Early Childhood Development: Theoretical Perspectives and Practices

This assignment analyzes the challenges faced by teachers in early childhood development, specifically focusing on mental blocks that hinder critical, creative, and reflective thinking. It examines how teacher practices, such as adherence to routines and fear of failure, can impact a child's learning experience. The assignment then explores theoretical perspectives, particularly Piaget's cognitive-stage theory, and childhood principles that guide child development and learning. It emphasizes the importance of allowing children time to learn independently and the significance of secure relationships, developmental sequences, and interactions with experienced individuals. The document concludes with recommendations for improving teaching practices, such as avoiding fixed routines, encouraging risk-taking, and fostering frequent interactions with children to enhance their learning and development. The assignment uses references to support the analysis and recommendations.

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT 1
Early childhood development.
Student Name
Institution

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT 2
Question 1
There are several mental blocks and barriers experienced by teacher Maya and teacher
Tanya in becoming more critical, creative and reflective as thinkers. They include passive
thinking. Teacher Maya cannot think creatively because she does not want to stimulate her mind
to new ideas. She wants to stick to the routine which entails the children getting outside to play
at a particular time of the day (Crilly, 2015). Routine affects her creative thinking as she cannot
allow Savannah to close the table in a more engaging way that can help the kid develop well.
The other mental barrier is striving for consistency. Preferring to perform tasks similarly
over and over will affect critical, creative and reflective thinking. Teacher Maya wants to follow
her teaching schedule so that she can be consistent. This affects her critical thinking that can help
the children develop as required (Curtis, & Carter, 2017). If it were not for being consisted, she
could have told Savannah how she can close the table. By being creative and reflective, she
could have told Savannah encouraging wants that could have helped her to learn how to shut
down the table next time instead of hurrying her to go outside and play as usual.
Rationalizing and justifying is another mental block to hinder critical and creative
thinking in raising young children. Teacher Tanya believes that by being rational, Savannah is
not able to close the table (Crain, 2015). She does not believe the kid is capable of doing some
tasks on her own. Teacher Tanya thought that Savannah was going to hurt herself and she went
ahead and helped her close the table (Curtis, & Carter, 2017). By not being rational, she could have
viewed Savannah as a baby who can close the table on her own. This could have helped her think
creatively and encourage Savannah to close the table and help her to learn.

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT 3
Fear of criticism and failure also affects critical, creative and reflective thinking in
childhood development (Kail, 2015). Teacher Tanya, in this case, was afraid of being criticized
and be viewed as a failure if Savannah hurt her hands while trying to close the table. By
overcoming the mental barrier of fear and criticism, teacher Tanya could have allowed the kid to
continue attempting closing the table (Curtis, & Carter, 2017). She could also have encouraged her
to close the table, and this could have helped her development.
Question 2.
There are various theoretical perspectives and childhood principles that guide how
children develop and learn. The theories and principles help to understand how children learn to
perform different tasks and develop critical, creative and reflective thinking. The most important
theory that could have helped teacher Tanya engage Savannah in a more encouraging manner is
Piaget’s cognitive-stage theory (Littlefield-Cook, et al.2005). This theory states that children
develop through assimilation, equilibration, and accommodation. Cognitive growth occurs in
three related processes which are adaptation, equilibration, and organization.
Organization refers to structures that help to incorporate knowledge in the child’s life as
the child grows. In the adaptation, children learn to manage new information, process it and
incorporate it with the knowledge they already have (Curtis, & Carter, 2017). Adaptation
comprises of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation helps in acquiring new knowledge
while accommodation help in modifying the structures around the child to help incorporate the
new knowledge gained. Equilibration helps in determining how the knowledge will be processed
either by assimilation or accommodation.

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT 4
Piaget’s cognitive-stage theory should have helped teacher Tanya to understand that
children should be allowed time to learn on themselves and then be helped to learn (Lagadec,
2009). This helped them to learn. Teacher Tanya should have ignored schedules and routines and
followed the principle that states that children learn in a variety of ways.
Others principle that should have informed teacher Tanya are children develop and learn
best when they have secure relationships with their care takers, development and learning follow
sequences (Curtis, & Carter, 2017). Kid's experiences shape their motivation towards learning,
development occurs when children are challenged by enabling them to perform tasks on their
own, learning and development results from interaction with experienced people and the last
principle is all areas of learning are very important to children.
Teacher Tanya can improve her childhood teaching practice by ensuring that she does not
try to follow a fixed routine that limits her creative thinking. She should also start assuming risks
such as allowing children to perform some roles on their own without fear. Teacher Tanya
should also interact with her kids more often so that they can learn through experience (Ionova,
2015). Tanya should also follow all the principles and theories that guide learning and
development in children. Teacher Tanya should also be trained on early childhood development
matters.

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT 5
References
Crain, W. (2015). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. Psychology Press.
Crilly, N. (2015). Fixation and creativity in concept development: The attitudes and practices of
expert designers. Design Studies, 38, 54-91.
Curtis, D., & Carter, M. (2017). Learning together with young children: a curriculum framework for
reflective teachers. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
Ionova, O. M. (2015). Salutogenetic approach to professional training of future teachers.
Pedagogics, psychology, medical-biological problems of physical training and sports,
19(2), 34-42.
Kail, R. V. (2015). Children and their development. Pearson Higher Ed.
Lagadec, P. (2009). A new cosmology of risks and crises: Time for a radical shift in paradigm
and practice. Review of Policy Research, 26(4), 473-486.
Littlefield-Cook, J., Cook, G., Berk, L. E., & Bee, H. (2005). Child development: Principles and
perspectives (Vol. 55, pp. 23-38). Allyn and Bacon.