EDECE1002 Assessment 2 Case Study: Child Development Insights

Child’s interests

Willow shows engagement in the enactment of meal preparation and her compliance to instructions when preparing food suggests interest in more functional curricular areas or vocational perspectives. In addition, prosocial interests and concern with pragmatic aspects of reality are manifested in Willow’s play with the blocks and concern with constructing a large block tower, as well as in her play with the card game. She also loves any form of challenge and competition with friends, challenging her friends to a contest on who does tasks faster. Willow shows some concern with writing, for instance, trying to write shopping lists, and has interaction with books. From the explanation of her activities, it can be concluded that her work on the puzzles and the fairy house construction is oriented toward social activities and teamwork. Finally, she appears interested in family and traveling, which Willow depicts in her creations and plays with.

Learning Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity (DET, 2019).

In Observation 2, Willow makes a drawing independently and then shares it with a staff member, saying “This is for you”, which indicates her ability to control her actions and the motivation to interact with others. Observation 3 reveals in the self-reflection, she says that she failed to draw one of the arms, which shows that she pays attention to the details (Dube et al. 2023). It is also evident in the sixth observation where Willow draws her family and proceeds to explain the presence of a plane on top which takes her to Queen’s land thus, depicting her strong personal identity. It means that she knows her role in her family and can describe significant events, if asked to do so.

Her observations 7, 8, and 10 reveal her increasing assertiveness to express her ideas and seek assistance in case of difficulty. She shows determination and self-satisfaction also in the observation 9, she gladly presents a construction built with the blocks to the educator (Muhammadin & Herda 2024). In social emotions, Willow is in the process of learning their identity among their peers. In observations 11 and 13, it was observed that she was involved in active, cooperative, and cooperative play, bargaining, and generating ideas, which are so important in early childhood for the formation of future personalities.

Learning Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world (DET, 2019).

In Observation 4, Willow takes part in a collage activity with the other children, indicating an understanding of toys and space, objects the need for verbal communication may be absent. Parten opined that such parallel play is a starting point for more collaborative projects. Her contributions are even more apparent in teamwork such as building a fairy house (Observation 13), and solving puzzles (Observation 11), in which Moira involves herself in negotiation with other children.

It is for this reason that we can see that Willow, as a subject, can define and create artwork that reflects her broader world. In Observation 6, she shows her family touring Queensland this shows that she has some perception of places and people beyond the ones within her vicinity (Saracho 2023). Observation 5 she said that she is Oliver, which is a cat according to her grandma, which shows that she is related to extended families as well. Moreover, the subsequent dramatic play by Willow (Observations 7 and 8) also explains her imitating and re-enacting a part of social context, which is also known as the constructive nature of social learning. When using the writing list held while playing within the role of store her, she is learning about social roles as well as community practice.

Learning Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing (DET, 2019).

The last thing that asserts Willow’s well-being is her ability to actively participate in activities that contribute to healthy human growth and development. Her long-term engagement in physical actions rendering herself physically and spatially involved in floor drawing (Observation 6) and block construction (Observation 9) points to the enhancement of her gross motor abilities. From an emotional perspective, Willow is in a good state as she confidently expresses herself and feels eager to share her accomplishments educators (observations 2 and 9) (Pulimeno, Piscitelli & Colazzo 2020). They include solving puzzles with her peers, thus displaying cooperative and sharing skills (Observation 11) along with engaging in dramatic play with peers (Observations 7 and 8) which also depict her social, and emotional skills as she manages her feelings, develops friendships and engages in age-appropriate prosocial skills. Habits such as staying on task, as well as Willow’s resilience in overcoming difficult assignments, together with the excitement in learning, help to keep her a well-being child. 

Learning Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners (DET, 2019).

This way, Willow shows that she is a confident and participating learner both in terms of enacting learner responsibilities as well as being actively involved in various activities and being ready to solve different problems. Even in the tasks that involve a series of problems like the blocks and card game (Observation 12), Willow was determined to solve them and this is predicted by the theory of approach. The discussions made by Willow in all the observations shift between the different forms of art that one can create (Observations 2-6) and the way she builds the sculpture using non-conventional construction materials (Observation 9) demonstrates her creativity and learning through experimentation (Mann et al. 2022). Although she gets curious and poses some questions (Observation 10), she shows metacognition. Finally, Willow’s assertiveness in self-release activities and her capacity to focus and work for longer periods (Observations 6, 9) suggest that the child is in the process of developing competencies.

Learning Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators (DET, 2019).

In each of the spheres, Willow demonstrates communicative competencies in oral and written communication, adjusting correspondingly to the context and goals of the conversation. A witness to her emergent literacy is when she is trying to write a shopping list in Observations 7 and 8 she knows that print has meaning (Ardoin & Bowers 2020). Another aspect of Willow’s functional communication is her use of spoken words with intent as noted in her speaking to her drawings (Observation 2) or the steps in cooking (Observation 10). She also involves good gestures, for instance, when she gives the drawn picture to her as a gift (Observation 2). In social interactions, Willow uses language to reason with peers in teamwork and also to make requests, as was observed during the construction of fairy houses and solving puzzles by the child. The way she listens and responds also comes out clearly when she is talking to both the educators and her peers. Besides, Willow’s artwork (Observations 2-6) is held up as a tool of non-oral communication through which she can convey her information and emotions.

References

Journals

Ardoin, N. M., & Bowers, A. W. (2020). Early childhood environmental education: A systematic review of the research literature. Educational Research Review, 31, 100353. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X19305561 [Retrieved on: 01.06.2024]

Dube, S. R., Rishi, S., Corr, C., & Panlilio, C. C. (2023). Assessment of adult learning outcomes from a school-based training on adverse childhood experiences science and trauma-informed care. Child Abuse & Neglect, 142, 105777. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105777 [Retrieved on: 01.06.2024]

Mann, J., Gray, T., Truong, S., Brymer, E., Passy, R., Ho, S., ... & Cowper, R. (2022). Getting out of the classroom and into nature: a systematic review of nature-specific outdoor learning on school Children's learning and development. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 877058. Retrieved from: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.877058/full [Retrieved on: 01.06.2024]

Muhammadin, I. N., & Herda, R. K. (2024). Exploring Motivation among EFL Undergraduate Students: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective. Balangkas: An International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 1(1), 1-9. Retrieved from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003314936-10/english-language-teacher-well-being-professional-identity-construction-mostafa-nazari-ismail-xodabande [Retrieved on: 01.06.2024]

Pulimeno, M., Piscitelli, P., & Colazzo, S. (2020). Children’s literature to promote students’ global development and wellbeing. Health promotion perspectives, 10(1), 13. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7036210/ [Retrieved on: 01.06.2024]

Saracho, O. N. (2023). Theories of child development and their impact on early childhood education and care. Early Childhood Education Journal, 51(1), 15-30. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10643-021-01271-5 [Retrieved on: 01.06.2024]