Childhood Observation

I absolutely think that children think in a different way than adults. I witness it firsthand, every day with my 3-year-old. For instance, I have seen my son struggle with static reasoning and think in terms of irreversibility (Berger, 2014, p. 246). Additionally, my son is currently very much in the “why” stage. For every answer you give to one question, there are more that follow it. I have also witnessed my son thinking along the lines of the “theory-theory”, as he is always trying to explain the things he sees (Berger, 2014, p. 252).

My son’s cousin is 6 and just finished Kindergarten. We have witnessed a lot of growth in him this year, not only in academic areas (i.e. reading and math), but in overall maturation. We have also seen an increase in his logic. The following example shows not only a change in logical thinking, but also an example of social comparison as described by Berger (2014, p. 369). Last Christmas, he can home and informed his Mom that he is the only one in his class without an elf (i.e. Elf on the Shelf) and therefore Santa must not like him. His Mom promptly went out and bought an Elf because she didn’t want him to think Santa didn’t like him.

As adults, we do not continuously ask why and we do not need to explain everything we see.

I do not mean to say that as adults we do not wonder and that we are not curious about what we see, but overall, we do not have the same level of curiosity as a child in early childhood. While I think that social comparison is part of the world we live, I think it is less pervasive in adulthood. By adulthood, we have discovered more about ourselves as an individual and hopefully care less about being exactly like our friends. I do think that adults like to “keep up with the Jones’”, but I don’t think it is on the same level as a child in middle childhood who may believe that something is wrong with him because he does not have a possession that someone else

has.

I think that when we teach children, we need to be aware of not only how they learn, but what drives their motivation (Berger, 2014, p.277). My son responds well to stories. I think they help take an abstract concept such as telling the truth and explains it in a way that is more relatable to a child who is egocentric (Berger, 2014, p. 246). Other techniques work better during middle childhood since children have developed selective attention and their brain has become capable of automatization (Berger, 2014, p.319-320). Children are more capable of complex learning tasks in middle childhood, such as learning to read.

You have to teach children at the appropriate level. Teaching at a level that is too advanced may cause them to become frustrated, while teaching at a too low of a level will not hold their attention. Most importantly, we need to be able to adapt to the child’s learning style. No child is exactly like another, and while there are general guidelines available in regards to development, I think the key is adaptability. Teachers have a monumental task that they are asked to complete with limited resources. I know I am incredibly grateful to teachers from all stages of life for the incredible job they do.