How Does Piaget's Theory Of Development Influence Current Practice

Piaget, Vygotsky, and Erikson are very well known men for their different theories of development. Although each of them believe different things about how a child develops, I believe that a child can go through all of these theories and benefit from them. I also understand that not everyone is the same, and what might be true for someone could be different for someone else. In my own personal experience, I believe I went through and I’m going through all these different stages in theories throughout my life. I also work at a daycare and we use aspects from each of these theories when going about teaching children. The three different theories include: Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, Vygotsky;s sociocultural theory of

Jean Piaget is a key figure for development, focusing on cognitive constructivism – that being that we must learn from experience and development, building on knowledge that has already been developed. The strengths and weaknesses of Piaget 's cognitive development theory will be discussed.

The assessment framework is used to determine whether a child is in need and if so the nature of their needs. Once the needs have been established then interventions can be put in place.

Assessment frameworks are the way in which a child is assessed to see whether they have any particular needs, what they are and how we can help them be met. It is useful in deciding whether a child has reached expected milestones. Assessment frameworks may be summative or formative. Formative assessments are used to check progress and helps us to consider learning opportunities needed to progress. The ongoing observations we do of children are formative assessments. They inform the next steps of the childs learning. Summative assessment provides staff with information about the attainment of knowledge and is usually measured against a benchmark or standard. For example, the EYFS assessment which is done toward the end of the reception year. This “sums up” all the different information from

Understand how to monitor children and young people’s development and interventions that should take place if this is not following the expected pattern

This type of observation needs some planning, as the observer needs to keep an eye on the children. A sheet is prepared with the times marked out. At the each of the times on the sheet, the observer watches what the child is doing. It is possible to record the activity of more than one child.

As well as observing children and noticing what they are doing, there are some simple methods you can use to record what you are seeing such as structured recording, tick charts and checklists. A structured recording involves looking out for particular skills or behaviour that children show. Many settings do this by using checklists or tick charts. There are many advantages to using checklists and tick charts. They are easy and quick to use and they can be repeated on the same child at a later date to see if the child has gained further skills. This means that progress can be mapped. The main disadvantage of this method is that it is quite narrow as it focuses the observer on looking only for the skills that are on the checklist or tick chart.

* What activities they are partaking in and how well are they dealing with them.

Also when working with children who have behavioural difficulties it is important that practitioners see the child as individual and not the same as the other children. This will provide a child centred practice. Some children may find it difficult to follow the class or school rules for many different reasons. This could result in the child having an individual behaviour plan and this will help manage the child 's behaviour. it is also important when working with children with behavioural needs to manage the methods being carried out but also the ones that don’t work for example some children may like the reward method by having stickers and others may prefer to have free choice.

To monitor children’s development, schools use formal testing - SATS as well as internal school tests which record a child’s academic attainment and intellectualdevelopment. As a teaching assistant I may be asked to observe a child whose development is causing concern and feedback to the teacher. I would always record information and feed back to parents about the outcome of our findings via the teacher. Observations of test results would be compared against the expected norms and milestones of developmental age statistics. I would use feedback from parents to then check with class teacher, who would discuss with others involved within school. They would look if any further action or interventions were required which I would implement as advised by teaching staff.

According to Piaget (1929, 1954, 1963), the process of adaptation helps us to understand how a child constructs his/her world. Taking Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development with particular focus on the Sensori-Motor stage of development, I am going to discuss how understanding this stage might influence me when working with a baby as a nursing student in the future.

In an early childhood setting, being observant gives professionals and family members a helpful portrait of the children in their care, and as future professionals it helps us see how intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development occurs in children. Observing, documenting, and assessing young children shows how they progress from one stage to the next or when there is a delay in progression. The reason we observe young children is that “there is so much that demands attention and response; at the same time, by building in systematic observation, teachers can improve their teaching, construct theory, assess children, assist families, and solve problems” (Gordon and Browne, p.180). It gives dynamic information about each child’s learning styles, interests, abilities, and needs. Observation helps teachers improve teaching by making them become more objective and self-aware of biases they may have. It encourages us to remember that early childhood development is highly individualized, so customizing activities to benefit each child will help them utilize their abilities to their fullest potentials, and through this we will be able to recognize what behaviors are typical of various age groups. The reason we document our observations is so that we can keep records and show proper evidence of each child’s individual growth and participation in classroom activities. With good documentation, family members will able to see the progression made by their child.

The Critique of Piaget's Theories Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) was a constructivist theorist. He saw children as constructing their own world, playing an active part in their own development. Piaget’s insight opened up a new window into the inner working of the mind and as a result he carried out some remarkable studies on children that had a powerful influence on theories of child thought. This essay is going to explain the main features and principles of the Piagetian theory and then provide criticism against this theory. Cognitive development refers to way in which a person’s style of thinking changes with age.

The key to understanding children is observation. As observers, we begin to look for daily patterns in their behavior. Once patterns of behavior are recognized, the observer can then give positive guidance in securing the child’s developmental needs.

Adolescence (12-18 years of age) stage in human development is the period between puberty to legal adulthood. During this transitional stage physical, emotional, intellectual, social and psychological changes occur. This essay will discuss about some transition on socio-cultural and cognitive aspects as well as two normative and a non-normative events occurring during this stage. Erikson’s theory of social development and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has been used in this essay to discuss the transitional aspects of the adolescence. This essay further discusses about self identity and self esteem and their impact and various aspects contributing to the nursing standards for practice.