1. The nature versus nurture debate is a long-standing argument of whether it is nature, our biological, inborn traits. Or, if it is nurture, how the environment in which we are raise, contributes to our ability to learn language. It is evident that it is not one or the other, rather the two working together.
Every child is born with an innate capacity to learn language. We know from our studies on infancy, that children are able to distinguish every phoneme of every language at birth. Once they realize the phonemes their parents are caregivers use, they are able to delete the unnecessary phonemes form their knowledge, and only retain the ones that are required. Due to what we know about phonemic development, it is evident that both nature and nurture contribute to the development of language in infancy. In early childhood, we see this through the achievement gap. The achievement gap exemplifies how children in professional families have over twice the number of words in their vocabulary as children in welfare families do. The language a child is exposed to is directly related to a child’s language abilities. In a welfare family, parents and caregivers may not be educated on the importance of interacting with their children. But, in professional families, they may understand why interacting with your child is essential to promote adequate language development. Exemplifying that we are born with this innate capacity, but through the environment in which we are raised, our language is shaped even further.
2. Briefly discuss one piece of evidence that illustrates how the domains of development (physical, social, cognitive/linguistic) are interrelated during early or middle childhood.
During early/middle childhood, it is evident that social development and cognitive development are interrelated. There is evidence of social development and cognitive development being interrelated through play. Children are typically not playing alone during early and middle childhood. At four to six years old, children begin to play cooperatively with others. No matter what children are doing, whether it is running around, painting, doing a puzzle, it is promoting some type of cognitive development. When children are playing catch, their brain is learning how to prepare and anticipate different scenarios. When they are playing card games such as go-fish and matching games, they are learning attention and memory skills. Other types of play promote problem solving and reasoning skills. Some educational games even offer numeracy and literacy skills. Due to the interaction between children during play, and the skills that are learned, it is evident that both social and cognitive development are interrelated.
3. Play is one of the major ways children actively contribute to their own development during early and middle childhood. Children who run around, dance, skip, etc., during free play are contributing to their development of gross motor skills without being aware of it. Drawing, playing with blocks and puzzles helps develop fine motor skills. Both of these, contributing to a child’s physical development without awareness. Social development is also a large part of play. During cooperative, symbolic and sociodramatic play, children are learning social skills such as eye-contact and other nonverbal gestures, sharing and turn-taking. In order to form social relationships, these skills are necessary. As for cognitive development, card games, imaginary play, play-doh, etc., promote characteristics such as language development, problem solving and creativity skills.
Clearly, play promotes many different areas of development. However, it is important that parents and caregivers allow children to pick what they want to play with. Thus, enabling children to actively contribute to their own development. Child-lead play is still allowing children to pick what they want to do, also while promoting several different types of development.
4. The Harlow monkey study used monkeys to show the importance of a bond between a mother and her child. Harlow provided both a wire monkey and a cloth monkey. The wire monkey provided the monkeys with physical necessities such as food, and the cloth monkey did not provide any physical needs. But, the cloth monkey was a soft, comforting object. When presented the choice of which monkey to go to for comfort, the cloth monkey was the winner. However, when the monkey needed food, he would go to the wire monkey, and then immediately back to the cloth monkey. Thus, showing that while nutrition is necessary for our survival, we also need to feel a sense of comfort and belonging.
The drive reduction theory of attachment suggests that everything we do is in response to a physical drive. However, the Harlow monkey study confirmed that more than just our physical needs have to be met in order to form attachments. The fact that the monkey went to the softer, more comforting monkey for comfort, rather than the one that provided food proved this. If physical drive itself could form our attachments, the monkeys would have cuddled with the wire monkey who provided nourishment.
5. Attachment is the ability to form secure emotional connections with people. The Strange Situation Study is a laboratory procedure that is used to show differences in types of attachments. During this procedure, infants and toddlers were separated from their parents of caregivers for a short period of time and the child’s reactions are observed both when the caregiver leaves, and when they come back.
During the Strange Situation, a child who is securely attached will be distressed when the caregiver leaves and become quickly excited when they return. However, a child who has an insecure-avoidant attachment will not become distressed when the parent leaves and will ignore the parent when they return. Finally, a child with an insecure-resistant attachment will be distressed when the caregiver leaves the room, but also distressed or angry when the parent returns, showing both clingy and resistant behaviors. Thankfully, there is a trend in every culture known, that children are far more likely to form secure attachments with their caregivers than either of the two insecure attachments.
6. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development was a stage theory that attested to the belief that human thinking is arranged into schemas. However, Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development placed a stronger emphasis on culture, rather than a serious of stages a child goes through. Vygotsky thought children acquired knowledge through the assistance of others.
In Piaget’s theory, assimilation and accommodation were the two was children adapt and create new cognitive abilities. Assimilation, meaning that new experiences are incorporated into one’s already existing schema (or pre-existing knowledge). Accommodation, relating to changes in already present schemas so that new information can be incorporated. Meaning that their learning first occurs at the social level, then eventually internalizing that learning. However, Vygotsky focused on scaffolding, guidance given to a child by a parent, caregiver, older sibling, etc., we can assess the child’s level of performance, and adjust according. Promoting development and assisting children in moving to new levels of accomplishment. Vygotsky also focused on the zone of proximal development, which refers to the range of skills what a child can do on his or her own, and what they can accomplish with the assistance of others.
7. During childhood, there are many different types of play which directly relate to children’s acceptance by their peers. Parallel play is when children play alongside each other with similar activities, but do not engage with one another. Another form of play is associative play, which occurs when children play with each other, share toys, engage in conversations, but are working towards different goals. When children engage in cooperative play, they are officially working with other, in order to reach a goal. After that, more creative types of play start to form such as symbolic play. Symbolic play is said to occur when children use an object to represent something else. For example, when children use a banana as a cell phone. Finally, sociodramatic play, when children roleplay common adult scenarios they are familiar with. When children play “house” with someone playing the mother and others playing the children, that is known as sociodramatic play.
These different types of play all lead to a child’s acceptance from his or her peers. While parallel and associative play both are part of early childhood, it is a red flag when children continue to engage in this type of play for extended periods of time, without engaging with others. Children should be interested in playing with their peers. In order for a child to be “popular”, or liked by other children, there are a few important skills that should be used during play. First, children should stop what they are doing on their own, and watch what others are doing for a short period of time. This will show that the child is interested in what they are doing. Not only that, but children should make eye contact where it is necessary and smile when appropriate. This is another reminder that the child is interested in what is going on. If all of these factors are reached, and there are no aggressive or demanding behaviors present, the child will have a good chance of being accepted by others and forming strong connections with peers.
8. Piaget believed that every child goes through two stages of moral development. The first stage, between four and seven years old, Piaget believed children were in a stage of heteronomous morality. During this stage, children believe that whatever authorities say is right, is right and punishments are justified when these rules are broken. Children see actions as good or bad, depending on the consequence of the action rather than the reason for doing it. A child is said to be in the stage of autonomous morality when they are able to comprehend that punishments should fit the crime and they are now able to question why an individual did what they do, to determine if it is good or bad. A limitation of Piaget’s theory is that he ???
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development was a stage theory, which examined moral development in terms of three levels, each containing two stages within it. In this theory, every stage corresponds with a particular ???