Child Development Theory

Anyone who works with children can use a little guidance. Things that they need to know about are they ways that children develop. They need to know how to nurture the children they are taking care of. There are certain ways to do everything. Some programs tell you how to recognize how children are progressing and how to help them to progress in their development. This article gives tips on all those subject including what to do when a child is not developing the way it is expected to.

Developmental theory, with Piaget as the most prominent theorist, presents the idea that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore the world around them. Development is seen to take place in broad stages from birth through to adulthood, with each stage characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking. However, some developmental theorists, in contrast to Piaget, place more emphasis on personal, social and emotional development rather than cognitive development and prefer to delay ‘academic’ experiences until later, for instance after the age of seven years in Steiner’s theory.

This paper is written to examine various influences on the moral development of young children. Specifically, the paper will speak to the definition of moral development, the views held by educators Piaget and Kohlberg on this area of development in young children and the application of moral development theories by Early Childhood Educators. Theories posited by Sigmund Freud with regards to the psychological development of children in the early childhood arena will be discussed as well. Suggestions for parents on supporting the moral development of their children will also be addressed.

When an infant arrives in the world they are helpless tiny humans who depend on adults for every need from love, to feeding them. It is amazing how these tiny babies grow into adults able to make decisions and become self-dependent. There are many theories about how children develop and what roles the environment plays, what people affect their lives and how events can shape their personalities. Some of these children have and easy life and some have a harder time making that journey to adulthood.

There is a plethora of child development theories that have a degree of influence over current practice. Each of which both have criticism and contrasting theories.

From the day they are born, children are immersed in a social world. Rapid learning takes place and is supported not only by parents, siblings, teachers and friends but also the important values and beliefs within their culture. All of this provides the foundations for cognitive development. As trainee teachers, it is fundamental that we have a deeper understanding of how children learn and how we can support learning. In order to do this we must first look at some of the theories of learning.

From the video observation, the two three-year old children, Thomas and Riley set off on a bus journey along with their childminder; it is observed that both the children speak about their journey, in which they are able to identify various features, which include the passengers; various buildings and different types of buses. Both children observe many of the features by taking photographs to highlight what they have observed on their journey. From observation, the video looks at the way the childminder plans the experience from a child-initiated stance, which directs the children’s learning in addition with assisting them with role-play and symbolic play, which is shown towards the end of the video. Thus, this essay will focus on the

Child Development Theory: There were three theorists that we talked about that looked at child development. The first one was Erik Erikson, who believed that there was two main stages of children development during the first three years. The first of the two stages was Trust vs. Mistrust and the second stage was Autonomy vs. Doubt. During these stages the child developing many close relationships with those that are frequently in their life. As children are building these relationships they are also learning to become more of an individual and have more awareness of their own self. The second theorist we discussed was Jean Piaget, who believed that children develop actively by how they explore their "world". When the child has mastered that

Intellectual development, however, does not stop at this point. This is just the beginning of formal operations, which continue to develop at least until age 16. Accordingly, one might expect thinking about moral issues to continue to develop throughout adolescence. Kohlberg, therefore, interviewed both children and adolescents about moral dilemmas, and he did find stages that go well beyond Piaget's.

Childhood development encompasses the cognitive, physical, social, moral and emotional changes from birth until the end of adolescence (White, Hayes & Livesey, 2013). Throughout childhood, environment and genetics promote or discourage growth and development. This essay will analyse the cognitive, physical, social, moral and emotional domains in relativity to my own development from the prenatal stage until adolescence. Psychological and environmental theories are used to develop the understanding and connection between each domain and stage of development. Lastly, this essay will address the controversial nature verses nurture debate and its relevance to my childhood development.

Kohlberg (1963, 1981, 1984; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987) expanded Piaget’s work, developing a most influential cognitive developmental theory of moral development. Kohlberg proposed the progression through the invariant, universal sequence of three moral levels each composed of two distinct stages. According to Kohlberg, no stage can be skipped, neither will there be a regression to an earlier stage.

The development of a person is composed of all the biological and environmental processes that make that person who he is. From personality to cognitive maturity, every aspect of his development influences who he becomes. Psychologists such as Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson have attempted to explain different facets of the cognitive development of humans in stages. However, this may not as clearly demonstrate cognitive development as personal experiences and observations. I asked my sister, Joanna, a series of questions pertaining to different aspects of her cognitive development including parental and peer influences during adolescence, increasing independence, and moral reasoning.

There are multiple domains to describe children's’ development and growth, including; physical, social, moral, neurological, emotional and cognitive. The level of autonomy and motivation displayed by a student is largely dependent on their developmental stage (Lyons, Ford & Slee, 2014). For example, children of the same age may demonstrate a range of moral reasoning abilities. Therefore, it is my belief that young students require differing levels of guidance to differentiate between right and wrong. This is supported by Kohlberg, who states that some children do not understand social conventions or moral rules (O’Donnell et al, 2016, p 158).

Moral Developmental psychology focuses on the evolution and changes in understanding morality from infancy through adulthood. In the field of moral development, morality is defined as principles for how individuals ought to treat one another, with respect to justice, others’ welfare, and rights (Definition retrieved

Piaget believed that cognitive structures and abilities developed first. Cognitive abilities then determine children’s abilities to reason about social situations (Slavin & Schunk, 2017). Piaget did not believe that younger children understood the concept of moral reasoning, but believe that they respond to rules and disciplinary actions. Piaget propose that moral development progress in predictable stages (Slavin & Schunk, 2017). As my children started aging between 5 and 10 years old, everything that I modeled they followed or any adult figure in the household. They thought this was the norm at this age. At this age, children assume that everything that they see from an authority figure is correct. As I grew up in my 2-parent home, I knew that anything that my father or mother told me, I had to do because if I didn’t I would get punished in some form or fashion. Considering, they never told me anything wrong to do. I lived in a God-Fearing home.