one of the domains. There is no specific age nor specific expectations of a child’s spiritual development. This development is ongoing as it is supported by the interactions the child has with the world around them.
Figure \(1\): Developmental milestones typically met around 2 months of age. [53]
Figure \(2\): Developmental milestones typically met around 4 months of age. [54]
Figure \(3\): Developmental milestones typically met around 6 months of age. [55]
Figure \(4\): Developmental milestones typically met around 9 months of age. [56]
Figure \(5\): Developmental milestones typically met around 1 year of age. [57]
Figure \(6\): Developmental milestones typically met around 18 months of age. [58]
Figure \(7\): Developmental milestones typically met around 2 years of age. [59]
Figure \(8\): Developmental milestones typically met around 3 years of age. [60]
Figure \(9\): Developmental milestones typically met around 4 years of age. [61]
Figure \(10\): Developmental milestones typically met around 5 years of age. [62]
Figure \(11\): Developmental milestones typically met around 6 years of age. [63]
Figure \(12\): Developmental milestones typically met around 7 years of age. [64]
Figure \(13\): Developmental milestones typically met around 8 years of age. [65]
Pause to Reflect
Has reading over the developmental milestones of different developmental ages changed your ideas about children? What age group may you be most interested in working with? What age group may present more challenges for you?
Developmental Factors by Age
Here is an additional chart to provide more context. While each child develops at their own rate and in their own time and may not match every listed item, here are some general descriptions of children by age:
Table \(1\): Factors Influencing Behaviors by Age [66]
Age
General Descriptors
1-2 Years
• Like to explore their environment
• Like to open and take things apart
• Like to dump things over
• Can play alone for short periods of time
• Still in the oral stage, may use biting, or hitting to express their feelings or ideas
2-3 Years
• Need to run, climb, push and pull
• Are not capable of sharing, waiting, or taking turns
• Want to do things on their own
• Work well with routine
• Like to follow adults around
• Prolong bedtime
• Say “no”
• Understand more than he/she can say
3-4 Years
• Like to run, jump, climb
• May grow out of naps
• Want approval from adults
• Want to be included “me too”
• Are curious about everything
• May have new fears and anxieties
• Have little patience, but can wait their turn
• Can take some responsibility
• Can clean up after themselves
4-5 Years
• Are very active
• Start things but don’t necessarily finish them
• Are bossy and boastful
• Tell stories, exaggerate
• Use “toilet” words in a “silly” way
• Have active imaginations
5-6 Years
• Want everything to be fair
• Able to understand responsibility
• Able to solve problems on their own
• Try to negotiate
Quotable
“I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as the butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited a while, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster than life. The case opened, the butterfly started slowly crawling out and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath. In vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear, all crumpled, before its time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand. That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience. For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.”
-Nikos Kazantzakis, from Zorba the Greek
Pause to Reflect
How does this quote apply to children’s development? How can you as an early childhood professional honor a child’s current stage of development and not try to hurry them through? How can you respect each stage as an important milestone needed to experience fully in order to move successfully to the next, gradually when that child is ready? What happens when we try to hurry to introduce concepts to children they are not yet ready for? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/05%3A_Developmental_Ages_and_Stages/5.6%3A_Developmental_Ages_and_Stages.txt |
Culture can be defined as ideas, knowledge, behaviors, beliefs, art, values, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by particular people or society, and these are passed along from one generation to the next by the way of communication. Our cultural identity is an integrated part of our development.
Cultural identity refers to a person's sense of belonging to a particular culture or group. This process involves learning about and accepting the traditions, heritage, language, religion, ancestry, aesthetics, thinking patterns, and social structures of a culture.
Early Childhood Professionals support the cultural identity of the children and families we serve. We do this by getting to know the child and their family. We stay away from our biases/assumptions about what we think we know about a particular race/ethnicity/religion, etc. and we seek to engage in relationships with families that honor how that family identifies their cultural identity. ECE 106 (The Role of Equity and Diversity in Early Childhood Education) uncovers how we can best serve families with respectful and supportive practices.
5.8: Developmentally Appropriate Practices
In Chapter 2 – Developmental and Learning Theories, there is a section on Developmentally Appropriate Practices. What is important to note here is that identifying the developmental ages and stages of children helps us to plan curriculum (Chapter 6) and learning environments (Chapter 7) that are appropriate for their developmental age and stage. Below is a refresher from Chapter 2 as it is pertinent in this chapter. Understanding the importance of DAP sets the stage for identifying ways in which to support children in the early childhood learning environment.
There are three important aspects of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP):
1. What is known about child development and learning – referring to knowledge of age-related characteristics that permits general predictions about what experiences are likely to best promote children’s learning and development.
2. What is known about each child as an individual – referring to what practitioners learn about each child that has implications for how best to adapt and be responsive to that individual variation.
3. What is known about the social and cultural contexts in which children live – referring to the values, expectations, and behavioral and linguistic conventions that shape children’s lives at home and in their communities that practitioners must strive to understand in order to ensure that learning experiences in the program or school are meaningful, relevant, and respectful for each child and family. [67]
5.9: Behavioral Considerations
Guiding the behavior of children is another important role that early childhood professionals possess. There are a plethora of programs designed to provide parents and early childhood professionals with the skills and tools that effectively help children navigate their emotions and the behaviors that they may exhibit at different developmental ages. Chapter 6 (Curriculum) has more extensive information on this topic. Below is a chart that provides some ideas about how to approach guidance positively.
Table 5.2 – Positive Approaches for Developmental Factors [68]
Ages/Stages
Developmental Factors
Examples of a Positive Approach to developmental factors to manage behavior
Infant/Toddler
Children this age:
• Actively explore environments
• Like to take things apart
• Have limited verbal ability, so biting or hitting to express feelings is common
• Like to dump things over
Children in this stage tend to dump and run, so plan games to enhance this behavior in a positive way. Have large wide-mouth bins for children to practice “dumping items” into and out of. This strategy redirects the behavior of creating a mess into a structured activity to match the development.
Older Toddlers
Children this age:
• Need to run, climb, push and pull
• Are incapable of sharing; waiting or taking turns
• Express beginning independence
• Work well with routines
• Say “no” often
• Comprehend more than they can verbally express
Teachers of this age often find children trying to climb up on tables, chairs, and shelves. Incorporate developmentally climbing equipment and create obstacle courses to redirect activity into positive behaviors.
Avoid using the word “no” and create expressions that teach what to do instead of what not to do.
Young Preschool
(3-4 years)
Children this age:
• Like to be active
• Are curious and ask many questions
• Express new fears and anxieties
• Have little patience
• Can clean up after themselves
• Can take some responsibility
• Seek adult approval
Young preschoolers become curious and create many misconceptions as they create new schemas for understanding concepts. Listen to ideas sensitively address them quickly and honestly. Model exploration and engagement in new activities (especially ones they may be fearful of engaging in)
Older Preschool
(4-5 years)
Children this age:
• Are highly active
• Can be “bossy”
• Have an active imagination
• Exaggerate stories
• Often use “toilet words” in silly ways
• Start things but don’t always finish
Ask the children to create new silly, but appropriate words to represent emotions rather than focusing on the “bad” words they use.
Young School-Age
Children this age:
• Are able to problem solve on their own
• Begin to understand responsibility
• Think in terms of fairness
• Attempt to negotiate
Fairness is a big issue for this group so working with this age group, a teacher should sit with children to develop “rules” and “consequences” so they can take ownership of behavioral expectations
Pause to Reflect
What makes the most sense to you about guiding children’s behavior? What seems confusing to you? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/05%3A_Developmental_Ages_and_Stages/5.7%3A_Cultural_Identity_Development.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Examine curriculum concepts related to planning, implementing, and evaluating interactions and experiences in early childhood settings.
• Identify major components to early childhood curriculum including play based learning, behavioral considerations, and various types of curriculum models.
06: Curriculum Basics
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation addressed in this chapter:
1. Promoting Child Development and Learning
2. Building Family and Community Relationships
3. Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support Young Children and Families
4. Using Developmentally Effective Approaches to Connect with Children and Families
5. Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum
6. Becoming a professional
6.02: New Page
• Child Development and Learning
• Culture, Diversity, and Equity
• Dual-Language Development
• Family and Community Engagement
• Learning Environments and Curriculum
• Professionalism
• Relationships, Interaction, and Guidance
6.03: New Page
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children
Ideals: 1.1 – 1.12
Principles: 1.1 – 1.5, 2.7
Section II: Ethical Responsibilities to Families
Ideals: 2.1 – 2.9
Principles: 2.2, 2.5, 2.6
Section III: Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues (it is broken into two specific responsibilities)
B – Responsibilities to employers
Ideals: 3B.1
Section IV: Ethical Responsibility to Community and Society (we have both an individual and a collective responsibility)
Ideal: 4.1
6.04: New Page
Pause to Reflect
When you hear the word “curriculum” what comes to mind?
As we have learned in previous chapters, developing relationships, as well as understanding the developmental stages and individual interests and skills of children is crucial to effective teaching. This is accomplished through interactions and both informal and formal observations with the children in our care. This information will form the cornerstone of what is called “curriculum”, which includes both the planned and unplanned experiences that occur throughout the day. While you will devote an entire course to understanding curriculum in ECE 104 (Introduction to Curriculum in Early Childhood), we will visit some of the basic concepts below.
6.05: New Page
“Development” and “learning” are two integrated concepts that we promote as teachers. As children are “learning” new concepts and skills, they are fostering their “development”. Our goal is to encourage the development of the “whole child” (physical, cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual) by providing learning experiences based on children’s interests and abilities, a concept known as “intentional teaching”.
Although children learn in an integrated manner (blending all areas of development together) these areas are often broken down for planning purposes. While we looked at this in chapter 5, Developmental Ages and Stages, to understand development, the same is true when planning curriculum.
Figure \(1\): All areas of development affect and are affected by each other [69]
Table \(1\) below shows the relationship between the domains of development and concepts of learning.
Table \(1\): Relationship between Development and Learning [70]
Development
Learning
Cognitive
Science, Technology, Math
Language
Language and Literacy
Physical
Health, Safety, Nutrition, Self-Help Skills, Physical Education
Social, Emotional, Spiritual
Social Science, Visual and Performing Arts
Vignette
Javier and Ji are playing in the block area. They have stacked several large blocks on top of each other. Twice the blocks have fallen and each time they have modified their plan slightly to make them stay. Once stable, Ji counts the blocks and Javier turns to the teacher and proudly says, “Look at our 5 story building, you should shop here.”
Pause to Reflect
Can you find development and learning for Javier and Ji in each of the categories listed in the table above?
If you are interested in further exploration, the California Learning Foundations that describe competencies and the companion California Preschool Curriculum Framework present strategies for early childhood educators. You can explore each of these:
These will also be visited in more detail in ECE 104 Introduction to Curriculum. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.01%3A_New_Page.txt |
The third part of the Plan-Do-Review cycle involves reflecting on what was planned and implemented. Remember the section in Chapter 3 (The Early Childhood Teaching Profession), regarding the importance of reflection in all aspects of our teaching? Curriculum planning is one of the primary duties teachers engage in, and as such requires a great deal of reflection and review. Some of this will be done informally as you go about your day. Other times it may be helpful to more formally reflect, in order to capture strengths and areas of growth, both in yourself, the children, and the curriculum that you are planning for them. As a form of “assessment”, this feedback proves extremely valuable for teachers and programs. Below are examples of two types of forms teachers might use in their reviews. These will be used in future ECE courses at College of the Canyons.
Curriculum Implementation Evaluation/Reflection
A. Overall impression / comments about your activity (Be specific):
B. What went well?
C. What did not?
D. What type of interactions took place during the implementation of your activity?
(child – child, child – adult, …)
E. How did individual children respond to your implementation? Did they respond the way you anticipated? (Please be specific and use examples whenever possible)
F. If you were to implement this activity again, how would you modify it?
Think about: Encouraging more participation from the children
Meeting the needs of the wide range of developmental levels in the room
Implementing the plan more successfully
Additional activities to enhance the same concept(s) / webbing
Daily Curriculum Reflection
1. I am the proudest of:
2. I wish the following had been done differently:
3. The learning experiences I provided for the children:
4. The interactions, conversations, and approaches I used:
5. The biggest thing I learned about myself is:
6. Learning lessons about my teaching and goals I might set for myself:
7. Learning lessons about ethics and professionalism are:
8. Other
Pause to Reflect
Do these review/reflections make sense to you? What might you add or delete from the blank forms? Why?
Some programs will set up areas of the indoor and outdoor classroom with a variety of materials for children to choose from. Others will set up stations for children to participate in. Chapter 7 The Learning Environment will look specifically at setting up environments. Some portions of the day will include individual, small, and large group experiences. All should be carefully planned with intention and meaning for the children that will be engaging in them.
6.11: Integrated Curriculum Themes
It is common for many programs to integrate many aspects of learning with the use of “themes” as a way to weave learning together for children. For some learners, the connection of several learning experiences all related to a common concept can support deeper learning. The most successful themes are those that emerge out of the children’s interest (often called “emergent curriculum” ). Common themes include:
• My family
• Friendship and caring
• Community Helpers
• Animals
• Activities (camping, …)
• Transportation
• Locations (oceans, mountains, farms,…)
Pause to Reflect
What other themes can you think of?
Often when planning a theme, teachers will use the concept of a curriculum “web” to begin to plan their ideas. Like a list, but in a different format, a web allows teachers to brainstorm related ideas and then to choose the ones that make the most sense to more thoroughly plan for. This process uses both a teacher’s divergent and convergent thinking skills.
A basic web diagram will look like this:
Figure \(1\): Basic web diagram
Here is a sample of a curriculum web using this format. Can you think of activities to add?
Figure \(2\): Sample curriculum web
Pause to Reflect
What advantages can you find in creating a planning web? How might you incorporate children into helping you web ideas? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.10%3A_Review_Evaluation.txt |
Rather than thinking of children’s behavior as occurring separately from everything else that goes on in the classroom, it can be helpful to recognize that it is a part of everything else. As we plan interactions and experiences that are meaningful, we take into account a variety of factors that affect behavior. Part of every plan should be an understanding of who children are and intentionally planning for them. Just as with other skills that children are learning, they are learning to control their bodies, use their words, self-regulate, wait their turn, be patient, and a host of other social and emotional skills the will help them be able to manage themselves in social situations. Learning these life skills is no different from any other concept they will learn by exploring, repeated exposure, and having it make sense to them. As will other concepts, they need teachers who develop relationships with them, focus on what they CAN do, and maintain a positive attitude.
There is no magic approach to helping children learn to manage their behavior and no secret book with all of the answers. Instead, there are a variety of factors to consider and approaches to try to guide behaviors in the ways we prefer. This will be expanded upon in the ECE 104 Introduction to Curriculum in Early Childhood Education, so what follows here is an abridged version of considerations as we plan for the children in our programs.
As early childhood professionals, we have an ethical obligation to understand how behavior is affected by the following factors and to plan accordingly. Just as we started Chapter 4 (Observation and Assessment) with looking at the “why”, understanding why a child might be behaving in a certain way can assist in planning appropriately:
The “whys” of children’s behavior teachers should consider:
• Development – what to expect at various ages and stage for the “whole” child
• Environment – the physical space, routine and interpersonal tone
• Family & Cultural Influences – influences and variations in expectations
• Temperament – individual personality styles, approaches, and ways of interpreting events
• Motivation – purpose (communicating, relating, attention, control, revenge, inadequacy, fear of failure,…)
Often teachers will use a web like the one previously described to consider the “why” of a behavior. They place the behavior in the center and then web out the various factors to consider.
Figure \(1\): Teachers should examine the “why” behind a behavior
Pause to Reflect
How might you use the information above when planning interactions and experiences for children?
Once we have an understanding of the “whys” of behavior, we can plan interactions that foster the behavior we desire. We will introduce you to guidance techniques in the ECE 104 Introduction to Curriculum in Early Childhood Education. Here we have highlighted the following Interactive Strategies to consider.
Useful teacher interactions when planning for children’s behavior (in addition to the interactive considerations posed earlier):
• Consistency
• Clarity
• Realistic limits and expectations
• Calmness
• Focus on the behavior, not the child
• Focus on what the child can do and is doing appropriately
• Positive direction (for example instead of “don’t run” say “use walking feet”)
• Reflection and logic rather than immediate response and emotion
Some strategies to try include:
• Ignore – can be effective if a behavior is annoying rather than dangerous.
“If you choose to continue using a whining voice I will choose not to listen. As soon as you use your talking voice, I would like to hear what you have to say”
• Redirect – directing the child to a more positive way of using that behavior.
“Inside we use our walking feet, when you go outside you can run” or “We don’t throw things at other people, if you would like to throw let’s find the target and beanbags”
• Active Listening to understand – validating what the child is saying.
“I hear you saying that you want a turn, you sound very sad” or “you worked very hard on that block structure and you are angry it got knocked over”
• Give Choices – state what needs to be done and then give 2 options for how it can be done.
“It’s time to clean up now, will you clean up the paintbrushes or the paints first?” or “It’s time to come inside now, do you want to come in like a mouse or a dinosaur?”
• Logical Consequences – as children behave in certain ways (both “positively” and “negatively”) consequences will logically happen.
“If you talk to your friends in that tone, they may continue not to want to play with you. If you want to play with them, what can you do differently?” or “We are having snack now; if you choose not to eat you will probably be very hungry by lunchtime”
• Problem Solving/Conflict Resolution – helping children to solve their own issues with support as needed.
“What can you do about that?” or “How might you solve that problem” or “it sounds like you both want to play with the same toy, I wonder how you will work that out?”
• Short removal with reflection and return – taking a moment to leave a situation to gain composure and return more successfully.
“It seems to be hard for you to keep the sand in the sandbox right now. I’m going to ask you to leave the sandbox for a few moments and think about how you can be respectful to the others that are sharing this space with you. Where will you go to think?”)A very brief time later) “what can you do differently next time you enter the sandbox? Great, would you like to try out your solution? Come on back and show me”. “You did it!” [79]
Pause to Reflect
How might you use the information above when planning interactions and experiences for children? What makes sense? What feels comfortable to try? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.12%3A_The_Behavioral_Side_of_Curriculum.txt |
Many high quality programs using the tenants of Developmentally Appropriate Practices exist today. Most have integrated this information into an eclectic format, providing active learning, quality interactions and environments, and activities based on their observations of children’s interests and abilities. They included families as partners and extend to value the communities and cultures of which they are a part. Below is a list of program and curriculum names that encompass the above tenants. They are all similar at their core, but if you would like to research them further you may find some unique components of interest to you. They are listed alphabetically for convenience:
• Culturally Appropriate Curriculum – curriculum that helps children understand how they are similar to, yet different than each other based on individual histories, families, and culture.
• Emergent Curriculum – curriculum planning based on teacher observations of children's interests. Usually, a spontaneous approach where experiences evolve and change as the process unfolds.
• Faith Based – programs that include the teaching of the religious beliefs of the sponsoring organization.
• Family Child Care – a program that takes place in a home setting.
• Head Start – A comprehensive program, that provides learning programs; nutrition; medical, dental, and mental health care, and parent education and vocational training.
• High-Scope – named for a program High in Quality, Broad in Scope, this curriculum emphasizes active learning and higher-level thinking. It includes a Plan-Do-Review cycle where children learn to make plans, carry them out, and then evaluate those plans; important life-skills.
• Inclusion – programs designed to include children with a wide variety of abilities and needs.
• Inclusive Curriculum – the aspect of a program that reflect sensitivity to culture, home language, gender, religion, and abilities.
• Intergenerational Programs – programs designed for both young children and the elderly, where the two populations interact throughout the day in similar activities.
• Laboratory Schools – early childhood programs taking place on college campuses, usually with a supervised training component for college students learning to work with young children.
• Looping – the practice of keeping a group of children and their teacher together for more than one year.
• Montessori – True Montessori schools are based on the works of Maria Montessori including self-correcting materials, independent learning experiences, and an emphasis on life skills. Because her name was not trademarked, many programs that have Montessori in the title do not meet all of the criteria of a true Montessori program, which can be very confusing indeed.
• Mixed Age Grouping – also called “family grouping”’ placing children of different ages in the same classroom.
• Outdoor Classroom – outdoor spaces created to enhance the quantity, quality and benefit of outdoor experiences. Often brings the inside classroom outside, incorporating interest centers and materials usually found indoors.
• Parent Cooperative (Co-op) – a program designed and run by a group of parents for their young children. Parents will usually hire a teacher to facilitate learning and perform all other duties themselves. More recently called “Learning Pods”.
• Play based – focuses on the value of play in fostering development in young children, planning interactions and experiences focused on the many types of play.
• Reggio-Emilia – this approach is a student-centered and constructive self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in relationship-driven environments, often through a “project approach”.
• RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) – based on Magda Gerber’s work with babies, emphasizes the unique stage of infants and toddlers. Curriculum for this age is caring for them, with the belief that caring educates infants about themselves. [80]
Pause to Reflect
Which of the programs just mentioned spark your interest? Why?
6.14: In Closing
As can be seen, there is much to consider when planning, implementing, and evaluating curriculum for early childhood programs. At the core of quality curriculum is the notion of Developmentally Appropriate Practices, including observing and understanding the individual children in your care, developing and maintaining positive relationships and interactions, effectively communicating, valuing the role of play in learning, and understanding that children’s behavior is a part of the learning process.
In Chapter 7 (Learning Environments), we will explore how the environment sets the stage for children and families to feel engaged and supported in their early learning classroom.
Pause to Reflect
Thinking back over the chapter, what are 3 main concepts that stand out for you? Why? How will you use them? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.13%3A_Types_of_Programs.txt |
Since in previous chapters we have explored the notion that children learn through “play”, let’s expand on that concept a bit as it relates to curriculum.
Figure \(1\): Play [71]
Children are born observers and are active participants in their own learning and understanding of the world around them from the very beginning of their existence. This means they are not just recipients of a teacher’s knowledge. Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) challenges early childhood professionals to be intentional in their interactions and environments to create optimal experiences to maximize children’s growth and development. Under this umbrella of DAP, knowledge is based upon discovery and discovery occurs through active learning and abundant opportunities for exploration. Through a “hands-on” approach and using play as a vehicle, children will develop the skills necessary for growth and development and maximize their learning.
Teachers play a pivotal role in children’s active construction of knowledge. They intentionally provide the environments, interactions, and experiences that support children in actively building concepts, skills, and overall development. The role of the teacher who works with young children in early childhood is to support children’s active construction of knowledge. In a sense, early childhood teachers serve as research supports as the children sense, discover, and construct meaning about the world around them.
Early childhood teachers are responsible for:
• offering children well-stocked play spaces where they can construct concepts and ideas, preferably in the company of peers
• designing daily routines that invite children to be active participants and to use emerging skills and concepts
• supporting children’s learning through interactions and conversations that prompt using language and ideas in new ways
Things to Remember About How Children Development Learn
• Actively exploring, experimenting, gathering data, making sense of it
• Exploration is a continual process that takes time and repetition
• Begins with concrete, “real life” experiences before abstract concepts
• Takes place in a social context
• Encompasses a broad range of developmental domains
• Development typically occurs in a sequence or continuum
• There are many Individual differences to consider
• Interests
• Abilities
• Learning styles
• Temperaments
• Family and Cultural Experiences
• Communities
As we think about play, it is important to remember that there are different types of play that children engage in. Chapter 2 (Developmental & Learning Theories) introduced you to a list of 12 different types (also included in the appendix for easy reference). Quality teachers incorporate plans for each of these types of play throughout the day. They set up activities and plan experiences that will allow children to make sense of their world through each of these play modalities. While teachers keep all 12 in mind, they often combine some of them to narrow down the areas and experiences they provide and chapter 7 (Learning Environments) will look at this in more detail. A common framework used by teachers as they define areas and activities is as follows:
• Socio-Dramatic Play: Acting out experiences and taking on roles they are familiar with. Often incorporates Symbolic Play where children use materials and actions to represent something else.
• Creative Play: Trying out new ideas and using imagination, with a focus on the process rather than the product.
• Exploratory Play: Using senses to explore and discover the properties and function of things.
• Constructive Play: Using materials to build, construct, and create.
• Loco-motor Play: Moving for movement’s sake, just because it is fun. [72]
Figure \(2\): Constructive Play
Figure \(3\): Creative Play
Figure \(4\): Exploratory Play
Figure \(5\): Socio-Dramatic Play
Figure \(6\): Locomotor Play
Pause to Reflect
Going back to Table 6.1, which concepts are being developed by which types of play? By incorporating each of these types of play, are you developing the “whole child”? Why or why not?
As with most things, the way that children play will go through developmental stages. As teachers plan, they keep in mind the stages of play relevant to the children they are planning for. Originally described by Parten (1932), this list, explains how children’s play changes by age as they grow and develop social skills.
• Unoccupied Play (Birth-3 Months): At this stage, a baby is making many movements with their arms, legs, hands, feet, etc. They are learning about and discovering how their body moves.
• Solitary Play (Birth-2 Years): This is the stage when a child plays alone. They are not interested in playing with others quite yet.
• Spectator/Onlooker Behavior (2 Years): During this stage, a child begins to watch other children playing but does not play with them.
• Parallel Play (2+Years): When a child plays alongside or near others but does not play with them.
• Associate Play (3-4 Years): When a child starts to interact with others during play, but there is not a large amount of interaction at this stage.
• Cooperative Play (4+ years): When a child plays together with others and has interest in both the activity and other children involved in playing. [73]
Pause to Reflect
Why might these stages be important to consider? How would you use this information in your planning? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.6%3A_Play%3A_The_Vehicle_for_Development_and_Learning.txt |
Just like the “whole child” is often broken down into developmental domains for studying, so too is learning. Many aspects of learning occur simultaneously; it is integrated and connected. To define learning we often break it into categories. Because the connection between play and learning is so important, the way it is broken down exists in many forms, including assessments, planning resources, and the frameworks and foundations mentioned above. Figure 6.8 is a compilation of such skills, compiled by Eyrich (2016) tying development into learning.
Figure \(1\): What Children Learn Through Play [74]
Domain How it is tied to learning
Physical
• Personal care (hygiene, feeding, dressing,)
• Nutrition
• Safety
• Motor (Movement) Skills
• Active physical play
• Perceptual-motor (senses, effort, direction,)
• Gross (large) motor (running, throwing, …)
• Fine (small) motor (hands, fingers, feet, toes)
Cognitive
• Cognitive approaches to learning and self-regulation
• Maintain attention
• Self-comfort
• Curiosity and initiative
• Self-control of feelings and behavior
• Engagement and persistence
• Skills of inquiry
• Observe, investigate, document, communicate
• Knowledge of the natural/physical world
• Understanding properties and events
• Cause and effect
• Understanding relationship between cause/effect
• Classification
• Learning the attributes of objects by exploring
• Compare, match, sort, categorize
• Finding similarities and differences
• Symbol
• Number
• Understanding quantity (amount, degree)
• Assigning a numerical symbol to quantity
• Counting
• Measurement
• Awareness of difference in properties
• (size, length, weight, capacity, volume)
• Seriation (order 3 or more by comparison)
• (small/medium/large, loud/louder/loudest)
• Time (sequence of events, rhythm, yesterday/ tomorrow)
• Patterning
• Recognize, reproduce, repeating sequences
• Spatial relationships Experiences an object’s position in relation to others
Language
• Symbol/symbolic reasoning
• Sounds and letters are put together to represent things
• Receptive language
• Listening, understanding, responding
• Expressive language
• Speaking, communicating, conversation
• Graphic (written) language/literacy
• Interest in print & books, phonology, pre-reading, reading
• Symbol, letter, print knowledge, pre-writing, writing
Social
• Skills learning with adults
• Can stay at school without parent
• Can respond/enjoy adults other than parents
• Adults will help in times of need
• Adult will not always solve problems
• Skills learned with peers
• Different approaches work for different peers
• Cooperation and turn taking
• Lead and follow
• Sustain relationships and helping peers
• Share materials, equipment, people, ideas
• Asserting rights and self defense
• Negotiating skills and solving conflicts
• Anticipate and avoid problems
• Realistic expectations and valuing differences
• Skills learning in a group
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Compassion
• Tolerance
• Group identity
• Follow and adapt to routines and expectations
• How to enter and exit situations
• Deal with delay of gratification (patience)
• Skills learned as an individual
• Self-help and self-care
• Make choices and initiate own activities
• Cope with rejection, hurt feelings, disappointment
• Take responsibility
Emotional
• Ability to deal with feelings
• Notice, label, and accept feelings
• Express feelings in appropriate ways
• Deal with feelings of others
• Resolve inner fears, conflicts
• Ability to exercise judgment
• Notice, label, and make choices
• Think through consequences
• Evaluate effectiveness of choices
• Learn to take another viewpoint
• Enjoying one’s self and one’s power
• Acquire a sense of self
• Develop self-confidence and self-esteem
• Build trust in self and others
• Reveal own personality
• Learn to take risks & learn from mistakes
• Become competent in several areas
Creative
• Flexibility (shifting from 1 idea to another)
• Fluency (producing many ideas)
• Sensitivity (awareness (moods, textures, senses,)
• Imagination / Originality
• Risk Taking / Elaboration (pushing boundaries)
• Self as a resource (awareness, confidence in ability)
• Experience (to build mastery to build upon)
• Visual and Performing Arts
Pause to Reflect
Go back to the vignette with Javier and Ji. Looking at Figure 6.8, can you find learning that took place in all 6 of the domains? How might you use this list in your planning and communicating with families about “playing to learn”? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.7%3A_What_Children_Learn_Through_Play.txt |
Figure \(1\): Teachers will interact with groups of children [75]
Figure \(2\): And teachers will interact with children one-on-one [76]
It cannot be repeated enough that human beings are social creatures that thrive on relationships. In order to maximize a child’s interests, willingness to take risks, try again when initial attempts have not gone as planned, and learn to their fullest, we must establish and maintain relationships with children that foster trust and encourage autonomy and initiative.
Interactions should be as much of what we plan for as the materials and experiences themselves. Built into every curriculum plan should be thoughts about how the teacher will:
• Create a sense of safety and trust
• Acknowledge children’s autonomy
• Foster a growth mindset
• Extend learning through open-ended statements and conversations
Reflect back on Chapter 3 - The Teacher’s Role and the importance of establishing and maintaining relationships to foster brain development. The concept of a “Neuro-Relational approach” will be present in the curriculum that we plan for young children.
Quality interactions will include:
• Valuing each child for who they are
• Finding something special and positive about each child
• Maintaining a positive attitude
• Finding time each day to interact and make a connection with every child
• Respecting children’s opinions and ideas
• Being present for children
• Reflecting back what they say and do
• Listening to listen hear rather than respond
• Creating a warm and welcoming environment
• Being consistent as a means of establishing trust
• Focusing on the process
• Focusing on what children CAN do rather than what they can’t do YET
• Including families as valuable team members (for more information refer to Chapter 8 – Relating to Families)
• Understanding and respecting each child’s individual and group culture
Pause to Reflect
Do these make sense to you? Are there others? Which will be easiest for you? Most difficult? Why?
Communication goes hand in hand with interaction. Being aware of what we are saying and how we are saying it is crucial in establishing and maintaining relationships. Positive communication includes:
Nonverbal:
• Get down to children’s level
• Observe
• Be present
• Listen
• Understand
• Use positive facial expressions
• Look interested
• Smile
Verbal:
• Be aware of the tone and volume of your voice
• Speak slowly and clearly
• Use facial expressions and body movements that match your words
• Give choices and share control
• Focus on the positive
• Describe what you are doing as children are watching
• Model appropriate language
• Reflect back what children are saying
• Have conversations with multiple exchanges
• Consider close vs. open-ended questions and statements
The type of questions you ask will elicit different responses. Sometimes we want a direct answer while most of the time we want to generate deeper thinking to promote learning. Consider each of the questions below regarding the color blue:
• “Are you wearing blue today”?
• “What color are your pants”?
• “Tell me all the things you see that are blue”
Each will point out that the child’s pants are blue, but in very different ways.
Figure \(3\): The question continuum [77]
Considering what type of thinking we want to promote enables us to create questions and statements that spark that knowledge. Thinking is often broken down into two types:
• Convergent thinking – emphasizes coming up with one correct response; “converging” on the “right” answer.
• Divergent thinking – emphasized generating multiple responses, brainstorming and “thinking outside the box”; “diverging” into different ways of thinking and answering.
Both can be valuable as children develop and learn. Often starting with divergent questions and then following up with convergent questions allows for broad thinking that can then be narrowed down.
Pause to Reflect
How might you use these communication strategies in your planning, implementing, and reviewing/assessing curriculum for children?
Vignette
Teacher Odom sets up a play dough table with ingredients to make dough and materials to use after it is made. He lets the children know that he will be there if anyone wants to join him. Three children hurry over and he greets each of them and says, “I’m so happy you decided to join. Let’s get started”. He shows them the recipe and encourages them to decide how to proceed. They take turns adding the ingredients and he shows patience and interest as they take the lead, asking open-ended questions along the way, “What will we do next?” “What do you think will happen?” and facilitating conversations. He points out each of their contributions along the way and focuses on the processes they are using rather than the finished product. He encourages them to interact with each other, “Wow, look at how B did that” and “Isn’t it interesting how you both added flour but you did it so differently”. Other children come to join and he encourages the original three to find ways to include them. When the dough is complete, the children use a variety of rolling pins, cookie cutters, and dull plastic knives to play with it. He continues expressing his interest, by commenting on how each child is using the materials and asks open-ended questions to foster deeper learning.
Pause to Reflect
What are some ways the teacher fostered interactions with children to enhance their trust, encourage their autonomy and initiative, and foster thinking and learning?
Pause to Reflect
Going back to Table 6.1 on Development and Learning, can you find skills from each of the categories that the children would be enhancing? How do interactions help foster these skills?
In Chapter 4 (Observation and Assessment) we discussed the importance of using our observational skills to get to know the individual children we are planning for. We introduced the Cycle of Reflection, which begins with observing, documenting, and interpreting so that you can plan, implement and evaluate appropriate interactions and experiences that make sense and meet the needs of the particular children we are working with. Below we will take a deeper look at the ways we use our observational data and interpretations. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.8%3A_Interactions.txt |
As with most endeavors, we are more effective when we plan curriculum ahead of time. This helps us to be prepared and to adjust our ideas to be flexible as the children engage with what we have planned.
Reasons to plan:
• Make sure our plans meet the needs, interests, and abilities of the children
• Make sure we understand the learning and development that will occur
• Make sure we have all the materials we will need
• Make sure we know where in the environment to set up
• Make sure we know how to set up
• Make sure we know how to encourage children to participate
• Make sure we have thought through behavioral issues that might arise and how to handle them
• Make sure we have thought through the interactions that will take place
• Make sure we know how we will encourage the children to clean up
• Make sure we know how we might gather observational notes
• Make sure we have thought through how we might document and share this experience with parents or others.
Pause to Reflect
Do these make sense to you? Are there others?
If we have planned thoroughly and thoughtfully, it allows us to implement our plans and to reflect on them afterward, using that information for future planning.
Often referred to as the Plan - Do (implement) - Review (evaluate) cycle, this type of approach allows us to continuously provide the most effective curriculum to the young children in our care.
Figure \(1\): Plan Do Review Cycle
Chapter 7 (Learning Environments), will discuss early childhood daily routines in more detail. For now, let us consider that most programs are broken down into segments of the day, beginning with the arrival of the children and ending with their departure. Teachers will plan for all segments of the day, both inside and outside, which might include:
• Arrival and Departure
• Small group time
• Large group time
• Centers
• Child initiated play
• Nutrition (snack, lunch,…)
• Self-help (washing hands, toileting, napping,…)
• Transitions between all segments of the day
• Others as each program dictates
One of the best planning strategies is to use a written format. Sometimes we plan one activity or experience on a single form. Other times we plan for multiple experiences on the same form. New teachers are often encouraged to plan each activity separately at first until they feel comfortable with the process.
Reasons for a written plan:
• Keeps things in order
• Assures everything is thought through and not forgotten
• Can be referred to as needed throughout the process
• Can be shared with others
• Documents planning for record-keeping purposes
• Can be saved to be repeated or modified without having to start from scratch
Pause to Reflect
Do these make sense to you? Are there others?
When planning it can be helpful to know that certain terms are used in a variety of ways by various programs. Because this chapter is written for a diverse group of future early childhood educators, we will use these terms interchangeably so that you are ready for the vocabulary used wherever you may work.
Some of the terms most frequently used to represent the “goings-on” you will plan for are:
• Lesson
• Activity
• Learning Experience
• Curriculum
• Teaching Moment
While they may have slightly different “official” meanings, they overlap in our field and can all be found to begin with a plan based on children’s interests and needs, implemented according to the plan (with modifications as they occur), and reviewed/evaluated afterward through reflection to assess and build upon for the future.
Below are examples of generic planning forms (used later in other ECE courses at College of the Canyons). You will see planning for a specific activity and planning for the entire day. For each there will is a blank version and a sample version. The programs you work in will each have their own unique method and planning forms, but most will include some, if not all, of the information included here.
Blank Example Planning Form for Specific Activity
CURRICULUM / ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Title / Description:
Resources (Where did you learn about this activity) :
Reason(s) for Curriculum Plan (justify by considering developmental milestones, learning domains, observations in your assigned children’s classroom, and your knowledge of child development, milestones, word picture handout & DAP that guided your decision to implement this particular activity)
Ages of Children: Number of Children:
Location:
Segment of Daily Routine:
Materials Needed (be specific-quantities, color, book and song titles, etc.)
Implementation / Directions (List step-by-step as if the implementation could be replicated without you; include set up and clean up, involving children whenever possible. Step-by-step description of learning activities with specific detail.) Describe step-by-step what the children will be doing.
Now describe your role. Your guidance supports a maximum learning environment. Flexibility and supporting the child’s process is vital. Questions to ask yourself: How will you introduce the activity? How will you engage the children? What will you be doing/saying? What is your role during the activity ? What open-ended questions will you be using? Please include a minimum of 3 open-ended questions for your activity.
Specific ways this activity will facilitate development:
Physical:
a)
b)
Cognitive:
a)
b)
Language:
a)
b)
Social/Emotional:
a)
b)
Creative:
a)
b)
Behavioral Considerations (Plan ahead…what issues might arise/what strategies might help) :
a)
b)
c)
Documentation How will you collect and display the development listed above? (documentation board, classroom book, PowerPoint, Prezi, creative ideas, etc.):
Webbing Ideas ( List at least 5 activities to extend the learning into other areas; try to include one appropriate use of technology):
Modifications to include ALL children (developmental delays, disabilities, cultural and linguistic diversities, etc.):
a)
b)
c)
Inclusion of Parents/Families:
Other Notes/Considerations:
Sample Planning Form for Specific Activity
CURRICULUM / ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Developed by: Suzie Student
Title/Description: Nature Scavenger Hung
Resources (Where did you learn about this activity)
Mr.Bossman, my mentor teacher implemented this activity with his class. Book Resource: Nature Fun Curriculum Guide , by I.B. Squirrly, Acorn Press, 2019
Reason(s) for Curriculum Plan (justify by considering developmental milestones, learning domains, observations in your assigned children’s classroom, and your knowledge of child development, milestones, word picture handout & DAP that guided your decision to implement this particular activity)
As the season is changing, several children have commented on observations they are making in nature (leaves are falling, colors are changing, weather,…). They have been showing a lot of interest in books related to nature. They are also bringing in items they are finding on the ground in their homes or community (pinecones, sticks, leaves…)
Ages of Children: 4 Number of Children: 20 (entire class)
Location: outside on the yard
Segment of Daily Routine: outside time
Materials Needed (be specific-quantities, color, book and song titles, etc.) (NAEYC Standard 1c):
• list of items (pics & words)
• items on list
• pen and paper for recording responses
• nature chart or book for researching items
• bags to put items in if requested
Implementation / Directions (List step-by-step as if the implementation could be replicated without you; include set up and clean up, involving children whenever possible. Step-by-step description of learning activities with specific detail.) Describe step-by-step what the children will be doing.
Begin by welcoming the group and letting them know how happy we are they have joined us. Invite children to assist in finding some objects. Divide children into small groups and give each group 1 scavenger hunt list. Encourage the children to find the objects on the list. Remind children of the behavioral expectations for the activity.
Now describe your roleYour guidance supports a maximum learning environment. Flexibility and supporting the child’s process is vital. Questions to ask yourself: How will you introduce the activity? How will you engage the children? What will you be doing/saying? What is your role during the activity ? What open-ended questions will you be using? Please include a minimum of 3 open-ended questions for your activity.
Encourage children to explore colors, shapes, textures, sizes,…. Encourage children to discuss among themselves how items are the same and how they are different and why they fit into a chosen category. As children engage in the activity, write down their statements for future documentation. Use open-ended questions to stimulate discussion and reflect children’s statements and ideas to other children. For clean up encourage each group to but their collections inside for a future art activity.
Specific ways this activity will facilitate development: (NAEYC Standard 5a)
Physical:
a) fine motor as they pick up objects
b) gross motor as they bend, reach, walk,…
Cognitive:
a) classification as they sort by size, texture, color,…
b) number as they count their items
Language:
a) listening (receptive) as they listen to each other
b) talking (expressive) as they discuss their items with each other
Social/Emotional:
a) group skills such as taking turns, waiting, listening to others
b) sense of accomplishment as they find items and solve problems that arise
Creative:
a) flexibility and fluency as they stretch thinking and shift from one idea to another
b) using self as a resource as they tap into themselves to find objects and define them
Behavioral Considerations (Plan ahead…what issues might arise/what strategies might help)
a) not wanting to participate – observation is a form of participation so if they would rather do something else and just watch, that is fine. If we make it fun, enough they will want to join in.
b) frustration about not finding item – when setting up, go through the list and make sure that all items are available and visible. If not, place items there. This should accommodate the issue, but it is also all right for children to be frustrated and work through it, so if it happens I would encourage them to breathe, tell me why they are frustrated, and then problem-solve ways to feel better.
c) children not sharing or participating as a group – be prepared to help facilitate group interactions and the “give and take” of relationships. All children should have opportunities to lead and to follow .
Documentation How will you collect and display the development listed above? (documentation board, classroom book, PowerPoint, Prezi, creative ideas, etc.)
Using the pen and paper (and photos if possible), I will write down what children said and did. I will place clipboard with those notes on the parent board, along with the following:
Today we went on a Nature Scavenger Hunt on the yard. Several children had been expressing an interest in the changes they are noticing in nature so we built upon this interest. As they explored they developed the following skills:
Physical:
a) fine motor as they pick up objects
b) gross motor as they bend, reach, walk,…
Cognitive:
a) classification as they sort by size, texture, color,…
b) number as they count their items
Language:
a) listening (receptive) as they listen to each other
b) talking (expressive) as they discuss their items with each other
Social/Emotional:
a) group skills such as taking turns, waiting, listening to others
b) sense of accomplishment as they find items and solve problems that may arise
Creative:
a) flexibility and fluency as they stretch thinking and shift from one idea to another
b) using self as a resource as they tap into themselves to find objects and define them
Here are some of the things they said and did. Be sure to ask your child about it and expand at home if you have the opportunity! We can’t wait to hear what you come up with!
Webbing Ideas (List at least 5 activities to extend the learning into other areas; try to include one appropriate use of technology) (NAEYC Standard 5a)
1. Reading books on nature
2. Art / Painting with leaves and/or a nature collage
3. Cognitive / Additional sorting, classifying, graphing, nature lotto, etc.
4. Dramatic Play / Magnifying glasses, tree branches, nature collection bags (inside and / or outside)
5. Group Time/ Related songs, stories, movement activities
6. Snack Time / Sorting and classifying Trail Mix
Modifications to include ALL children (developmental delays, disabilities, cultural and linguistic diversities, etc.) (NAEYC Standard 4b, 4d & 5c)
a) have plastic gloves for children who may not like to sensory experiences of touching objects
b) create the list in English as well as the other languages used in the classroom
c) have pictures for each listed item for children who cannot yet read or who have a hearing impairment.
Inclusion of Parents/Families
1. Encourage parents to join us on the walk (help them understand how to facilitate the children’s exploration rather than finding and gathering the items themselves)
2. Encourage parents who know a language other than English to include that language on the list
3. Using the documentation, encourage families to extend the hunt to their homes and share what they did
Other Notes / Considerations:
• Consider the weather, as an alternative, set up inside or wait
• Extend the activity with a nature collage activity later in the day on a large piece of contact paper that can be added to over the next few days.
Blank Example Daily Planning Form
Daily Lesson Plan
Date:
Class:
Segment / Time
Activity with Brief Description
Materials & Considerations
Purpose / Learning / Development
Intentional Interactions & Conversations
Notes / Other
Add additional rows as needed
Sample Daily Planning Form
Daily Lesson Plan
Date:
Class:
Segment / Time
Activity with Brief Description
Materials & Considerations
Purpose / Learning / Development
Intentional Interactions & Conversations
Notes / Other
ARRIVAL
9:00 am
-Greet parents and children
-Health check
-Familiarity with families
-Positive start to day
-Smooth transition from home to school
-Connecting with families
-Sense of belonging
-Basic health check
-Get down to children’s level
-Watch non-verbal language
-Be present
-“welcome”, “So glad to see you”, “You look…”
-Check with teacher to see how parents should be addressed
GREETING
CIRCLE
9:10 am
-Sing good morning song
-Discuss activities for the day
-CD
-CD Player – cue up song ahead of time & check it is working
-Carpet squares for children to sit on, placed in semi-circle as they arrive
-samples or pictures of activities
_be sure to know activities ahead of time
-Listening and speaking skills
-Social skills (waiting, learning about peers,…)
-Spatial relations (staying on carpet)
-Problem solving (making choices)
-Be sure each child can see
-Sit at their level
-Give children time to respond
-Validate each child’s comments
-Notice positive behavior
-Encourage children to correct inaccurate words or tunes
-Discuss behavior strategies with teacher prior
-Know activities
-Know words to song
CENTERS
9:20 -10:15
ART: Bingo marker painting
SCIENCE: Ooblick
ART: colored bingo markers, large coffee filters…place on table and encourage children to create
SCIENCE: mix cornstarch and water in tub. Encourage children to wash their hands and then join in exploration. Add spoons, small rocks, and food color to mixture as desired.
-Foster creativity
-Sense of self
-Curiosity & problem solving
-Fine motor skills
-Social skills
-Spatial relations (on, in, …)
-Allow children to do their own work
-“tell me about”, “you are working really hard on that”
-Refer children to other children
-“How does that feel?”
-“What are some ideas?”
“How could you solve that?”
“Interesting”
Keep in mind E’s sensory issues and provide rubber gloves or place materials in baggie if needed.
CLEAN UP
10:15
Transition warning and cleaning up classroom
Transition warning:
5 minutes until clean up time,
2 minutes until clean up time
Finish up what you are doing
Sing clean up song
-Self help skills
-Fine & gross motor
-Cognitive – time, matching, spatial,
-Sense of pride
-Sense of collaboration & community
“What will you clean up first”
“Do you want to put away this or this”
“You do one and then I will do one”
“When we are done we can have snack
-Be sure to watch clock
-Speak loudly
-Follow through
-Discuss strategies with teacher prior
SNACK
10:20
-Wash hands and sit at table
-Fruit Kabobs
-Place “skewers” (skinny straws) and fruit on table on platters
-Encourage children to make kabobs and then eat them
-Health & nutrition
-Fine motor skills
-Language skills (listen and discuss)
-Cognitive (categorize, label,…)
-Sit with children
-Informally extend discussions on fruit, colors, textures,…
-Check for allergies
OUTSIDE
10: 40 – 11:30
-After snack transition outside
-OBSTACLE COURSE
-STORY STATION
-at end transition inside
Encourage children to participate if desired (if not, regular yard set up is available):
OBSTACLE COURSE: Balls, bean bags, targets, rope balance beam, chalk drawn path, hula hoop
STORY STATION: Books spread out on blanket under tree
- Gross motor skills
- Fine motor skills
-Eye hand coordination
-Balance
-Literacy
-Social with peers and adults
-Encourage collaboration
-Can you do it together”
“Who would you like to do it with”
-Sharing – “how will you decide who will have it first?’
-“You tried hard”
-“Let’s do it together”
-“Are there other ways to do it?’
-“How should we put them away?”
-Be sure teacher is outside at all times.
-Encourage children to use restroom before going out
-Have plan for obstacle course but be flexible based on children’s interests
-Create cozy area for stories
-Clean up transition at 11:30
CIRCLE
11:40
-Sit on carpet squares
-CLASS BOOK
- 3 BEARS RAP
-FAREWELL SONG
-Encourage children to sit on carpet
-CLASS BOOK: Adult starts “once upon a time” and then each child adds a sentence. Record on phone or chart paper and then transcribe later and add to book area
-3 BEARS RAP – encourage children to participate in song and movements (use CD if needed)
-Take 5 calming breaths
-FAREWELL SONG (use CD if needed)
-Literacy skills
-Taking turns
-Sequencing
-Gross and fine motor
-Keeping a steady beat
-Counting
-Transitioning
-Make sure everyone can see
-Speak clearly
-Show joy in their sentences
-Clarify before writing words down
-Notice and appreciate patience
-“you are waiting so nicely for your turn”
-“it’s hard to wait isn’t it?’
-“Feel your body getting calmer with your breaths”.
-“Think of your favorite thing today” (recap)
-As teacher or other team member to record story
-Know words and movements to songs
-Record teacher singing farewell song and practice
DEPARTURE
12:00
-Open door for parents
-Share highlights of day
-Debrief with teacher
-Check cubbies
-Transition from school to home
-Connecting with families
-Closure
-Smile and greet parents
-Encourage children to share favorite part of day.
-Be sure to let teacher know of any issues
-Reflect on day with team & celebrate!
Pause to Reflect
Do the example written planning forms make sense to you? What might you add or delete from the blank forms? Why?
What to plan
There are many resource websites and books with ideas to spark your initial planning. The best way to consider what to plan comes from the children. Always take into account WHO you are planning for and WHY you are planning. The rest will follow. In your ECE 104 Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education course, you will be presented with many considerations regarding what to plan. For now, the following is a general list to follow:
Considerations for planning:
• Consider both the group and individual children; be inclusive of all
• Know their interests
• Know their ability levels
• Focus on what they CAN do; start with where they are
• Understand your resources (time, materials, location,…)
• Understand development of the ages and stages you are planning for
• Plan for the “whole” child
• Know your goals and objectives
• Integrate curriculum and plan for all types of play
• Consider the families, communities and cultures represented
• Include others in the planning process when possible (colleagues, families, children)
• Plan ahead of time how to transition to the next segment of the day
• Jot down quick notes to refer to later when you reflect
• Don’t worry if it doesn’t go exactly as you planned, that’s expected
• Enjoy yourself and the children, remember “this is the fun part”
Pause to Reflect
Do these implementation suggestions make sense to you? What might you add or delete from the suggestions? Why?
Another consideration will be how you will implement the activities you plan. There are several different teaching methods to think about and most teachers will balance various strategies throughout the day:
-- High Context
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-- Low Context
Child Directed – child introduces and directs activity
Child Demonstrated – child demonstrates while teacher observes
Assist – child explores and teacher provides minimal assistance
Scaffold – child attempts and teacher provides guided support as needed
Co-Construct – child and teacher or child and child work collaboratively
Teacher Demonstrated – teacher demonstrates while child observes
Teacher Directed – teacher introduces and directs activity
Figure \(2\): The continuum of child-directed to teacher-directed. [78]
There is also a variety of experiences to consider:
• Structured – planned, organized lesson following steps
• Informal – planned and introduced and then takes shape as children participate
• Naturalistic – emerges organically from the children with no formal plan
Again, teachers balance these types of experiences throughout the day, based on the children they work with, the environment and the activities themselves.
Pause to Reflect
Which teaching strategies do you feel most comfortable with? Why? Can you see times when you might use each of them? | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/06%3A_Curriculum_Basics/6.9%3A_Planning.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Understand various program types, delivery systems, quality standards, licensing and regulation structures in early childhood settings.
• Define and describe the difference between the physical, social, and temporal environments of an early learning program
• Describe why a well-designed physical, social, and temporal environment benefits young children
07: Creating an Effective Learning Environment
The following NAEYC Standard for Early Childhood Professional Preparation addressed in this chapter:
Standard 1: Promoting child development and learning
Standard 4: Using Developmentally Effective Approaches with Children and Families
Standard 5: Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum
7.02: New Page
The following competencies are addressed in this chapter:
• Child Development and Learning
• Culture, Diversity, and Equity
• Family and Community Engagement
• Health, Safety, and Nutrition
• Learning Environments and Curriculum
• Observation, Screening, Assessment, and Documentation
• Relationships, Interaction, and Guidance
• Special Needs and Inclusion
• Family and Community Engagement
7.03: New Page
The following elements of the code are touched upon in this chapter:
Section I: Ethical Responsibilities to Children
Ideals: – I-1.1, I-1.2, I-1.5, I-1.8, I-1.11
Principles: P-1.1, P-1.2, P-1.7, P-1.11
Section II: Ethical Responsibilities to Families
Principles: P-2.1, P-2.2
Section IV: Ethical Responsibilities to Community and Society
Ideals: I-4.1 (individual), I-4.6
7.04: New Page
As we have learned in previous chapters, developing relationships, as well as understanding the developmental stages and individual interests and skills of children is crucial to effective teaching. This is accomplished through interactions and both informal and formal observations with the children in our care. This information will form the cornerstone of what is called “curriculum”, which includes both the planned and unplanned experiences that occur throughout the day. While you will devote an entire course to understanding curriculum in ECE 104 (Introduction to Curriculum in Early Childhood), we will visit some of the basic concepts below.
Quotable
“A great classroom environment comes from the heart, not the wallet. It’s built on love, laughter, and a feeling that everyone belongs.” -venspired.com
7.05: New Page
The environment affects every aspect of how children develop and learn and how teachers teach. In the article Inspired by Reggio Emilia: Emergent Curriculum in Relationship-Driven Learning Environments , Mary Ann Biermeier summarizes Loris Malaguzzi’s concept of the third teacher:
“…the environment plays a central role in the process of making learning meaningful. So important was this notion, that Malaguzzi defined the environment as the third teacher (Gandini 2011). Malaguzzi’s third teacher is a flexible environment, responsive to the need for teachers and children to create learning together. Fostering creativity through the work of young hands manipulating objects or making art, it is an environment that reflects the values we want to communicate to children. Moreover, the classroom environment can help shape a child’s identity as a powerful player in his or her own life and the lives of others. To foster such an environment, teachers must go deeper than what is merely seen at eye level and develop a deep understanding of the underlying principles and of children’s thinking, questions, and curiosities.” [81]
7.10: Evaluating the Environment
Once you have created your ideal early learning environment, it is suggested that you evaluate it on an on-going basis to make sure it is continuously meeting the needs of the children using it. A tool that is used extensively to assess and evaluate childcare programs is the Environment Rating Scales (ERS). The Environment Rating Scales were designed to offer guidelines for high-quality practices. According to ERS, a quality program must provide for the three basic needs all children have:
• Protection of their health and safety
• Building positive relationships
• Opportunities for stimulation and learning from experience
The ERS further states, that “no one component is more or less important than the others, nor can one substitute for another. It takes all three to create quality care. Each of the three basic components of quality care manifests itself in tangible forms in the program's environment, curriculum, schedule, supervision, and interaction, and can be observed.” [108]
There are 4 Environment Rating Scales depending on the type of program being assessed:
• The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale
• Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale
• School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale
• Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale
The ECERS scales consists of 35 items organized into 6 subscales:
• Space and Furnishings
• Personal Care Routines
• Language and Literacy
• Learning Activities
• Interaction
• Program Structure
You will learn more about this tool in ECE 103 (Observation and Assessment), but for further exploration now you can visit https://www.ersi.info | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/07%3A_Creating_an_Effective_Learning_Environment/7.01%3A_New_Page.txt |
Pause to Reflect
Can the environment influence a child’s behavior? Take a moment to reflect on the following scenarios:
1. In an infant room where some of the children are walking and some are not, teachers have placed the immobile babies on soft blankets in the middle of the room. Activities for the mobile children are placed on the outside areas of the space. As the children waddle from one experience to another they step on the babies on the blankets.
2. A group of children is in the block area building some tall structures. “TIMBER!” one child shouts out loud, while the other 4 children clap their hands. The teacher looks at her watch and without a transition warning, the teacher yells “clean up time.” The children run to another area.
3. There are 2 children at the easel boards painting. One child is waiting for her turn and says, “PLEASE hurry up – I’ve been waiting a long time.” As one child is finishing her artwork, she drops some paint and the paintbrush on the floor and leaves it there. With paint on her hands, she holds her hands up high and walks all the way across the classroom to the bathroom to wash her hands, tracking a little paint along the way. The girl who was waiting picks up the paintbrush and begins to paint – she too steps in the paint on the floor. The teacher quickly grabs a towel and begins to wipe up the floor and sternly asks the children to please be careful.
What environmental changes might you make?
As demonstrated in the scenarios, a poorly arranged physical setting, transitions that are not well planned, and quick teacher responses can trigger challenging behaviors. Both teachers and children can become frustrated. By altering floor plans, planning for each segment of the day, and thinking through the communication and interactions we will have with children, we can avoid many challenging behaviors.
All three aspects of the environment; physical space, social-emotional tone, and routine can affect children’s behavior. The environment sends very powerful messages about how to behave and feel.
Below is a chart of environmental modifications we can make to minimize certain behaviors by Dodge, Colker, and Heroman. [109]
Table \(1\): Environmental Modifications to Minimize Behaviors
Behavior
Possible Causes
Changes to the Environment
Running in the classroom
Too much space is open; the room is not divided into small enough areas; activity areas are not well defined.
Use shelves and furniture to divide the space. Avoid open spaces that encourage children to run.
Fighting over toys
Too many popular toys are one-of-a-kind; children are asked to share too often.
Provide duplicates of toys. Show children when it will be their turns (e.g., use a sand timer or help children create a waiting list for turns).
Wandering around, inability to choose activities
The room is too cluttered; choices are not clear; there is not enough to do, too much time.
Get rid of clutter. Simplify the layout of the room and materials. Add more activity choices. Revisit schedule.
Becoming easily distracted; not staying with a task
Areas are undefined and open; children can see everything going on in the room; materials are too difficult or children are bored with them.
Use shelves to define areas. Separate noisy and quiet areas. Assess children’s skills and select materials they can use in interesting ways.
Continually intruding on other’s workspace
Space is limited; poor traffic patterns prevent children from spreading out.
Define work areas for children (e.g., use masking tape or sections of cardboard for block building, and provide trays or placemats for toys). Limit the number of areas open at one time to allow more space for each.
Misusing materials and resisting clean up
Children do not know how to use materials appropriately; materials on shelves are messy; the displays are disorderly.
Make a place for everything. Use picture and word labels to show where materials go. Provide consistent guidance on how to clean up.
Pause to Reflect
The chart above focuses on the effect the physical environment has on behavior. Can you think of ways the social-emotional and temporal environments affect behavior as well?
7.12: In Closing
The physical spaces, the tone we set, and the routines we follow will have a major impact on the children we work with. By planning based on their ages and stages, individual strengths and family, cultural and community backgrounds we can create warm, secure spaces where children can engage in all types of learning through play, take safe risks, and maximize their learning and development.
The environment is certainly a strong influence on a child’s experiences in our program; considered the “third teacher” with all that it offers. In the next and final chapter of this book, we will explore the child’s “first teacher”, the family, and the ways that we can collaborate to make the most of a child’s learning experiences between the child’s two most important worlds, home and school. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/07%3A_Creating_an_Effective_Learning_Environment/7.11%3A_Behavior_affected_by_environments.txt |
According to the California Preschool Program Guidelines (2015) “The teacher’s intentional design of the learning environment increases opportunities for children to have engaging and meaningful interactions with adults and peers. Along with interactions, instruction, learning activities, and routines, the learning environment is a central part of preschool teachers’ planning and implementation of curriculum (p. 120). [82] Therefore, when an intentional teacher is setting up the learning environment, we need to consider a combination of conditions. More specifically, we think about three key aspects: the physical environmentsocial-emotional environment, and temporal environment (Gordon and Browne, 2016). [83] We will examine each component more carefully as we read on.
Table 7.1: Relationship between Development and Learning
Component
Description
Physical Environment
How the physical space is designed and laid out, both inside and outside. This includes the learning centers/areas, furniture and equipment, and materials.
Social-Emotional Environment
The interactions and relationships between children, teachers, and family members.
Temporal Environment
The flow of time, including the timing, sequence, and length of routines and activities throughout the day.
Because developing relationships are at the core of our practices, Dodge, Colker, and Heroman’s The Creative Curriculum recommends we begin by thinking about the messages we send in our programs.
Quotable
“Teachers who are aware of the power of the environment arrange their space purposefully to convey the messages they want children to receive.”
-Creative Curriculum
They recommend that we focus on embedding these positive messages:
• “This is a good place to be.”
• “You belong here.”
• “This is a place you can trust.”
• “There are places where you can be by yourself when you want.”
• “You can do many things on your own here.”
• “This is a safe place to explore and try your ideas.” [84]
Let’s Take a Closer Look at the Physical Environment
The term physical environment refers to the overall layout of the indoor and outdoor space that children and teachers will use - this includes the furniture and equipment, the materials and centers, the entryway and walkways, and even the lighting, floor and ground covering, and wall decor. As suggested by the California Preschool Program Guidelines (2015), “High-quality indoor and outdoor learning environments set the stage for social-emotional exploration and growth. When we present children with a friendly, inviting, and culturally familiar environment, they feel comfortable and secure (pp.172-3). [85] In other words, the physical environment sends a clear message to children and their families that they matter, and that their safety and well-being are valued.
Designing Physical Environment
Designing a functional floor plan requires careful thought. Teachers usually want to create an aesthetically appealing space that is safe, comfortable, and practical. They need to work within the parameters of the age levels of the children they will serve, the building and outdoor space they have at hand, the cultural context of the families and community, and the regulations they must adhere to, such as those of Title 22.
Figure \(1\): Written floor plan [86]
Figure \(2\): Graphic floor plan [87]
Creating a functional written floor plan of the inside and outside space is a valuable starting place. The same principles that applied to planning curriculum will apply to planning spaces. Having a written plan allows us to frame our thoughts and ideas and to modify them easily. Some teachers prefer to sketch on paper while others prefer a digital approach. Once we have a general sketch of the space, we can:
• Refer to the description of the ages and stages that will be in the space to get a better understanding of what development we are planning for. Begin with a broad plan since we usually do not know individual children yet. As we get to know them, we modify as needed.
• Consider the community and cultural context of our families and be sure to reflect that in our design.
• Think about safety and health concerns.
• Consider the large pieces of furniture and equipment that may not be easily moved.
• Consider the types of play and exploration that will take place and plan areas for each.
• Consider the materials needed for these areas and how they will be stored and made available to children.
• Consider transitions between areas.
• Consider lighting, flooring, ground cover, bulletin boards, etc.
Teacher Tip
“Get down on your knees to view the space from a child’s perspective. This practice helps teachers create an aesthetically appealing space at the children’s eye-level. Also, to ensure safety, stand in every corner of the classroom to scan the room for visibility. As noted in Title 22, for proper supervision, children must be visible to their teachers at all times, teachers should likewise be visible to their children. [88]
Figure \(3\): Early Childhood Indoor Environment [89]
Setting Up Learning Centers, Play Spaces, and Other Areas
As you begin to set up what you have planned, you might want to ask yourself some of these questions:
• Does the entryway look attractive and feel welcoming?
• Is there a family board to keep families informed and included?
• Is there an individual space for each child to keep belongings?
• How is the lighting?
• How does it smell?
• Are the active spaces away from the quiet spaces to maintain a reasonable noise level?
• Is there a cozy space where children can have privacy and a place to rest and recharge?
• Are all the developmental domains represented – Physical, Cognitive, Language, Social, Emotional, Spiritual?
• Are the materials age-appropriate and are there enough materials available?
• Is the space well organized and not overwhelming or chaotic?
• Are there clear pathways to the exits in case of an emergency?
• Are outlets covered, hand washing available and other safety concerns addressed?
• Would I want to be here as a child? Would I want my child here as a parent?
To set the stage for exploration and learning there are a variety of activity areas that will interest the children and promote all types of play to foster development and learning. To support the development of the whole child, the preschool framework suggests the following learning centers to consider both inside and outside:
• Art
• Blocks
• Dramatic Play
• Library and Literacy
• Math
• Science and Nature
• Music and Movement
• Computer Lab
Additional areas to incorporate when setting up your environment may include:
• Eating Area
• Gathering Area or Circle Time Space
• Bathroom and Sink
• Kitchen Area or Food Prep Space
• Space to rest
(Note: Before you set up your environment, you will want to review the regulations as outlined in California’s Community Care Licensing Division. Title 22 stipulates the health and safety standards for licensed early childhood programs- including square footage requirements for indoor and outdoor environments.)
Furniture and equipment to consider:
• Child-size tables and chairs
• Adult-sized chairs
• Cubbies for personal belongings
• Shelves
• Storage containers for materials
• Materials and props
• Throw rugs, Carpets and blankets
• Safety mats
• Trash cans
• First Aid
Figure \(4\): Infant indoor environment [90]
While most of the suggestions listed above can be used for every age group, the number and types of materials will vary depending on the ages and stages of the children we are planning for.
Pause to Reflect
How might you modify the suggestions above for various age groups?
1. Infant
2. Toddler
3. Preschool
4. School-age
When arranging your centers and spaces here are some tips:
• Design spaces for children to work and play independently or in small groups.
• Set up an area where the class can gather together as a community.
• Consider the number and size of centers. Make sure there are enough materials for children to be engaged in without being crowded and to minimize long wait times.
• Incorporate a management system that regulates how many children can be in a center at one time.
• Label your centers and spaces and include photos.
• Materials should be age appropriate and readily available to the children.
• Keep in mind that everything that is done inside can be set up outside as well.
• Because children respond positively to nature, outdoors is a perfect opportunity to promote all types of play, promoting exploration, development, and learning.
Figure \(5\): Preschool Outside Environment [91]
A Bit More About the Outdoors
A variety of equipment can be purchased to expand children’s experiences outside, although a large budget is not required to create high quality outdoor spaces for young children. Programs may choose to provide a playground made of natural materials to immerse children in nature as well.
The following describe high quality outdoor spaces for children
• There is adequate space for gross motor play.
• The space is easily accessible and well organized so activities do not interfere with one another.
• The following materials are included:
• Stationary equipment (such as swings, slides, climbing equipment).
• Portable equipment (such as wheeled toys, mats, jump ropes, bean bags, balls).
• Equipment that stimulates balancing, climbing, ball play, steering, tumbling, jumping, throwing, and pedaling.
• The equipment provides skill development at multiple levels.
• There is enough equipment that children do have to wait long to play
• The equipment is in good repair
• The equipment is appropriate for the age and ability of the children
• Adaptations are made for children with disabilities [92]
Teacher Tip
The article Heavily Decorated Classrooms Disrupt Attention and Learning (2014), suggests that “too much of a good thing may end up disrupting attention and learning in young children.” Children who spend a large portion of their day in highly decorated classrooms can be more distracted and spend less time on-task when compared to their counterparts who were in classrooms with minimal and organized décor.
To help reduce clutter on the walls, you can use documentation boards to showcase what your children are learning in your classroom. Select a specific activity that you will highlight. Showcase actual work samples along with quotes from the children and descriptions of the development and learning that took place. When children see their work on display, they can feel a sense of belonging and pride. Families feel a connection as they view what their children are doing in their second home. As you finish with each board you can collect them for future reference and memories
In addition to showcasing what children are experiencing, you may want to use some type of poster to display daily schedules, basic routines (e.g., hand washing), and diverse images of children and families, basic learning concepts, and classroom expectations. These types of visual aids can help young children adapt to their environment more efficiently.
Another strategy that can help children develop their independence is the use of labels. For example, in the block area, the teacher can laminate labels onto the shelf indicating where all the blocks belong. Labels may include photos, drawings, and words in the languages familiar to the children. This strategy not only keeps the center more organized; it also provides children with the opportunity to clean up with minimal directions or adult supervision and encourages the use of many cognitive and motor skills.
Family photos are another way to decorate walls in a meaningful way for children and families. Inviting each family to bring a photo (or taking them at the school) and posting them prominently brings a sense of belongingness and community to the environment. Don’t forget the teacher’s families too! [93]
Children construct their own knowledge about the world they live in. Therefore, as intentional teachers it is our job to give them the tools and resources that they will need to be successful as they explore, examine, investigate, interact, and problem solve. It is our job to set the stage. It is our job to ensure that each center has a purpose and that the physical environment provides enough space to invoke possibilities and opportunities for learning and safe risk taking. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/07%3A_Creating_an_Effective_Learning_Environment/7.6%3A_Key_Components_for_Creating_Early_Childhood_Environments.txt |
According to the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, “s ocial development refers to a child’s ability to create and sustain meaningful relationships with adults and other children, whereas, emotional development refers to a child’s ability to express, recognize, and manage his or her emotions, as well as respond appropriately to others’ emotions.” Not only is the social-emotional environment important for a child’s health and well-being, but it also provides a solid foundation for lifelong learning and interactions with others. [94]
A Closer Look at the Social Environment
The social environment is comprised of all the interactions that occur throughout the day. A well-designed social environment fosters trusting relationships by creating opportunities for children to interact with their peers and with their teachers. Effective teacher-child interactions are one of the most crucial ingredients for both social and whole child development. Experts in the field of early childhood education have long understood that effective teacher-child interactions are key predictors of student success.
Figure \(1\): Warm Interpersonal Interaction [95]
To create a classroom environment that supports positive social interactions Gordon and Browne (2016) suggest that teachers evaluate the quality of their interpersonal interactions. Take a moment to review the self-check questions.
Self-Check: Questions to ask yourself about your social-emotional environments
• Is there a feeling of mutual respect between the adults and children?
• Are the children interacting with one another?
• Am I modeling cooperative behavior?
• Am I planning activities that encourage peer interactions?
• What are my facial expressions, and what tone do I use when I talk to the children?
• Do I give genuine feedback and praise for their achievements?
• Am I spending quality time with all the children?
• When I’m feeling frustrated, do I take it out on the children?
• Do I allow the children to solve their own problems, or do I try to fix everything myself?
• When I need to talk to a child, do I get down to their level?
• Do I greet families with a smile and do I make an effort to connect with each family?
• At the end of the day when the child is being picked up, do I share a pleasant anecdote about the child’s day or do I focus only on challenging moments?
• Do I provide opportunities for the children to help with daily tasks?
• Do I have opportunities for families to volunteer and be involved? [96]
The Emotional Environment
Young children are just learning how to regulate their emotions and behaviors and they need your guidance and support. Exactly what kind of support can you give a child? Co-regulation is defined as warm and responsive interactions that provide children with the support, coaching, and modeling that they need to express their feelings, wants, needs, actions, and behaviors. Co-regulation is an interactive process where teachers must know when to step in and when to step back. Teachers must pay close attention to each child’s cues so that they can respond in a consistent and sensitive manner. [97]
To develop caring and responsive relationships with the children in your classroom, it is helpful to learn about each child’s unique temperament and communication styles, their likes and dislikes, their strengths, and the areas where they need further support. Only through on-going observation and documentation will you truly discover what makes each child so special.
Figure \(2\): Teacher displaying a warm interpersonal tone [98]
Once you know each child’s unique cues and personalities you will be able to address their individual needs and meet them where they are at developmentally. Additionally, you will be able to plan learning experiences that will help children develop their “self-regulation skills.” Self-regulation is having the ability to control your behavior, actions, and emotions in response to a particular situation. In other words, it’s having the power to calm yourself down when you get upset because things didn’t quite go your way. When children can share their toys with their friends, wait their turn to ride the bike, and can use their words to express their feelings, they are practicing self-regulation.
Take a moment to review the self-check questions and think about ways you can support a child’s emotional development.
Self-Check: Questions to ask yourself
• Are there cozy spaces for children to take a break?
• Are their puppets, dolls, and other activities that encourage children to express feelings?
• Do we sing songs and read book about feelings?
• Do I provide verbal prompts that help children express their wants and needs?
• Am I aware of each child’s temperament?
• Am I aware of my own feelings and reactions when I am stressed?
• Have I taught children effective strategies to help calm them down when upset?
Creating Your Social-Emotional Environment
Research suggests that for children to thrive, they must first have their “basic needs” met. These “basic needs” are highlighted in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Chapter 2 (Developmental and Learning Theories). Once a child feels safe, secure, loved, and that they belong, they will be ready to learn. As an intentional teacher, it is up to you to create a social and emotional climate where children are comfortable enough to develop meaningful relationships and safe enough to explore their environment. In the article, Creating an Emotional Safe Classroom, Dr. Bruce Perry states, “Optimal learning is driven by curiosity which leads to exploration, discovery, practice, and mastery. In turn, mastery leads to pleasure, satisfaction, and confidence to once again explore. The more a child experiences this cycle of wonder, the more they can create a lifelong excitement and love of learning.” [99]
A well-planned learning environment starts with you. When you create a positive social and emotional environment, children will feel secure. Once they feel secure and can trust that you will meet their needs, they will begin to explore the materials and interact with one another, and ultimately they will enjoy the environment you have prepared for them. Your classroom environment plays a critical role in helping children develop their social and emotional skills. Designing a welcoming classroom that promotes cooperation, mutual respect and tolerance will help children connect with you and with each other. To integrate responsive caregiving practices here are some teacher tips to help you set up an engaging social-emotional environment:
• Be responsive to children’s needs. To help children feel more confident and secure, first meet their basic needs. Provide each child with warm, caring interactions that can be later modeled.
• Provide Prompts. Partner with children to manage their feelings and frustrations. Give them the words to express their feelings and to solve their own problems.
• Use your positive personality as a teaching tool. Your smile, your voice, and your touch, along with direct eye contact can make children and their families feel safe and cared for.
• Be predictable. Establish clear expectations and follow through. Children need consistent boundaries and need to know they can count on you for guidance.
• Find time for quiet moments. Solitude allows the brain to "catch up" and process the new experiences of the day. This leads to better consolidation of new experiences and better teaming.
• Praise when possible. Confidence and pleasure come from success. Everyone succeeds at something. Those with challenging behaviors need to know they can be successful too. Be observant. As you watch and listen you will gather useful information about each child. Watch to see what the children are curious about: What types of activities interest them? How are they feeling? What are their pressure points? When you follow their cues and respond to their needs, you can then plan for meaningful learning opportunities.
• Celebrate diversity and help all children feel included. Encourage children to communicate and express themselves. At times, they may feel more comfortable using their home language, body movements, gestures, signs, or drawing a picture. Plan activities that provide opportunities for children to work together as partners or in small groups. Assign a buddy to assist children that are new to the program or that may be struggling to stay engaged and on task. Encourage families to share.
• Include both teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities. Teacher-initiated activities are planned and led by the teacher, while child-initiated activities are inspired by the children’s own interests and abilities. Materials are set out and children are encouraged to explore and create using their own ideas. [100] [101]
Pause to Reflect
How would you promote social-emotional well-being for each age group?
1. Infant
2. Toddler
3. Preschool
4. School-age
The skilled and intentional teacher creates a classroom climate that promotes cooperation, mutual respect, and tolerance. The Teaching Pyramid Framework for Supporting Social Competence provides a model for promoting social competence and preventing challenging behaviors. [102]
Figure \(3\): The Teaching Pyramid [103]
Pause to Reflect
How does “Spiritual Development” or the concept of “me-ness” and “you-ness” for children fit into the Social-Emotional environment?
Assessing Teacher Interactions
In ECE 103 (Observation and Assessment) you will look more closely at The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), developed at the University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning as an assessment tool to improve teacher-student interactions and, ultimately, enhance student development and learning. It is used in many early childhood programs to support teacher’s growth. The CLASS tool describes three broad categories focusing on the way teachers are providing emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support to meet the needs of the children they work with. The tool looks at the following:
Pause to Reflect
You are an important part of the social-emotional environment and you need to take time for you. Every job has stress factors and being an early childhood teacher is no different. To have the positive energy you will need to manage a classroom, you should find healthy outlets to help manage your own needs and emotions.
What do you do to manage stress and maintain your emotional well-being?
Experiment and discover what works for you. Ideally, you will be able to model these techniques to the children. By providing children with a calm, peaceful, and nurturing atmosphere they will feel safe and secure in their social-emotional environment. And, you will have peace of mind. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/07%3A_Creating_an_Effective_Learning_Environment/7.7%3A_Lets_Take_a_look_at_the_Social-Emotional_Environment.txt |
Quotable
The most precious resource we all have is time. How will we use it? - Steve Jobs
Before your head hit the pillow last night and you fell fast asleep, what did you do? Did you brush your teeth? Did you take a shower? Did you read a book, watch TV or listen to some music? Would you say what you did last night followed the same routine that you do every night or was it unusual? How do you feel when you follow a regular routine? How do you feel when life throws you a curveball and nothing is as it should be? Now, imagine how a child might feel if every day they had to adjust to a new routine; if they never knew what to expect from one day to the next. Imagine how a child might feel if there was a predictable pattern to follow and if they always knew what was coming next.
According to Gordon and Browne (2016), the temporal environment has to do with the scheduling, timing, sequence, and length of routines and activities that take place at home and at school. With predictable schedules, routines, and transitions there is a sense of safety security. With a steady schedule and regular routines, children will be able to adapt to their environment as well as adjust to a new situation that may arise much more quickly. It also frees them up to be able to focus on the task at hand rather than worrying about how much longer they have or what will come next. [104]
The terms routines and schedules are often used interchangeably. Schedules and routines are utilized in preschool classrooms to:
• Help guide the day.
• Communicate to everyone what is happening and when.
• Foster engagement.
• Meet the needs of children to explore, persist, and elaborate.
• Promote a safe and fun place to learn and grow.
Figure \(1\): An example schedule [105]
Some considerations about daily routines/schedules include:
• They are a series of behaviors that occur on a regular basis
• Expectations for routines need to be planned and then taught to children.
• Created for developing and learning
• The amount of time for each block will vary and should be flexible.
• Most early childhood program routines include:
• Arrival and Departure
• Group or circle time
• Activities
• Center or free choice time
• Snack time and meals
• Outdoor time
• Transitions between blocks of time
• They are sequenced – to create a flow of the day
• Choice should be incorporated whenever possible.
• They are balanced in terms of:
• Active/quiet
• Individual/small/large group
• Teacher-directed/child-initiated activities
• Noise level, pace, and location
• Teachers should be in tune with children’s needs and engagement and be flexible.
• Shorten or lengthen blocks of time as needed.
• Plan for transitions as carefully as the segments of the routine themselves.
• Posting a routine provides a visual reminder for children.
Figure \(2\): More examples of schedules and routines [106]
Incorporating Transitions into your Curriculum
Quotable
“Life is one big transition.” - Willie Stargell
Transition is another word for change, and change can be challenging. The biggest transition children will experience each day with you is arrival and dismissal, when they move from one of their most important life spaces to another.
All routines include transitioning from one segment to the next. Every transition affords the opportunity to flow smoothly from one experience into the next or to become chaotic and stressful for children and teachers alike. Planning for each transition during the day is as important as planning the experiences themselves. With careful planning and flexibility, we can help children leave their present moment gently and purposefully, moving to the next adventure that awaits them.
Teacher Tip: Planning for Transitions
• Make sure the children understand the routine and that they will move from segment to segment
• Give a warning at least 5 minutes before a big transition and then again as it approaches
• Be sure to let them know what is coming next
• Use clear signals (flashing lights, ringing a bell, singing a song, etc.) and keep it consistent for that segment each day.
• Establish clear expectations about clean up time and mealtime transitions.
• Have all daily materials prepped and ready before children arrive.
• Create a calm atmosphere during transitions.
• Make transitions fun with games of cleaning up, moving in different ways
• If possible eliminate or at least limit the amount of time children must wait between segments.
How does the Temporal Environment Benefit Children?
Each child in your class is unique. When you provide a structured schedule with predictable routines and consistent transitions, you are creating a safe and secure environment where all children can thrive. Be providing clear expectations, you will help children adjust to their surroundings, adapt to the daily schedule and routine, and feel more comfortable knowing what comes next. Once they are comfortable in their setting, children will socialize with their peers, and they will use materials in a more meaningful way. Additionally, when the daily routine is consistent and predictable children are more likely to:
• Feel more confident to explore, create and take risks
• Stay on task and complete activities
• Be more engaged in learning activities and play
• Gain a sense of belonging
• Develop autonomy and independence
• Play more cooperatively and have fewer incidents
Here a few reminders when setting up your temporal environment:
• Post two daily schedules: one for the children down at their eye level, and one for their families on the Family Board
• State clear expectations and provide positive reinforcement
• Review the schedule regularly and adjust as needed based on the needs of the children.
• Keep routines consistent however, be prepared to make changes if necessary.
• Include visuals prompts (photos) on your daily schedule so children can track their day.
7.9: Creating an Inclusive Environment
In an Executive Summary, the U.S. Department of Education and Health and Human Services (2015) defines inclusion in early childhood programs as “including children with disabilities in early childhood programs together with their peers without disabilities, holding high expectations and intentionally promoting participation in all learning and social activities, facilitated by individualized accommodations, and using evidence-based services and supports to foster their cognitive, communication, physical, behavioral, and social-emotional development; friendships with peers; and sense of belonging. This applies to all young children with disabilities, from those with the mildest disabilities to those with the most significant disabilities.” [107] When planning your environment, be mindful that some of your children might require some additional considerations to fully participate in all the scheduled activities, routines, and learning experiences.
Partnering with families, some accommodations for children with special needs might include:
• Provide schedules with pictures for children who need visual reminders of the daily sequence of activities.
• Be flexible with the schedule; allow children more time to complete transitions and activities as needed
• Have alternative activities for those children with medical conditions or physical impairments who might have less stamina and tire more easily across the day.
• Pair children up to help each other during transitions.
• Allow for regular breaks.
• Partner with families to coordinate the child’s daily schedule and routines, and to communicate progress.
• Modify chairs to meet children’s needs (you can use tennis balls on the bottom of the chair for noise control or to make the chairs slide more easily)
• Put carpet squares, cushions, or a tape line on the floor to indicate where children should sit or stand
• Modify materials to make them easier for children with motor difficulties to hold and use (e.g., using pencil grips, large knobs)
• Provide specialized equipment (e.g., built-up handled spoons, adaptive scissors) to help children be more independent
Pause to Reflect
Can you see how we might make accommodations for a certain child that might benefit other children or the entire group? All children have needs that are special and we plan for each to help them feel safe, comfortable, and included. | textbooks/socialsci/Early_Childhood_Education/Principles_and_Practices_of_Teaching_Young_Children_(Stephens_et_al.)/07%3A_Creating_an_Effective_Learning_Environment/7.8%3A_Lets_Take_a_Closer_Look_at_the_Temporal_Environment.txt |
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