Baxter Blog 1

 Jean Piaget's conservation of mass theory is one that sparks an interest for me. When looking at a child's development it is interesting to see how children begin to understand that quantity, volume and mass remain the same regardless of the change in appearance. A child's ability to thinking logically increases as they get older. When two equal size balls of playdoh are presented to younger children such as 4-5 year olds they will say each one is the same. When one of the playdoh balls is squished or made into another shape the child will say the other shaped ball has more because it is longer/taller. As children begin to develop 6-11 years old they begin to notice it is the same amount of playdoh, but just shaped differently. They begin to think independently and understand the underlying principal that quantity, volume and mass do not change.  This theory falls under the deterministic model. Where the functionalist believe that order and balance in society is important. Training and preparing children to contribute to society is crucial. Learning and understanding reversibility is needed to contribute to society. 

My perspective on childhood development most closely aligns with Lev Vygotsky. I believe that learning is taught through social and cultural interactions. Children often explore new ideas or areas but often times it happens after watching an adult do the same. Vygotsky believes that self-directed speech is an important part of child development. When a child uses self-directed speech they are using the knowledge learned and applying it to the situation at hand. Children are internally working through a situation. I believe one of the most important beliefs of Vygotsky is the zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal development is the level at which children are able to understand independently and with assistance. A child has a level of actual development where they are able to understand and complete a task independently. The zone of proximal development is where children are able to participate in an activity, but needs some assistance from an adult to understand. Lastly, the potential development level is where children have the potential to learn, yet need a lot of assistance to gain understanding. The zone of proximal development is often discussed between educators in the school setting. Children need to be able to learn in all areas of development all while the educator provides lessons/work that provide students the ability to do so. Scaffolding a child's learning allows them to learn within the different levels of development. 

I believe the institutionalization of childhood means that childhood is becoming less free and more institutionalized. Children are spending less and less time outdoors or engaging in free play. I am 27 years old so I was a child not too long ago. As a child, I remember having free time to play with my siblings in the afternoons after school and on the weekends. Once we began to play sports in upper elementary and middle school the free play time began to decrease. Once we hit high school, we went to school, played sports and when our sport was not in season we held a part time job. I believe that many children, like myself have more free time play when they are younger, but as school demands increase, sports/after school activities demands increase and house hold responsibilities become more dense it is less likely to go outside and play. In the modern world, we live in a fast paced society where parents work, students go to school and then have practices and sports events afterwards. Both parents and children try to fit into the societal demands which again lends itself to less free time/play. With the recent pandemic, I believe that children are even less likely to have active free play time partly due to not being able to and learning to spend their time on electronics. I am interested to see if in the future we allow children to play more freely or continue to demand more of their time so we can deem them "successful".