2 how concepts are developed

7/30/2019 2 How Concepts Are Developed

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SCIENCE AND LIVING THINGS

FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

GED 3083

by: Elis Johannes H S


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Course Outcomes

At the end of the course , students will be able to:

1. Describe how children learn science

2. Apply the content in science curriculum and the topics

for early childhood education3. Plan lessons that are appropriate for the teaching of

science for young children

4. Assess the science skills of young children

5. Apply and implement science lessons in the classroom


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Activity 11. Explain the basic concepts and skills developed

starting sensorimotor until concrete operation.

2. Explain the stages of cognitive development

according to Piaget.

3. How do we characterize the logic ofthe Preoperational Child?

4. Compare the view of Piaget and Vygotsky about

how children acquire knowledge and develop

concept.

5. Describe the learning cycle and its application in

early childhood education.


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How children develop

concepts


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Objectives:

Define concept development

Identify the concepts children are developing

Label examples of Piagets developmental stages of

thought

Identify cognitive characteristics and behavior ofchildren in preoperational period.

Compare the view of Piaget and Vygotsky

Explain how young children acquire knowledge.


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Early childhood is a period when children actively engage in

acquiring fundamental concepts and learning fundamental

process skills. As children are doing their activities, concepts

are constructed and used (during preprimary period)Concept:

the building blocks of knowledge;

they allow people to organize and categorize information. Solution to new problem


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Give examples of simple activities for these concepts:

One to one correspondence: passing apples, putting

car in a garage

Counting:

Classifying:

Measuring:


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During preprimary period they develop the processes that

enable them to apply their newly acquired concepts and to

enlarge current concepts and develop new ones both in

math and science. During primary period, they apply the basic concepts when

exploring more abstract inquiries in science and to help

them understand more complex concepts in mathematics.


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Concepts and skills: Beginning Points for

Understanding

Period Section II

Fundamental

Section III

Applied

Section IV

Higher level

Section V

Primary

Sensorimotor

(birth to age

2)

Observation;

Problem solving;

One to onecorrespondence;

Number; Shape;

Spatial sense

Preoperationa

l (2 to 7 years)

Sets and classifying;

Comparing;

Counting; Parts and

wholes;

Language

Ordering, seriation,

patterning; Informal

measurement:

weight, length,

temperature;

volume; time; time

and sequence

Number

symbols;

sets and

symbols


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Transitional (5

to 7 years)

Graphing Concrete

addition and

subtraction

Concrete

operations (7

to 11 years)

Whole number

operations;

Fraction;

Number facts;

Place value:

Geometry;

Measurementwith standard

units


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Development refers to changes that take place

due to growth and experience.

Different children of the same age may be

weeks and months, or even a year or two apart

in reaching certain stages and still be within the

normal range of development.

As the children grow and develop, their

concepts grow and develop as well.


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Concepts growth and development begins in infancy.

Babies explore the world with their senses. They are born

curious and want to know all about their environment.Babies begin to learn the ideas of size, weight, shape,

time and space. Examples-

Infants learn about weight, shape, time sequence,

Toddlers learn to sort things,

Young children learn about measurement

Preschool and kindergarten apply the concept to

collecting data to answer a question, e.g process of plantgrowth.


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Standards for science education

In 1996 the national research council published the

national science education standards, which

present a vision of a scientifically literate populace.

A prominent feature of the national scienceeducation standards is a focus on inquiry. A national

consensus has evolved around what constitutes

effective science education.


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The NAEYC guidelines for mathematics and science(Bredekamp & Copple, 1997) state that mathematics beginswith

For three years old:

exploration of materials such as building blocks, sand, andwater

For 4 year olds:

Cooking, observation of environmental changes,

working with tool,

classifying objects with a purpose, and

exploring animals, plant, machines, and so on for four five

year olds.


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For 5-8 year olds:

Exploration, discovery, problem solving

Mathematic and science are integrated with

other areas such as social studies, arts, etc.

These standard take a constructivist view

based on the theories of Piaget and

Vygotsky.


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Piaget Stages of Cognitive Development

Stages Age

Sensorimotor Stage Birth2 Years

Preoperational Stage 2-7 Years

Concrete Operational

Thought

7-11 Years

Formal Operational

Thought

11 Years and Older


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4 Stages of Cognitive Development

Stages Age

Preoperational Stage 27 Years

Occurs when children are learning to use language to

communicate

During this stage, children do not yet understand concretelogic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and areunable to take the point of view of other people

During this time, children also become increasingly adeptat using symbols


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Stages Age


Some development skills/issues that take

place in this stage are:

Symbolic function/symbolic play

Egocentrism

Conservation


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Stages Age


Symbolic function/symbolic pay

Uses advanced level of mental representation

Using a broom for horse, hat for a cup

Make-believe play

Advances rapidly during early childhood

Can create stories, with characters and scenes


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Stages Age


Make-believe Play Research has shown children involved in make-believe

play show remarkable improvement in memory, logicalreasoning, attention, creativity, impulse control..

Research shows make believe play that involves socialinteraction (drama, creative play) makes children moresocially competent as compared to those doingnonpretend social activities (drawing, coloring)


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Make-believe Play

How can we enhance make-believe

play in early childhood in the

classroom?

Stages Age



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Stages Age


Egocentrism

The inability to take on another persons

perspective.

Perspective Taking

The 3 mountains

The doll experiment


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Stages Age


Conservation The ability to recognize that certain physical

characteristics fo certain objects remain the same,even when their outward appearance change

Conservation tasks Number

Length Mass

Liquid

Weight


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Failure of Conservation


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Figure 9.2 Conservation


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Why the errors?

Inability to interrelate the different dimensions of a

situation.

il f C i (i b )


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Failure of Conservation (in number)


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Figure 9.3 Conservation of Number


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Stages Age


Egocentrism

The inability to take on another persons

perspective.

Perspective Taking The 3 mountains

The doll experiment

E i


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Egocentrism


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Figure 9.1 The Three-Mountains Test


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Including new objects/categories in broader

mental classes

Requires child focus on more than one

aspect of situation at once

What is Class Inclusion?


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Figure 9.4 Class Inclusion


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Causality

Influenced by egocentrism

Caused by will

Precausal thinking Transductive reasoning

Animism; Artificialism

Confusion between mental and physical phenomena

Believe their thoughts reflect external reality

Believe dreams are true

How Do We Characterize the Logic of

the Preoperational Child?

H D Child i th P ti l St


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Symbolic thought and play

Pretend play

12-13 months familiar activities; i.e. feed

themselves

15-20 months focus on others; i.e. feed doll

30 months others take active role; i.e. doll feeds

itself Imaginary Friends

More common among first-born and only children

How Do Children in the Preoperational Stage

Think and Behave?


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Piagets view of how children acquire knowledge

According to Piagets view, children acquire knowledge byconstructing it through their interaction with the environment. Theyare continually trying to make sense out of everything theyencounter.

Knowledge is divided into three areas:

Physical knowledge (learning about objects in the environmentand their characteristics , e.g color, weight, size, etc)

Logico Mathematical knowledge (include relationship eachindividual constructs, e.g same and different, more or less,number, classification, etc)

Social knowledge (created by people, e.g rules for behavior)


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Constance Kamii, a student of Piaget, has actively translatedPiagets theory into practical applications for the instruction ofyoung children. He emphasized that to Piaget, autonomy

(independence) is the aim of education. Feel secure in their relationships with adults

Opportunity to share their ideas with other children

Encouraged to be alert and curious

Come up with interesting ideas Have confidence to figure out things

Presented with problems to be solved to challenge theirminds

Work with concrete materials and real problems


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Vygotskys view of how children learn and

develop

While Piaget looked at development as if it came

mainly from the child alone, from the childs inner

maturation and spontaneous discoveries, Vygotsky

believed this was true only until about the age of two.He believed culture and cultural signs were necessary

to expand thought, e.g speech, writing, numbering,

etc.


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The internal and external forces interacted to produce

new thoughts, e.g roles of adult or more mature peer.

He developed the concept of Zone of proximal

development (ZPD); the area between where a child isnow operating independently in mental development and

where she might go with assistance from an adult or

more mature child.


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Cultural knowledge is arrived at with the assistance or

scaffolding provided by more mature learners.

Good teaching involved presenting material that was alittle a head of development. Children might not full

understand it at first, but they would understand in

time with appropriate scaffolding.

Instruction did not put pressure on development but

supported as it moves ahead,

Teacher must identify each students ZPD and provide

developmentally appropriate instruction.


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Piagetian constructivists tend to be concerned aboutthe tradition of presurring children and not allowingthem freedom to construct knowledge independently.Vygotskian constructivists are concerned with childrenbeing challenged to reach their full potential.

Today many educators find that a combination ofPiagets and Vygotskys views provides a foundationfor instruction that follows the childs interests andenthusiasm while at the same time providing anintellectual challenge. The Learning cycle viewprovides such a framework.


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THE LEARNING CYCLE The learning cycle is viewed as a way to take students

on a quest for knowledge that leads to the constructionof knowledge.

It is used as a curriculum development and a teachingstrategy.

Developers must organize student activities aroundphases. And modify their role and strategies during theprogressive phases. The phases are exploration,concept development, and concept application

(Barnan, 1989).


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Exploration phase

Teacher observes and comment or question

occasionally, provide appropriate settings. Students actively manipulate materials and

interact with each other.

E.g. lesson about shapes


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Concept introduction phase

The teacher provides direct instruction, begin

with discussion of the information the students

have discovered,

The teacher helps students to record the

information, clarify by explanation, print

materials, films, guest speaker, and other

resources.


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Application phase

Provide children with the opportunity to

integrate and organize new ideas with old ideas

and relate them to other ideas.

The teacher and children can suggest a new

problem to which the information learned in thefirst two phases can be applied.

Example learning about shapes; ramps and the

balls.


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ADAPTING THE LEARNING CYCLE TO EARLY

CHILDHOOD

The learning cycle for young children encompassesfour repeating processes:

1. Awareness: a broad recognition of objects,

people, events, or concepts that develops fromexperience.

2. Exploration: the construction of personal

meaning through sensory experiences with objects,

people, events or concepts


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3. Inquiry: learners compare their construction

with those of the culture, commonalities are

recognized, generalizations are made that are

more like those of adults

4. Utilization: learners can apply and use their

understandings in new settings and situations.


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Cycle of Learning and Teachingsee

Attachment 1


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