Sundus Al Ghafri
Abstract
This
assignment mentions four child development theories from different theorists
and explores all the theories. With results from questioners I was able to see
how well the theories were agreed or disagreed by different people. Each
question is based on one of the four theories, which I explained in the
methodology. I then discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each theory and put
my on input on why the results came out the way it did. In the end I concluded
by mentioning all the theories that were stated in this essay.
Introduction
Child development is the most
important part in a child’s growth. Child development is how children can do
difficult and complicated things, as they get older. The development of a child
was not of interest to anyone in the past, it was only in the early 20th
century when studies on child development was conducted, however these
researches were all about the child’s abnormal behaviour. Eventually the typical
child development began to form interest in researchers. In this essay I will
explain four of many of the child development theories that are an important
aspect in the growth and progression of a child.
Literature
Review
There
are many theories on how children develop; I’ll just mention four. Piaget’s
Cognitive Development Theory talks about how the child perceives the world, the
need to interact with things physically in order to understand them. Another
theory is Skinner’s and Bijou’s Behavioural Child Development Theory where it
focuses on how the environmental interactions affect a child’s behaviour, it
looks at how our experiences shape us into who we are. Erikson’s Psychosocial
Stage Theory explains that the social environments around the child will a have
an affect on their social emotional growth. Gesell’s Maturational Theory
describes that the child’s genes and biology is the reason for the behavioural traits and developmental trends in a child. Parents and teachers have little
influence on their behaviour.
Methodology
Each
question is based on the theories of child development. The first question is
about the environmental factors that affect a child. Secondly, the experience
we have are often the reason we turn out they way we do. Third question suggest
that a child to fully comprehend and understand what’s in front of them, they
should physically interact with, And Lastly, the Maturation Theory believes
that what ever behaviour a child perceives it is through their genes and that parents
and teachers may have little o no affect on the child behavioural traits. All
the questions can be found on the appendix.
My research was conducted in Bayan
College using the library facility to help. The research was done on April of
2012 with the help of my partner Melanie Marian Crasta with the questioners.
Also, the help of Mr. Michael during class hours.
Results
Different people did fifteen questioners.
The results show that the majority chose ‘Both’ in all the four theories. A few
have disagreed with the theory, however the rest chose ‘Agree’ as their answer.
These results show that everyone might not favour all of the theories different
people have different ideas. Question 1 the theory of cognitive development showed
balanced results. In question 2 of Behavioural Child Development Theory is
displays the majority chose ‘Agree’ and ‘Both’ and a couple have selected
‘Disagree.’ Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory in question 3 presents to be both
favourable and unfavourable it got the highest of them all. The last question was
mostly agreed by everyone and disagreed with couple. Not many disagreed with
the four theories.
Discussion
Behavioral
child development theory looks on how the atmospheres around us shape us to who
we are, however; it completely ignores the affects of one’s thoughts and
feelings. Piaget’s Cognitive Development
theory indicates that a child should interact physically in order for them to
understand it, which basically means that if they don’t they will never learn. Everyone has a different way of understanding things some by observing and
others by examining. The Psychosocial Theory of Erikson’s proposes that the
social environment around us has a great impact in our social an emotional
growth, but with the advancement of technology social interactions are becoming
less and less.
I think the results came out equalised, because most of the people related with all four theories, as did I.
Conclusion
In
conclusion I would like to say that all the four theories presented to be
suitable, but not complete. Every theory is correct, in my opinion, we may
learn from through interacting with the environment physically, we may benefit
form the social environment around us, we may be who we are because of our
genes that were passed along. At the end of the day we all need to strive for a
better future for our kids and focus on how to make a better generation.
Sources
Aldridge. J., Goldman. R.,
(2007) Child Development Theories.
Cherry, K., (2012) Child Development Theories.
McElhenny, A., (2009) Maturation Theory.
Oswalt, A., (2012) Child & Adolescent Development.
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