Early Childhood Development - Research Paper Example

? Early Childhood Development (Add (Add (Add Early Childhood Development Introduction Early childhood is a periodthat is a stage of life which is marked by rapid physical and mental growth. Many of the challenges in adulthood, like mental health issues, obesity, heart disease, criminality, and poor literacy, have their roots in early childhood which lasts from prenatal period to eight years of age (World Trade Organization, 2009). There are various theories like Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, Erickson’s psychosocial stages, and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, which can be used to understand the mental and social advancement and progression of children. Theories of Early Childhood Cognitive Development 1. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development According to Piaget (1975), there are four stages of childhood development, out of which two fall in early childhood. The first stage is called the sensorimotor stage which is from birth to eighteen months. In this stage, the infants manage to interact with the world through gestures, exploring, and crying. The second stage is called pre-operational stage which lasts till 7 years. In this stage, the children are able ‘to relate to their world through symbolic reasoning, magical thought, and continued sensorimotor activities’ (P. 65). It is at this stage that children start to learn, ‘build concepts and lay the foundation for concrete operations’. According to Piaget (2001), one can define operations as such sets of actions, which allow the children to do those things mentally which they had to do physically earlier; and these actions also involve classification, seriating, or reversibility, which promote logical thinking and understanding (p.113). The pre-operational thought is divided into two sub-stages according to Piaget. They are symbolic function and intuitive thought. The symbolic function takes place between 2 to 4 years of age. As Santrock (2007, p. 203) states, it is in this period that a child develops the ability to mentally represent what is not actually there in front of them. Thus, it is pointed out by Santrock (2007, p.204) that though a child’s mental symbols are not real or logical at this stage, the child is led by animism and egocentrism. In order to support the view that children at this stage have the characteristic of egocentrism, Pulaski (1980, p. 44) point out that a child who is able to identify right and left side of its own body is unable to identify the same on another person. Thus, it has to be concluded that a child’s thinking at this stage is marked by animism and egocentrism which are not logical. The foundation of animism is the belief that all things have human characteristics. They believe so because they are able to find such characteristics in them. For example, a child at this stage can get mad at a door for not allowing its free movement; and the child may claim that clouds are crying because there are tears coming downwards. Also, according to Piaget (2001, p.164), a child at this stage is likely to wonder whether trees cry when hole is made in it. There can also be the claim that the moon is running after the child as it moves. After this stage, the child reaches the intuitive thought sub-stage, which happens between 4 to 7 years of age. Here the children are insightful thinkers. They develop curiosity on everything around them, and ask every kind of questions including, what, which, why, who, how, when, and how come. However, the problem at this stage is that the children are cocksure about the knowledge they gain, and do not tend to think how they gained the same. Another feature of children at this stage is centration. In other words, children at this stage totally focus on one characteristic of someone or something and totally ignore the rest while taking decisions. 2. Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages and Early Childhood According to Erickson (as cited in Essa, 2010, p. 132), personality develops in various stages starting from birth. It is pointed out by Erickson that in each stage, there is a conflict the individual faces, and each of these conflicts results in either developing or failing to develop a particular psychological quality. Thus, according Erickson (as cited in Essa, 2010, p. 132), the first conflict in a person’s life arises between birth and one year of age. This conflict is between trust and mistrust. The development of the feeling of being safe and secure in the world fully depends on the quality and dependability of the caregivers at this stage. If the caregivers are inconsistent and emotionally detached, the child develops the feeling of mistrust. The next stage, according to Erickson which takes place in early childhood is the conflict between autonomy and shame. As children gain more and more control over their own body and activities like food choices, toy preferences, and clothing, there is increased feeling of confidence. A failure in these activities results in self-doubt. It is followed by the third stage of initiative versus guilt. By this time, the children are grown enough to assert their power and control over others around them by controlling social interaction. There is one more important stage which starts in the early childhood, according to Erickson. That stage is industry versus inferiority. In this stage, those children who are encouraged by parents, teachers, friends, and the society develop a sense of pride. On the other hand, the children who get no attention or encouragement start doubting their own abilities. 3. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory also explains how a child develops. According to Bronfenbrenner (1979), the environments that influence a child’s development can be divided into microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and the macrosystem. All immediate relations including the child’s family, school, and daycare are part of the microsystem. A child’s development is dependent on how the microsystem treats it, and how the microsystem treats a child depends on the personality traits of that child (p.65). The next level, mesosystem, deals with how the different parts of the microsystem act and interact for the sake of the child. For example, a child’s parents might communicate with their child’s teachers to ensure proper education of their child. When this mesosystem does not work properly, there is hindrance in the growth of the child. The next level is the exosystem which contains people and places which are not in regular interaction with the child. Such places and people include the parents’ workplaces, people in the neighborhood, and so on. The fact is that even these things have an influence on a child’s development. The last level is macrosystem which apparently includes the most remote people and things in the life of a child. Such common factors are the relative freedom in the country, culture, effects of wars, power economy, and so on. 4. Play and Cognitive Development According to Piaget (1999, p. 219), play is the effort by a child to make the environmental stimuli match ones concepts. However, it is made clear by the scholar that play does not help in developing new cognitive structures. Instead, it only acts as a way for children to practice the things they already learned. In sharp contrast is the Vygotskian theory which states that play does have a role in cognitive development. The theory points out that play facilitates not only practice but also learning. Admittedly, one can observe a great degree of contradiction between the both theories (Vygotsky’s Theory of Child Development, n.d). However, there are many studies which show that play and such other activities have a positive impact on cognitive development of children. To illustrate, Li & Atkins (2004) argues that the children who had access to computer and software in their early childhood perform better on such measures as cognitive development, though the study did not observe any relation between computer experience and motor skills. In the study, 122 preschool children were selected and given various tests ranging from the Test of Gross Motor Development, Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence, the Boehm test of Basic Concepts, and the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test. The study by Li & Atkins (2004) concluded that early computer exposure in the early childhood age is connected with the development of preschool concepts and cognition. In fact, there are various studies which look into the relationship between pretense and cognitive development. In a study, Nichols & Stich (2000) pointed out that human mind has a specific ‘mental workspace’ which is necessary to explain the neurotic basis of play-cognition relationship. In similar lines, Berger, Coscia & Wasserman (2007) pointed out in their study that pretend play involves various areas of the brain because of the presence of elements like emotion, cognition, language, sensorimotor actions, which may enhance the development of synaptic connections. 5. Early Childhood Nutrition and Cognitive Development There are various studies which establish a link between early childhood nutrition and cognitive development. For example, the study by Glewwe & King (2001) looks into the effect of early childhood nutritional status on cognitive development. The study collected data from Philippines. As Glewwe & King (2001) checked whether the timing of malnutrition in early childhood has an impact on subsequent cognitive development, it was found that malnutrition in the second year of life has a more negative impact on the cognitive development of children than malnutrition in the first year has. Very similar is the study by Watanabe, Flores, Fujiwara & Tran (2005). In the study, information is collected about 313 children in Vietnam aged from 6.5 to 8.5 years for whom nutrition intervention was made available. It was found that there was considerable improvement in the cognitive development when proper nutrition was made available. Conclusion In total, it becomes evident that children in the early childhood stage are unable to make clear views about the world they see and their views are often animated and egocentric. However, in this stage too, children are directly and indirectly influenced by the environment. Even when animism remains high in their perceptions, children are capable of developing trust, confidence, and the feeling of self-control. In this world of animism, pretense play can be effectively used to enhance cognitive development. Moreover, nutrition in early childhood also has an impact on the cognitive development of children. So, any intervention needs to take all these factors into consideration. References Berger, Coscia & Wasserman, L. H. (2007). The correlation between brain development, language acquisition and cognition. Childhood Education Journal, 34(6), 415-418. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. USA: Harvard University Press. Erickson, R. (2010). In E. L. Essa (Ed). Introduction to Early Childhood Education. USA: Cengage Learning. Glewwe, P & King, E. M. (2001). The impact of early childhood nutritional status on cognitive development: Does the timing of malnutrition matter?. The World Bank Economic Review, 15(1), 81-113. Li, X & Atkins, M. S. (2004). Early childhood computer experience and cognitive and motor development. Pediatrics, 113(6), 1715-1722. Nichols, S & Stich, S. (2000). A cognitive theory of pretense. Cognition, 74(2), 115-147. Piaget, J. (1975). A Child’s Conception of the World, Toitowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield. Piaget, J. (2001). The Psychology of Intelligence, London: Routledge. Piaget, J. (1999). Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood. USA: Routledge. Pulaski, M. A. S. (1980). Understanding Piaget: An Introduction to Children’s Cognitive Development. New York: Harpercollins. Santrock, J. W. (2007). Life-Span Development. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Vygotsky’s Theory of Child Development. (n.d). Concepts of Vygotsky’s periodisation, 1-10. Retrieved from http://www.ethicalpolitics.org/wits/vygotsky-development.pdf World Trade Organization. (2009). Early child development. Media Centre. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs332/en/index.html Watanabe, K., Flores, R., Fujiwara, J & Tran, L. T. H. (2005). Early childhood development interventions and cognitive development of young children in rural Vietnam. The Journal of Nutrition, 135(8), 1918-1925. Read More