Question:
Discuss About The Overweight Obese Children And Adolescents?
Child learning and development is a process that can be controlled by various factors and aspects. Child development can be defined as the changes that occur when a child is growing and they occur in terms of being emotionally sound, physically healthy, mentally alert and socially competent (Klausmeier, & Allen, 2014). Children learn in different ways which include listening to what others are saying and repeating what they have heard. Others learn by watching what other people are doing and others learn by being involved in the learning process (Goodman, 2014). This report is written to highlight the contemporary issues in child development, the theories of child development which include Piaget’s cognitive-stage theory, Bandura’s social-cognitive learning theory and Watson’s behavioral perspective, effects of these issues on child learning, the impact of education policies on child learning and provide the needed recommendations.
There are various theories which have been put forward by different authors explaining the development and learning in children. The theories of relevance to this report include;
This theory was advocated by Jean Piaget and it states that children learn and develop through processes and stages (Holden, 2014). The processes of learning in this theory include adaptation, organization, and equilibrium. The process of adaptation consists of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation enables the child to acquire new knowledge and skills through different activities. Accommodation on the other hand as the name suggests helps the children child to modify the environment and the structures surrounding the child so that he can incorporate the new ideas, knowledge or even skills with the already acquired knowledge without much problems.
Organization refers to the structures that help the children to incorporate the new knowledge into the child’s life as the child develops and learns. Equilibrium helps the children to balance between assimilation and accommodation. Piaget also argued that learning and development occur in four stages which include sensorimotor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage and formal operational stage.
This theory was advocated for by Albert Bandura who argued that people learn from each other through observation, imitation, and modeling (Denler, Wolters, & Benzon, 2014). Learning is through replication of another person’s action and the observer chooses to repeat the same action due to motivation. Because the children learn through imitation, the teachers and other persons taking care of them during the learning process must always exhibit good behaviors that can be replicated by the children. The child learns through four processes which include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. Attention is when the child has an interest in behavior while Retention occurs when the child stores the observation for future use. Reproduction is when the child decides to repeat the observation and motivation is the reason behind repeating the observation.
This theory was advocated for by John Watson and it stated that behavior is learned through interaction with the environment (Sharma, Markon, & Clark, 2014). He argued in terms of stimuli-response relationship meaning that the environment will shape the behavior of that child. The child behavior will be a product of the environment and he will become what the environment dictates meaning that the behavior of children can be controlled.
Teachers of young children should understand the theoretical perspectives of child development so that they can instill the best behaviors in children. The teachers should also be conversant with all the child development principles. The theories and the principles increase the knowledge of the teacher which enables him to be to handle different situations which affect child’s learning process. The theories and principles should always form the basis for making decisions concerning child’s development and the teacher needs to understand the issues affecting the children development because without knowing the base of a problem, an optimal solution cannot be achieved (Renninger, Hidi, & Krapp, 2014). Hence it is important for teachers to know the causes and the effects of the issues on the child development.
There are various current issues affecting the development and learning of children in Australia primary schools. The issues include;
Obesity is a condition that makes children be over-weight and this affects the learning process of a child because weight issues prevent the child from participating in many activities that enable the child to learn. From the theory of social cognitive, the environment determines the learning process of the child. Due to obesity, the child will not be exposed to various environments that can enable him to learn different aspects of life (Martin, et al.2014). This is because the child’s movement is limited and the child will not develop well.
This condition of obesity in children is caused by poor feeding habits as the child is not given balanced diet that can enable him to develop well (Martin, et al.2014). This issue is also caused by lack of exercising by children with weight-related issues and Genetic factors. The effects of the childhood development are that the child is exposed to many health complications that prevent the child from attending classes and learning activities. This issue also lowers the child self-esteem which causes the child to sadness, loneliness and other poor behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse. As a teacher, I will ensure that children exercise a lot and that they practice healthy feeding habits.
Bullying refers to the use of excessive force, coercion or even threat to intimidate children so that they can follow the given commands (Smith, 2014). This issue may be perpetrated by both the teacher and the classmates. Bullying is caused by children and even teachers from dysfunctional family backgrounds. The bullying victim child will not feel comfortable, and this will affect the learning process because the environment is not conducive as advocated for by bandura’s theory. Due to the bullying, the child may be forced to learn defense mechanism to respond to the bullying, and this will lead to the development of bad behaviors.
The effect of bullying on child development includes social problems, emotional problems and even physical injuries that prevent the child from actively engaging in the learning process and activities. Due to the threats, the child will be afraid to engage in some activities that can help him grow well. If the bullying is perpetrated by the teacher, the child will learn and develop poorly because they sometimes repeat the behavior of the teacher as children learn through observing, listening and actively taking part in activities (Smith, 2014). As a teacher, I will employ a method that can enable children to report cases of bullying to the relevant authorities in the school. I should also ensure that I interact with all the children so that I can notice when the child changes his behavior, reach out to victims and help to set and enforce clear consequences for bullying other students.
This refers to computer-related technologies that enable exchange of information, the creation of ideas, opinions, and even interests through virtual networks. Social media trends have been aggregated by the expanding internet and technological advancements (Greenfield, 2014). Nowadays, children can access social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other types of social media. These channels enable them to exchange information freely because some of them offer anonymous features. These features enable children to exchange harmful ideas that affect the children learning the process.
The effect of the social media on child learning include cyberbullying. Social media facilitates cyberbullying which causes children to be depressed, and this affects the learning process. Social media has forced children to stop engaging in physical activities as most of the time is spent on the social media (Greenfield, 2014). This leads to increased cases of obesity which affects the child’s learning process. Social media also enables children to learn bad behaviors as they practice what they have seen on adverts and other sites because children learn through observing. Social media also forces children to spend most of their time away from books and this affects the learning process. As a teacher, I will ensure that the children are monitored when using computers by restricting social media sites by use of firewalls that will prevent the children from accessing such sites. This will create more time for the children to engage in healthy learning processes.
This refers to the unequal treatment of children due to the gender and the perception that men and women are not equal. This implies that there are activities that should be performed by men and not women and vice versa (Levinson, Cookson, & Sadovnik, 2014). This is caused by discrimination of people according to their gender and by perceptions and cultures that prevent a certain gender from engaging in some activities. This affects the learning process of children as children learn by engaging in different activities as this defies the principle that states that children learn best when allowed to learn things on their own and then helped. Children should not be prohibited from engaging in some activities unless they are harmful.
The effects of gender inequality are that the children will feel discriminated when prevented from engaging in some activities or even pursuing some careers because of their gender (Levinson, Cookson, & Sadovnik, 2014). Favoring one gender will cause emotional and mental problems to the discriminated gender, and this will affect the learning process as the child grows knowing that they are not supposed to engage in some activities. The teacher should ensure that the children engage in all activities actively without discrimination. He should instill in the children that both male and female students are equal and no gender is superior to the other.
This refers to situations when the family of the child is not in good terms with each other due to various reasons such as alcohol consumption and even divorce. This leads to the child neglecting the child, and they fail to perform the duties of the parent in raising the children (Carr, 2014). This affects the children because through observation, the child learns bad behavior from the parent. Due to not being exposed to a conducive environment, the child may be abused, this affects the children learning process. This causes depression in children and may force them to start engaging in bad behaviors.
The effects of the family problem on the children are that it affects the concentration of the children and this will affect the child’s learning process. The child will also be afraid to engage in some activities or experimenting some activities because he fears any the teacher may punish him like he is punished at home (Carr, 2014). The child will be depressed due to the family problems and this will affect the development and learning process of the children. The teacher should ensure that children from families with disputes are counseled to overcome such challenges and encourage the child to engage in activities without fear.
This is the use of drugs for the purpose not prescribed for. It also involves harmful consumption of alcohol and other harmful drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Children are exposed to such kind of drugs due to peer pressure and negligence from the parents and teachers (Kellam, et al.2014). These drugs affect the health of the children and even mental abilities of the child, and this will affect the learning and development of the child because of lack of stable mental ability. During the learning process, the children should be monitored and have good relationship with the caretakers according to the principles of childhood development.
The effects of the drug abuse on child’s learning are that the child will not be able to concentrate well. The drug abuse may lead to depression and withdrawal problems that will affect the learning process of the child. Due to drug abuse, the child may develop adverse behaviors that may force him to be expelled out of school and be enrolled in rehabilitation centers to help the child recover (Kellam, et al.2014). This wastage of time affects the learning process because according to Piaget’s theory, at each stage of life the child should learn new knowledge. The teacher should ensure that children are not exposed to the environment that can force the child to start abusing drugs by keeping the children engaged in healthy activities such as playing.
These are policies that have been formulated to ensure that children with disabilities have the same education system as the normal children and that all aspects of education and learning are used to measure the children learning progress. These policies have had a lot of impact on the learning and development of children. The impacts include;
The children feel more accepted in the society due to interaction with children without disabilities. This enables them to focus all the attention on learning instead of focusing the attention on the disabilities (Mitchell, 2014). Through observation, the children learn and develop like normal children, and this improves the learning system in the country.
Through interaction, the children can learn from each other because the class consists of students from different cultures and this enables the student to appreciate each other. The learning and development of the child are very effective as the child has learned a lot from other students with different cultures as students learn through interaction and observation (Allen, & Cowdery, 2014). Normal students have a chance to realize that children with disabilities have the same mental capacity as other children and this helps to eliminate discrimination and gender inequality.
Children with disabilities are helped a lot by the inclusive education policies as they can gain skills gained by normal children which could not be possible if they were schooling in special schools (Allen, & Cowdery, 2014). The generalization in school enables them to feel normal like other children. This enables them not to feel as if discriminated and this improves the learning and development of the children.
Conclusion
There are various theories and principles that try to explain the learning and development in children. They all agree that children learn and develop by observation, listening and actively being involved in the learning process. The children should be provided with the necessary support which will enable them to grow well. The children should be surrounded by a conducive environment which will help to shape their behavior. Inclusive education policies should be advocated for because they have a lot positive impact that will help children with disabilities to learn and develop.
The following policies should be formulated and implemented to enable the children to learn and develop. The first policy is ensuring that teachers of young children are well trained and ensure that they achieve the minimum qualification. The second recommendation is to ensure that the schools have counseling sessions with students to help them overcome different challenges that affect the learning process. The third recommendation is that children should not be subjected to routine activities each day. The learning program should be flexible to allow children to learn on their own and experiment. The last recommendation is to implement inclusive education policies in all schools so that all children have a chance to attend school without discrimination.
References
Allen, E. K., & Cowdery, G. E. (2014). The exceptional child: Inclusion in early childhood education. Nelson Education.
Carr, A. (2014). The evidence base for family therapy and systemic interventions for child?focused problems. Journal of Family Therapy, 36(2), 107-157.
Denler, H., Wolters, C., & Benzon, M. (2014). Social cognitive theory.
Goodman, Y. M. (2014). Observing Children in the Classroom. Making Sense of Learners Making Sense of Written Language: The Selected Works of Kenneth S. Goodman and Yetta M. Goodman, 197.
Greenfield, P. M. (2014). Mind and media: The effects of television, video games, and computers. Psychology Press.
Holden, G. W. (2014). Parenting: A dynamic perspective. Sage Publications.
Kellam, S. G., Wang, W., Mackenzie, A. C., Brown, C. H., Ompad, D. C., Or, F., … & Windham, A. (2014). The impact of the Good Behavior Game, a universal classroom- based preventive intervention in first and second grades, on high-risk sexual behaviors and drug abuse and dependence disorders into young adulthood. Prevention Science, 15(1), 6-18.
Klausmeier, H. J., & Allen, P. S. (2014). Cognitive development of children and youth: A longitudinal study. Academic Press.
Levinson, D., Cookson, P., & Sadovnik, A. (Eds.). (2014). Education and sociology: An encyclopedia. Routledge.
Martin, A., Saunders, D. H., Shenkin, S. D., & Sproule, J. (2014). Lifestyle intervention fo improving school achievement in overweight or obese children and adolescents. status and date: New, published in, (3).
Mitchell, D. (2014). What really works in special and inclusive education: Using evidence-basedteaching strategies. Routledge.
Renninger, A., Hidi, S., & Krapp, A. (Eds.). (2014). The role of interest in learning and development. Psychology Press.
Sharma, L., Markon, K. E., & Clark, L. A. (2014). Toward a theory of distinct types of “impulsive” behaviors: A meta-analysis of self-report and behavioral measures
Smith, P. K. (2014). Understanding school bullying: Its nature and prevention strategies. Sage
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