Major Issues Presented in the NAEYC Position Statement

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Basics

1. Educators and parents must be cognizant of the "whole child"

Propose that development and learning should be integrated across the domains of 1) physical, 2) social, 3) emotional, and 4) cognitive. The statement does not specifically mention the spiritual or conative / volitional domains. Should they?

Quote: Failure to attend to all aspects of an individual's development is often the root cause of a child's failure in school. [What other possible explanations are there?]

2. Curriculum and learning opportunities should provide opportunities for integration (e.g., thematic instruction, learning centers)

Physical Development

3. From ages birth to 5, the child experiences rapid physical growth; at about age 5 the process begins to slow down; children need to be active rather than passive in their learning.

Cognitive Development

4. Since children are moving from preoperational thought (2-6) to concrete operational thought (5-9) in Piagetian terms, the curriculum should provide many developmentally appropriate materials for children to explore and think about and opportunities for interaction and communication with other children and adults. Similarly, the content of the curriculum must be relevant, engaging, and meaningful to the children themselves.

5. Because primary-age children primarily construct knowledge from experience, they should be provided opportunities to work in small groups on projects that "provide rich content for conversation" and teachers should facilitate discussion among children by making comments and soliciting children's opinions and ideas.

Socioemotional and Moral Development

6. Teachers should recognize the importance of developing positive peer group relationships and provide opportunities and support for cooperative small group projects that not only develop cognitive abilities, but promote peer inteaction. [Erikson's theory of socioemotioal development: Initiative vs. shame, doubt (ages 3-6 ); Industry vs. inferiority (ages 6-12)]

7. Educators and parents should help children accept their conscience and achieve self-control.

Individual Differences and Appropriate Practice

8. The younger the children and the more diverse their backgrounds, the wider the variety of teaching methods and materials required.

9. When schools unduly rely on competition and comparison among children, they hasten the process of children's own social comparison, lessen children's optimism about their own abilities and school in general, and stifle motivation to learn.

10. Curriculum and teaching methods should be designed so that children not only acquire knowledge and skills, but they also acquire the disposition or inclination to use them. [Is this where conation, volition, and will are placed in the NAEYC statement?]

Reference: Bredekamp, S. (1988, January). NAEYC position statement on developmentally appropriate practice in the primary grades, servering 5- through 8-year-olds]

John Locke (1632-1704)

Believed a child was born Tabula Rasa (blank slate). Emphasized the role of the environment (perhaps could be called the father of learning (behavioral) theory).

Stated that childhood sets the stage / tone for all other development. Environment shapes one via: association, repetition, imitation, & consequences.

A. Goal of education is self-control (delay of gratification)

l. He opposed corporeal punishment for three reasons:

a. undesirable associations,

b. often ineffective, and

c. emotional side-effects (& behavioral inflexibility) can occur.

2. He opposed rewards such as sweets & money (primary and generalized

reinforcers) because they undermine what he thought to be the primary goal

of education (curbing desires and submitting to reason). He supported the

use of verbal and social rewards.

B. Thought rules of parents (and schools?) were basically useless because children

have difficulty understanding and remembering the rules. Modern day

behaviorists would propose that children do not understand and remember rules

because 1) they are not rewarded for following them (but punished when they

break them) and 2) parents and teachers are inconsistent.

Instead of rules Locke thought parents should model desired behaviors (set an

example) and have children practice them (forerunner of social learning theory).

C. Recognized that children do have unique cognitive abilities that set limits on

learning. Children, also, are innately curious.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Believed children grow according to "Nature's Plan;" attempts to alter this natural

development corrupt the child's "innate goodness." Rousseau was the first Western

European to produce a stage theory of development [Native Americans produced

various classification systems that were thousands of years old.].

A. Stages

Stage l (infancy, 0-2). Child is sensation-oriented. Language develops.

Stage 2 (childhood, 2-12). Child develops independence (the world expands).

Some limited (concrete) reasoning.

Stage 3 (late childhood, 12-15). Child finishes physical development; has

increased cognitive functioning.

Stage 4 (adolescence). Become social beings (recognize the needs of

others) and develop abstract reasoning.

B. Educationally, Rousseau was against formal education. He supported

discovery learning and the parent / teacher informally reinforcing the

discoveries made by the child. Children should not read books until

adolescence (i.e., the child would learn from experience and then be exposed to

the larger social world through formal training and books).

C. Rousseau was the lst true developmentalist. Contributions include:

l. development proceeds according to a biological (maturational) timetable

2. development follows stages and periods

3. child-centered philosophy

C. Believed that parents / education made children "slaves of social convention."

Arnold Gesell (1880-1961) (Maturational theory)

Arnold Gesell is usually considered to be the first modern developmentalist. He

developed one of the first tests of intelligence for infants and the maturational

theory of development.

Maturational Theory: maturation is the sequential changing of structure and

action patterns (functions) over time.

A child's growth is influenced primarily by genetics (maturation) as the child

interacts with the environment.

Maturational development has associated with it five features:

l. development evidences itself via fixed sequences.

a. development is sequential before and after birth

b. development is directional (proximodistal and cephalocaudal)

2. children vary in their individual rate of development and their individual

differences are also controlled by internal genetic mechanisms.

The environment supports maturational development but does not directly

determine the sequence of stuctural development and / or action patterns.

Gesell advocated that the environment (especially socially) should compliment

the child's natural development rather than attempting to force the child to

develop in specific, adult-determined, ways. He believed that adults tried to

rush development (I. e., teaching children stuff ahead of their internal

developmental schedule.)

Central to Gesell's views was the concept of patterns, the process by which

actions / behaviors become organized. Virtually all aspects of growth involve

specific behaviors that occur separately. When these responses become unified

("the whole is greater than the sum of the parts") they represent a pattern.

3. Reciprocal interweaving-because we are bilateral, all of our actions

(internal and external) have a dualistic quality. Reciprocal interweaving

describes how two opposite tendencies are organized (pattern)

complementary both physically (two eyes which, working together, permit

depth perception) and psychologically (all personality characteristics are,

fundamentally, an integration of one's intro- and extroversion tendencies).

4. Functional asymmetry recognizes that while we attempt to balance our

opposing tendencies, one of each set of tendencies is usually dominant

(handedness and tonic neck reflex).

5. Self-regulation show the strength of gene-directed development. As

children develop they are able to regulate/alter cycles of sleep, eating,

elimination, etc. This allows the organism to maintain, overall,

equilibrium even though physical development often produces, initially,

disequilibrium.

Individuality. Even though he published norms for development at various ages,

he was not suggesting that norms specify "normal" or "ideal" developmental

milestones. They weren't goals to be achieved. Instead, they represent the average

age at which aggregates of children acquired/exhibited abilities such as walking,

weight, language, etc.

Child-rearing. We should recognize that nature (genes) knows what is best for

children and not try to make a child "fit" a particular pattern. example: organic

vs. clock time. Do not make a child eat because, from an adult perspective, it is

supper time. Let the child feed according to when she is hungry ("demand

feeding"). Follow the baby's cues and signals rather than making her conform to

what we think they ought to be doing. Recognize that development (since it

involves sequences of stages) fluctuates between stability and instability (a period of

dramatic change). Do not try to "teach" delay of gratification until language has

sufficiently developed (about 2 «) Recognize that children must become

enculturized, but do not allow these socialization processes to overpower the

maturationally-driven actions of the child. Balance the demands of the two and

when a balance cannot be reached, let the maturational component have

precedence.

Today, many developmentalists feel his position (biologically-driven development)

was too extreme since the environment not only supports inner-directed patterns,

but also structures behavior and patterns.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), and John Bowlby (1907-1990)

(Ethology)

A. Ethology is the study of behavior within an evolutionary context.

1. Evolution describes how species change over time; evolution is not a theory

about how life began

2. Evolution postulates three assumptions necessary for a species to change:

a. there is variability within each member and generation of a species;

b. individual variability is transmitted to offspring via genetics;

c. individuals whose variability permits them to better adapt to environmental

demands than other members without that/those characteristics tend to

survive/procreate more effectively so that, eventually all members of the

species share the characteristic(s). (i.e., natural selection)

B. Based on his observations as a naturalist, C. Darwin developed a theory to

explain how species change over time-evolution. His wasn't the first theory of

evolution, but it was better than competing ones such as Lamarck's.

(Lamarck's theory said that change had to occur rapidly, be immediately

functional, etc.; Darwin and Wallace's said, among other differences, that the

changes could be gradual and functionality of change would, also change over

time.)

The development of reason (for social cooperation to ensure survival of the

fittest-those who cooperate the best survive the longest) must have been one of

the evolution-driven causes of why humans survived given our relative

inferiority, physically, to our competition.

C. Modern ethology (e.g., Lorenz / Tinbergen) uses Darwin's theory of evolution

(with variations such as Gould's concept of punctuated expansion, etc.) plus

our modern understanding through which changed is transmitted (genetics) to

try and understand behavior.

1. ethologists use naturalistic observation & field experimentation rather than

laboratories to conduct their studies. They are especially concerned with

instinctual behavior-an instinct is a complex, species-specific, relatively

unmodifiable fixed action behavior pattern released by an external signal.

Do humans have instincts? (Remember that a human instinct also has to

conform to the requirements of the definition given earlier.)

Imprinting-a type of learning, associated with instinctive behavior, that occurs

during a critical period. The organism learns the releasing signal for the

instinctive behavior. The learning can only occur during the "critical period"

(hence its name). If it doesn't occur then, it ca not be learned later.

2. Bowlby applied ethological concepts to human development instead of just

animals.

a. human behavior must be understood in terms of how it allows the person to

adapt to their environment; you cannot study / evaluate human behavior

extant from the environment in which it develops (not just occurs).

Bowlby developed a theory on the stages of attachment to show how these

traits are, in a sense, instinctual.

phase 1 (0-3 mo.) unselective responsiveness to all humans (they prefer to

look at human faces than other stimuli). For the 1st 3 weeks of life babies

show random smiling; at about 3 weeks, they smile when they hear a

human voice (social smiling). Social smiling continues to develop and

become more discriminated through the 3rd month. What is the survival

value of smiling? How does it promote attachment if the child smiles at

mom / dad, but not at the mailman? Proximity also strengthens

attachment, so babies also cry and babble, and exhibit several transitory

reflexes (Moro, rooting, sucking, and grasping). How do these increase

survivability?

phase 2 (3-6 months). Temporary reflexes begin to disappear and social

responses become more selective (vocalizations, smiles, etc. only to

familiar people / faces). Attachment tends to be focused on the primary

careprovider.

phase 3 (6mo-3 yrs.). Active-proximity-seeking. Exhibits behaviors /

behavior patterns associated with maintaining close contact with care

provider. Careprovider serves as a base for exploratory curiosity. Child

may exhibit separation anxiety

a. protest / cry;

b. despair / withdrawal;

c. detachment / lack of responsiveness to careprovider) when

careprovider is not close, and / or stranger anxiety when an unfamiliar

person is too close.

phase 4 (3yrs.-end of childhood).Partnership behavior. Until age 3,

children cannot understand that others have needs. With increase

intellectual ability (memory) the child does need to always be as close to

the careprovider as before.

Thus, attachment is similar to imprinting in animals.

Human interactions with infants are critical to the child's well-being. Lack

of such care can produce hospitalism.

Implications for child rearing: interact quantitatively / qualitatively with

children (do you want your child to form attachment with a day care

worker or you?). Avoid institutionalization (e.g., newborns-birthing

process & bonding).

Erik Erikson (1902-1995) Socioemotional Development

A. Eric Erikson was a protege of Sigmund Freud. However, while he accepted much of

Freud's theories / therapy, Erikson also differed from Freud on several critical

dimensions.

(1) While Freud focused on negatives (things that could "go wrong" and lead to

emotional problems), Erikson focused on areas associated with normal

development within different cultures.

(2) Freud thought each system of personality (i.e., id, ego, superego) was equivalent

and the three worked as a system (and when one subsystem became too powerful,

emotional problems resulted). Erikson, though, thought that the ego played a

larger role in a healthy personality.

(3) Freud thought development was pretty much fixed by 18; Erikson believed it to

be a lifelong process.

(4) Freud thought emotional distress in adulthood was a result of childhood

trauma,while Erikson believed that such distress could result from either

childhood or adult traumas, or both.

(5) Freud believed parents were almost totally responsible for the adjustment of a

child; Erikson acknowledged the vital roles of parents but believed that the larger

society also plays a significant role in how one's personality develops and

whether one becomes emotionally disturbed.

(6) Freud's theories emphasize the role of biological instincts (life and death,

primarily sexuality and aggression) in personality development. Erikson

incorporates the influence of sexuality, but emphasizes social interactions and

outcomes.

(7) Erikson's psychosocial perspective does NOT inculde the idea of fixation at a

stage where one does NOT successfully resolve the unconscious conflict.

B. Freud's and Erikson's theories are NOT antithetical; instead, Erikson's complements

Freud's by expanding it.

Freud's focus on erogenous zones at different ages is too specific. Good stage

theories describe general achievements / issues at various ages rather than specific

skills / issues / achievements such as though associated with Freud's psychosexual

stages. For each of Freud's 5 stages, Erikson provided for greater generality by

relating the erogenous zone with a general mode of activity.

1. The oral stage is associated with sexual pleasure when stimulated, but the general

mode for the stage involves incorporating things (passive but eager "taking-in").

As the child further develops during this stage, she (proximodistally and

cephalocaudally) grasps things, thereby extending the mode from the head down

and from far to near via the general mode. During this psychosexual stage, the

child is also is in the first psychosocial stage: mistrust vs. trust. During the first

year, if the baby's physical, safety, and social needs are consistently and

adequately met with affection, the child develops a trust for his environment and

his relationship with the significant people in his environment. If these needs are

not met to the satisfaction of the child (there are individual differences), he

develops mistrust and secure attachment does not develop well. (Note, though,

that if trust does develop, the issue will arise again in the future, though each time

it will be resolved easier if it is successfully developed originally and successively.

Additionally, if the child develops mistrust during this first year, it does not mean

he will always have this hanging over his head; trust can be developed at later

stages though it is more difficult.) Additionally, the child must develop trust in

himself which means he learns to regulate their activity so other can trust him

(e.g., biting while teething, etc.)

2. Between 1-3, the child is deriving sexual satisfaction from the retention / expulsion

of wastes. She gains voluntary control over the sphincter. The mode for this

stage, again, is more general (not just associated with wastes); it involves holding

on to toys, etc. (physical possession). The Psychosocial stage is autonomy vs.

shame and doubt. Autonomy means independence; as the child matures more

and more tasks that, originally, were done for her she can now do herself. Of

course, initial efforts are going to be clumsy, time-consuming and adults will be

able to do it faster and more effectively. However, if they do this, the child will

doubt her own abilities. If parents too frequently criticize and rebuke, the child

will be shameful of what she does. Again, it is not an either / or position. The

child must learn to internalize shame / control functions as part of the process of

socialization (social regulation).

3. In the phallic stage, the child focuses on the genitals. Erikson's mode for this stage

is intrusion as it relates, generally, to manipulative and exploratory curiosity

(physical and psychological). The psychosocial stage here is initiative vs. guilt.

Children develop plans and objectives for the future (near and distant), but realize

they cannot realize all of them. Superego development begins and signals that the

child's intrusive initiative must internally (and will be externally) checked via self-control

and self-punishment. Again, balance is the key.

4. The latency stage is a period where Freud believed there was no primary

erogenous zone; children are thought to be sexually neutral. Psychosocially, it is

in this stage that ego supremacy develops since the child is acquiring / learning

important cognitive and social skills. Erikson's stage is industry vs inferiority. If

the child is sufficiently rewarded for successes (and if there are enough successes),

her intrusiveness becomes diligence and perseverance geared towards socially /

academically appropriate skills and activities. If the successes are few or the

rewards too small, the child adopts a persona of inferiority which may dampen her

inquisitiveness.

5. The fifth psychosexual stage is the genital one. This stage is associated with

adolescence (a turbulent time at best with conflicting social, intellectual, and

biological pressures). Freud focused this stage on how one can develop

longlasting relationships. Erikson's identify vs. role confusion, again, expands

this theme into a more general mode resulting from social pressures. During this

stage, Erikson sees the young person as striving to find out who and what he is (all

of their new roles start interacting), a process called identity-formation which is a

life-long process. Many children, instead of immediately knowing what they will

be when they grow up, instead display a psychosocial moratorium--timeout for

reflection--which prevents identify foreclosure (making irrevocable decisions too

soon). [Note: later research has identified two substages of identity formation: 1)

social identity (11-15) and personal identity (15-young adulthood).]

The final three psychosocial stages do not have psychosexual analogues (another

facet of expansion).

6. Intimacy vs. isolation / self-absorption. Developing an intimate relationship

with another after one has developed an intimate relationship (based on self

identity) with oneself. After intimacy has been established, the partners next

become interested with raising a new generation.

7. Generativity vs. stagnation. The couple's interests expand from their narrow

interests (individual and collective) to more general ones. This stage involves

guiding others through the process of becoming; it can apply to work, etc., as well

as offspring.

8. During old age, often associated (stereotypically) with the decline of virtually all

abilities, one must adjust to a variety of external and internal struggles (i.e.,

physical and psychological ones). This is characterized by ego integrity, realizing

(in spite of missteps and wrong turns-metaphorically) that one has done ok, or

despair (regret about what could have been rather than what is and can be still).

C. All good stage theories must:

(a) describe qualitative differences between / among stages rather than just

quantitative ones, (b) focus on generalities rather than specifics,

(d) be generalizable to diverse groups (i.e., culturally universal).

D. Erikson believed that today's parents face increased difficulties compared to earlier,

less confusing times. A major issue is "Which authority on parenting should one

follow?" This increases the parent's anxiety which can affect how the child passes

through the psychosocial stages. He feels parents should develop a religious (or some

other) faith, and a "belief in the species." This means that when their belief or faith

system does not tell them what to do, parents can fall back on the position of doing

nothing and let the child's natural development (maturational timetable) call the shots.

Erikson believes this will usually work (a very typical developmental position.)

Parents must all recognize the inequality between children and adults and not abuse

their power.

E. Evaluation: Erikson developed generalities for Freud's stages and expanded on them

in several ways (including the role of the ego). He introduced the dimension of

society influencing personality development and focused the psychoanalytic tradition

on healthy development with a biological / maturational twist / flavor. Negatively,

his theory is viewed as somewhat vague theoretically / conceptually, and his general

modes may not tie well with Freud's specifics at each stage.

Organizing for Instruction

I. Professionals in the field have two main questions concerned with their educational

practices: What to teach and how to teach it. Organizing for instruction provides the

information that allows the professional to determine what to teach.

II. There are three types of objectives used in education that specify what we should

teach: Educational (aka "goals"), Instructional, & Behavioral. Instructional and

behavioral objectives are not the same.

a. Educational objectives / goals describe global outcomes in general terms (at best,

they reflect a macro orientation to what should be taught). Ex.: Students should

exit their teacher education program knowing how to teach their subject matter.

b. Instructional objectives describe general outcomes associated with specific topic.

Ex.: Teachers should both understand the value of, and know how to use,

behavioral objectives.

c. Behavioral objectives are student-centered statements that are typically developed

by the instructor. Behavioral objectives (BOs) state what students should be able

to do or say after an instructional lesson (a micro orientation). BOs always have

three parts that: (a) identify a terminal behavior that is observable/measurable; (b)

specify the conditions underwhich the performance must occur (excluding acts that

will not be accepted as evidence that the learner has achieved the objective); and

There are several good pedagogical / philosophical (and pragmatic) reasons for all

teachers in all disciplines (despite their underlying philosophical orientations) to

develop and use BOs.

1. Teachers will know where they are going and the route to take to get there.

Teachers will be less likely to overlook critical junctions/behaviors along the

way if BOs are employed.

2. BOs provide detailed criteria against which instructional effectiveness and

students' terminal performance can be objectively evaluated. This

particular point bears expansion. Teachers are held accountable for

what their students learn. Teachers also must assign grades based on

student achievement. Good BOs provide the linkage between instruction

and assessment, especially since assessments of all sorts can only

represent samples of what the student has learned and been taught.

[Some sampling, however, is better than others.]

3. A complete, sequentially arranged set of BOs allow one to pinpoint

intermediate behaviors that can be monitored during instruction (formally

and informally). Thus, BOs provide a framework for an on-going system of

instructional quality control

4. Good BOs serve as guides to studying for mature students. Research has

shown that BOs decrease the amount of time required for students to learn

material.

III. An either / or sequential heuristic for educators concerned with the order in

which one develops the knowledge and skills you teach and assess: Goals /

instructional objectives, behavioral objectives, test items, lesson plan(s),

instructional strategies.

There are several cautions in using behavioral objectives. If a teacher is not

careful, there is a tendency to state them at the lower levels of Bloom's

Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain (see below). However, with some effort a

teacher can work towards higher level objectives if they are stated properly.

A second caution is that when writing behavioral objectives it will sometimes

lead to fragmentation of the curriculum where specific objectives are clearly

stated, but are not organized into a coherent whole. It is important to first state

overall goals and then tie specific objectives to these more general, long-term

statements.