MIND-BLOWING FACTS ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY IN CHILDREN PART 3

18. Economically disadvantaged children reap long-term benefits from preschool

There is no doubt that a well thought out preschool education program can provide long-term benefits for any young child. However, W. Steven Barnett, Ph.D., in the National Institute for Early Education Research suggests that it is the disadvantaged populations that benefit the most.

In impoverished areas, parents are not able to provide their children with the optimal learning environment. Instead, adults struggle to find work and make ends meet, and the academic and creative needs of an impressionable young child go to the bottom of the pile. A child growing up in a financially secure home may be offered an enriching environment if the mother and/or father have the resources to invest in early education initiatives at home. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the lower class, and the reason why preschool is so important.

The brain of a young child is incredibly impressionable from ages 0-6. When there are positive influences during this time, there is a higher likelihood that those experiences will shape the child’s future for years to come.

 

14. Learning, for children with ASD, is affected by classroom acoustics, artificial lighting, and windows

Children with autism and related disorders are greatly impacted by their environment, more so than the average child. In many cases, it takes a child’s full concentration to simply interact with another student or teacher, so classrooms need to eliminate any unnecessary distractions. The Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences studied different areas of the classroom and found ways to reduce excess stimulation for these children.

Students do better when their work areas are tucked in a nook with walls and other makeshift boundaries sectioning off their space. Putting a desk against a wall with a bookshelf on either side can minimize distractions. Secondly, adding carpet on the floors and even on the walls will muffle the noise and echo of an empty concrete room. Teachers can also add curtains, floor pillows, and rugs to further muffle noise.

Another crucial necessity is natural light. Fluorescent lighting is difficult on the eyes and can be render a child with ASD completely ineffective. Instead, opt for large windows and skylights that allow sunlight to pour in. These changes can make a big difference in the learning potential of a student suffering from Autism.

 

15. Engaging children in planning and reflection enhance their predictive and analytic capabilities

When you think of a classroom curriculum in action, you might suppose that the teacher plans the lesson and then the children carry it out. But more and more, educators are seeing the importance of teaching the children how to plan.

This important skill is not only useful in everyday life, it seems that it enhances a child’s capabilities as well. In a journal put out by the NAEYC, they noted that the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation found that students who were given a chance to learn how to plan out their activities, performed better in language and other skills.

When a child is brought into the process of planning and reflection, it forces them to evaluate what behaviors and actions are necessary to complete a task. When the plan does not work, they then must analyze why it didn’t and what must be done to get back on track.

 

16. Mature make-believe play provides the most beneficial context for children’s development

Do you remember playing “store” or “restaurant” when you were a child? These imaginative scenarios, in which children take on roles, props, themes, and collaborate with other children, is one of the most crucial avenues for development.

In an article written by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, they make the argument that play is an ever-evolving skill that children must be guided through. Whereas young kids used to play in multi-level age groups (perhaps in a neighborhood or in a family with a lot of children) having older peers in which to mimic and follow, now students are segregated according to age. This means that the teacher is now in the primary role of teaching children how to play.

There also must be ample time for play. Sessions that are only 10-15 minutes do not give a child the opportunity to play out the scenarios, actions, and sequences necessary to really engage the senses, the mind, and the child’s innate creativity. The classroom must allow room for these play-based scenarios, as they are one of the building blocks of learning.

It is within this context that children build the preliminary skills for advanced academic understanding.

 

17. Children are not blank slates on which adults imprint knowledge

Children’s brains are far more powerful and intuitive than we ever imagined. As more and more research is done on the impact of early education on children, the results continue to point to a surprising conclusion; when children are given a rich environment to explore, they naturally use scientific processes to discover the world around them.

Alison Gopnik, professor at the University of California, reported this in her research that was outlined in the September issues EdWeek’s blog. The push for more academics, more structure, and more early academic intervention is not necessarily beneficial. Adults are not the “givers” of information, but rather facilitators that allow children to use their natural curiosity to discover the world. It would seem that one of the best predictors of future academic success is built on this foundation.

 

18. Young children learn about prejudice by instruction, older children by experience

Science Daily released an article last March that gives educators insight into how children form opinions about discrimination and prejudice. When several different age groups of children were put into differing groups (with one group discriminating against the other), the younger children were more influenced by a teacher’s comments regarding the discriminating group than their actual experience. With the older group of children, they relied on their experience, and not the teacher’s opinion.

This has profound implications for early education teachers, as well as parents and caregivers. Young children will believe adults, even when it contradicts their own personal experience. However, this only lasts for a short time during development. By 5th grade, most kids will trust their peers or their own experience over an adult, even an influential one.

Delivering a positive message about ethnicity and social equality is best communicated in younger ages in order to make a lasting impact.