Theorists who Impact Early Childhood Identifying the impact of each theorist in how we understand early childhood and the education of young children.

Theories of Development Theories can be thought of as a “practical guide.” A theory is a principle or idea that is proposed, researched, and generally accepted as an explanation. Developmental theories provide insights into how children grow and learn. Theories can help you in decision-making, developing your own values, and understanding strategies for promoting children’s development.

Early Childhood Theorists Erik Erikson – Psychosocial Theory Jean Piaget – Cognitive Development Theory Lev Vygotsky – Sociocultural Theory Howard Gardner – Multiple Intelligences Theory

Erik Erikson 1902-1994

Psychosocial theory Belief that development occurs throughout the life span in a continuum of stages or “conflicts.” Focus was on the social and emotional aspects of growth and believed that children’s personalities develop in response to their social environment. At each of his 8 stages, a crisis or conflict must be resolved before going on to the next stage. Teachers and parents can help children overcome each stage by providing social opportunities and support.

Stage iii - Initiative vs. guilt Between 3-5 years of age. Emerges as a result of new skills for children this age. They are learning to take initiative without being hurtful to others. They are also busy discovering how the world works and that what they do can have an effect on the world. Because of sense of initiative, able to move ahead and quickly forget failures. Need to develop a sense of purpose. Adults need to direct children toward acceptable behaviors. When discouraged or criticized, or when parents exert too much control, children can feel incompetent and be afraid to try new things.

Discuss and record What is the impact, for you, of understanding Erickson’s theory of development? In other words, how will it make you a better teacher to preschool aged children?

Jean Piaget 1896 - 1980

Cognitive Development Theory Focus’ on the ways children come to know, as opposed to what they know. Organized by predictable cognitive (thinking) stages, where thinking is different at each stage. Theory includes how children perceive, think, understand, and learn about their world. In general, knowledge is gathered gradually during life experiences – or by “doing.”

Common piaget terms Schemata – mental representations or concepts – constantly changes as children experience new things. Adaptation – how children mentally organize what they perceive. Adapting what they know as new information comes in. This is done in two ways: Assimilation – process of taking new info and adding it to what already know. Accommodation – adjusting what is already known to fit new information.

Preoperational stage Between ages 2-7. Children are very egocentric, meaning they believe that others view the world in the same way that they do and cannot see others’ point of view. Developing representational skills – language, symbolic play, and drawing. Learning to use symbols and internal images. Thinking is illogical – but beginning to understand concepts of volume and size (conservation), and classifying objects.

Discuss and record What is the impact, for you, of understanding Piaget’s theory of development? In other words, how will it make you a better teacher to preschool aged children?

Lev vygotsky 1896 - 1934

Sociocultural theory Like Piaget, believed that children gain knowledge through experiences. However, Vygotsky felt that it came more from social and cultural experiences – focus is on peer interactions. Children learn customs, beliefs, values and language of their culture while interacting with others. Language is important for thought – introduced term “private speech,” or self-talk. Most importantly, he developed the Zone of Proximal Development.

Zone of proximal development Presents learning as a scale. One end includes tasks that are within child’s current developmental level. Other end includes tasks too difficult for children to accomplish, even with help. Middle includes tasks children cannot accomplish alone, but can with help from peer or adult. This is known as “scaffolding” and provides the structure for learning. Teacher guides by offering clues, demonstrating, etc. to guide child to do themselves. The zone is constantly changing.

Discuss and report What is the impact, for you, of understanding Vygotsky’s theory of development? In other words, how will it make you a better teacher to preschool aged children?

Howard gardner 1943 - ?

Multiple intelligences Helped teachers rethink how they work with young children. Traditional intelligence tests focus mainly on language and math/logic skills, while Gardner emphasized that there are different kinds of intelligences used by the human brain. Each intelligence functions differently, but are all closely linked. Learning can best be achieved by using a child’s strongest intelligence. A potential intelligence will not develop unless nurtured, and children need opportunities to develop all areas of intelligence.

Cont’d This theory allows teachers to see the positive attributes of all children – provides more opportunities to see strengths than basic intelligence tests. Teachers use theory as guide for curriculum and for assessing learning strengths and weaknesses, from which they can plan a wide variety of learning experiences.

Intelligence types Bodily-Kinesthetic Musical-Rhythmic Logical-Mathematical Verbal-Linguistic Interpersonal Intrapersonal Visual-Spatial Naturalistic

Discuss and report What is the impact, for you, of understanding Gardner’s theory of development? In other words, how will it make you a better teacher to preschool aged children?

Impact statement Write an impact statement in regards to the idea that understanding theories of human development is crucial to working with young children. Your statement needs to be in the following format: Who is your audience? Who needs to care about this and why? Provide examples that reinforce what your audience would gain from understanding theories of development. Concluding statement re-enforcing the original idea.

Example Starter Piece “Any person who works with young children, whether as a teacher, a child care provider, or even a parent, would benefit by learning about and understanding the theories of different child development experts. Much of what we know today was learned through the research and discoveries of these experts in the field of growth and development. If people who work with children do not bother to educate themselves on developmental theories, then they will likely not be nearly as effective in educating, understanding, and appreciating the children that they work with on a daily basis.”