Assessment and learning for Young Children

Assessment and learning for Young Children

Introduction

Generally assessment actually a process through which some professionals gather and examine data mainly to help gain an understanding of children’s growth and program effectiveness. It is an important part of an early childhood program which must be planned to align by way of programmatic goals. The main purpose of assessment of young children is to collect information necessary to make important resolutions about their developmental and educational needs indeed (Ochsner, 2008). Generally assessment must always serve mainly in ways that enhance chances for ideal growth, learning and development. The procedure for determining ones developmental and educational needs notifies early childhood education practices and also provides a template for setting individual and program goals.

From general point of view, Best practices for the assessment of our young children include carefully selected informal and formal strategies that to some extent measure specific characteristics above terminated several designated periods of time. However, in many different contexts, such assessment also accurately provides a broad picture of Childs learning, development, and growth from which wise decisions regarding the needs of individuals can be made. (Blakemore & Choudhury, 2006).

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In addition cognition in children involves the way Children adapt to their surroundings by developing some mental organizations, or schemes, mainly to organize their understanding of the world indeed. However adaptation consists of double processes—adjustment and also accommodation. Generally, assimilation involves fitting a new information into existing schemes for example a child at the age of 9-13 months calling a horse “doggy” mainly because it has four legs.in addition Accommodation involves altering existing schemes to accept new information for example a child at the age of two and an half a year altering his or her scheme for “doggy” to include barking so that the scheme can no longer now include horses. Despite all that there is a significant need for social interactions to cognitive development in children (Banfield et al., 2004). It is also important to note that what and how kids actually learn is mainly influenced by their cognitive developmental status. Take an example where a four years child might be able to learn and also repeat some complex words as well as phrases in their middle childhood, yet are not be in a position to understand them conceptually in abstract terms till adolescence.

There are critical precursors of social and psychological development. In fact socioemotional for child is determined for example look an eight months children’s reactions to their mothers maybe after their mothers leave them alone in a room whereby a stranger later enter the room. However the strategy assumes that incase the child reacts in negative way to the mother upon return there must be a poor relation between the caregiver and the child but maybe a two days old child may not react to the stranger.  According to Ochsner (2008), and Blakemore & Choudhury (2006) who used doll studies to demonstrate the early awareness about social devaluation as well as negative racial stereotypes. The Clarks posited that black children of age two to two and half years old, however become aware of racial stereotypes and in reaction developed personal racial preferences as early as in childhood. Doll studies can totally be useful experimental strategies using dolls that do not share live characteristics of a child. For instance, in order to determine with whom a child recognizes and the characteristics a child attributes to himself. In fact this strategy assumes that what children believe about the dolls can be revealing of their beliefs about themselves and their sense of identity as well as self-esteem.

In addition, the child acquire locomotor skills mainly when they are playing: sitting, crawling, standing, and eventually walking. However, new surveys reveal smaller sub-steps just before achievement of these broader abilities. For example, a 14 months old children’s may begin to take their first steps, they progressively become more consistent in their stride length, hence adopting a characteristic of adult walking. Furthermore they also learn a variety of “braking behaviors” mainly when they are walking down slopes (Strand, Cerna, & Skucy, 2007). The child mastering of these skill is linked with the frequency and quality of experiences they have been playing on playgrounds and in classrooms and homes as well.

The child language development may start being noticed at the age of 15 months whereby the child starts babbling some words. However, this may include real words mainly by spelling familiar objects. That means that the child is undergoing actual cognition of speech. In conclusion the development of a child is incorporated by all these psychological enhancements hence showing a good progress of normality mainly to the caregiver.

References

Ochsner, K. N. (2008). The social-emotional processing stream: five core constructs and their        translational potential for schizophrenia and beyond. Biological psychiatry, 64(1), 48-61.

Decker, C., Decker, J., Freeman, N., & Knorpf, H. (2013) Planning and                                                          administering early childhood programs

Strand, P. S., Cerna, S., & Skucy, J. (2007). Assessment and decision-making in                            early childhood education and intervention.

Blakemore, S. J., & Choudhury, S. (2006). Development of the adolescent brain: implications for             executive function and social cognition. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry,   47(3‐4), 296-312.

Banfield, J. F., Wyland, C. L., Macrae, C. N., Munte, T. F., & Heatherton, T. F. (2004). The         cognitive neuroscience of self-regulation. Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory,       and applications, 6283.