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Lecture Notes for Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications, 6th Edition

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    1 NOTES ON TEACHING Before we discuss difficult theoretical points in my classes, I often try to give students a general sense of the issues and concepts by means of various exercises and activities. This section of the manual includes some of the exercises and activities I have used. Introduction, and Ch. 1: Preformationism, Locke, and Rousseau The Forces Underlying Developmental Change Locke and Rousseau anticipated the major positions in contemporary developmental theory, particularly with respect to the forces underlying developmental change. Prior to specific coursework, students, too, have developed some sense of these forces, and it can be helpful to discuss their knowledge. They gain confidence from the discovery of how much they already know. To draw out this knowledge, I ask three questions. 1. A 2 - year - old girl displays a strong need for order. If, for example, she sees a shoe out of place, she puts it back where it belongs. Why do you think she shows this strong desire for order? Students typically suggest she is imitating; her behavior reflects that of the models around her. Many other students suggest her parents have directly taught her to be neat and orderly, perhaps through rewards and punishments. Occasionally, students suggest that the girl has an inner, spontaneous need for order; she is beginning to see that the world is ordered and she wants the stability that order provides (see Montessori’s view, p. 73 in the text). I put the students’ responses into categories on the blackboard. 2. A 12 - month - old girl tries to walk. At first she falls, but gets up again and keeps trying. Why does she do this? Again, students usually suggest imitation and direct teaching. Now more students speculate on an inner force, something akin to biological maturation. They note that the girl’s body and nervous system are maturing and she feels an inner urge to exercise her emerging capacities. 3. An 8 - month - old boy says, “Ba ba ba ba.” Why is he doing this? Students see that they are offering the same hypotheses — imitation, direct teaching, and an inner, natural force. By this time, they usually want to debate the explanations, and I ask about the evidence that might support or disconfirm a particular hypothesis. But the point I stress is that they already know something about the explanations for developmental change — the environmental causes outlined by Locke and the inner cause, nature’s plan, advanced by Rousseau. I say we will discuss more precise ways of conceptualizing the various forces as the course proceeds. Classroom Exercises with respect to Rousseau’s Theory

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    2 Rousseau prized independence. He wanted children to learn on their own and make their own discoveries. I have used the following exercise to help students see what Rousseau was concerned about. Two volunteers wait outside the classroom while I set up an obstacle course. The goal will be to reach an eraser by circumventing chairs in the path to it. I then ask one volunteer to come into the room, give her a brief look at the situation, blindfold her, and help her find the eraser with detailed, authoritarian directions. I tell her, “take one step forward, now take two steps to the left,” and so on. Then, she waits outside the room while the other volunteer tries the task. I prepare her in the same way, but let her find the eraser completely on her own. Finally, the class and I interview both volunteers, exploring their general reactions, and the class discusses its own thoughts and experiences with respect to independent mastery. Rousseau said he would rather the child know nothing than have learned to rely on the ideas of others. Because of such radical statements, people often think Rousseau wanted us to simply ignore the child — to abandon the child to her own devices. Actually, Rousseau suggested ways in which adults can stimulate learning while allowing the child to figure out problems on her own. For example, an adult might ask a child which ladder is tall enough to just reach the top of a tree, and then let the child make the choice and determine for herself if she was correct (p. 1 8 in the textbook). In the text, I also indicate how Montessori (p. 7 6 - 77 ) and Kamii (pp. 145 - 147 ) have employed the same general method. It is possible to demonstrate this kind of education through role - playing. For example, I have asked students to enact scenes in which a parent teaches a 6 - year - old to bat a ball. (The props are a waffle ball bat and a wadded piece of paper that serves as a ball.) In one scene, a parent directs the child’s every move (e.g., “Now hold the bat like this. No, with the right hand on top; watch me…”). In the second scene, the parent patiently enjoys playing with the child, simply tossing the ball over and over, giving the child the chance to perfect her swing on her own. Then the class discusses the methods. Alternatively, I sometimes ask students to imagine learning to walk with a good deal of adult guidance. Then I ask how this is different from the situation in which the adult simply stands by, for the sake of safety, and allows the child to master the art of walking on her own. I have called this attitude our unobtrusive presence and described its uses in my book, Reclaiming Childhood (Holt, 2003). Ch. 3. Ethology I make sure students know about the film , Fly Away Home (1996, Sony Pictures); it’s a family movie about goslings who have imprinted on a girl. Many students are moved by the film. You Tube has videos on Ainsworth’s strange situation. Try “Strange Situation,” http://www.youtube.c o m/watch?v=36GI_1PBQpM The video is uploaded by SocioPsychMorgannwg. You might want to

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    3 engage the class in a discussion of the ethics of this procedure, which upsets the child. Ch. 4. Montessori I have found that the following exercise helps undergraduates understand part of the rationale behind Montessori’s method. I first ask the students, “In general, how much do you like studying?” An open discussion usually reveals that most students don’t like it much at all. I find it helpful to ask the students to compare the enjoyment they get from studying to that they derive from a hobby or other activities. I next ask, “Why are you going to college?” Most students say that they want to earn a degree and get a good job or get into graduate school. Some acknowledge the need to meet their parents’ expectations or achieve a certain status in society. Only a few students say they attend college solely to learn, for its own sake. (I write their various reasons for attending college on the blackboard). I then briefly discuss the concepts of extrinsic and intrinsic motives for learning. Earning good grades, getting a good job, pleasing parents, and achieving social success are extrinsic motives. And when extrinsic motivation is too strong — when one’s entire future depends on college success — learning becomes a frightening experience. Students hate it. I suggest that only when learning is intrinsically motivated (as in the case of a hobby) is it deeply pleasurable. The classroom discussion helps students get an experiential sense of why Montessori wanted to create schools in which the motivation to learn is entirely intrinsic. She believed that at certain points of development, children have an inner need to work on certain kinds of tasks, and when the environment provides such tasks, children work on them with incredible effort and concentration. This, she thought, is learning at its best. In such instances, the typical extrinsic incentives of schools — gold stars, grades, approval, and criticism — become superfluous. Worse, they distract children from their deep concentration (as well as making them dependent on the approval of others). During our discussion, I refer to John Holt’s How Children Fail (Dell, 1964; rev. ed., Delacorte/Lawrence, 1982). Holt poignantly described the negative consequences of extrinsic motivation. Children, Holt argued, begin life full of curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. But before long, we get children to learn for extrinsic reasons, to win our praise and to avoid our criticism. As a result, children begin to worry they might not earn our approval and become afraid of looking stupid in the eyes of others. Most children are so worried about making mistakes, failing, and looking dumb in school that they cannot think fully or deeply. They simply want to get the “right answers” as quickly as possible. Given a choice, they would avoid school like the plague. (See especially pp. 59 - 127 and 271 - 276 in Holt’s revised edition).

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    4 Ch. 5. Werner Werner’s theory is difficult, but it addresses important theoretical matters such as the definition of development and the question of discontinuity. These require discussion. Still, I ease students into Werner’s theory with a discussion of physiognomic perception . -- I place a cup on its side and ask what a physiognomic response might be (the cup is tired). -- I draw the number 5 on the blackboard and ask whether the number is happy or angry. -- I draw the lines in Figure 5.4 in the textbook on the blackboard and ask which line is happy and which is sad. Such questions usually strike us as silly; in Western, technological cultures we are taught to see the world less in physiognomic terms (as expressive, emotional, and dynamic) and more in geometric - technical terms (which emphasizes the objective, measurable qualities of objects). If, on a math test, we were to write that the number 5 is angry, we wouldn’t receive much credit. But Werner said that even among us, Western adults, physiognomic perception doesn’t just die out. Indeed, it develops as we grow — albeit much more slowly than geometric - technical perception. To further illustrate that we can, when playful, engage in physiognomic perception, I give more examples. -- I break a piece of chalk in two and ask for the physiognomic response (“ouch”). -- The gestalt psychologist W. Kohler (in Gestalt Psychology , Liverpool Press, 1947, pp. 133 - 134) provided another illustration of physiognomic perception by showing the drawings below and asking, “Which is Takete and which is Maluma?” Most people see the figure on the left as Maluma, and begin to realize that physiognomic perception is inter - sensory. That is, expressive qualities such as rolling gentleness and sharpness cross the senses (in this case, the qualities appear in both sight and sound).

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