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1: Perspectives on Early Childhood

  • Page ID
    233968
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    Learning Objectives

    After completing Chapter One students will be able to

    • Identify areas in which children’s lives can be improved
    • Describe historical views of child development
    • Define biological, cognitive and social and emotional processes
    • Outline the periods of development
    • Explain cross-cultural beliefs about child development
    • Describe how child development is studied
    • Define developmentally appropriate practice

    Two-and-a-half-year-old Santiago sits at a small table, arms stretched out, hands limp. His teacher places a small chunk of banana with the skin on it in front of him. Santiago looks up at the teachers, smiles, and then picks up the banana in his fist. Using his right hand, index finger, and thumb, he slowly peels the banana, and then with a flat hand, shoves the whole piece into his mouth.

    As six-year-old Chloe paints, she looks at the postcard she is copying, being very careful to use the same colors in her painting as on the postcard. As she paints, she says to Johanna, “I’m using gold first because that’s my favorite, then the green”. Johanna passes the red paint and laughs, “Red’s last!” Chloe laughs, takes the pot of red paint, and begins to stir it vigorously.

    Three-month-old Zuri has a full head of darkest brown hair and thin, almost non-existent eyebrows. She has big brown eyes, full round cheeks, small ears, and a small nose. She has olive skin and a bald spot on the back of her head. Zuri does not yet have any teeth and seems to drool continuously. Her body is not proportional yet—her torso is full and round; she has tiny feet and long fingers. Zuri is twenty-two inches in length and weighs thirteen pounds.

    What do all of these children have in common? They are all developing “normally.” But what does that mean, and how can we be sure? The field of developmental psychology has sought to explore exactly those questions.

    Developmental Psychology is the study of how and why humans change throughout their lifespan. By studying sequences of typical development, we are able to make determinations about what might be considered expected and healthy, and what may be a red flag of atypical development or development that may be heading off track. In other words, it is only once we understand what typical, healthy development looks like that we are able to recognize atypical or unhealthy development, and then can intervene.

    • 1.1: Childhood Defined
      The page outlines the key periods of development as children grow from infancy to young adulthood, described by the term "Ages and Stages." These periods include Prenatal, Infancy, Toddlerhood, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, and Adolescence, as defined by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The page also discusses the domains of development: Physical/Biological, Cognitive, Social, and Emotional, highlighting the distinction between growth and development.
    • 1.2: Historical Perspectives
      This page explores the historical evolution of childhood, emphasizing the absence of the modern concept until post-16th century due to high child mortality and the necessity of children's contributions to family survival. The emergence of educational focus and ideas from thinkers like John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau shaped notions of childhood as we know today. Philosophical debates are discussed, including the nature vs. nurture, continuous vs.
    • 1.3: Cultural Perspectives
      The document discusses the differences in childhood perceptions across various cultures, particularly contrasting "WEIRD" societies with others. It highlights the importance of recognizing diverse constructs of childhood based on cultural interactions and beliefs. Furthermore, it mentions the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, which defines childhood as distinct from adulthood and outlines children???s rights. Remarkably, the U.S.
    • 1.4: Developmentally Appropriate Practice
      The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) established a position on Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) in 1989, defining best practices for raising and educating children by taking into account child development, individual differences, and social and cultural contexts. This framework, updated with new research, is widely accepted as the gold standard for promoting young children???s optimal learning and development in high-quality early childhood programs.
    • 1.5: How is Child Development Studied?
      The article outlines three primary research methods in developmental studies: longitudinal, cross-sectional, and case studies. Longitudinal studies track a group over time, offering comprehensive data that is costly and time-consuming. Cross-sectional studies compare different age groups at a single time, providing quicker, less expensive insights but with potential limitations in comparability.


    This page titled 1: Perspectives on Early Childhood is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Deirdre Budzyna and Doris Buckley (Remixing Open Textbooks with an Equity Lens (ROTEL)) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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