Sociocultural Theory And Role Development - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Sociocultural Theory And Role Development. Answer: Task 1.1 As per my understanding, play is an enjoyable act that is associated with the development of cognitive skills, creativity, understanding and intellectual skills. In the play experiences, when children get engaged in playing, it imparts emotions, motivation and thinking establishing neural connections that are critical for brain functioning. The use of imitation and imagination involved during play help children to develop cognitive skills like persistence and curiosity and language acquisition through interactive play. I think play is a medium to develop creative skills fostering creativity of imagination, thought, problem solving strategies and divergent thinking ability. I believe that through the cognitive, imaginative and affective processes involved in play, children come together and support their skills for predicting and arriving at solutions that are unexpected. I believe every child has different abilities and learn in their own way. When the children are well guided, directed while following their own interests through play, they learn in the best possible way. I strongly believe that play is the foundation for the interaction with others taking them through adulthood and world. As children learn by doing and acquire knowledge through playful activities, they get motivated to learn through their desire making sense of fascinating world surrounding them. When children get engaged in learning activities, it helps to develop positive feelings and self-esteem directed towards learning. There are opportunities and exploration among the children making choices to take part in the play activities involved in discovery learning encouraging problem-solving and creativity skills. Manipulation and involvement occurs that are relevant to their life experiences when children use hands-on and concrete materials for playing. It is my personal belief that there is construction of relationships in play-based activities as a childs mind is prerequisite to complex skills of writing, reading and mathematical reasoning. Therefore, I believe that giving children the opportunity to actively manipulate, explore, discover and question can facilitate childs cognitive development. In the classroom, when children get engaged in play experiences, it supports emotional health, social skills, physical and cognitive growth I believe that in play education, when children are left to play, explore, imagine, create using senses experiencing in plays, they engage with each other. Children learn while playing that is extensive as it increases their communication, literary and imagination skills. Play work well in building their confidence encouraging writing and reading skills. Discovery, exploration and interaction of children in ones social world through play is as critical as learning process explored in the physical environment. There are immense opportunities for children to develop cooperative interactions through playing with peers. My personal philosophy behind child play is that it fosters intellectual competence. When children get actively engaged in play-based activities, it promotes their optimal overall development in every aspect of child life. My personal concern behind child play is that play develops healthy confidence, self-concept, motivation and curiosity to learn and develops ability for the establishment of cooperative relationships while playing with peers. I strongly believe that emotional and social development of the children is of paramount importance that is encouraged through play-learning hinging on emotional well-being. In addition, my philosophy also lies in the fact where play is a cognitive approach as children get actively involved in their own learning. When children are engaged in playing, it allows tutor to carry out a clinical observation helping children to get adapted to the learning environment according to their level of understanding. I also believe that play in a group encou rages communication and social skills between the peers learning through interaction with peers in a friendly learning based environment. My personal belief behind play is that it helps to foster active engagement of the children to become active members of the society supporting their emotional, social, intellectual and physical growth. Play-based learning experiences are meaningful for the children relevant to their lives as I believe that every child is unique and has his or her own learning style and temperament. When children interact with their peers, tutors, play materials and environment, they try to relate every piece of new information to their existing view in the world. These established relationships forms the basis for the childrens learning exploring and discovering more about their surrounding world. With time, these relationships become more polished and sophisticated. As per my philosophy, play activities are advantageous; however, it has certain disadvantages depending upon the type of play designed for the children. To plan and implement plays in the classroom settings is problematic being much debated. The play should be designed according to the childs interest termed as child-centred and when it is restricted; it limits a childs exploration and discovery. I strongly recommend that play should be structured so it does not expose them to risk and limits their exploration, rather helping children to enjoy and learn through pleasurable play. Task 1.2 The theories of development proposed by mid-twentieth century psychologists like Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Lev Vygotsky and Howard Gardner are based on the experiences and observations with the children. The knowledge about these theories lays the foundation for the early child education and provides a framework for the tutors. Firstly, Eriksons Psychosocial Theory is based on the fact that development occurs throughout the life providing insights into healthy personality formation. This theory is advantageous in a way that it illustrates development in children is based on their response towards social environment. When children get actively engaged with the social environment, it develops their social skills by providing them social support and opportunity to help children come over crisis or conflict that occurs at every stage. This theory is based on the fact that when there is well-equipped capability to resolve early adulthood crisis that can be successfully reached if the adolescence crisis is resolved (Dunkel and Harbke 2017). Similarly, Piagets developmental theory is also advantageous as it has huge impact on the early childhood education suggesting that children should be taught at their developmental preparedness level. This theory has also improved the cognitive development understanding. The ability to communicate with children and methods of observing them is possible through Piaget theory (Shute and Hogan 2017). Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory is also advantageous providing solid foundation of how children learn before entering school and how knowledge is related to the concepts that they learn in school. The socio-cultural theory framework works as a foundation for the early childhood educators (ECE) in knowing how to address the learning needs of the children, what they learn and how they learn (Panhwar, Ansari and Ansari 2016). Multiple intelligences approach used in Howard Gardner theory forms the basis for the variety of differences among the children having different mental performance levels. The theory helps to recognize the different talents and abilities of children providing a theoretical foundation. This theory explains that many children are not mathematically or verbally gifted, however they hold expertise in other areas like spatial relations, music or interpersonal knowledge. The approach and assessment of learning through this theory help early childhood educators to allow wide range of children to participate in the classroom learning (Gardner 2017). Early childhood educators face challenges when they lack depth and breadth of knowledge about these developmental theories as it lays the foundation for explaining the developmental inequalities and processes that occur in children based in development definitions. The main challenge is witnessed in relation to education level of the teachers and depth and breadth of knowledge that they have regarding developmental theories. As the foundation of early childhood education is developmental theory regarding how children should learn and develop, it is important for them to understand and have good grasp of the theories guiding their teaching. They should have knowledge about these theories as it guide tutors in early education in teaching and supporting children as learners (Wood 2014). When the early childhood educators lack the knowledge of various developmental theories, it becomes challenging for the educators to treat children as unique individuals and modify the classroom that is appropriate to the developmental stage and age based on the developmental theories concepts. While implementing these developmental theories, early educators face obstacles while planning literary instruction that reflects on the childrens developmental stages integrating their personal interests and allowing them to engage in the learning process. The lack of appropriate knowledge about developmental theories poses obstacle for the educators in the implementation of developmental appropriate practices into the instruction of classroom literacy (Theobald and Busch 2016). Every child is unique and possesses different talents and has their own way of learning things. In such cases, if the educators lack knowledge about the development of a child according to age, it becomes difficult for them to interact with the children, making them engaging and enhance social communication with them. Moreover, to understand every child and help them to learn in their own way, educators need to have in-depth knowledge about the developmental theories that is suited as per the age (Wood 2014). The poor developmental theory knowledge among educators can pose challenge in designing classroom as per their learning ability. When they lack knowledge about how children learn, grow and their trajectories, the intervention efforts made by the educators might be fallout contributing to their development. The developmental outcomes like cognitive, social and emotional skills development would be disrupted when educators lack knowledge about developmental theories shaping and su pporting childs growth, literacy and development. References Dunkel, C.S. and Harbke, C., 2017. A review of measures of Eriksons stages of psychosocial development: Evidence for a general factor.Journal of Adult Development,24(1), pp.58-76. Gardner, H., 2017. Taking a multiple intelligences (MI) perspective.Behavioral and Brain Sciences,40. Panhwar, A.H., Ansari, S. and Ansari, K., 2016. Sociocultural Theory and its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy.Advances in Language and Literary Studies,7(6), pp.183-188. Shute, R.H. and Hogan, J.D., 2017. Child and Adolescent Development. InHandbook of Australian School Psychology(pp. 65-80). Springer International Publishing. Theobald, M.A. and Busch, G.R., 2016. Key ideas, research and challenges in early childhood education and care. InUnderstanding Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia Practices and perspectives(pp. 95-120). Allen Unwin. Wood, E.A., 2014. Free choice and free play in early childhood education: Troubling the discourse.International Journal of Early Years Education,22(1), pp.4-18.