Реферат: Child Development Essay Research Paper Physical development
Название: Child Development Essay Research Paper Physical development Раздел: Топики по английскому языку Тип: реферат |
Child Development Essay, Research Paper Physical development during the preschool years has the most obvious aspects of changes. Children generally become slimmer as the lower body lengthens and some of the fat accumulated during infancy is burned off. The Kindergarten children no longer have the protruding stomach, round face, disproportionately short limbs, and relatively large head that are characteristic of a toddler. By age 6, the proportions of a child’s body are not very different from those of an adult. As their bodies grow slimmer, stronger, and less top heavy, and as their brain maturation permits greater control and coordination of their extremities, children between the ages of three and six are able to move with greater speed and grace, and become more capable of focusing and refining their activity. The result is an impressive improvement in their various motor skills. Gross motor skills, involving large body movements such as running, jumping, climbing, and throwing improve dramatically during the preschool years. For example a 3 year old can be quite clumsy, falling down quickly, and sometimes bumping into stationary objects when running around, but by age 6, the child can be both skilled and graceful. Most 6 year olds can ride a tricycle more the less a bicycle, go across the monkey bars on a school playground, In addition, throw, catch, and kick a ball. Most of them can even ice skate, ski, and roller-blade, activities that demand balance and coordination. Most young children practice their gross motor skills wherever they are, whether in a well equipped nursery school with climbing ladders, balance boards, and sand boxes, or on their own, with furniture for climbing, side walk curbs for balancing, and gardens or empty lots for digging up which are typical skills in a three year old. Generally preschool children learn basic motor skills by teaching themselves and learning from other children. Fine motor skills, involving small body movements, especially those of the hand and fingers, are much harder for preschoolers to master than gross motor skills. For example such things as pouring juice from a pitcher into a glass without spilling, cutting food with a knife and a fork, and achieving anything more artful than a scribble with a pencil are difficult even with great concentration and effort. Preschoolers could spend hours trying to tie a bow with their shoelaces, often producing knot upon knot instead. They experience these difficulties because they have not yet developed the muscular control, patience, and judgement needed for the exercise of fine motor skills as do most 6 year olds. For many 3 year olds, having short fat fingers can result in frustration and destruction causing them to burst into tears when they cannot button there sweaters, or mash a puzzle piece into place when they are unable to position it correctly. In children’s artwork for example, 3 year olds often just plunk, their brushes into the paint, pull them out dripping wet, then pushes them across the paper without much forethought or skill, by age 6, most children took care to get just enough paint on their brushes, planned just where to put each stroke and stood back from their artwork to examine the result. Older children also show an eagerness to practice their skills, drawing essentially the same picture repeatedly. Such mastery of drawing skills is related to overall intellectual growth. Cognitive development is intimately related to the development of speech. Words not only help the toddler to say what they are thinking and later to say what they are feeling but also help them to think. Three-year-olds can notice the differences a horse and a dog, between various toys, or between beloved and feared people. The ability for the toddler to sort into categories and describe things and people, to put names to their characteristics, and to use words to compare them, however, enormously increases the possible complexity and consistency of this kind of thinking. Toddlers have to grow up. They have to learn that they are separate people with individual ideas and preferences that will sometimes clash with those of others, Nevertheless, to feel happy about this, they also have to learn that arguments about socks do not put the love between themselves and their parents at risk. Toddlers do not understand that other people have feelings; they certainly do not see others as having feelings like their own or as being affected by there behavior. That is why they cannot be good or bad on purpose, Alternatively, be taught that biting people is wrong by being bitten themselves. The beginning of pretend play show the beginning of this kind of understanding, and as the language for feelings simultaneously develops children of perhaps 3 years old gradually learn to put themselves in other peoples shoes. Pretend play demonstrates important developments in children’s thinking, with repercussions in there socialization. Toddlers like to play alongside other toddlers. As imaginative play and the ability to understand the feelings of others develop, real companionship becomes both possible and desirable. They need to see that taking turns, playing by the rules and every aspect of a do-as-you- would-be-done-to approach do actually work to make life easier, pleasanter, and more fun for all. During the preschool years, however, as cognitive power increase, the pace and scope of language learning increase dramatically. By age 3, children typically demonstrate extensive grammatical knowledge. They not only put the subject before the object, explaining “I eat apple” rather than using any of the possible combinations of the three words. Language accomplishments during early childhood include learning 10,000 words or more by age six. Children appear to increase their vocabulary so rapidly by connecting unfamiliar words through their context to a mental map of familiar terms. Young children also show marked growth in They are understanding of basic grammatical forms. Children of age 6, however, have difficulty with abstract words and often misunderstand, or overegularize, grammatical rules. Preschool children are surprisingly capable of learning everything from math to grammar to social insights, but their actual learning depends on the somewhat guided participation they experience, as well as, on the opportunities they have to manipulate objects, learn language, and interact with children. For children of every background a quality preschool program advances learning, while a poor-quality program, one that provides little more than physical care and supervision is of little benefit intellectually. It is apparent that in terms of self- confidence, social skills, and social roles, much develops during early childhood. Cognitive growth permits children a greater appreciation of psychological roles, motives, and feelings, deepening their understanding of themselves and others. At the same time their social world becomes more diverse with the introduction of new social collaborates such as in preschool or in the neighborhood and in richer roles for familiar partners such as parents, siblings, and long time playmates. The play years are filled with examples of an emerging self concept, as preschoolers repeatedly explain who they are and who they are not and assiduously note which possessions are theirs. During the play years, children gradually begin to perceive themselves not just in terms of their physical attributes, or they are characteristic behaviors or abilities, but also in terms of their dispositions and traits, seeing themselves, for example, as friendly, shy, happy, or hardworking. By the late preschool year’s children possess a self-concept that may include a recognition of certain psychological tendencies. Nevertheless, preschoolers psychological understanding of themselves and others is still very limited. They do not grasp the complexity of personality or the variability of a person’s competencies: they do not appreciate, for example, that a person can be mean to people but kind to animals, or can be good at math but poor in reading. Preschoolers also do not clearly distinguish the different psychological causes of actions or skills, believing, for example, that ability is self controlled and can always be changed through effort. As time passes, however, preschoolers become increasingly aware of, and concerned with, how others evaluate their behavior, gradually, they begin to spontaneously appraise their behavior with the same standards as adults do. The typical three year-old believes that he or she can win any race, skip perfectly, and count accurately, and make up beautiful songs. In many situations, for example, young children will respond with disappointment or shame when they fail at a task, such as tying there shoes, when they cause some mishap, such as spilling a cup of juice, even when no adult is present. Preschoolers eagerly take on new tasks and play activities and feel guilty when their efforts result in failure or criticism. Their readiness to take the initiative reflects preschooler’s desire to accomplish things, not simply to assert their autonomy as they did as toddlers. Thus, in a nursery school classroom, the older preschoolers take the initiative to build impressive block towers, whereas the three year-olds are more likely to be interested in knocking them down. The enthusiasm of older children to learn and master many things derives, in part, from their growing sense of membership in the larger culture and a desire to acquire the skills of a citizen and worker as well as a family member. Peer relationships are another important relational influence during the play years. In addition to providing an arena for developing their social skills, peer relationships help preschoolers learn about friendship. Playing with other children requires preschoolers to take responsibility for maintaining social interaction through sharing and reciprocity. These features are evident whether the play is rough and tumble or sociodramatic play- the latter also permits children to explore social roles, examine personal concerns, and learn to cooperate. Self-concept emerges, usually wit a positive slant. Children boldly initiate new activities, especially if they are praised for their endeavors. As they are social and cognitive, skills develop, children engage in ever more complex and imaginative types of play, sometimes by themselves and, increasingly, with others. |