Early Childhood Education - Bringing Up a Child - Case Study Example

Running Header: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Early childhood education Name Institution Early Childhood Education: A Case Study Report Introduction The world today seems to be a troubled place and this can be greatly attributed to the diversity in character experienced of persons. Some of these characters run in some families and one is left to wonder why a particular family or neighborhood has the most cases of crime, wars, and conflicts among others. The answers to all these questions are in how the children of that particular family or neighborhood are brought up. Bringing up a child entails a lot than what most people believe. To a large extent, there are authorities like Berlo (2001) who contend that early childhood education usually has a bigger impact on growing children than we often credit it (Berlo, 2001). It is also surmised that children’s development is largely dependent on their childhood upbringing both educationally and in personal development. This paper is a case study for Lana, a girl whose upbringing and early childhood education will form the central area of study to demystify all the vital elements of her development and how it bears on her relational life as well as educational life. This will be done with specific reference to the five areas of child development; physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and social. It also critically evaluates her development in relation to the six core strengths for healthy brain development. Background of the child This study uses Lana who is three and a half years of age. She was born fifth October 2007 and has no siblings. Her mother is a graphic designer and her father is an IT specialist and both work on a full time basis. Lana started going to the kindergarten when her mother got her current job two months ago. At the kindergarten, Lana is in 4 year old group at her kindergarten because 3 year old group was full. According to her mother and the staffs of the kindergarten, she has settled in very quickly and she is advanced for her age. She is a happy child who gets along with everyone, but does not talk a lot to teachers and staffs. The average number of children in her group is about 26 and there is only one Australian child. The rests are all from China, Vietnam, India, Turkey and some other countries. She is the only one who speaks Korean and most of teachers are from Turkey and have Turkish accent. The adults living in Lana’s family together with their ages and their nationalities are: her mother (31, Korean), her father (31, Vietnamese born in Australia), her aunt (25, Vietnamese born in Australia), her teenager aunt (15, Vietnamese born in Australia). At home the languages spoken are English and Korean mostly by her father and aunts and mother respectively. Lana has a healthy life; although she suffered from a mild atopic disease she fully recovered. As regards her eating habits, she hates burger, which she has never tried, and beef. Other than that, she likes chips, all kinds of snacks, chicken, pork, broccoli and especially mushroom, but her favourite food is Korean style seaweed soup. Her special interesting things she enjoys doing include bicycle riding, drawing, cooking play/cooking, being with friends, swimming and flying where she travels to Korea to see her grandparent twice or thrice a year meaning that she has been on the plane about seven times in her life. The extra-curricular activity she involves herself is learning Korea with her mother fifteen minutes every day with vocabulary picture cards and her Korean studying toy. Observations I conducted a number of observations with reference to the development domains namely cognitive domain, social domain, language domain and physical domain from which I made several observations as regards cognitive perspective. The techniques I used include working our easy puzzles with her, asking her to attempt easy class problems of her standards and use of mental imagery among others (Faraone, 2003). To arrive at these observations also, different settings were used to determine Lana’s response and behavior to different situations and settings and the observations are captured hereafter. During the indoor/outdoor free play time, Lana ran around jubilantly and goes to the sandpit and scoops up a handful of sand and runs around with it as it trickles. She brushes the sand off on the slide and starts climbing up the slide but misses steps and falls down. This is in tandem with what Guba & Lincoln (2000) talk about regarding balance of children as they grow up. At this age they have not totally acquired the capacity to coordinate their body parts with proper balance and may easily fall off balance which is what happens to Lana (Guba & Lincoln, 2000). During outdoor group time, Lana helps her friend to moving a big toy and when the teacher calls them, she slowly walks to where the teacher is and sits down. As she waits for her colleagues to gather around the teacher she pulls down strings from her hat and moves her body backward and forward. This according to Knapp (2003) is a sign of lack of concentration which at this time is marked with short intervals of little concentration and obsession with things of interests. He further alludes that children at this age easily get distracted with other things and may seem engraved in them completely (Knapp, 2003). After the outdoor group time, Lana remains behind and picks up a grey doll, runs to a child calling her name and explains that she had lagged behind to pick her doll. She comes back to the group meeting spot and picks up a hat. She runs to another child, calling her name, and gives her the hat. Lana looks around and runs to a girl who is riding a kickboard/scooter and pushes her from the back, and runs to the frame. This is well explained by Faraone (2003) who says that growing children also have capacity to remember important things around them and can recognize what interests them. This shows a developing complexity in their mental capacity to process information in their surrounding and isolate feelings and interests (Faraone, 2003). Discussion From the preceding observations from different settings, much can be said about Lana’s development progress. To begin with, Lana has had superb growth in her physical growth. This clearly reflects what is expected of children in her age group. Berlo (2001) states that children at this age have usually acquired the ability to control their physical actions enough to run and stop as required (Berlo, 2001). Lana seems to be acquiring this capacity although sporadically falls off balance as stated in the observation. This is further corroborated when she runs back for her doll and her friend’s hat and then pushes the girl riding the kickboard. This is also an indication that she has appreciable control on her physical activities as she plays with her friends (Berlo, 2001). Swanson (1992) writes that children the age of Lana’s should be able to solve simple puzzle and analysis problems to a varying degree of satisfaction. He however indicates that that there are factors that may seek to explain this phenomenon. One major factor is the attention problems the girl has. She seems to enjoy language classes more because they fun are less involving as compared to the critical analysis classes (Swanson, 1992). During development of children, generally it is thought that the adventurous nature of boys as compared to girls at this stage tends to make boys more interested in numbers and puzzle solving than girls and this may be the reason that explains Lana’s difficult with critical thinking and analysis (Swanson, 1992). The social emotional cases registered with the girl are common in most children her age. However, in Lana they seem to be less pronounced especially the fact that she seems removed when in an environment that she does not feel comfortable and free; she keeps to herself and starts pulling strings off her hat. Such a case Knapp (2003) states that lack of parental involvement in shaping the child’s character in a way that instills in her confidence and boasts her self-esteem may be the reason why she exhibits such behaviours (Knapp, 2003). Parents and guardians being engrossed in their work and businesses so much so as to forget about their children is a predicament that Schramm (1999) contends has to be addressed to save children from development with dented images and wrong perceptions of themselves (Schramm, 1999). Planning for Teaching From the above observations one can draw conclusions that Lana is a healthy lovely girl who is still growing and is enthusiastic about things around her. The observations also show that the girl has a number of challenges regarding some development domains. These are areas concerning about her discipline and respect for her friends when she pushed her friend off the kickboard. Given that she is still growing, this is a case that can be handled by proper guidance and loving correction. As her teacher, I would have engaged her in a number of activities in the efforts of correcting her social/emotional weaknesses such as fearfulness, shyness and aggression. These are the major development problems that have been identified with the child (Guba & Lincoln, 2000). Most of these problems are due to the lack of parental guidance or presence of a weaker parental involvement with her. With her parents working on full time jobs, it can be fathomed that their presence and time with Lana may be compromised by their commitment to their jobs and struggles to make ends meet for the large extended family they support. To assist Lana correct weaknesses regarding her difficult in class work, I would encourage the use of learning aids, illustrating graphics and even computer simulations to assist her understand concepts in class in a language and form she would understand best (Guba & Lincoln, 2000). The six core strengths for healthy brain development are the other approaches I would use to extend the child’s development. Swanson (1992) states, “that one of the best gift that a growing child ever can receive from a parent is that of attachment enables them to form healthy emotional bond of attachment and trust with other people” (Swanson, 1992, p.34). I would achieve this by engaging the girl in activities such as reading story books together, singing songs, going for nature walks and working on special projects together. This would be important to Lana showing her how highly esteemed and respected she is. The activities would also help limit the too much time she spends on involved with her colleagues and friends during playing both at home and at school (Guba & Lincoln, 2000). I would also model self-regulations by using calm tone whenever she is wrong. This would help nature the self-regulation strength in her. In addition, by encouraging interaction with the extended family I would help her build the affiliation strength. Conclusion This case study has revealed a number of things about Lana, a girl from a large extended family where she has enjoyed modern lifestyle and the privilege of attending school at her age. The observation highlights several children’s developmental strengths seen in the girl. Similarly it highlights a number of developments problems associated to the girl such as aggression, shyness, hot temper among others. At this tender age, there are strategies that can be helpful in helping Lana handle these challenges well. Good learning approaches such as encouraging the child to interact with others, involving her in reading of books, playing games together, and correcting her with a strict friendly tone whenever she goes wrong are among the learning techniques that have been fronted as remedial as regards her educational development. References Berlo, D. (2001). The Process of Communication. New York: Holt Rinehart, & Winston. Faraone, S. (2003). Straight Talk about Your Child's Mental Health: What to Do When Something Seems Wrong. New York: Guilford Press. Guba, E. & Lincoln, Y. (2000). Fourth Generation Evaluation. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications. Knapp, M. (2003). Economic Evaluations and Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Social-Cultural Problems. New York: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. Schramm, W. (1999). How Communication Works. In W. Schramm: The Process and Effects of Communication on Growing Children. Urbana Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Swanson, J. (1992). School-Based Assessments and Interventions for Child Growth. Irvine, California: KC Publishing. Appendices Appendix 1: Copies of Observations Appendix 1.1: After the Outdoor Group time Observations. Child’s Name: Lana Age: 3.5 Date: April 4, 2011 Time: 04:45pm Setting: Early Beginners’ Childcare Centre: After the outdoor group time. Lana leaves behind and picks up a grey doll, runs to a child calling her name and says that she left her doll. She comes back to the group meeting spot and picks up a hat. She runs to another child, calling her name, and gives her the hat. Lana looks around and runs to a girl who is riding a kickboard/scooter and pushes her from the back, and runs to the frame. Appendix 1.2: Outdoor Group Time Observations Child’s Name: Lana Age: 3.5 Date: April 4, 2011 Time: 04:37pm Setting: Early Beginners’ Childcare Centre: Outdoor Group Time. There is a dead bee in the middle of the children. Some children scream and hold it up, but Lana shows no interest. Teacher takes out a book and starts reading. Lana looks around and does not stay still, but not doing anything obtrusive. Appendix 1.3: Outdoor Group Time Observations Child’s Name: Lana Age: 3.5 Date: April 4, 2011 Time: 04:15pm Setting: Early Beginners Childcare Centre: Outdoor Group Time. Lana is helping her friend moving a big toy. The teacher calls children and tells them to gather around and sit down. Lana slowly walks there and sits down. While waiting for other children to come, Lana pulls down strings from her hat and moves her body backward and forward. Appendix 1.4: Observations at Lana’s Home Child’s Name: Lana Age: 3.5 Date: April 10, 2011 Time: 4:33pm Setting: Lana’s home. Lana is studying Korean with her mother in the living room. Her mother (MJ) shows her some cards with a picture and a word, and Lana has to say the word in Korean. MJ shows her a picture of balloon and Lana says “Balloon”. MJ tells her the balloon in Korean and waits, and Lana repeats. Appendix 1.5: Indoor/Outdoor Free Play Time Observations Child’s Name: Lana Age: 3.5 Date: April 4, 2011 Time: 4pm Setting: Early Beginners Childcare Centre: Indoor/outdoor Free Play Time. Lana is running around here and there. She goes to the sandpit and scoops up a handful of sand. Again, she runs around with the sand, which is trickling. She brushes the sand off on the slide and starts climbing up the slide. She misses a step and falls down. Read More