Because a child does
not start school at birth, I believe it is important to look at the beginning
stages of life and how that influences the learner that will eventually become
a student in my classroom. When a baby is
in the womb, he/she is developing the neurochemistry of the brain that will
affect the child for the rest of his/her life.
There are many different teratogens that can have an effect on the
fetus. Some hazards that are known are prescription
and nonprescription drugs, psychoactive drugs (such as caffeine, alcohol and
nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin), incompatible blood
types, environmental hazards, and maternal diseases (Santrock, 2014). Some other influences on the fetus imposed by
the mother that can have an effect on her baby is providing enough nutrition, the
mother’s emotional state, the age of the mother, paternal factors, and prenatal
care (2014). Once the baby is born there
are other variables that affect the development of the child. Since this information is disclosed to the school,
it is important for the teacher to have an understanding of some preexisting
conditions that could cause some developmental delay. Once the baby is born there are other factors
that can influence the child.
It is common knowledge
that children will mimic certain behaviors.
I once had a young child (3 years old) in class that would go home and
use the same facial expressions I was using in class. He would “pick-up” on whether I agreed with
statements and when I disagreed. I did
not realize this was taking place until his mother brought it to my co-teacher’s
attention. This child was modeling after
what he learned. He was taking behaviors and relating them outside of the
classroom. Although this was not as big
as violence and aggression, it can still serve as an example to the social
cognitive theory. Bandura’s social cognitive theory states that, “behavior,
environment, and cognition are the key factors in development” (2014). His view was that if a child grows up in a
home where violence and aggression is present, the child will in turn grow to
be aggressive. This can relate to today’s
generation of playing violent video games and listening to certain types of
music. Do those technologies have an
effect on the person, behavior, and the environment? I do believe that those behaviors can
influence a child, but they do not have to be a deciding factor. Parental
and other caring adults such as teachers and religious leaders can help
influence and detour the negative behaviors.
There are children who are resilient and have positive role models to
help them along in life.
I do believe that
children are influenced by their environment and culture. Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory of
development “emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive
development” (Santrock). Having lived in
two different cultures, I can see how culture can influence a young child. A child born in Asia is not going to have the
same knowledge base as a child born in the United States. For example, a child that has grown up living
in rural parts of the United States is only going to know how to travel by car,
school bus, bicycle or walking; whereas, a child growing up in a larger
inner-city or in Asia might have access to public transportation such as the
subway and bus and is able to navigate around on his/her own at around ages of 8
and older depending on the parents discretion.
Or a child born in Africa or an island nation might learn an oral form
of communication only whereas children born in Europe, Asia, or the United
States learn a written and oral language.
So, culture does play a role in a child’s development. Also, the environment the child is raised in
makes a difference. The interaction of
the caregiver and infant is vitally important to the child’s development. “Scientists now know that chronic,
unrelenting stress in early childhood, caused by extreme poverty, repeated
abuse, or severe maternal depression, for example, can be toxic to the
developing brain” (Harvard University).
Therefore, positive interaction with a caregiver plays a developmental
role in the child’s life. To help ensure
a positive environment for the developing child there are certain practices the
caregiver can do to help the development of his/her child. The University of Maine has compiled a list
of some of those activities that include: ensure health, safety and good
nutrition, develop a warm caring relationship, serve-and-return, recognize that
each child is unique, talk, read, and sing to children, encourage safe
exploration and play, use discipline to teach, establish routines, become
involved in childcare and preschool, limit television, and take care of
yourself (2001, 2011). These are all
important aspects to consider in a child’s life, because these early
interactions affect how the child has developed which might affect how the
child performs in a classroom only a few short years later.
Even after the child
enters school, he/she is still developing in many different areas such as
mentally, physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. Because
these aspects of a child’s life are inter-related we cannot compartmentalize
and treat them separately. For example,
a child is playing on the playground and wants another student to play with
him. The other student does not want to
join the student asking. So, the student
looking for someone to play with feels rejection. This could have an effect on the social and
emotional areas of his life. We as
teachers must look at the holistic child and be considerate of each student as
individuals. Although, they may for the
most part be the same age, the past experiences are brought into the classroom
even without us being aware of what some of those experiences may be. Therefore, with each student comes
uniqueness. One way that each student
can be taught is to utilize Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. When our lesson plans include different
facets of the intelligences on a daily basis we can see students’ strengths and
weaknesses. We can help build up the areas that are weak
and continue to strengthen the stronger areas.
This can help build up the student’s self-esteem and help them to grow
into mature learners. There are
techniques which can be incorporated into the classroom to help enhance student
memory such as mnemonics devices and songs.
As student’s grow and mature, their thinking skills become more abstract
and learning becomes more complex. We
can challenge these students by incorporating higher cognitive thinking skills
expressed in Bloom’s taxonomy. “Nature”
vs. “Nurture” is not just for developing babies. Moreover I believe, as teachers, we can help
develop the life skills through nurture that can help the student see his/her full
potential. Nature will take its course,
and the student will pass through puberty and into adulthood, but teachers can
help to provide nurture that can help the student develop emotionally,
mentally, and socially to become active, productive citizens in society.
In summary, there is
not a “cookie-cutter” way to look at child development and student
learning. From the beginning stages of
life there are multiple factors that can have an effect on the growing
fetus. Once the baby is born there are
other influences on development such as environment, culture, behaviors and
cognitive abilities. When looking at the
developmental theorists, I believe there is not one specific theory that can be
strictly enforced. In my opinion, we
must take the best out of each developmental theory which is what the eclectic
theoretical orientation has done. We
must look at each student as unique bringing prior experiences into the
classroom. We can reach the students
entering our classroom by utilizing Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences. We can challenge students
by using critical thinking skills brought out in Bloom’s taxonomy. Each student has the potential to become
someone greater than they are. We, as
teachers, must see this and help nurture the child to greatness.
References
Graham,
J., Forstadt, L.A., PhD (2001,2011) Children and brain development: what we
know about how children learn. Bulletin #
4356. Retrieved from: http://umaine.edu/publications/4356e/
Inbrief Series: The science of early childhood development. Center on the Developing Child: Harvard University. Retrieved from: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/briefs/inbrief_series/
Santrock, J., (2014) Child development, fourteenth edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
