Observation of Preschool and Elementary Classrooms

1530 Words4 Pages

People always say that children are the future, and they are right. That is what makes understanding how children develop so crucial. Understanding how children develop has many important implications; it can help parents raise their children more efficiently, assist society in making informed decisions about policies regarding children’s welfare, and to help us to understand human nature (Siegler, DeLoache, & Eisenberg, 2011).

An important part of understanding how children develop is understand the ways in which they learn. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory emphasizes that the main tools of development are observation and imitation, rather than reinforcement. Bandura states that children learn most efficiently by watching and imitating others. Bandura was different from other learning theorists, because he believed that children played an active role in their own learning, a concept that he called reciprocal determinism (Siegler, DeLoache, & Eisenberg, 2011). Social Learning Theory is very important for understanding how children develop because parents and educators have to be aware of what they are modeling, as well as the types of TV, movies, video games, books, etc. that children are viewing to ensure that children are learning appropriate behaviors.

Albert Bandura found that preschool children can acquire new behaviors through observing others, so specifically in the preschool classroom I hypothesized that I would see some of the children learning new behaviors, by watching the instructors or other children in the classroom, or even from a TV show or movie they saw at home.

Another psychologist who viewed children as social beings was Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory is a cognitive development t...

... middle of paper ...

...lly the opposite, during the activities that I saw them do they were supposed to work alone and not talk to other students. Perhaps this was an example of children being a product of their culture. Being independent is valued in the individualistic culture of the United States and perhaps working alone is an example of this. This concept was not discussed specifically by Vygotsky, but was introduced by some other sociocultural theorists. So, I believe that Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory could be improved by including that the concept that children are products of their own specific culture.

References

McLeod, Saul. (2010). Zone of Proximal Development. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html

Siegler, R., DeLoache, J., & Eisenberg, N. (Eds.). (2011). How children develop (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Show More
Related

  • Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Perspective

    137 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sociocultural theory was introduced by the psychologist Lev Vygotsky, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner. Vygotsky believed that parents, caregivers and the culture at large were responsible for a child's cognitive development, especially in regards to the development of higher order functions. From this perspective, when children are participating in an activity with a peer, caregiver or parent, their actions are based upon the environment in which they learned to navigate social relationships. As children age, their personalities and capacities are further developed by their interactions in a particular society, determined by cultural and historical events. A sociocultural perspective would be utilized in a situation in which

    Read More

  • Compare Vygotsky And Piaget

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget are the two most influential developmental psychologists in history so one might think they would have very similar theories but this could not be more wrong. Piaget (1896-1980) Piaget 's theory stems from the idea that children develop in mostly solitary and are unable to see others perspective and progress through four stages of development(book). A major challenge to Piaget’s theory is Lev Vygotsky’s (1896-1934) sociohoristic theory which suggests that children acquire the tools of thinking and learning through social interacrtion with family and peers (seans book). Both of these psychologists’ theories are very similar in a number of ways but have a few crucial differences which separate them. (BOOK)

    Read More

  • Discussion about the Document of National Quality Standard

    1878 Words  | 4 Pages

    Smith, P., Cowie, H. and Blades, M. (2003). Understanding children’s development (4th ed.). UK: Blackwell Publishing.

    Read More

  • EDN221: Language and Teaching Assignment 1 Understanding Vygotsky’s learning theory and considering the implications of his ideas for future tea...

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lev Vygotsky’s theory of learning begins with the idea that cognitive development occurs from sociocultural origins, that through social interaction children learn how to think (Duchesne, McMaugh, Bochner & Krause pp. 84) and how to use and access language and communication skills specifically as members of their culture and society.

    Read More

  • Lev Vygotsky and Social Development Theory

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lev Vygotsky(1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist who created the Social Development Theory/ Sociocultural Theory. Vygotsky believed that children's mental, language, and social development is supported and enhanced through social interaction. Vygotsky also believed that beginning at birth, children seek out adults for social interactions and that development occurs through these interactions. The belief that social development sets a precedent for development(appeals to the nurture side of development). The general idea from this theory is that being aware, consciousness, and cognition are the end results of socialization and social interaction. It stated that, "Sociocultural approaches to learning and development were first systematized and applied by Vygotsky and his collaborators in Russia in the 1920s and 1930s. They are based on the concept that human activities take in cultural contexts, are mediated by language and other symbol systems, and can be best understood when investigated in their historical development(John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996)." At the core of this theory, " Vygotsky focused on the way that a child co-constructs meaning through social interaction, and the role word meaning plays in the development of thinking(Mahn, 1999)."

    Read More

  • Social Disorganization Theory Case Study

    2787 Words  | 6 Pages

    Bandura discusses the importance of observational learning. Bandura focuses mostly on how kids develop their habits based of their role models. Bandura shows this in the Bobo Doll Experiment. The Bobo Doll experiment consisted of 36 boys and 36 girls. They were then separated again into watching a video of a plastic doll called Bobo. Some children were separated by some adults aggressively beating up Bobo and the other half were calm adults. After they were showed the video, the kids were then shown to Bobo and the results matched the Social Learning Theory to the max. The kids that were show the aggressive videos were aggressive towards Bobo. Another Social Learning Theory can be told in my shoes because I have done something similar. I remember in fifth grade my older cousin would always ride his bike down the biggest hill without a helmet. I figured if he did and was okay, why can’t I? I learned the hard way and sliced my arm on a rock. Luckily I did not need stitches however, I did go to the doctors and got ointment for it. I still have the scar today. I feel like the Social Learning Theory has made an impact on my life because I have had the opportunity of having a role model. This role model has made a positive change to my life. Similar to Bobo, I have seen what negative role models have done for a person and how much it affects

    Read More

  • Lev Vygotsky Cognitive Development

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    n the world of Vygotsky, a child was not a product of the environment, instead the child interacts with the environment by making choices, which moderates or influences the effect of the environment on the child. Lev Vygotsky stages of development were not defined by age or biology, the basis behind his theory was unerstanding social and cultural experiences of a child, and how they affect the the child's development. A philosophy of Vygotsky’s theory was the zone of proximal development (ZPD), this is the difference between what a child is able to solve on its own based on the stage of cognitive development, and what a child can learn with the help or experience of another person. Vygotsky believes the skill of knowledge comes from mastering new social situations where learning is shared with others. He also believed that experiences should be shared in social settings, and placed a large emphasis on the quality of group work within the cognitive development process. Within group work, children's language is encouraged to develop, through conversation, questioning and sharing cognitive content with their peers. Vygotsky believed that "social interaction enables the child to develop the intellectual skills needed for logical reasoning and thought." (Grossman, S. 2008) Through language and communication, children learn to evaluate the world and change their actions accordingly.

    Read More

  • The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Sociocultural Perspective

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Psychology is one of the newest sciences. Because it is the science of the mind and behavior, it is also less concrete than some of the other sciences. Over the years, social scientists have developed theories or perspectives based off of their observations, research, and the perspectives of other scientists. Although there is some overlap, each of the major perspectives of psychology is unique. As a result, they each have strengths and weaknesses and explain psychology in a different way. One theory, the sociocultural perspective, is exactly what its name suggests. It’s the idea that the society and groups that an individual belongs to are what influences development, thoughts, and behavior. The sociocultural perspective was pioneered by a Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, in the 1920’s (John-Steiner, 1998). Vygotsky stressed the idea that children learn through what he called guided participation (Sigelman, 2009). His theory was that children develop through interactions with parents, teachers, and other knowledgeable members of the culture and are given tools to adopt the group’s way of thinking.

    Read More

  • Socialization And Childhood Essay

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    As we have been learning this semester in class, the experiences and ecological settings in which a child grows up in are important in giving each child their uniqueness. According to Bronfenbrenner, the degree to which individuals realize their potentials and develop their abilities is determined by interactions and experiences (Berns, 2016). It is evident that these interactions and experiences can come from different sources. In order to understand how a child’s development is influenced by their environment, it is important to know how their biological, social, and psychological characteristics are shaped

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Western Culture

    1873 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kids developing are originally shaped by their environment, which includes how their parents raised them to act along

    Read More

  • Stages of Development: Middle Childhood

    2364 Words  | 5 Pages

    Wertlieb, Donald. "Child." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2011. Web. 16 Aug. 2011.Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar110700&st=middle+childhood+development&sc=1#h4

    Read More

  • Child Observation Report

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Recently, I went to The Happy School, a preschool in my hometown of Smallville, California, to pass the morning with the students there. In the time I spent there, the children, ages 3 to 5, engaged in unstructured play, and sat in a circle for calendar time and reading aloud. The preschool is primarily child-centered in terms of its organization, meaning it incorporates a lot of child directed activity, and less structured, or adult directed, learning (Berk, 2008). I watched the group of about twenty children with the intention of studying them as a whole, but I found myself compelled to watch two children in particular, Addison and Jack, because they displayed particularly intriguing behavior. (p187) THESIS, what behavior, theories etc.

    Read More

  • The Earth Charter

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wood, A. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2007). Child development: The world of psychology.

    Read More

  • Child Development By John W Santrock

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    Child Development is a well organised and user friendly pedagogical book. Santrock says, “This book is about children’s development – its universal features, its individual variations, its nature at the beginning of the twenty-first century.”

    Read More

  • Vygotsky's Development Of Language And Cognitive Development

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vygotsky believed that children learn through social interaction with adults. He also believed that dialogue with others help a child in promoting cognitive development. Adults, teachers and peers have major impact on the child development of mental processes.

    Read More

More about Observation of Preschool and Elementary Classrooms

Open Document