As part of the requirements of this course, I visited three grade 2 classrooms to assess child Development and Learning Theories in a practical class session. I attended mathematics, art and literature classes, which provided a diverse area for analysis. Psychologists have developed some cognitive, physical and affective development theories to explain development during childhood, specifically regarding learning. According to Carey et al., ( 2015) personality development is throughout a person's life, shaped by interactions with family, friends, and culture, and helps the child is crucial for cognitive development, as explained by Erik Erikson. According to Britol et al., (2017) physical development, as defined by Arnold Gesell, is dependent on the rest of growth of the nervous system, and the brain, which determines the level of physical activity they can engage in without risk of hurting themselves. Affective development, the expression of emotions, is a factor of feeling, cognition, and behavior as explained by Lev Vygotsky (Trevarthen et al., 2017). These three development theories shape the overall child into adolescence.
In the three classes I attended, I noticed that the teachers were keen to ensure their pupils developed in the three aspects. The literature teacher was particularly interested in cognitive development, which was achieved by making pupils sing along to some songs. The songs, designed for grade 2 and thereabout pupils, were structured to stir memory and nurture correct word pronunciation. The mathematics teacher practiced counting numbers with the students as a class and then counting and solving problems as individuals.
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Affective growth was emphasized by all teachers, as it is an aspect that each child needs to master to live in harmony with others. It is during this stage that emotional intelligence and endurance forms a basis in children. All the teachers were strict on how the children addressed their fellow pupils, expressed their satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and how they reacted to defeat. The teachers were particularly keen to correct the wrong tone, facial expressions and pitch of their students to ensure their affective development was good. This was illustrated in the regular class setup as teaching went on. In the art class, the teacher used a clip to demonstrate the relationship between a boy and his father, and he asked his father for a new bicycle, how the father explained why they could not get the bicycle, and how the boy reacted to the response.
Physical development is an aspect that is shaped by activities that are done using the body. The art class was a good lesson for children to develop physically. The children were required to compete in making structures as a team. This involved knowing the strengths of each group member and being able to coordinate quickly. The group that had the highest hands-on speed and brain coordination won. The teacher also conducted a painting session for individual students to assess the physical development through neatness of the painting.
In the classes, the teachers applied Armstrong’s multiple intelligence (Derakhshan et al., 2015) and different learning styles to identify the strength of each pupil and ensure they enjoyed learning. Understanding that easiest way through which each pupil enjoys learning is essential to know how to deliver at an individual pupil level. According to Kolb’s theory (Stein et, 2018) there are seven common learning styles: verbal (using words in speech and writing), auditory-musical (using sound and music), spatial (using images and pictures), physical/kinesthetic (using the hands),logical (reasoning and systems), social (in groups), and solitary (as an individual). Teachers applied the expectancy theory put forward by Vroom (Miner, 2015) by encouraging the pupils that their hard work would reward them with good grades. For all the three classes, the teachers had creative activities to ensure the pupils were holistic regarding affective, physical and cognitive development by applying different learning styles.
References
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet , 389 (10064), 91-102.
Carey, S., Zaitchik, D., & Bascandziev, I. (2015). Theories of development: In dialog with Jean Piaget. Developmental Review , 38 , 36-54.
Derakhshan, A., & Faribi, M. (2015). Multiple intelligences: Language learning and teaching. International Journal of English Linguistics , 5 (4), 63.
Miner, J. B. (2015). Expectancy Theories: Victor Vroom, and Lyman Porter and Edward Lawler. In Organizational Behavior 1 (pp. 110-129). Routledge.
Stein, M. (2018). Theories of experiential learning and the unconscious. In Experiential Learning in Organizations (pp. 19-36). Routledge.
Trevarthen, C. (2017). The function of emotions in early infant communication and development. In New perspectives in early communicative development (pp. 48-81). Routledge.
