Theorists and Child Development Principles

  1. Theory: A principle or idea that is proposed, researched, and generally accepted as an explanation.
  2. Development: Change or growth in a human being. Development is usually measured in terms of physical, intellectual, social, and emotional growth.
  3. Jean Piaget: The first to study children scientifically focusing on how they learn and he believed that children go through 4 stages of learning. He believes that children learn through life experiences and they build their knowledge. Children must be given learning tasks appropriate to their level of development.
  4. Schemata: Mental representations or concepts.
  5. Sensorimotor Stage: Period between birth and two years of age during which infants use all their senses to explore and learn.
  6. Pre-Operational Stage: Periods between two and seven during which children learn to classify groups and use symbols and internal images
  7. Concrete Operational Stage: 11-7 years old. The use of logic based on what has been experienced or scene. Internalize some facts and can logically think through math such as 3+1 and 1+3 are the same. They no longer have to rely on sight to learn.
  8. Formal Operations: 11 years old to adulthood. According to Piaget young people develop the capacity to think in purely abstract ways. They no longer need concrete examples. Problem solving and reasoning are key skills in this stage.
  1. Adaption: A term used by Piaget for how children mentally organize what they perceive in their environment.
  1. Assimilation: Assimilation is a term referring to another part of the adaptation process initially proposed by Jean Piaget. Through assimilation, we take in new information or experiences and incorporate them into our existing ideas. The process is somewhat subjective, because we tend to modify experience or information somewhat to fit in with our preexisting beliefs.
  2. Accommodation: is adjusting what is already known to fit the new information. This is a process in which people organize their thoughts and develop intellectual structures.
  1. Erik Erickson: Believes that personality develops in stages throughout a lifetime. Each stage having a unique psychological crisis. There are 8 stages and at each stage a social conflict or crisis occurs. When the individual is faced with the crisis and it is met in a positive manner then the individual develops normally.
  1. Vygotsky: believes that children learn through social and cultural experiences with interactions with peers and adults. They tend to learn customs, beliefs, and language of their culture. Most important contribution is the Zone of Proximal Development(ZPD): learning is based on a scale with one end having child’s current developmental level and then the other end includes tasks to difficult, and in the middle are tasks children cannot accomplish alone. They are acquired with assistance called scaffolding. Uses think alouds to engage children in language and learning.
  2. Scaffolding: Vygotsky : assistance on tasks where children cannot accomplish the task alone.
  3. Gardner: Howard Gardner ( ) : developed the multiple intelligences. He believed that there are different intelligences used within the human brain. He believed that intelligence is the result of complex interactions between children’s heredity and experiences. The theory focuses on how cultures shape human potential. He believes that children can express themselves in many different ways and he came up with 8 intelligences.

A. Bodily-Kinesthetic: Ability to control ones own body movements and manipulate objects. Use of fingers, hands, arms, and legs to solve problems, express ideas, construct, and repair

B. Musical-Rhythmic: ability to recognize, create, and appreciate pitch, rhythm, tone quality. Ability to use different forms of musical expression.

C. Logical-Mathematics:ability to use logic, reason, mathematics to solve problems. Ability to apply principles of cause-and-affect and prediction. Appreciation of patterns as well as relationships

D. Verbal-Linguistic: Ability to use well-developed language skills to express self and understand others Sensitivity to sounds, rhythm, and meaning of words

E. Interpersonal: Ability to understand feelings, behaviors, and motives of others Ability to work effectively with others

F. Intrapersonal: Ability to understand personal strengths, weaknesses, talents, and interests Knowledge of skills, limitations, emotions, desires, and motivations

G. Visual-Spatial: Ability to form mental images and the ability to visualize the relationship of objects in space

H. Naturalistic: Ability to distinguish between living things such as animals and plants.

  1. Psychosocial: The psychological development of a child in relationship with their environment.

17. Multiple Intelligences: Theory Developed by Howard Gardner