Play and Documentation: Cognitive Development in Children

This discussion describes a child by the name Emma trying to match alphabetical letters with appropriate space. The play displays the cognitive development in children. The child is able to organize the letters by placing them on her lap and fitting them on the puzzle indicating ability to organize information. The article also discusses different domains of development milestones, theories, and learning possibilities to include in education curriculum.

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
Bachelor of early childhood education and care
Name
Professor
Course
Date
1

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
Play and documentation.
This discussion describes a child by the name Emma trying to match alphabetical letters with
appropriate space. The play displays the cognitive development in children .The table of anecdotal
documentation is illustrated as shown below.
Table of anecdotal documentation
Date Context;
The story starts with a list of alphabet puzzle pieces
containing cards which are distributed on the floor .It
is a game of matching alphabetical letters of different
shapes with the appropriate shape. Emma is sitting on
the floor and is matching different letters by using
specific order (Shonkoff, 2010). In the alphabet puzzle
game Emma listens to her mother keenly and tries to
match each letter with specific shape.
Name of child.
Emma
Age of the child
2 years old
Observation ;
Anecdotal
Narration in form of a
story describing
events.
For example, one can realise that when Emma is holding each card she tries to think on shape of the
card whether it conforms to the space or not. Emma holds each card keenly and matches depending on
the instruction and what he hears from her mother (Pellegrini & Nathan, 2011). When Emma picks a
letter E, her mother asks her, “which letter is that?” she answers correctly and places it correctly in the
puzzle.
Emma stares at each letter and keenly matches them with appropriate puzzle slot. She tries to match the
letters in the puzzle telling her mother the exact alphabetical letter every time she picks. The alphabet
puzzles are designed in a way that they only fit the correct letter and if Emma picks a letter and places
it in the wrong place, the letter does not fit. She goes forward to fit it correctly in the required specific
slot for that letter.
She is able to organize the letters by placing them on her lap and fitting them on the puzzle indicating
2

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
ability to organize information.
Cognitive
development.
 Cognitive development. For example, in our case Emma is in position to use her eyes to
understand each letter and place them following appropriate alphabetical order.
 She is creative and that’s why her mother whenever asks what each letter stands for, she is
determined to fit the letters in the puzzle even if they do not fit.
 She is much creative by utilizing trial and error approach in learning.
 Motor skill development (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).Emma holds the letters together and is
able to pick the shape required by her mother.
 Emotional development .In the alphabet puzzle Emma knows how to take turns when
using the letters in the puzzle with her mother. She is gaining a sense of autonomy and
he matches alphabet letters without help.
 Emma shows social skills by listening and responding to her mothers questions regarding the
letters without any help.
 She does not get upset easily if she does not do it rightly tries all the time to match letters.
Learning and
development linkage.
Theories Early years learning strategy
Piaget theory argues that cognitive
development for children is achieved through
ones knowledge. In Vygotsky theory we see
that cognitive development for children
depends on Zone of proximal development
(Shonkoff, 2010).
Childhood education 1; “Children in primary games”
(Pellegrini & Nathan, 2011).
Childhood education 3; “Children in alphabet puzzle
games” (Spodek & Saracho, 2014).
Childhood learning 2; “Alphabet puzzle as basis for
learning in children” (Seifert, 2013).
3

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
Goals for future learning and development
From the beginning we see that Emma is enjoying the play. This is to
suggest that she is concerned with the alphabet puzzle.
The way Emma is thinking before putting each letter means a lot .This
illustrates that if Emma is provided with necessary resources
(alphabetical letters) and consistent practice then she will be in position
to handle concepts appropriately.
Emma has techniques on handling the games (Steinberg & Darling,
2017). This builds skills for children who later solves situations using
apt measures.
Solving the alphabet puzzle indicates the problem solving skills. What
Emma is doing seems to be advantageous to her and prepares child for
future learning.
However, the cognitive development is evident through the strategies
used by Emma in matching alphabet letters. Through this concept
Emma gains important concepts.Therefore, for Emma to improve she
has to practice the game so as to master entire concept of putting the
letters in the puzzle.
Emma is able to recognize the letters correctly. This means that in future
she will be able to identify and master different concepts when learning.
Learning possibilities to include in education
curriculum
Piagetes stages of development to the children.
Learning mathematic using stick wooden game for
children. Involves learning simple maths calculations
using symbols in class.
References.
Pellegrini, A. D., & Nathan, P. E. (Eds.). (2011). The Oxford handbook of the development of play. Oxford Library of
4

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
Psychology.
Seifert, K. L. (2013). Cognitive development and the education of young children. In Handbook of research on the education of
young children (pp. 33-46). Routledge.
Spodek, B., & Saracho, O. N. (2014). Handbook of research on the education of young children. Routledge.
Physical database
Subject: Holistic Development
Early childhood educational theories Domain of development milestone
Age ranges
 The development interaction approach of
early childhood education theories is
focused on theories of ; Jean piaget
 Erick Erikson
 John Dewey
Social- cultural learning theory. This theory was
pioneered by Vygotsky who was a Russian
psychologists (Blaise, 2012). It emphasized on the
effects of social and cultural domain experiences
on children’s thinking and in their overall
development of mental learning process. It argues
Physical
Language
domain Age
0-2 years
This development milestone indicates involves child learning
new walking and motor skills. This age group is referred to as
the nido and comprises of children in the significant daycare
for those parents who are working during the day (Dweck,
2013). Child interacts with learning environment by proper
intelligence actions and manipulations of various objects.
The gross motor skills in this involve ability to stand up.
Social
domain
2-3 years
This age range of children is mainly called the infant
community. In this age group the children require to develop
a certain sense of personal control of learning physical skills
and independence. They are able to think in a way determined
5

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
that child social experiences shapes his/her
thinking and interpretation of the real objects being
learned.
Constructivist theory. This was developed by
Jean Piaget.He argued that learning ability results
from within (Van, Scales, & Alward, 2014). He
shows that many children acquire their own
personal knowledge of the classroom setting and
society through own experiences and continuous
reflection. When children get new information they
usually assimilate it into their own understanding.
Computers can be important education tool for
children
Kolb’s Experiential learning theory. This
indicates children ought to experience new things
so as to teach (Bruce, 2012). As a child does
exploration and observations, the teacher gets to
ask the child different questions in order for him to
adapt to learn new or existing information.
by perception (Burger, 2010). They become more aware of
their ability to do symbolic functioning and also language
development.
The child grows physically like increase in weight and height.
Gross motor skills such as movements in fingers enables the
child to pick objects in between the fingers and also learning
to hold the pen during writing
Emotional
domain
2.5-6 years
0r 3-6 years
Here, there exist no academic requirements for this particular
age group. The children are highly exposed to excellent levels
of knowledge or skills as they continuously learn to read,
write, carry out simple calculations that are beyond the
normality of the expected level of knowledge for a child at
this specific age group. In this case logical learning and
reasoning can be applied to use of real objects (Dweck,
2013). The brain grows rapidly making the child to reason
and be intellectual.
The gross motor skills here involves walking, running and
also walking up and down the stairs
Cognitive
skills domain
6-12 years
This is a consequently larger age span since the children aged
six years usually exhibit or indicate similar tendencies and
various learning habits (Egan, 2012). Their emotional and
physical growth Is relative stable and show a much stronger
intellectual activities. The 6 year old are literally inspired by
those children slightly older than them thus making teaching
to be done by both children from the distinct age groups.
However, as a new development this particular age range is
sometimes divided in to 6-9 and then 9-12.The child learn to
communicate and exhibit emotions and feelings. Gross
Development Quotes
“Education usually start the time we see a child as
very wise and with capability. This is the moment
that we can contribute in focus and involving
6

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
ourselves in their world “Vince
“Children are not things that need moulding,
however they are individuals to be unfolded ”Jess
Children do not usually recall what the teacher
taught them they remember what there is”
Teaching involves answering questions and raising
questions, “Jim Henson
You cannot make children to learn, you can only
offer the right conditions to “Vince Gowmon
“The work of education theory is between teacher,
children and environment”, Maria Montessori
(Parkay, Hass & Anctil, 2010).
Children own a real understanding that they invent
on their own, Jean Piaget
movements here include increased posture and much
developed thumb to write (Patterson, DeBaryshe, Ramsey,
2017).
Cognitive
skills
12-15 years
age group
This age group comprise of little emotional timeframe and
lower capability to mainly focus on intellectual activities and
also organizing information (Gordon & Browne,2013)This
child has been through several years of critical thinking in the
early initial years, caring for independent learning research.
This involves children who are basically in high school. They
can do problem solving, memory and creativity (Moss,
Dahlberg & Pence, 2013).
Age
period
Functions of emotions Development of
emotional
expression
Understanding
and responding
to emotions of
others
Temperament attachment
0-12
months
Learning to regulate
reactivity.
Self-soothing and attention
In this period there is
maximum
discrimination of
others expression
Behaviour
synchrony with
other children
They are taught by
existing caregivers
that expressions of
anger and
Expresses emotions
attached to their
parents such as
crying when
7

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
behaviour and
emotions
Optimum
coordination of
expressive
behaviours with
emotion leading
situations
aggression should
be highly
controlled in
presence adults
(Hawkins, &
Weis, 2017).
breastfeeding
Toddler
12
months
to 2 and
half years
Establishing a child self-
awareness and self-
consciousness
There is both self-
evaluation and
consciousness of the
child in expressing
emotions such as
coyness
Showing empathy
social deeds to
others thus
understanding the
feelings and
emotions of other
children
They are taught by
existing caregivers
that expressions of
anger and
aggression should
be highly
controlled in
presence adults
At the age of three
the child become
attached in their
emotions to
understand the
society rules
Preschoo
l
2-5 years
Provocation of distress
Communication (Moss,
Dahlberg & Pence, 2013).
Emotions make the child
become aware of his/her
feelings or those emotion
bringing events
The child acquires
pretend expressive
emotion in various
play activities and
teasing of the child.
The child is aware
that false
expression of
emotions may
mislead another
child’s about
this/her feelings
(Moss, Dahlberg
& Pence, 2013).
This makes the
children to
understand each
Shoe melancholic
temperament
personality
The child is aware
that false expression
of emotions may
mislead another
child’s about this/her
feelings. This makes
the children to
understand each other
feelings or emotions
8

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
other feelings or
emotions
5-7 years Getting support from
available caregivers
(Moss, Dahlberg & Pence,
2013).
Regulation of the self-
conscious emotions such
as embarrassment
The child acquires
the expressive
behaviour of a certain
cool emotional
perspective with the
existing peers
Having maximum
insight to others
emotions
Children show
their anger and
aggressiveness to
their peers
Altering their
emotional
attachments
7-10
years
Problem solving function The child appreciates
the norms for his/her
expressive emotions
in a genuine manner
Communication
with others for a
child to
understand social
expectations from
others
Children show
their anger and
aggressiveness to
their peers
High coordination of
social knowledge and
social skills
10-13+
years
The child is aware of the
active functional areas of
one’s emotion cycle for
example guilt which leads
to insightful coping
(Parkay, Hass, Anctil,
2010).
Other function involve
promoting high integration
of various values and
moral character in dealing
with stressful situations
There exist a
difference between
genuine emotional
expression with other
children who are
close friends and
managed emotion
that is viewed by
others (Hawkins &
Weis, 2017).
The child acquires
skills for self-use of
Increased
awareness of
mutual continuous
communication of
various emotion to
influence
relationship and
understanding of
others
Increased
performance in
handling
temperament
issues
Development of
social skills to be
attached in the
society expectations
9

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
and making decisions.
Capability of getting
several solutions to stress
challenges
strategies that
increase impression
ability and
management levels of
the emotions
References
Blaise, M. (2012). Playing it straight: Uncovering gender discourse in the early childhood classroom.
Routledge.
Bruce, T. (2012). Early childhood education. Hachette UK.
10

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
Burger, K. (2010). How does early childhood care and education affect cognitive development? An
international review of the effects of early interventions for children from different social
backgrounds. Early childhood research quarterly, 25(2), 140-165.
Dweck, C. S. (2013). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development.
Psychology press.
Egan, K. (2012). Primary understanding: Education in early childhood. Routledge.
Gordon, A. M., & Browne, K. W. (2013). Beginnings & beyond: Foundations in early childhood
education. Cengage learning.
Hawkins, J. D., & Weis, J. G. (2017). The social development model: An integrated approach to
delinquency prevention. In Developmental and Life-course Criminological Theories (pp. 3-27).
Routledge.
McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Child development and education. Pearson College
Division.
Moss, P., Dahlberg, G., & Pence, A. (2013). Beyond quality in early childhood education and care:
Languages of evaluation. Routledge.
Parkay, F. W., Hass, G., & Anctil, E. J. (2010). Curriculum leadership: Readings for developing
quality educational programs. Pearson.
Patterson, G. R., DeBaryshe, B. D., & Ramsey, E. (2017). A developmental perspective on antisocial
behavior. In Developmental and Life-course Criminological Theories (pp. 29-35). Routledge.
Shonkoff, J. P. (2010). Building a new biodevelopmental framework to guide the future of early
childhood policy. Child development, 81(1), 357-367.
Steinberg, L., & Darling, N. (2017). Parenting style as context: An integrative model.
In Interpersonal Development (pp. 161-170). Routledge.
11

RUNNING HEADER: Early childhood education
Van Hoorn, J. L., Monighan-Nourot, P., Scales, B., & Alward, K. R. (2014). Play at the center of the
curriculum. Pearson.
12