Theories of Development

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Theories of Development

Psychodynamic

Limitation: Lack of research data support and high research restraints. "It is very difficult to verify the internal conflicts a particular person might have, in part because these struggles are hidden from self-awareness. If we ourselves are not consciously aware of our mental and emotional dynamics, we would not be able to talk accurately about these feelings with another person". One cannot make a student talk or share what is going on in their mind and even if they were the case there is really no telling the accuracy of what is shared. This makes research based evidence more challenging and a determining a concrete method of approach also difficult.

Key Principal: There is great significance in children's social emotional experiences. "Early social relationships influence children's sense of security; children defend themselves from criticism, neglect, and traumatic events; concerted efforts are needed to dislodge children from unhealthy paths; and young people wrestle with age-related issues during certain phases of life". Children are heavily impacted from events that they have to process internally. It is a common theme for children to keep that to themselves and deal with physiological turmoil from the way they process the events of the world and things going on around them. These things easily impact learning and development as they can hold so much weight to mental state and ability to balance information.

Theorist: Sigmund Freud He "argued that young children continually find themselves torn by sexual and aggressive impulses, on one hand, and desires to gain approval from parents and others in society, on the other". Emotions tie to behavior in this theory of development and Freud showed the importance of recognizing and interpreting the phycological side to things and understanding individual thought process as it impacts learning.

Behaviorism and Social Learning

Limitation: Not enough focus on internal thought process. "It focuses almost exclusively on actions and gives little consideration to internal thought processes". There does need to be a balance in the focus of what is happening and what might be causing that internally.

Key Principle: The importance of observation and behavior reproduction. "Children reproduced behaviors that allowed them to achieve certain goals or standards". I think this is a very valuable theory to recognize in children as repetition is a result of a lot of learning. As a past daycare and preschool worker I witnessed this a lot. Children imitate their playmates, teachers, parents, and siblings. If I ever slipped up saying 'shut up or 'stupid' you had to be careful no one heard or chances are it would get repeated! One needs to be careful with what behavior could be mimicked but it can also be a very useful tool for setting an example and reinforcing positive behaviors, especially in a classroom.

Theorist: Albert Bandura "proposed a social learning theory that credited children with learning a great deal by observing what other people did" He focused mainly on behaviors deriving from observation and mimicking which could result in positive or negative results.

Biological

Limitation: Overlooking Genetic Diversity in Content and Result. "They largely overlooked the effects of children's experiences." While this is an old way of Biological thinking it used to be a big limitation. They were not accounting for the fact that genes are flexible and children's situations diverse. These things have great impact of development as well which is now what is more put into practice in this theory of development.

Key Principle: Every child has a unique genetic makeup that interacts with their environment. "Biological theorists appreciate that genes are flexible instructions that give rise to a range of possible outcomes depending on the child's circumstances". This attributes to the individual nature of children and how not one child's genetic makeup will be the same as another so in order to best help them progress, helping them learn through nurture and environments will lead to the best result based on their developmental timing.

Theorist: Maria Montessori She emphasized the fact that "nature and nurture [are] intertwined during development". This essentially means that while children are, in fact, born with certain attributes and innate capabilities, their environment and how they are guided through life, and their exposure to things also plays a critical role in their development.

Developmental Systems

Limitation: Prediction Difficulty "It is difficult to make predictions about any single factor because that feature is inextricably intertwined with other elements. Thus, growing up in a certain culture and having unique personal characteristics are hints rather than reliable indicators of the children's needs". As shown with anything more emotionally based it is difficult to pinpoint the actual source of the issue or development because this theory takes in so many factors many of which are relative to situation (that a teacher may not even be able to know).

Key Principle: The importance of the unity of multiple factors of development. "The power of the developmental system framework is its ability to capture it all--nature, nurture, and the child's developmental level, activity, and personal characteristics. Any of these factors can provoke change, and growth is sufficiently embedded in relationships and institutions that educators are urged to find out about the child's family, community, and culture". Overall, this theory points out the important connection of body, mind, and cultural influence in learning. They set off chain reactions with each other and will ultimately be a great guide, especially for teachers, in determining the how to best assist students and notice when factors may be positively or negatively impacting growth and learning. from there that awareness can help pinpoint the problem.

Theorist: Urie Bronfenbrenner He "found close family members with whom children interact every day to be of utmost importance. In the best of circumstances, parents and other caregivers form close bonds with children, meet their emotional needs, and arrange for them to take on grown-up responsibilities". He found that the interconnectedness of socioeconomic influences to intellectual development is very high. It makes sense why they work together as when students are not at school they are with their parents and guardians who have just as much of an impact on their learning. So naturally that influence holds high weight to the ability to mature and retain information in the classroom.

Sociocultural

Limitation: Less Precision than Cognitive Theories. "In some cases, sociocultural theorists have taken for granted that children learn important skills simply by taking part in an activity, whereas in reality, some children merely go through the motions without becoming accountable for their share of task completion". While this theory does well at connecting to students out of school life influences, the research is much less concrete and leaves out some important variables in their thought processes.

Key Principle: Application of culture inspired learning to real world applications. "[They] concentrate on the impact of social systems and cultural traditions. These conceptual frameworks portray development as the process of children becoming full participants in the society into which they were born. [...] Children can be encouraged to apply knowledge learned at home while at school and learn to use academic tools, including mental strategies, that enable them to master complex projects". When connecting at home culture to learning in the classroom it explains a lot more of children's intellectual processes as social life at home is a huge impact on behavior and thought process. When understood and used well, teachers have the ability to help inspire children to make these connections and recognize real world applications in their learning.

Theorist: Lev Vygotsky He "concluded that people grow intellectually by taking part in routine activities and gradually assuming higher levels of responsibility for their completion". He believed that in addition to cognitive process being important it was also critical to recognize the cultural impact on their ways of thinking and application of ideas.

Cognitive Process

Limitation: Neglect of Social-Emotional Factors "Cognitive process researchers can easily overlook the larger issue of why children think as they do. These approaches often neglect social-emotional factors and the contexts of children's lives, factors that other theories treat as significant". While the concrete foundation Cognitive Process provides is beneficial in the classroom, only focusing on the 'what' and 'how' of children's development will skip over their highly important social and emotional 'why's' of learning which can also have serious effect on what is being learned and retained.

Key Principle: Provide concrete research tested ideas for understanding thought processes. "A key contribution has been the production of painstakingly detailed descriptions of thinking. As a result of peering into the previously hidden mental processes, scholars have generated a wealth of concrete, research-tested instructional applications". Through their thorough research, previously less known understanding about children's thought process is now more understood. It shows teachers how to help guide students in their individual thought processes and use research tested methods to ensure success!

Theorist: Robert Siegler He "has found that children spontaneously use several different strategies when first learning to complete tasks in arithmetic". He used extremely detailed and extensive research in showing the diverse and unique learning capabilities and styles of children.

Cognitive Development

Subtopic

Limitation: The expected clear cut stages are generally less concrete. "A central reservation is that performance rarely reflects the back and forth between more and less advanced ways of thinking". Overall, while the cognitive development stage does well at observing children's development on the grounds of learning by stages some children may be further ahead in one area of learning at the same time they are behind in another and this does not align with the more clear stages laid out. It reminds me of schools having gifted programs for certain subject areas but a child doing well in all classes might need to have extra help in a particular area.

Key Principle: Understanding children's logic through sympathetic observations. "...means looking sympathetically at children and understanding the logic of their thinking. [...] One cannot make a child think in ways beyond his or her current stage. These experts also believe that adults who push children beyond their present abilities instill stress and derail learning". Overall this key principle teaches that overly pushing children to obtain a higher level of academic success far outside their current abilities may be far more detrimental than beneficial. Children are naturally learning and using new logic skills to grow and teachers and parents can help them not by pushing them but by seeking to understand and guide their logic to create the best result.

Theorist: Jean Piaget "Using detailed observations, in-depth interviews and ingenious experimental tasks, Piaget investigated the nature of children's logical thinking about such topics as numbers, physical causality, and psychological processes". His focus lied on children's brains and how they thought and showing great observation to their progress and timing of specific acquired skills.