a. There are different ways in which teachers can set up the environment to have conversations with children. One way of those ways, is the teachers can pre-set up the play areas. Pre-setting up an area allows children to see and explore what may be done in the area. This also may spark new ideas from children. Another concept a teacher can do to spark conversation is to change up the materials. For an example, not always having sand in a sensory table. Instead, introduce water, water balls or slime. When introducing such items, it allows the teachers to ask the children open-ended questions. An example of an open-ended question that can be asked is, “how does this feel?” or “what does this remind you of?” These are just a few examples that I have observed …show more content…
When teachers are asking questions to children, one idea they should consider is the type of questions they are asking. The two types of questions are open or closed questions. The best type of questions to ask are the open-end questions. These type of questions allow for children to give their own interpretation. Closed questions result in yes or no answers. Another concept to keep in mind, is the idea of the child’s system of thinking. Young children are very egocentric, meaning they think for themselves and don’t think for others around them. They are going to understand concepts through ideas that are similar to them. c. It is important for teachers to understand a child’s system of thinking when asking them questions. There are a couple of ideas that might help teachers know if a question being asked is out of a child’s system of thinking. The first would be blank stare or no answer. When asking children questions, if they don’t understand they most likely will give you a weird look or just not answer the question at all. Another way a teacher may know the question was out of the child’s system of thinking, is if a child’s answer was out of context or if they begin questioning
Siegler, R., & Alibali, M. (2005). Children’s Thinking Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall Inc. Upper Saddle River NJ.
Björklund, D. F. (2000). Children‘s thinking: Developmental function and individual differences (3rd. Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
They are not expecting a response but instead showing that they respect the baby and they are developing their language. They talk through everything they are doing at the centre for example the educators announce when lunch enters the room and will describe what they will be having for lunch. They will tell the children in what order they will be having lunch, that they are going to wipe their hands and then after lunch they will change their nappy and then they will have a sleep. The same is done in the toddler room, the educators will speak almost the same amount to a toddler that can utter a few words as they will a baby who can only babble. In the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten room educators question children more. They use open-ended questions to prompt children to engage in conversation. For example, they will not ask a child what toy is their favourite, instead they will ask why they like that toy the most. By asking children open-ended questions educators are keeping conversations going and role modelling how children can do the same with their peers. They are also prompting children to reflect on why they make certain responses. A child that answers that blue is their favourite colour they are asked to reflect upon why this is
...things together. Therefore, arithmetic and books that teaches logic are introduced to a child at this stage. For example, a child is taught basic addition and subtraction, that is one plus one, two, three and so forth. In so doing, a child develops skills to make simple decisions and judgment. Their skill of reasoning is also enhanced. Thereafter, a child grows to the normal school ongoing age. Here, such children have to be taught to internalize with the environment in a more effective way. They mental capacity is much greater to accommodate more aspects of reasoning and logic. Teachers use books such as story books, advanced mathematics integrated with social interaction so that they discover things by their own. The main objective is to get them effectively interact with the environment. This enhances their development towards normal functioning human beings.
Now days we can see that young children are very inquisitive about finding the reason behind every occurrence. They are self motivated to learn about the “Hows” and “Whys” of the world. It can be said that the children are almost like scientist as they collect evidences by scrutinizing and experiencing the world. Children are generally involved in the process making hypotheses; they are also engaged in evaluating the statistical data and releasing prior beliefs when they are presented by other stronger evidences. All this they are doing even when they are searching for their toys, arranging blocks in any random manner or playing with toys with their friends. Children also show amazing psychological intuition by watching the actions of other people and can also determine underlying enthusiasm, desires and preferences (Kushnir and Wellman, 2010).
Throughout this course, I have engaged my oldest child in discussions on the topics covered. He is interested at first, believes he knows the correct answer, and then becomes frustrated when there is no simple or correct answer. His reaction is, I believe, entirely age appropriate. Unfortunately, it seems that many people do not move beyond this need for simple answers and dismissal of complexities.
My desire for children in my care is that their learning journey would be meaningful as they explore the ideas and activities they are interested in. This means that I believe that children are naturally motivated learners and should have the opportunity to learn through their own explorations and through collaboration with other children and educators. I believe this can be done through both teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities and supported through play. I also believe that play is a natural and enjoyable means through which children learn. In my practice I aim to encourage children’s natural ...
What I learned during the observation is that have a good layout and a good environment setting children are more willing learn and play with the children around them. They need to feel that they are apart of the classroom. That is part of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need. You environment the classroom need to make children feel safe because if they don’t feel safe they are always going to be on high alert and not pay attached to what going on they are also not going to play or do anything in the classroom. Having the right environment makes it easy for children to explore and learn everything they need have those center or station is not just their for children to have fun and play that because while they are playing and have fun they are learning.
As a teacher I believe that the most effective way to teach children is teaching through play and example by using pictures and gestures. Children are motivated to learn when they have opportunities to make choices in an environment that are inspiring and stimulating. Children are interested from infancy and have a desire to learn from their environment and those around them. When children are encouraged to interact with their peers and adults in positive ways, they feel safe to explore their surroundings. I as teacher have the opportunity to nurture and educate my students on all levels, making sure that my students are being taught developmentally appropriate
As a teacher being aware of how your student’s thinking is occurring will be essential in planning, and creating lessons. Piaget believed that a child’s cognitive development is a process. He believed there are four factors; maturation, activity, social experiences, and equilibration, that affect the quality of children’s thinking as they grow. As well as four stages of qualitatively different types of thinking through which children progress towards adulthood; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
Jean Piaget was a swiss expert whose theories on the nature of children’s thinking and learning have been extremely influential since the 1960s. In his theory, there are five key stages in relation to children of a young age. The first key stage was the ‘Stages of development’. Piaget argued that there was a natural path in which the development of thought, of a child, would follow. This was known as ‘genetic epistemology’. A child would have to be at certain stages of the development to learn new ideas and information. Therefore, Piaget identified four stages within this process. These stages of development were split into four sections; the Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational, and Formal operations stages. The Sensorimotor stage was all about a child’s first two years of life. This is where a child would a toddler’s knowledge mainly came from physical action, from their senses. The toddler would become aware of object permanence. The Preoperational stage included children from the ages two to seven. In this stage, the child would learn to manipulate the environment around them and begin to identify different objects were words. The Concrete operational stage includes children from the ages of seven to eleven, this is whereby logical thoughts start to develop. They’re able to
Piaget and Simon created tests that were meant to measure child intelligence. These test were meant to draw connections between a child’s age and the nature of his or her errors. Piaget and Simon’s test were ultimately too rigid for the children. The test was designed to spell or count as a way of judging I.Q. Piaget revised the test so that the children would explain the logic of the “incorrect” answers. The children incorrect answers revealed their qualitative thinking at the various stages of their development. Piaget would then wonder one question that led to his major contribution in the field of psychology: How do children
I knew very early in life that I enjoyed working with children; I am drawn to their eagerness to learn, their trusting nature, and their inquisitive minds. It has always been a joy for me to be around children, who are eager to learn. Children are thrilled when an adult takes time to read to them. After hearing a story only a couple of times, they are like a tape recorder set on replay. Their thirst for knowledge is overwhelming. At the elementary level, children also tend to have a very trusting nature. They rely heavily on their elders for guidance. Most children are very honest with their feelings and don't try to hide them. This is a crucial time in a child's life; it is a time when teachers and parents should be molding them for the future. It seems their minds are always working on something which makes them extremely inquisitive. Their curiosities seem never to be satisfied. Children are always asking "why?" even when they know the answer. The inquisitive child wants to know the how's, when's, and where's of everything.
Before that, children were thought to have less intellectual abilities than adults. This theory models the steps children move through in thought and logical thinking, how their learning differs from adult learning, and the importance of mastering one stage before moving on to the next. The way that children grow and develop their viewpoint of life depends on their ability to form a baseline of knowledge, then question and cognitively think through how an experience differs.
N.G., 4 years, 11 months, embodied all I could ask for in a child to conduct such an interview on. Nearing her fifth birthday in the upcoming week, her age is central between ages three and seven, providing me with information that is certainly conducive to our study. Within moments upon entry into our interview it was apparent that my child fell into the preoperational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development. More specifically, N.G. fell into the second half of the preoperational stage. What initially tipped me off was her first response to my conduction of the conservation of length demonstration. Upon laying out two identical straws, her rational for why one straw was longer than the other was, “it’s not to the one’s bottom”. This is a perfect example of an intuitive guess, though showing a lack of logic in the statement. A crucial factor of the preoperational stage of development is that children cannot yet manipulate and transform information into logical ways which was plainly seen through the conservation of number demonstration. Though N.G. was able to correctly identify that each row still contained an equal number of pennies upon being spread out, it required her to count the number of pennies in each row. In the preoperational stage of development children do not yet understand logical mental operations such as mental math as presented in the demonstration. Another essential element that leads me to firmly support N.G.’s involvement in the preoperational ...