Intellectual Development ofYoung Children
In two separate issues of “Time” magazine, the intellectual development of infants and preschoolers was analyzed with contrasting viewpoints regarding the development of their brains and the views regarding how best to encourage the cognitive abilities of these young children. In the earlier issue, dated February 3, 1997, the special report consisting of two articles titled “Fertile Minds” and “The Day-Care Dilemma” the theories of Jean Piaget’s cognitive-development are supported. In the latter issue, dated October 19, 1998, the special report titled “How to Make a Better Student” focused on refuting the theories supported in the earlier issue of this magazine. Understanding the influence of Piaget’s and other’s views on intellectual development of young children on the contrasting views of this topic and how it reflects contemporary opinions on how young children should be raised is the focus of this paper. Hopefully, these contrasting articles will provide a more holistic understanding of Piagetian theory and its application to real-life situations.I. Children's Intellectual Development: Preoperations By the age of 3 and 4 years old, children have at
Tanner, J. M. (1981). Education and physical growth. London: University of London Press. Piaget, J. (1950). The psychology of intelligence. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. In discussing young children's intellectual growth and abilities, it is difficult to overemphasize the wide range of normal variability in the age at which they attain their new mental powers. The article “Fertile Minds” seems to downplay this variability by using scientific evidence of PET scans to quantitatively describe intellectual capability in all infants and young children. Although it is sometimes useful, as Gesell and his coworkers have done, to talk about the characteristics of the "3-year-old" or the "4-year-old," this can be misleading. Although some temperamental characteristics are relatively unique to each age group, a great deal of intellectual variability exists (Gesell, 1949). This individual variability has sometimes been obscured by the tendency to think of young children in temperamental, rather than intellectual terms. Children are most like us in their feelings and in their emotions, and least like us in their thoughts. It is, therefore, important to treat children with the same good manners we would accord to other adults. At the same time, we need to remember that young children may not understand concepts the same way we do. Put differently, we should treat young children as we might treat a visitor from another country--with good manners, but without the expectation that they will understand everything we have to say or be affected from our actions even if believed to be or not be in their best interest.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Development Preoperations, Benjamin Bloom, Remarks Children, Growth Rates, Day-Care Dilemma”, Jean Piaget’s, , Craig Ramey, Furthermore Piagetian, Paul Piaget, intellectual development, routledge kegan paul, kegan paul, london routledge, special report, “how student”, routledge kegan, cole 1998, normal variability, “fertile minds”, development children, london routledge kegan, “the day-care dilemma”, intellectual development children, kegan paul piaget,
Approximate Word count = 1662
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
