Psychology: Organization of Thoughts - Research Paper Example

Lecturer: Organization of thoughts Introduction The Australian International School (AIS) in HCMC (Ho Chi Minh Vietnam is aworld class schooling institution that seeks to deliver top notch education to students in kindergarten, middle and senior school. The school has been accredited by the International Baccalaureate (IB) Organization so as to teach the Primary Years Programme (PYP) to kindergarten children between the ages of 3 to 10 years. Moreover, AIS also teaches and evaluates students between the ages of 11 to 15 using the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and finally senior students in the age bracket of 16 to 17 years old are taught and evaluated using the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP).  AIS school has incorporated a number of extracurricular activities which include: performing arts, Information technology, sports, fieldwork and experiential learning. AIS is considered to be the best destination for students due to the fact that: they are committed to offering academic excellence; they have a safe studying environment; they have professional and experienced teachers, they have up to date studying and learning equipment and finally, the community of students is rich, accommodating and diverse for all students of different cultures. The Ewing public school is home to a number of schools such as the Parkway school. The curriculum being taught resembles that of AIS. That is, they have an elementary school, middle and senior school. Moreover, they also have a number of extracurricular activities for their students such as: arts, technology, health and physical education. Based on that, I work for AIS as a physical education and swim teacher for middle school through to senior (high) school – that is, grades 6 to 12. The concept that shall be discussed in this paper is the organization of thoughts for children in grades 6 to 12 as well as adults. In addition, a number of theories shall be discussed so as to evaluate the results that shall be retrieved through the interview process of the participants. Methodology The participants involved in the experiment were 20 (10 boys and 10 girls) children in grades 6 to 12 at the AIS school. Their ages were in the range of 11 to 17 years old. In addition, one adult was also included in the experiment. The resources were a set of questions. They included: Question 1: If you could have a third eye on your body, where would you put it? Question 2: If you could go anywhere on vacation what would you do? What would you bring, and who would you want to go with you? The design used was a questionnaire in which the participants were to respond to. The variables included the age of the participants as well as their school grade. The procedure that was used entailed the interviewer interviewing the participants by asking them the set of questions and their responses were recorded and analyzed. The session time of each participant was approximately 15 minutes. The interviewer also informed the participants on the aim of the questionnaire so as to encourage and promote openness and a sense of comfort in the children as well as the adult. The responses retrieved were compared to existing theories about how children and adults think and organize their thoughts. Results Question 1: 8 of the children inclusive of the adult mentioned that they would have their eye behind their back so that they could see things and people behind them. 5 of the children mentioned that they would prefer their third eye to be on their forehead. 5 of the children mentioned that they would prefer their third eye to be on the palm of their hand. 3 of the children did not respond to this question. Question 2: 18 of the children mentioned that if they could go on vacation they would go with their parents. 2 children mentioned that they could go with their friends. The adult stated that she would go with her family (husband and child). With regard to what they would bring to the vacation: all the children mentioned their toys and games. The adult mentioned her swimming gear. With regard to what they would do on vacation: All the children said that they would go and play with their parents during vacation. The adult mentioned that she would read books, walk and swim. Discussion The concept being discussed is whether children’s organisation of thoughts (intelligence) can be compared to that of adults. Apparently, children have different thinking capabilities as compared to adults. Moreover, children of different age brackets think and organize their thoughts differently as compared to children of other age brackets. This can be attributed to the stages of cognitive development in children. As noted by Huitt and Hummel (2003), Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has four (4) main stages. These include: Sensory motor stage – This is the thought process that infant children of up to 2 years have. Children at this stage gain the knowledge about things and people around them. From there, the baby starts to understand how things relate to one another. However, they do not have any logical thinking. Pre-operational stage – This is the thought process that toddlers and young children in the age bracket of 2 to 7 years have. Children in this stage showcase intelligence by using symbols and pictures. Their language, memory and imagination develop too. However, their thought process is not logical and organized. Concrete operational stage – Children between 7 to 11 years old are considered to be in this developmental stage. Their thinking is logical as well as systematic since it is related to objects in their surroundings. However, their thoughts may not be fully organized. Formal operational stage – Children in the age bracket of 11 to 18 years old as well as grown adults are considered to have a formal operational cognitive thinking. Intelligence is showcased through the use of symbols and relationships to concrete as well as abstract objects in the surroundings are established. As such, individual’s project organized thoughts. Moreover, Piaget and Cook (1952) came up with the ideology of schema which was a “cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning”. This meant that, an individual’s thinking is organized in a certain manner with regard to developmental psychology. Additionally, this is what makes children of a certain age bracket to think in a particular manner from other children in other age brackets. Moreover, developmental psychology and thinking tends to distinguish the thought process and organisation of children from that of adults. The expectations of the experiment were that the younger children in grades 6 to 8 would have different responses as compared to the children in grades 9 to 12. Moreover, all the children involved in the interview regardless of their grade and age would have different responses as compared to that of the adult. As such, the results retrieved from the interviewing of the 21 participants (children and adult) and the expectations perceived with regard to theories and concepts were concurrent to each other. Time taken for the participant to respond Majority of the younger children between the ages of 11 to 15 took a while before they responded to some questions. For example, Question 1 took them some few minutes to respond to. In some instances, when the question was read to them, they had to repeat a part of the question, pause to think about it before they responded to it. Moreover, their responses were not detailed. The children in the ages of 16 to 17 years had organized thoughts. When asked Question 1, they took a few seconds to respond and again, their responses were semi-detailed. For the case of the adult, she responded to the question in a matter of seconds and in a very organized and detailed manner. With regard to Question 2, majority of the children responded fast and in a very simple manner since the question did not need critical analysis. It is without doubt that younger children’s thinking and thoughts are a little bit slower as compared to adults due to the cognitive development schema (Piaget and Cook, 1952). As people grow up, the capacity to process information is heightened- making people think sequentially and faster; hence organized and detailed thoughts. As noted by Piaget (1936), children have a very basic cognitive thinking and this can only be improved as they age. In turn, they can also make an understanding of things around them, experiences, knowledge, what is true and what is false. This difference in logical thinking and thoughts organisation was clearly established in the responses given by students in grade 6 to 8; grade 8 to 12 and the adult. Works cited Australian International School (AIS) Vietnam. About. N.d. Web. 31 March 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.aisvietnam.com Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piagets theory of cognitive development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Piaget, J. Origins of Intelligence in the Child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1936. Piaget, J., and Cook, M. The Origins of Intelligence in Children. 1952. Web. 31 March 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.pitt.edu/~strauss/origins_r.pdf Read More