Learning About Children

1. Learning About Children Chapter #1

2. Chapter Objectives • Explain the best way to learn about children. • Identify three areas of childhood that researchers have studied. • Summarize how children learn and develop important skills. • List the stages of development after childhood. • Determine why observation is important in the study of child development. • Compare and contrast different methods of observations and interpretation.

3. Chapter Journal Entry #1: Caring • Children of all ages need to be cared for. However, as they get older they need less care. Write to generate ways to show caring to a one-year old child you are babysitting.

4. Making a Difference in Children’s Lives Section #1.1

5. Section Objectives • Explain the best way to learn about children. • Identify three areas of childhood that researchers have studied.

6. Understanding Children and Yourself • You have an impact, or significant effect, on children’s lives. • By interacting with children and studying their behaviors, you will: • Learn why children feel, think, and act the way they do. • Typical Behaviors: • A way of acting or responding that is common at each stage of childhood. • Discover caregivers’ importance • Caregiver: • A person who takes care of a child. • Enjoy children more • Learn about career opportunities

7. Apply What You Learn • You are in an excellent position to study child development because you are close enough to adulthood to think critically, but still young enough to remember what being a child feel like. • By studying child development you will… • Gain new skills. • Understand yourself better.

8. Views of Childhood • The way you think about childhood depends in part on what your own childhood was like. • If your childhood was fairly easy and comfortable, you may think of it as a carefree time of security. • If your childhood was full of struggles, you may think of it as a time of hardship. • Research and scholars have determined that childhood has a profound influence on later life.

9. Comparing Childhood Past and Present • Until the 20th century, some people believed that there was nothing special or important about the early years of life. • Little was known about the emotional and intellectual needs of children. • Changing attitudes, social changes, and advances in technology and medicine have changed views about childhood.

10. What Has Changed? • Health: • Advances in medicine have helped more children survive into adulthood than in the past. • Education: • Advances in technology have made education a more well-rounded experience for children. • Work: • Laws have been passed to prevent children from working before certain ages and in dangerous environments. • Play: • Technology has made a wider variety of toys and games available to children. • Dress: • Dress for children has become less formal for children in the last century

11. What Hasn’t Changed? Parental Love

12. Studying Children Section #1.2

13. Section Objectives • Summarize how children learn and develop important skills. • List the stages of development after childhood.

14. The Importance of Childhood • Childhood is a time of preparation for adulthood. • Recent research has shown that early childhood may be the most important life stage for brain development. • Children’s brains are not fully developed at birth. • Scientists have found that babies’ brains develop in response to stimulating activities that arouse their senses (sight, taste, smell, feel, and hear). • Stimulation: • Any activity that arouses a baby’s senses.

15. Theories About Development • Child development theorists have provided valuable information about how children learn and develop skills. • Some have performed experiments that involve children to test a theory, or belief. • Not everyone agrees on how parents, caregivers, and educators should apply theories and research findings.

16. What Researchers Have Found • Development is similar for each individual. • Development builds upon earlier learning. • Sequence: • An order of steps. • Development proceeds at an individual rate. • The different areas of development are interrelated. • Development is a lifelong process.

17. Influences on Development • Heredity: • The biological transfer of certain characteristics from earlier generation. • Environment: • The people, places, and things that surround and influence at person.

18. The Child Development Theorists • Sigmund Freud • Jean Piaget • Lev Vygotsky • Erik Erikson • B.F. Skinner • Albert Bandura • Urie Bronfrenbrenner • Maria Montessori

19. The Role of Self-Esteem • Self-Esteem: • The value people place on themselves. • Self-esteem plays a role in people’s ability to face and overcome the challenges of each developmental stage. • A sense of self-worth is critical to children’s development. • Research has shown that the level of self-esteem that is developed in childhood changes very little over time.

20. Lifelong Growth and Development • Development does not end when childhood does. It continues throughout life. • The human life cycle are the stages humans go through from birth until death. • Developmental tasks occur at different stages of the human life cycle and mastering these tasks, prepares a person for their next task.

21. Development Beyond Childhood • Adolescence (12-21): • Creating an identity, becoming independent, pursuing education. • Young Adulthood (22-29): • Finish their education and find a mate. • The Thirties (30-39): • Establishing roots, reevaluating life choices, and finding stability in career and relationships. • Middle Age (40-55): • Evaluate if they were satisfied with their lives and make changes if they weren’t. • Late Adulthood (56-75): • Become more politically and socially active, travel, take classes, or enjoy other activities. • Very Late Adulthood (76-death): • Contribute their knowledge and experiences to society.

22. Observing and Interacting with Children Section #1.3

23. Section Objectives • Determine why observation is important in the study of child development. • Compare and contrast different methods of observation and interpretation.

24. Why Observe Children? • Observing offers you the chance to see children as individuals, meeting the challenges of development in their own ways and in their own time. • Observing an individual child will acquaint you with their unique personality. • Observing children provides caregivers with useful feedback.

25. How to Observe Young Children • Separate fact from opinion. • Objective vs. Subjective • Choose an observation record method. • Running Record, Anecdotal Record, Frequency Count, or Developmental Checklist. • Determine the type of observation. • Formal or Informal

26. Subjective vs. Objective • Subjective: • Relies on personal opinions and feelings, rather than facts, to judge the event. • Objective: • Factual, and leaves aside personal feelings and prejudices

27. Types of Records • Running Record: • Everything that is observed is written done for a set period of time. • Anecdotal Record: • The observer concentrates on one specific area of child development. • Frequency Count: • A tally of how often a certain behavior occurs. • Baseline: • A count made before any steps are taken to try to change the behavior. • Developmental Checklist: • A list that an observer checks off when certain skills or behaviors are shown.

28. How to Act While Observing • Formal Observation: • An observation that is set up with a child care center or family in which are provided with some information about the child(ren) you are observing. • Informal Observation: • An observation that is done at a random location in which you are not provided with any information about the child(ren) you are observing.

29. Using Observations • Using objective notes interpret them to formulate ideas about what you saw in the observation. • Interpretation: • The analysis an observer forms and expresses about what was observed. • After you have interpreted your observation, you must keep your interpretation confidential. • Confidentiality: • The protection of another person’s privacy by limiting access to personal information.

30. Bibliography • Brisbane, H.E. (2010). “The developing child.” Glencoe; Columbus, OH.