Jean Piaget is mentioned in the text because he was a big contribution to understanding development of children’s thought. He identified four periods of cognitive growth and development. The four periods are sensorimotor (from birth to about 2), preoperational (ages 2-7), concrete operations (ages 7-11), and formal operations (ages 11 through adulthood). Piaget’s theory about children is that they acquire their knowledge through their interaction and experience with the environment that they are exposed to. As we all know, children do not prefer to sit down and be taught, but given the choice, anyone would choose play over work. So Piaget chopped knowledge into three categories; physical knowledge, logico-mathmatical knowledge, and social knowledge.
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“Vygotsky believed that—just as people developed tools such as knives, spears, shovels, and tractors to aid their mastery of the environment—they also developed mental tools.” (Page 12) I thought this quote was interesting leading into the idea of “mental tools” that Vygotsky called signs. Signs such as speech allow a child to be socially interacted and requires them to use their brain to think. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky goes deeper into development. Some development comes from the child, but defiantly not all. A child has many influences in their life time. Remember the saying “always be a good role model”? Well that is where this plays into. Children look up to adults in their life for guidance and assistance. I’m not suggesting that children do everything that their parents do and do not explore on their own, but they develop and build off of the things that they have seen others do. Vygotsky’s theory is important because it challenges children to reach for their full potential. Both theories are excellent and useful and work together towards the child’s interest and providing the best …show more content…
Science touches base on just about everything in the world. Where would our world be today if we didn’t have science? Now science for young children should not be too extreme, but they defiantly need it in their curriculum. One example of how to work science into my curriculum would be talking about the nature of bugs. How they adapt, if they come from eggs, where to find them. Taking them on a nature walk to find bugs would be educational. Another way to work it into my curriculum would be talking about the four seasons and weather. By doing this you are introducing science and showing the kids what the nature life really is. Talking about the seasons can also relate back to how bugs and animals adapt to their environment. Lastly could be hands on activities. Just last week I touched base with my 4 year old class about the three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). We left a cup of water in our classroom for a day, put a cup of water into the freezer, and put a cup of water outside. We came back to our experiment three days later and observed the different outcomes. Children learn a lot from visualization and it is important to try and work in a way for them to visualize the curriculum in order to get a better
“Vygotsky believed that—just as people developed tools such as knives, spears, shovels, and tractors to aid their mastery of the environment—they also developed mental tools.” (Page 12) I thought this quote was interesting leading into the idea of “mental tools” that Vygotsky called signs. Signs such as speech allow a child to be socially interacted and requires them to use their brain to think. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky goes deeper into development. Some development comes from the child, but defiantly not all. A child has many influences in their life time. Remember the saying “always be a good role model”? Well that is where this plays into. Children look up to adults in their life for guidance and assistance. I’m not suggesting that children do everything that their parents do and do not explore on their own, but they develop and build off of the things that they have seen others do. Vygotsky’s theory is important because it challenges children to reach for their full potential. Both theories are excellent and useful and work together towards the child’s interest and providing the best …show more content…
Science touches base on just about everything in the world. Where would our world be today if we didn’t have science? Now science for young children should not be too extreme, but they defiantly need it in their curriculum. One example of how to work science into my curriculum would be talking about the nature of bugs. How they adapt, if they come from eggs, where to find them. Taking them on a nature walk to find bugs would be educational. Another way to work it into my curriculum would be talking about the four seasons and weather. By doing this you are introducing science and showing the kids what the nature life really is. Talking about the seasons can also relate back to how bugs and animals adapt to their environment. Lastly could be hands on activities. Just last week I touched base with my 4 year old class about the three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). We left a cup of water in our classroom for a day, put a cup of water into the freezer, and put a cup of water outside. We came back to our experiment three days later and observed the different outcomes. Children learn a lot from visualization and it is important to try and work in a way for them to visualize the curriculum in order to get a better