A child study that is researched during the school visit days and is integrated into the university-based module that will provide the material evidence of the student’s observation skills and understanding of how pupils’ learning can be affected by their physical, intellectual, cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional and moral development. We can gain a significant understanding of how children both develop and learn just by simply observing them. By doing this we are able to recognise and comprehend developmental irregularities and address them which thus benefits the children. In this child study, I observed two Year 3 pupils in an average sized primary school situated in an urban area which, in its latest ofsted report, was regarded as a good school.
The two children chosen for this report are both aged eight and are working at considerably different levels within their class. Furthermore, throughout this report, for anonymity reasons, the children will be referred to as child A and child B. Child A is a male, who surpasses the majority of his class within the core subjects, consisting of: English, Maths and Science. He is also an extremely chatty and sociable child whom thoroughly enjoys playing with his friends and in a football team. Child B is a male whom is working at a significantly lower ability level to child A. It is required, by the class teacher, that he has a teaching assistant with him whilst he completes his work. The reason for this is that he can be easily distracted, withdrawn and can struggle with the task itself. Moreover, he also struggles with fine motor skills that many children his age can do with ease. These children were preferred for the study as they are working at contrasting levels in class therefore providing a general view of how children learn the same topics in a differentiated way. To carry out this study I gathered information over a period of seven days that I was working with the class, the children’s written work, my school based tasks and from simply observing the children in different situations outside of the classroom. To retain this information, I have used an extensive range of systematic observation techniques to ensure I understand what developmental stages the two children are at. Education does not exclusively revolve around a child’s intellectual developmental and subject knowledge. It also plays a vital role in a child developing their own skills and characteristics as well as acquiring the knowledge of how to interact with different people and with society as a whole. Education also enables a child to comprehend not only their own culture but the cultures of others within the world in which they live. The primary education setting is a positive community in which children are able to experiment with their talents and skills and discover how to interact socially with different people for the first time which thus, essentially, allows them to investigate how to become a part of a wider society. These qualities are specifically palpable within primary school as “Babies and young children are powerful learners, reaching out into the world and making sense of their experiences with other people, objects and events.” (Department of Children, schools and families, 2009)
In terms of the pupils’ social development child A is an extremely convivial, approachable and sociable child. Upon observation in both the classroom and the playground it was apparent that he is able to use broad and extensive vocabulary to participate in class discussions and to tell stories from his own experiences. It was also evident that he could use his imagination within role play games in lessons and outside playing with his friendship group. Furthermore, child A will happily and confidently talk to adults and his classmates and is extremely comfortable when speaking in front of large groups and the class as a whole; this was apparent as he frequently answers questions and leads class discussions. The ability to express oneself is a fundamentally significant skill to learn and practice as it permits children to transmit their emotions and form essential relationships. A microsystem is a child’s immediate surroundings which in this instance, prior to an education setting, is a child’s parents and/or carers. A behaviorist would imply that child A is surrounded by people who engage with him and encourage him to communicate and grow as a person as his behaviour and confidence in class mirrors this. “One of the aspects important to human behaviour, though, is the feelings associated with behaviour that is controlled by conditioning. When previous behaviours have been rewarded, children are likely to repeat those behaviours happily and willingly, feeling that they are doing what they ‘want’ to be doing” (Grace, E. 2016) Throughout my observations I noted what both children independently chose to do within their playtimes. Appendix 1 reveals that child A is, more times than not, always with his friendship group and the few times he is not he is playing football with the school team or helping out with tasks set by the dinner ladies. According to a mental health initiative “Social competence is about the ability to recognise, interpret and respond to social situations in ways that society sees as appropriate.” (Kids Matter- Australian Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative, n.d) These diverse kinds of interactions performed by child A with both adults and his peers implies his social development is positive and consistent.
Child B however, appears less socially developed as he remains consistently quiet in both large groups and within the class as a whole. Despite not contributing in class discussions or speaking out when in a small group task, he can confidently and happily converse with adults one to one. Looking at the same chart (appendix 1) it is clear that child B’s social choices are significantly opposite to that of child A’s. It was clear that he was content to play independently which indicates that despite not being involved with a social group his imagination is fully developed. “Social understandings and behaviours are closely interwoven with emotions, temperament, values, attitudes, knowledge and skills” (Kids Matter- Australian Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative, n.d) therefore child B may have carers who are less engrossed in the social growth of their child and/or are busy with other children and priorities within their life which has thus led to a halt in child B’s social development. The lack of interaction of child B with fellow pupils highlights the importance of social interaction at a young age.
In terms of the children’s physical development child A has particularly good gross motor skills. It was evident in several PE lessons that he can run, jump, skip and throw and catch a ball but his large-muscle coordination is also good as he is successful in several sports and games. Furthermore, outside of a physical education lesson child A shows that his fine motor skills are also advanced as he shows a great increase in small-muscle coordination, such as refinement of finger control, thus allowing him to acquire complex craft skills. These skills ensure that his work is always of a sufficient standard and is fully completed, as demonstrated in appendix 2a. Child A also frequently asks for additional work and the sign of the teachers approval. His capability shows he is above average for his age group as the developmental milestones for his age, according to Kids Sense (n.d), include knowing ‘the conventions for punctuation, capitalisation and other conventions of print’.
Child B’s fine motor skills in comparison to this are not as developed for his age group as he is not able to cut out objects such as shapes, colour in pictures tidily and his handwriting is not always clear and legible. Despite being able to hold a pencil correctly he is not able to generate the movement as precisely as his fellow classmates indicating that he has poor dexterity and control of small implements. This is shown in appendix 2b where his handwriting is less controlled and thus not as sufficient as Child A’s; it is also clear that he prefers a more artistic lesson to cognitive ones. Moreover, child B also seems to struggle with gross motor skills, for example, when taking part in a gymnastics lesson within physical education, he struggled to understand the concept of creating a balance with however many number of body parts the teacher shouted out each time.
“Emotional development refers to a child’s growing ability to regulate and control emotions and to form secure relationships. It differs from cognitive development, which readies a child for school, in that it prepares a child to take on a greater degree of responsibility for his or her internal state.” (C Saarni, 2011)
Upon observation, child A seems to be a happy child as it was clear that he is always positive, smiling, popular and talkative in class and often states how much he enjoys being in school. John Bowlby, a British child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, believed that “children have an innate need to develop a close relationship with one main figure, usually the mother. When this does not occur, it has negative consequences on development, causing a decline in intelligence, depression, aggression, delinquency, and affectionless psychopathy (a situation in which one is not concerned about the feelings of others)” (Learning theories, n.d). This could indicate that, in terms of Bowlby’s research, child A has a positive and secure attachment to his care giver. This is due to the fact that main caregivers have the most significant impact on a child’s development and is especially true within their emotional development. Having this secure, indisputable relationship with caregivers is vital for a child as it allows them to gain a better understanding of their own emotions and consequently the emotions of others. Furthermore, child A’s emotional development is particularly positive as it was evident that he can regulate his emotions well. An example of this is whilst playing football with the school team, he stayed calm and composed when other children spoke disrespectfully to one another due to a disagreement within the game. Child A is also helpful and considerate towards his teacher, classmates and other members of staff. This behaviour suggests that he has a good comprehension not only of his own emotions but also of those around him.
Child B, however, struggles with his emotions daily. He is often angry and annoyed when in class and does not seem to enjoy taking part in group work. A reason for this could include the fact that he is the only child in his class who has constant supervision from the teaching assistant. Despite being for his own educational benefit, this could seriously effect child B’s self-esteem as he may feel embarrassed and less involved with his classmates due to his lack of independence during lesson. Child B also struggles to show empathy towards other pupils which suggests that he cannot easily understand the emotions of those around him. Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development has eight distinct stages, five stages up to the age of 18 years and three further stages beyond, well into adulthood. This particular theory implies that if a child successfully completes each stage he or she will result in developing a healthy and positive personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. These basic virtues consist of characteristic strengths which the child can use to resolve subsequent crises. However, failure to complete any of these stages can result in a significantly reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore possess an unhealthy personality and sense of self. Putting this theory into context, child B may have missed or was unable to complete certain stages within his emotional development. An example of this could have been Erikson’s second stage: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. “If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their own abilities.” (McLeod, 2013).
The schools approach to literacy and language acquisition follows skinners repetition and reinforcement technique. Within the beginning of key stage two their approach to writing a significant piece of work coincides with Skinners theory as it suggests that children’s language acquisition should follow a system that nurtures a child’s language and reinforces correct usage.
It is apparent that child A has a large and widespread vocabulary as he is always one of the first children to suggest synonyms to the teachers chosen word and always excels in his weekly spelling tests. It is also clear that he is engaged in conversation at home and is encouraged to talk, read, write and use his imagination. It could also be deduced that he is read to on a regular basis by his caregivers as this is a contributing factor that is related to a positive linguistic development. Moreover, he is also an extremely confident speaker and can speak spontaneously with great fluency and fluidity; he shows this by frequently asking to read the learning objectives and even asks to take part in whole school assembly’s. This confidence within his speech ability corresponds with his reading and writing ability, where he often refers to himself as one of the best hand writers in the class. Child A has thus had more practice from a young age in both social situations and encouragement from his caregivers as he excels in his linguistics.
Child B is confident when communicating with adults in one to one conversations and he speaks fluently whilst doing so, however his vocabulary lacks depth. In a lesson in which the class had to come up with a variety of adverbs to describe how an archeologist would perform their daily duties he was able to do this with ease with the teaching assistant and could even think of a range of adverbs independently. Furthermore, it was clear upon observing child B that his speech is reflected in his reading and writing abilities which could imply that he is not read to and engaged within conversation at home as much as child A.
Intellectual development is based on how children contemplate and establish and use logic to solve problems. Theorist Jean Piaget suggests that cognitive development works in stages. According to Saul Mcleod, Piaget’s “goal of the theory is to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses.” (Mcleod 2009) Piaget believes that children cannot work at a more advanced order of thinking until they have successfully achieved the lower level. To explore this theory myself, I transmitted some of Piaget’s conversation experiments. At the age of eight, children are expected to be at the concrete stage. This is a major turning point in the child’s cognitive development as it is the commencement of logical thought.
Child A completed one of Piaget’s experiments successfully (appendix 3) and with ease which indicates that he was able to conserve number and thus work at the concrete operational stage. Child A’s ability to conserve volume/mass was shown in a numeracy lesson where he, throughout, was able to understand that the length of the poles were of the same length at all times no matter where they were positioned. In numeracy he is placed on a table of the highest ability in the class and is always able to successfully complete both his work and additional tasks. Despite this, he will often require a teacher’s praise to ensure that he is carrying out the task correctly; this could be a self-esteem issue or maybe he thrives on praise (as Skinner suggests, children acquire knowledge through positive reinforcement).
Child B was given the same experiment but he was unable to conserve as well as child A. This could imply that child B is working at a level just below the concrete operational stage as he is not quite thinking logically. Upon reflection, it became clear that this experiment connected with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Child B’s difficulties to grasp the task were changed following the help of the teaching assistant. According to Vygotsky “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978). This emphasises the fact that child B could eventually complete the task when assisted by the adult.
Child theorist Lawrence Kohlberg agreed with Piaget’s theory of moral development. He established his own stages of moral development and at the age of eight children should be at the pre-conventional level. He suggests that children this age do not have a personal code of morality but instead have a moral code which is shaped by adults and the consequences of following or breaking their rules.
Child A’s moral awareness is clearly developed as he can understand what is right and wrong and how to behave correctly. His behaviour in every lesson, no matter who the teacher is, indicates that he is aware of the rules and codes of conduct and also knows the consequences if he was to break them. Upon observation it is apparent that child A is within Kohlberg’s first and possibly second stage of moral development. “The child is good in order to avoid being punished. If a person is punished, they must have done wrong.” (Mcleod, 2011)
Child B’s behaviour also implied that he was aware of the rules of the school and the specific rules of the classroom as he often demonstrated moral behaviour. Despite not having many social groups within the class he never disrespected anyone, even when he was denied the chance to play with a group of boys outside.
To conclude, over the seven days that I observed both child A and B, it became clear that despite being the same age and being in the same class with the same teacher, children develop in different ways at varied times. Primary school is a period of time where children acquire their individual characteristics and discover their skills. Observing both of the children has shown me how children learn and transmit these new skills and how they adjust their minds frequently with each new piece of information they receive within their lessons. Furthermore, the main conclusion I have composed is that children learn the greatest whilst interacting with other children and/or teachers. The reason for this is because children, although not all, work better when amongst others. The competitive drive within young children to do their best and to successfully finish the work set leads them to work at the highest of levels. Despite this, this conclusion has been derived from a period of seven days therefore the children observed will possibly alter and develop further within their work and within themselves. In reflection, this study has highlighted the complexity of the development of children that compresses a variety of theories and beliefs. On the whole, a child’s holistic development is a vital period in their life as this is the time where they grow into their own individual person.