Child Development Learning Styles

Child Development Learning Styles

Module 2 Assignment: Child Development, Learning Styles and Learning Taxonomies Teachers need to understand the preferred learning styles of their students, so they can take account of the information and modify their teaching as necessary. This more theoretical unit helps to develop knowledge and understanding, leading to application.Task 1

There are several staff joining your school/college who are new to the teaching profession. These staff will participate in an induction programme and receive a Teachers Handbook. As you are a more experienced teacher you have been asked to prepare materials for the Handbook.  In the materials you must:

Explain the importance of studying child development for a teacher

The knowledge about child development forms a basis for planning for best experiences appropriate for a given group of learners. Child developmental studies equip teachers with knowledge about the most appropriate experiences to expose learners of a certain age to (Rimm-Kaufman & Hamre, 2010). For instance, teachers should typically expose learners to vigorous social activities at the age of one year to help them to develop their language abilities.

Knowledge of child development helps a teacher to devise means of supporting the progress of children. It enables teachers to learn the sequence in skill and knowledge development in certain areas which helps teachers to set learning goals for children and help them to achieve them within the set timeframe (Rimm-Kaufman & Hamre, 2010). This limits the chances of a teacher frustrating the children with challenges that are beyond their scope. For example, at the age of four, a teacher should not expect children to draw perfect squares. He or she should, however, support them in achieving perfection as the skill should have been realized by the age of 7 years.

Knowledge about child development boosts a teacher’s confidence in his or her practice. The knowledge acts as the basis for the provision of high quality teaching as the teacher gathers adequate knowledge from specialists and researchers (Davies, 2019). Thus, teachers who have studied child development exude more confidence in their practice as their decisions are based on well-researched facts. For instance, teachers who have pursued child development studies can explain to parents why they favour certain practices over others.

Analyse the difference between growth and development

Similarities

Both growth and development in all aspects involve the change from one state to another. In human beings, for instance, growth entails the increase in body size. The growth processes, usually physically evident and can be established by measuring the height and weight of an individual (Onis, 2010). Development involves a form of transformation that leads to an improvement in functional capacities. Development can be established by a comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s performance of certain skills. Both growth and development are affected by environmental factors. Certain environmental factors influence the rate at which growth and development occur in a child. For instance, malnutrition slows down both growth and development.

Differences

Growth	Development
Involves quantitative change: Growth is linked to the measurable changes that occur in the human body such as height and weight (Manna, 2014).	Involves both quantitative and qualitative change (Manna, 2014): Development entails the attainment of functional skills such as the ability to remember certain concepts which is facilitated by growth.
Growth stops at occurring after maturation: Once a person has matured (mostly at adolescent), there are very limited chances of them growing.	Development is a lifelong process: Human development does not stop, and people may acquire new skills even in late adulthood.
Growth is primarily external: Anyone can easily observe or notice growth in a child regardless of their occupation as the changes in growth are easily manifested.	Development is internal: Development cannot be determined by merely looking at a child. It is performance-based and can only be established by carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of a child’s functionality, skills, innovation and creativity.
Growth focusses on a single facet of a child’s life: It emphasizes the size of a child.	Development is multi-faceted: It focusses various aspects of a child’s life, including the intellectual capacity, emotional state and interpersonal skills.

Explain the stages of child development

Jean Piaget, in his theory of cognitive development, proposes that children undergo four stages of development. His theory is majorly concerned with understanding both the process of knowledge acquisition among children and understanding the concept of intelligence. Piaget’s stages of child development are discussed below:

• Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years): During this stage, children tend to experience the world through their senses and movements (Lourenço, 2016). Learning about the environment occurs through actions such as listening, touching, sucking and looking. They realize that they can use their power to make things happen and believe in object permanence. Children in this stage are usually overly active as it is the only means of discovery.
• Pre-operational stage (2- 7 years): At the pre-operational stage, children start thinking symbolically and learn to use language and images to represent objects. They tend to be egocentric and still view things in concrete terms. Children at the pre-operational stage will, for instance, participate in plays and fit well into the roles represented.
• Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years): At this stage, they can think logically though about concrete events (Lourenço, 2016). For example, a child at this stage will be able to recognize that the amount of drink in a tall thin bottle is equal to the amount of drink in a short wide bottle.

Formal operational stage (12 and up): Children at this stage thing both logically and abstractly. Their reasoning capabilities expand significantly at this stage, and they start talking about issues in different subjects such as politics, ethics and philosophy (Lourenço, 2016). For example, children above the age of twelve years can differentiate what is moral from what is not moral.

Compare theories of child development

There are many theories that attempt to explain child development with varied considerations. The most notable theories are behaviourism theory, the cognitive theory, the psychosocial theory and the psychodynamic theory. The four theories recognize the external influences on child development. The behaviourist theory whose main proponents are B.F Skinner, Ivan Pavlov and John B. Waston asserts that child development is largely shaped by environmental experiences (Staddon, 2017). The cognitive theory, advanced by Jean Piaget proposes that children are active beings (Babakr & Mohamedamin, 2019). Piaget explains that children in their first stage of development learn through their sensory abilities and movements. The psychosocial theory (Erick Erickson) asserts that child development is a product of social interactions (Chung, 2018). The psychodynamic theory (Sigmund Freud) proposes that development occurs as a result of psychological processes that are naturally unconscious (Vries & Cheak, 2014). All the four theories propose that development occurs with an increase in age. For all the theories, children tend to attain greater milestones with age. As a result, in all theories, a child at the age of ten years will be much developed than a child with six years.

The theories, however, differ greatly on their areas of emphasis. While some theories emphasize the role of external influences on development, others attribute development to internal processes. Both the behaviourist and the psychosocial theories focus on the external influences on development. The behaviourist theory proposes that learning occurs purely through association and reinforcement (Staddon, 2017). The psychosocial theory propagates the idea that child development is largely shaped by interactions. Both the behaviourist and the psychosocial theories of learning give no or limited consideration to the internal influences of development. The cognitive theory considers both the internal and external influences of the child. The child is portrayed as active, both physically and mentally (Babakr & Mohamedamin, 2019). The psychodynamic theory entirely focusses on the internal unconscious triggers of development (Vries & Cheak, 2014). Development, according to the psychodynamic theory, is influenced by the components of the mind (the id, the ego and the superego).

Analyse the impact of children’s development on their learning

Child development is usually associated with a diverse range of both learning prospects and limitations. The various forms of development shape the learning process at all levels (Fitzgerald, 2010). In most occasions, development gives rise to greater learning capabilities. For instance, a ten-year-old child is more likely to grasp arithmetic concepts more easily compared to a five-year-old child. Similarly, older children tend to relate with one another quite better compared to the younger ones. This trend is caused by the fact that older children are more socially developed and have better coexistence mechanism which they apply to relate with others well. More developed children, usually have more experience in learning and are likely to apply it in learning new concepts. However, certain aspects of learning are limited among the more developed children. For instance, language learning ability is usually very high in early childhood; however, this ability decreases with maturation. Learning a second language

Task 2

A training event has been organised for the new staff and you have been asked to lead one of the group sessions on learning styles. Prepare materials for a discussion group which:

• evaluate the concept of learning styles
• analyse different models of learning styles
• analyse the characteristics of different learning styles
• explain how to integrate learning styles in teaching

 Task 3

A further training event for new teachers will focus on learning taxonomies.

a. Prepare a handout for the teachers which compares and contrasts different learning taxonomies.

b. Produce materials for a presentation which describes the evolution of Bloom’s taxonomy and its use in teaching and learning and differentiates between Bloom’s taxonomy and revised Bloom’s taxonomy.

c. Produce a discussion paper for a meeting which examines the Cognitive Domain of revised Bloom’s taxonomy.Task 4

a. Make detailed notes for your portfolio which analyse thinking skills levels.

b. Identify individual students you work with or have worked with and explain their thinking skills, with justification for your judgements.

c. Design learning outcomes based on the thinking skills levels of the identified students.