Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory Analysis

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP)? Illustrate how DAP is child-centered? “Developmentally Appropriate Practice, often shortened to DAP, is an approach to teaching grounded in the research on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about effective early education. Its framework is designed to promote young children’s optimal learning and development.” (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2009) DAP is a tool that guides teachers in making good decisions for the children, both as individuals and as part of a group, based on their understanding of the child’s development and learning as well as in setting learning goals that are both challenging and realisable for the children.

Piaget and Maslow: Teaching the whole child Exceptional educators keep their fingers on the pulse of what their students need, in order to teach them effectively. Examining Piaget and Maslow’s theories, and applying them to the classroom will facilitate achieving this goal. Considering Piaget’s focus on development, and Maslow’s prioritization of human needs, one can integrate these ideas into classrooms and lesson plans that are optimized for student success.

How to apply Cognitive Theory in real world teaching It is very important to carefully assess the children’s current stage of cognitive development. With the help of this, teacher can arrange the lesson and tasks according to their development level.

“Bruner considers that it is necessary for the adult to be able to ascertain what the child

In the Educational Leadership article entitle “The Boss of My Brain”, authors Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers examines the explicit instruction in metacognition. Researchers stated that “explicit instruction in metacognition puts students in charge of their learning.” It was also stated that “meta-cognition supports learning by enabling us to actively think about which cognitive strategies can help achieve learning, how we should apply those strategies, how we can review our progress, and whether we need to adjust our thinking.” I believe this a unique teaching tool for teachers to implement with their students. With the use of metacognition, students whether they are struggling learners or gifted can learn how to use a variety of cognitive strategies to help improve their learning.

Lev Vygotsky provided many contributions to development that impacted what we know about how children learn and the kinds of environment that should be provided for optimal development of language. Vygotsky believed that the environment provides children with information that supports language development. Similarly, he theorized that language begins with communication between children and individuals in their environment. He developed the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which is the distance between what a child can do independently and what a child can do with support from an adult. Therefore, the main role of an adult is to help children bridge the distance between what they can do independently and what they can do with some support.

A social constructivist viewpoint needs a view that teachers have a responsibility for understanding the nature and level of each child’s learning and to use that knowledge to build their practices in a way that is relevant for particular children in particular contexts. Such a viewpoint can notify practices for insertion that are based on a very dynamic model of children’s learning. Finally, contructivism 's utmost influence to education may be through the change in emphasis from knowledge as a creation to deliberate as a process. This legacy of constructivism to be expected demonstrates to be a fixed and significant modification in the structure of

I believe that all children are individuals, unique in their abilities, from a wide diversity of backgrounds and cultures, and they also have the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Educators are observers and designers who have to observe children’s abilities, interests and learning styles for designing a curriculum that fulfill everyone’s needs. Observers also play an important role on noticing individual differences and offering help to children who have lower ability to improve

Observation is the tool that practitioners use to obtain the necessary information that helps them to plan effectively for each child. Observations are considered to be an important part while working with the children. There are number of reasons why recorded observations are required. To plan for individual children’s needs-

Children learn language skills by interacting with the immediate environment and training or simple structural changes can improve language skills of children (Bouchard & Gilles, 2011). The early education given in early childhood shapes foundation of the life and helps mental and academic development of child. Throughout the play and education, children learn social skills along with how to deal with others and develop their own values (Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2010). Therefore, this paper, with the purpose of developing the children’s future, discusses why it is very essential to recognize the importance of early childhood education, how it effects to person 's life and how it can be developed. 2.Disscussion of findings 2.1.

Developmentally appropriate practice implies that educationalists need to consider first about what young children are like and then create an environment and experiences that are attuned to child’s characteristics. According to children’s needs and interests, teachers apply their knowledge about the child development to design a program to fit them and help them accomplish challenging and attainable purposes. There are five key components of developmentally appropriate practice. Firstly, we should create a caring community of learners. Secondly, teaching has to enhance development and learning.

Hilary Jo Seitz suggests that teachers can identify and learn about children’s interests, experiences, questions, comments and conversations. Then help, extend and encourage them to follow their interests. After that, construct a plan for an effective learning experience that are connected deeply to their interests. Teachers initiate this process through their observation first, then documentation. The documentation could be presented through children’s conversation, photos and work samples.

This demonstrates my understanding of effective learning though appropriate instructional strategies because is displays how I implemented a variety of materials and technological resources to support my instructional strategies and reinforce student learning. It also conveys my ability to assess student’s through both formal (activity sheet) and informal (thumbs up) assessment techniques. These techniques help me evaluate the student’s strengths/weaknesses and the effectiveness of my instructional strategies. This particular skill outcome is important to early childhood education because implementing instructional strategies that reach the diversity of our students is going to promote overall student success. We, as early childhood educators, have to use a variety of strategies to discover more about the student’s developmental process and adjust our instruction in a way that will promote students to become self-directed

Early childhood educators must differentiate instruction, build knowledge together, create multiple opportunities for learning, teach to all developmental domains, integrate content areas, and monitor children’s achievement (Brown, Feger, & Mowry, n. d.). Tools, techniques, and strategies must meet the readiness levels, interest, needs, and cultural identities of individual learners. When young children learn through developmentally appropriate practices they are enabled to connect previous experiences to new knowledge and make meaningful connections. DAP also helps learners meet challenging goals, build confidence and self-esteem, and encourages them to take on a positive approach to learning. The side-effects of non-DAP can result in behavior issues, failed classroom management, miseducation, failure of students reaching their academic potential, and grade

In my reading, chapter one gave me some good information about assumptions and learning tasks. Jane Vella talked about assumptions in the first chapter and how the first assumption from learners arrive with the capacity to do the work that is involved in learning. Learners must be active, be engaged and held accountable for their learning. The second assumption is that learners learn when they are actively engaged-cognitive, emotionally, and physically –with the content. Then the third assumption follows closely on new content and can be presented through learning tasks (Vella pp 2-5).