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Reflection on Child Development Theories

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Submitted By rhaven77
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TOPIC: REFLECTION ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
COURSE SUBJECT: FACILITATING LEARNING 1
INSTRUCTOR: MR. ANTHONY VISTA
SUBMITTED BY: JOANNE B. ATIS

After the discussion on the different theories of child development, I realized how these theories influence us; our cognitive development, values, principles & morals, behavior, and the society as a whole.

From the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, I realized that individuals go through stages in childhood and adolescence that shape their adult personality. Our behavior is influenced by the unconscious mind and our early experiences as a child affect development in later life.

Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory can be a basis for analyzing personality and behavior, and also for understanding and facilitating personality development. It is also obviously relevant to modern life. Each social interaction has a potential impact or reinforcement on a person’s identity. As such, Erikson’s theory is useful for teaching, parenting, self-awareness, dealing with conflict, and generally for understanding self and others.

From the four (4) stages of Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory, I learned the importance of two processes that are essential for development: assimilation which is learning to understand events or objects, based on existing structure; and accommodation which is expanding understanding based on the new information. Children provide different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive development. I believe that learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or mental operations for a child of given age. As future educators, we should avoid asking students to perform tasks that are beyond their current cognitive capabilities.

Lev Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory explained that development is influenced through interactions with family, friends and culture. I

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