Bài giảng Human Development - Chapter 5 The Early Years of Childhood

Chapter 5The Early Years of ChildhoodCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-1What is 'childhood'?A period of the lifespan based as much on social norms as biological timeIn Pacific cultures, status depends on the situation, not just ageAlso common in European cultures: a person may be a "child" to their parents, even when they are at midlifeCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-2Cultures differ in dividing the lifespan into phasesNZ government:Tamariki (0-14 years)Rangatahi (15-24 years)Many cultures distinguish betweenInfants dependent on the caregiver (first 18 months or so)Early childhood (18 months to school age)Transition to school Countries differ greatly in ages at which children start schoolCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-3Big issues about childhoodPeriod of life often seen as special and protected in various culturesIn earlier centuries in Europe children were not seen as special or vulnerable (Aries, 1962)Today many children globally suffer abuse, neglect and genocide (United Nations web pages)Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-4Childhood as a cultural constructionSome sociologists argue that cultures' views of childhood depend on:Wealth of a society & views of child labourLife expectancyBoys' and girls' access to schooling(James, Jenks & Prout, 1998)Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-5Diversity in children's livesThere is no "typical child"Affluent Euro-Western children differ greatly from children in much of the worldAccess to enough food and healthcare differsLow birthweight and early birth babies survive less often in poorer countriesChildren without resources may not reach their full potential (Melchior et al., 2007)Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-6Discourses about childhood1. Childhood is a distinctive stage2. Childhood is about progress3. Childhood is about independence4. Children as the futureCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-71. Childhood is a distinctive stageThe theories of Piaget and Freud have stages to describe childhoodThis is linked with views of biologists about immature forms of organisms (e.g. tadpoles turning into frogs)Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-82. Childhood is about progressThe child is often contrasted with the adultAs though the child is half-formedProgressing towards maturityDeficient but constantly improvingChildren do, however, have their own competencies and are unique, valuable people in their own rightCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-93. Childhood is about independenceKey concept used in describing children's changes across ageCultures differ in definitions and views of independence Affluent US mothers less likely than Mayan to let toddlers get their own way (Rogoff, 2003)NZ children playing outdoors unsupervised may be unusualCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-104. Children as the futureMany cultures value childhood as representing the next generationSpecial recognition given to hopes for the futureE tipu e rea mo nga ra o tou ao (In our children lies our future) Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-11Nature and nurtureRecap:Genome is a person's unique genetic description ("nature")Often contrasted with the environment around the person ("nurture")But the two are always intertwinedVery hard to predict what a child will be like later in lifeFamous quote from John B. Watson (1930) against fixed nature: “Give me a dozen healthy infants and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist and, yes, even beggar-man and thief”Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-12Are some children doomed from the start?Research has NOT found risk factors that inevitably give a child a poor outcome in life (see Masten & Gewirtz, 2006)Influences are multi-directionalNot just poverty that affects the child's nutrition butChildren respond differently to different types of food and nurturingIn a two-way causal processCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-13Temperament in early childhoodIs the temperament (emotional constitution) of a child set early on?Parents' observations of their own children in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study (2009) noted stability from age 3 to 9Some children consistently more 'approachable' Others more 'sluggish' or 'restless'But cultures differ greatly in interpreting children's moods & behaviourChildren do change over timeCultures differ in what temperaments they value or avoid, e.g. talkativeness!Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-14Predictions about developmentPiaget's theory suggests that children's development could determine their ‘readiness’ to understand many conceptsRecent research shows children understand many things earlier than previously thoughtCultural diversity means that there is NO single universal path in child developmentCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-15Children with disabilities May not fit expected norms in development, but norms (e.g. expected ages for answering the phone or looking after siblings) differ by culture One in five New Zealanders will be disabled at some time in life www.odi.govt.nzCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-16Language developmentAcquiring a languagePhonology: soundsLexicon: vocabularySyntax: rules of groupingGrammar: phonology + syntaxPragmatics: everyday uses of languageNarratives bring cultural knowledge to conversationCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-17When families have more than one languageMany children acquire more than one languageLanguage in home may differ from majority in the country Bilingualism: some fluency in two languagesMany different types of bi- and multi-lingualismNo clear disadvantage in developmentCan enhance child's cultural understandingStrengthening te reo Māori in AotearoaTe Kōhanga Reo'Language nests' support young children & families who speak many minority languages in NZCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-18Figuring out the basics: Jean PiagetPre-operational thinkingPoor on understanding of conservation(i.e. understanding that physical propertiesremain the same despite appearances to the contrary)Ages for success on Piaget's tasks are lower in 'child friendly' testing situationsPiaget's theory still useful but has evolved into new directionsCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-19Understanding how others see the worldEgocentrism: centering on your own point of viewImportance of play: trying out new actions & understandings through assimilationLearning about others through interest in and responding to others (Dunn, 1988, 1991)Learning about emotions through hearing people talk about themCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-20Theory of MindAt some point children learn that everyone has a unique mind or mental lifeThis helps us to understand others by anticipating what they might think or why they did somethingPretend play can show evidence of Theory of Mind (Kavanaugh, 2006)Copyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-21Cultural setting for development: Lev VygotskyLanguage is a much bigger part of development in this theory compared to PiagetZone of Proximal Development:Space between what the child can do alone in comparison to accomplishment with others' helpCaregivers and older peers may 'scaffold' (provide supporting structure) for the child on a taskExample: tuakana (older child) / teina (younger child) relationshipsCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-22Knowing oneself helps social understandingMoral development : Kohlberg's theoryPreconventional stage: Punishment defines what is bad!Emotional self-regulation improves, as does capacity of empathy for othersImproving language skills help in social relationshipsCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-23Early Childhood Education (ECE)94% of NZ children attended some kind of early childhood service in 2006Cultures differ in the developmental changes considered most important in early childhoodIn Aotearoa there is a national ECE curriculum:Te WhārikiECE can be an important support for the child’s developmentCopyright  2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development5-24