EDU10007: Contemporary Perspectives of Learning & Development Essay

This essay provides an overview of contemporary perspectives of learning and development in early childhood education. It delves into various methodologies such as the Montessori, Froebel, Steiner, and Reggio Emilia approaches, highlighting their unique philosophies and contributions to cognitive development. The essay emphasizes the importance of understanding different teaching methods to cater to the diverse learning abilities of children and foster their potential. It further discusses how each method shapes the socio-cultural construction of education, influencing children's cognitive skills and overall development, and concludes by noting the significance of providing an equitable educational framework that considers each child's unique needs and background.

RUNNING HEAD: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE OF LEARNING
CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE FOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR’S NOTE

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The basic difference between man and animals is that man has been able to progress
primarily because of the fact that human beings have been able to transfer knowledge and
information amongst each other through one generation to the other. This transfer of knowledge
has been possible mainly due to the fact that human beings are social animals. The importance of
language and encouraging cognitive development among the new generation has what led the
human beings to progress forward in comparison to the other living beings. This transfer of
knowledge has been researched over the years and researchers have formulated numerous
methods of imparting knowledge to the children. The essay focuses on the numerous
contemporary methods of educational learning process and the development of the cognitive
abilities of the children right from the early childhood till they reach the adulthood stages. The
different methods are unique in their own right and cater to the different philosophies of the
founder who formulated the educational learning method. The essay discusses the development
of the contemporary perspectives of learning and elaborates on the different perspectives in a
simple manner. The different contemporary perspectives of learning such as the Montessori, the
Froebel, the Steiner and the Emilia method are discussed elaborately.
The ability of the child to learn and solve problems is shaped by the learning abilities of
the child as well the different approaches of teaching which are undertaken to assist the child in
grasping the knowledge. The schools and the educational institutions follow different methods of
teaching which act as framework for imparting knowledge to the child (Jehan & Butt, 2015).
There are many methods through which knowledge can be imparted to a child and these methods
have been developed over the years by the research done in the field of teaching and education.
The different methods of teaching are the Montessori, the Frobel, Steiner and the Emilia. The

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development of these educational methodologies was developed by the philosophies of the great
tutors who formulated these philosophies. The generally assumed perception in the educational
field is that the child is potentially strong and strives for excellence and overall development.
The child also has relations with the adults and other peer group, who also are children of their
age (Yilmaz & Turgut, 2016). The emphasis then is to impart the most effective training to the
children so that they are able to develop their cognitive abilities and are able to realize their self-
actualization goals. The different methods of imparting teaching are as follows-
The Montessori method- Dr. Maria Montessori developed this method with the intention
of focusing on the child. The method being a child-centric model emphasizes on scientifically
analyzing the child from the birth to the adulthood stages. The child is assumed to be a
potentially able child who has the ability to understand and comprehend the knowledge which is
imparted by the teachers provided that the teaching is provided in a conducive and supportive
environment (Mallett & Schroeder, 2015). The Montessori education also fundamentally lays
emphasis on the human development and the approach is based on the aspect of developing the
human potential as well as the cognitive abilities of the child. The Montessori model takes into
account that human beings are progressive and children who are under six years of age have the
inherent quality of developing the psychological development. Montessori education focuses on
providing the child conducive environment to facilitate progressive learning and cognitive
development (Harder, 2015). The basic framework of Montessori Method of teaching focuses on
the arranging the facilities to support the child’s learning through activity and movement. The
Montessori model also emphasizes on beautification and harmony of the location so that the
children are taught in a clean environment. The child is supported by the teachers in the
Montessori model and the progress is proportionate of the age the child is in. The Montessori

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model makes sure that the child is not over-burdened with the materials, most of which are not
necessary for the child (Castillo, 2017). The Montessori model also gives utmost importance to
the nature of the classroom both internal as well as external.
The Frobel method- Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel developed the Froebel method of
education. This method emphasizes on the fact that human education develops on the basis of
both biological as well as spiritual perspective of human philosophy. He was responsible for
coining the term “Kindergarten” and his model is based on the philosophy that children are
unique and have different needs and abilities. He developed a unique form of teaching style
wherein he incorporated the use of educational toys to assist the children in their learning
process. These educational toys were named as the Froebel gifts. The innovative styles were
possible because of the pioneering research done by Froebel which included the using of
different learning patterns, knowledge was imbibed by including play activities in the curriculum
of teaching, the focus was put on holistic education which involved making the parent part of the
learning process of the child (Baidya, Mondal & Saha, 2015). Children are encouraged to
indulge in paper folding and indulge in music, games and other activities which can help
stimulate cognitive growth and development of the mental abilities of the child. The main focus
of Froebel model was that play is the most important aspect which can facilitate the knowledge
grasping ability of the child. Froebel argued that human beings are creative beings and that
creativity is facilitated by making the child perform tasks which brings out the creativity in them.
Creative abilities of the child are facilitated by encouraging the child to indulge in tool building,
taking part in crafts making (Sanders-Smith & Gaumer, 2016). The children are made aware of
the fact that they are creative beings and the focus is on innovation rather than on rote learning
process.

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The Steiner method- Rudolf Steiner developed the Steiner method of imparting
knowledge and education to the children. The Steiner method focuses on imparting knowledge to
the child in three stages. The first stage focuses on the child’s early childhood education and
emphasizes on the practical aspect of learning with a more hand-on-approach and role-playing.
The first stage is for the children who are in the age group of kindergarten to the age of 6 years
and above, and this stage focuses on the aspect of training the child by immersing them in an
environment wherein they can learn from the subconscious imitation of activities which they are
made to perform in practical (Ansari et al., 2015). The second stage starts from the age of 6 years
till the age of 14 years old. During this stage, the child is readied for formal learning abilities and
importance is given to increase the character, the temperament and foster good habits and
improved memory of the child. The stage is marked by emphasizing on the child’s emotional and
imaginative growth as an individual. The third stage is initiated when the child reaches the age of
14 years. This stage is called the secondary education and this education focuses in providing
specialist education to the students (Steiner & Mendelovitch, 2017). The focus is primarily on
the academic subjects although the students are encouraged to pursue courses in arts, music and
other activities which require the creative abilities. The course is framed in such a manner so as
to develop the student’s intellectual comprehension and encourage self-dependent judgment. The
ethical ideals are promoted among the students so that the students become socially responsible
citizens (Paine et al., 2015).
The Emilia method- The Reggio Emilia method focuses on the preschool and the primary
form of education. This educational method emphasizes on the fact that the children are
stakeholders of their future and therefore, the children must have some responsibility as to
understand the direction of their learning (Birinci, 2017). The children are encouraged to learn

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from experiences and through physical sense of touching listening and observing from the
practical aspects of the world. The relationship of friendship is also encouraged and fostered
among the children with the other fellow children in their classroom (Bour & Law, 2014). This
model emphasizes on the fact that children should be encouraged to find enumerative ways and
opportunities so that they will be able to express themselves.
The socio-cultural constructions of education also play an important role in shaping the
cognitive abilities of the child. The Montessori system of education for example focuses on
providing clean environment to the children. As a result, the children are taught about the
importance of cleanliness from a young age and therefore, they foster the practice of maintaining
personal hygiene and good sanitation. The Froebel model emphasizes on incorporating music
and crafts along with the studies, so the children are socially constructed to be creative and less
pressurized regarding studies (Aksoy &Aksoy, 2017). The Steiner method emphasizes on
providing a more hands-on- approach to the child so the children are encouraged to balance both
the academic studies along with the creative courses. The Emilia method emphasizes on
imparting a more practical based approach regarding studies so the students are encouraged to
explore and learn from the practical world . Every child is unique and therefore it depends on the
decision of the parent as to which form of schooling is best suited for the child to follow. Every
child has different forms of learning abilities and cognitive skills, some children are more
focused on the academic subjects while other students take more interest in the creative subjects
such as the arts and music (Rachman, 2017). The ability of the child to perform at the higher
stages of life is dependent upon the kind of education he/she receives at the young stages (Ferrer,
2018). In order to develop informed and knowledgeable citizens, it is important to foster

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excellent education. The research in the areas of imparting knowledge and teaching has led to
innovative styles in the areas of teaching and training (Kirkegaard,Fuerst & Meisenberg, 2018).
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that different contemporary perspectives of
learning cater to different methodologies. Each perspective is unique and emphasizes on
different teaching processes so that the cognitive abilities of the children can be developed. The
socio-cultural aspect of the child also plays an important role in deciding which perspective of
learning is best suited for the development of the cognitive ability of the child. The ability of the
child to comprehend and understand the educational patterns is different for each child. Some
children have higher cognitive abilities as compared to the other children. Therefore, it is
important to have an educational framework wherein the children get the attention and focus of
the teachers from a very young age so that their mistakes and errors can be identified and
corrected at the young stage. The children come from different socio-economic backgrounds, so
it is important for the teachers to provide an equal framework for all the children irrespective of
the socio-cultural and socio-economic background of the child. The development of the
educational structure enables the teacher to understand the requirements of each child and
accordingly frame the curriculum for the required student. The cognitive abilities of the children
can be enhanced by proper understanding of the student’s requirement and it is observed that the
strength and weaknesses of each student varies in comparison to the each other. The cognitive
abilities of the students can be enhanced if the students are subjected to a variety of intermixing
of studies as well as creative courses such as arts and music.

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