Child
Development Stages
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Child Development Stages
Our
children are born learning. They attempt to store all the
things that happen to them into some type of logical form.
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Learning
The Webster
dictionary defines learning as gaining knowledge,
gaining an understanding, or gaining a skill. In broader
terms, learning is defined as a lasting change in
behavior because of an experience or a practice. We
have to be very careful then in teaching our children
because it can permanently affect their behavior.
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Stages
of Child Development
Children
are thinking machines. If you observe your child closely,
you will realize that their thought patterns are very
different from the way we think. They express their
thoughts and in very different ways.
Jean Piaget
believed that children go through four basic stages
of development during childhood: sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational, and formal operational.
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1. Sensorimotor
Period
In the sensorimotor
stage, infants develop an understanding of their environment
by matching sensory experiences with physical actions. Here,
the child learns to experience his environment. He looks,
touches, feels, listens, shakes, smells, and tastes everything
in sight. "Here" is this child's sense of space and "now"
is his sense of time. When he learns to creep, crawl, and
walk, you better watch out as his world becomes much wider.
He is now beginning to explore his environment using his
senses as well as physical actions.
Many parents
find this phase very difficult for them because they now
have to start dealing with things such as guidance and protection.
The sensorimotor period lasts from birth until two years
of age. The mode of learning in the first phase of child
development continues through adolescence, but becomes less
sharp as the years pass by.
2. Preoperational
Period
In the preoperational
stage, children build on what they learned in the sensorimotor
stage by expressing words, images, and drawings. This lasts
from two to seven years of age. In this phase, the child
is preoccupied with collecting information. They then try
to figure out how to solve problems. In this phase, your
child now thinks in specifics and finds it very hard to
generalize what he senses. For a child, a ball is something
that he throws, not something that he uses to play with.
The preoperational
stage is the period when your child asks a lot of question
repeatedly. He actually learns by asking questions. In general,
it does not matter whether your answer is real or not; young
children do not real answers to their questions at this
point in time. When your child asks why you have flowers
in the garden, he only wants to know what it is for him
to play in. Your child needs no technical answers.
Children two
to seven years of age judge everything they see or feel
or experience on the basis of "me". I don't like it. Give
it to me. It does not affect me. They also are incapable
of going back in reason and time. Children in this stage
generally forget what has just happened.
3. Concrete
Operational Period
In the concrete
operational stage, your child can now manipulate data mentally.
He gathers information and begins to process this information
by defining, comparing, and contrasting it. He develops
the ability to reason logically in the context of specific
or concrete examples. Your child in this stage functions
very matter-of-factly, but does not yet grasp abstract concepts.
This stage lasts from about seven to 11 years.
If you ask your
child, "Why does it rain?" his likely answer would be: "Because
there are showers behind the clouds." On the other hand,
a child who thinks concretely would think a little more
and his likely answer would be something like this: "Because
God is intelligent and he made those clouds just so children
could play in the rain."
An operational
child who thinks concretely can process information logically.
While he still learns using his senses, he no longer depends
on just them to learn. The child is now thinking. In teaching
children in this age group, the teachers should begin their
lessons at the concrete level, then gradually head to a
more generalized level.
For example:
Statement: Jessica is a very nice girl: The teacher would
first tell about what Jessica did to be very nice. (Concrete)
The teacher
then would talk about how Jessica went about being very
nice. (Less concrete and more general)
Finally, the
teacher would teach that Jessica is very nice. (General
concept)
A concrete operational
child thinks very literally. In other words, your child
will absorb everything you teach, do, and say at face value.
Green is green and YELLOW is yellow. In this stage, your
children will have a hard time understanding figurative
language and symbols.
4. Formal Operational
Period:
The final stage
is called the formal operational stage, and it begins at
around 11 years of age through adulthood. In this stage,
your child transitions from concrete rationalization into
more abstract thinking. His thinking is not restricted to
time and space anymore; the child now is now more reflective
on things. He now also hypothesizes and theorizes.
In this period,
you need to help your child develop his cognitive abilities.
There are six types of cognitive abilities:
1. Knowledge
of facts and principles - how your child memorizes names,
dates, words, and definition.
2. Comprehension
- how your child understands ideas and facts.
3. Application
- what your child needs to know and how he applies principles,
procedures, and rules.
4. Analysis
- how your child learns to branch out concepts.
5. Synthesis
- how your child puts information or ideas together.
6. Evaluation
- how your child judges the value of gathered information.
Learning
Factors
1. Children
hardly ever learn in isolation.
2. Children
learn most effectively when they interact with other children
of the same age group.
3. Peer relationships,
motivation, and child-teacher communication are factors
that influence learning.
4. Other factors
include socio-cultural norms, emotional situation, environment,
and physical setting.
In general,
as your child becomes older, his capability of learning
improves. This suggests that, as parents, you should be
more responsible in guiding him to handle his new found
capabilities.
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