chapter 5 the early years of childhood copyright 2010 mcgraw-hill australia pty ltd ppts to...
TRANSCRIPT
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Chapter 5
The Early Years of Childhood
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-1
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What is 'childhood'?
• A period of the lifespan based as much on social
norms as biological time
• In Pacific cultures, status depends on the situation,
not just age
• Also common in European cultures:
a person may be a "child" to their parents, even when
they are at midlife
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-2
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Cultures differ in dividing the lifespan into phases
• NZ government:– Tamariki (0-14 years)– Rangatahi (15-24 years)
• Many cultures distinguish between– Infants 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 school
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-3
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Big issues about childhood
• Period of life often seen as special and protected in various cultures
• In 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 Development 5-4
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Childhood as a cultural construction
Some sociologists argue that cultures' views of
childhood depend on:
– Wealth of a society & views of child labour
– Life expectancy
– Boys' and girls' access to schooling
(James, Jenks & Prout, 1998)
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-5
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Diversity in children's lives
• There is no "typical child"• Affluent Euro-Western children differ greatly from
children in much of the world• Access to enough food and healthcare differs• Low birthweight and early birth babies survive less
often in poorer countries• Children 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 Development 5-6
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Discourses about childhood
1. Childhood is a distinctive stage
2. Childhood is about progress
3. Childhood is about independence
4. Children as the future
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1. Childhood is a distinctive stage
• The theories of Piaget and Freud have stages to
describe childhood
• This 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 Development 5-8
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2. Childhood is about progress
• The child is often contrasted with the adult– As though the child is half-formed– Progressing towards maturity– Deficient but constantly improving
• Children do, however, have their own competencies and are unique, valuable people in their own right
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-9
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3. Childhood is about independence
• Key concept used in describing children's changes
across age
• Cultures 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 unusual
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-10
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4. Children as the future
• Many cultures value childhood as representing the
next generation
• Special recognition given to hopes for the future
E 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 Development 5-11
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Nature and nurture
• Recap:– Genome is a person's unique genetic description
("nature")– Often contrasted with the environment around the
person ("nurture")– But the two are always intertwined
• Very hard to predict what a child will be like later in life
• Famous 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 Development 5-12
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Are 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-directional– Not just poverty that affects the child's nutrition
but– Children respond differently to different types of
food and nurturing– In a two-way causal process
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-13
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Temperament in early childhood• Is 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 9– Some children consistently more 'approachable' – Others more 'sluggish' or 'restless'
• But cultures differ greatly in interpreting children's moods & behaviour
• Children do change over time• Cultures differ in what temperaments they value or
avoid, e.g. talkativeness!
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Predictions about development
• Piaget's theory suggests that children's development could determine their ‘readiness’ to understand many concepts
• Recent research shows children understand many things earlier than previously thought
• Cultural diversity means that there is NO single universal path in child development
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Children 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.nz
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Language development
• Acquiring a language– Phonology: sounds– Lexicon: vocabulary– Syntax: rules of grouping– Grammar: phonology + syntax– Pragmatics: everyday uses of language
• Narratives bring cultural knowledge to conversation
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When families have more than one language• Many children acquire more than one language
– Language in home may differ from majority in the country
– Bilingualism: some fluency in two languages
– Many different types of bi- and multi-lingualism
– No clear disadvantage in development
– Can enhance child's cultural understanding
• Strengthening te reo Māori in Aotearoa– Te Kōhanga Reo
– 'Language nests' support young children & families who speak many minority languages in NZ
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Figuring out the basics: Jean Piaget
• Pre-operational thinking– Poor 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 situations
• Piaget's theory still useful but has evolved into new directions
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Understanding how others see the world
• Egocentrism: centering on your own point of view
• Importance of play: trying out new actions & understandings through assimilation
• Learning about others through interest in and responding to others (Dunn, 1988, 1991)
• Learning about emotions through hearing people talk about them
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Theory of Mind
• At some point children learn that everyone has a unique mind or mental life
• This helps us to understand others by anticipating what they might think or why they did something
• Pretend play can show evidence of Theory of Mind (Kavanaugh, 2006)
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Cultural setting for development: Lev Vygotsky• Language is a much bigger part of development
in this theory compared to Piaget
• Zone of Proximal Development:– Space between what the child can do alone in
comparison to accomplishment with others' help
• Caregivers and older peers may 'scaffold' (provide supporting structure) for the child on a task• Example: tuakana (older child) / teina (younger
child) relationships
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Knowing oneself helps social understanding
• Moral development : Kohlberg's theory– Preconventional stage: Punishment defines
what is bad!
• Emotional self-regulation improves, as does capacity of empathy for others
• Improving language skills help in social relationships
Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs to accompany Claiborne & Drewery, Human Development 5-23
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Early Childhood Education (ECE)
• 94% of NZ children attended some kind of early childhood service in 2006
• Cultures differ in the developmental changes considered most important in early childhood
• In Aotearoa there is a national ECE curriculum:– Te Whāriki
• ECE can be an important support for the child’s development
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