As teachers, understanding how the children we teach develop is paramount. If we don’t know what stage a child is at, we cannot appropriately mold a curriculum around that child. Depending upon where the child is developmentally, they may not understand what we’re talking about or think we’re talking down to them. There may also be some factors outside of school that contributes to a child’s development that could affect their behavior or learning capacity in the classroom. Understanding some of these factors can help teachers maximize the amount of learning each child achieves.
There are four main theories on childhood development.
The first was developed by Jean Piaget. He stated that children go through four main stages of development: the Sensorimotor stage, the Pre-Operational stage, the Concrete Operational stage, and the Formal-Operational stage. The Sensorimotor stage occurs as infants when we learn best through our senses, usually by sticking things in our mouth, yummy! The Pre-Operational stage comes next as toddlers when we’re more used to walking and start talking. Next is the Concrete Operational stage, usually in elementary school, where we start thinking with a little logic. Finally the Formal-Operational stage occurs during middle school and beyond and sees us using sound logical reasoning. Piaget’s model very consistent and coherent but lacks other factors like culture and social groups (Woolfolk, 2014, p. 51).
The second theory of development was developed by Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky came up with a socio-cultural theory and believed in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD can best be described as the set of tasks a child can perform with help from others but cannot do independently. By working with others, the child can learn how to do these things independently. Vygotsky’s model relies on whatever type of social context the child is in but is ultimately a little vague due to Vygotsky passing away before he could further develop his theory (Woolfolk, 2014, p. 67).
Thirdly, Erik Erikson developed the stages of Psycho-social Development. Each stage, there are eight, relies on a child making a decision between two clashing ideas (Woolfolk, 2014, p. 102). For instance, teenagers often wrestle with identity or role confusion. You often see teenagers go through this stage when the clothes they wear changes, maybe they get tattoos or a piercing, they join a team or organization, they openly admit to being gay or get their first boyfriend/girlfriend. Erikson’s model goes further in depth than any of the developmental theories that came before it.
Finally, the last developmental theory came from the mind of Urie Bronfrenbrenner. He set up an ecological model of development (Woolfolk, 2014, p. 87). Each child is affected by systems of the world around them. Microsystems are everyday interactions like home life and school. Mesosystems are the interactions between those microsystems, for instance a PTA meeting to determine the direction of a school. Exosystems are indirect interactions for the child; this is best shown as how a child is affected when a parent is away from home on business. Lastly, macrosystems are interactions that are out of the child’s control. For instance, the government passing an education bill that determines what is taught in the child’s school.
The role of teachers is just one of the big contributors to a child’s development. Parents also play a huge role in what and how their kid learns. Parents may have a particular subject they enjoy and try to pass that enjoyment onto their children. I know that my father really enjoys studying history. As a result, a lot of our family vacations were to historically significant places (Gettysburg, Breed’s Hill, Fort Sumter). Parents are also there to help and act as a stand in for the teacher during non-school hours. I often went to my parents when I had a questions on homework. The only caveat to parental help is for parents to use a light touch. If you help your kid too much they may become reliant on you for answers and may not learn anything at all.
Parental styles also play a big role in development. Depending upon how strict or lenient a parent is could have drastic affects on the type of structure the child receives. If the parent is too authoritarian, the kid may act out against their parent and any authoritative figures as an act of rebellion. On the other hand, if the parent is too lax, the kid may becomes lazy or not develop properly. This dichotomy of parenting is best seen in the American Dad episode Son of Stan. In the episode, Stan (who is authoritative) has Steve cloned for the purposes of proving his parenting style is better than Francine’s (who is permissive). Both styles on their own fail because Francine’s Steve (who is the actual Steve not the clone) becomes lazy, unmotivated, and abusive towards his mother. Stan’s Steve (the clone) has a psychotic break and starts killing cats and carrying them around. Whoa that got dark fast! Now I’m not saying that if you’re strict with your kids that they’ll become psychopaths but it takes a light touch and combination of parenting styles to properly develop a child.
References:
- Woolfolk, Anita. (2014). Educational Psychology: Active Learning Edition, 12th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson Education Inc.
Brandon, I agree with your analysis. I think that it is important to know where our students are at in their development in order to get the most out of them. If something is too easy, they will get bored but, I can’t teach them something out of their range if they haven’t developed that skill yet. I also agree that teacher play a huge role in development. As future teacher, we will spend almost half the day with someone’s child so it is important that we respect that and do our best to make a kid the best they can be. -Bryce W.