This portfolio is the result of the gathering and reflection on the information taught in the Learning and Development subject. In this blog, the main concepts of the subject will be treated focusing on the emotional, psychomotor and cognitive development of children. As the title may refer, I have carried out this task thinking about my previous experiences and how can be the knowledge applied when being a teacher. I hope this reflection may be useful for those who need guidance in this issue.
All human beings, since they are born, are
immersed in a process called development. This process leads them to the
experience of several qualitative changes, not only physical by psychological
too. Development is a key factor when acquiring and fixing new psychological
functions as so is the interaction with the different features of the context
that surrounds the individual. Every psychological process implies three
dimensions together: cognitive, psychomotor and socio-affective.
It is
needed to be acknowledged that, as it has been said before, the development of
the human being starts at the very first second of his life and ends with the
last one.
There are two main
types of developmental changes: ontogenetic
and microgenetic.
The first are defined as the changes that the
subject experiences throughout his life (lifelong changes), while the latter
are considered specific and qualitative changes that happen in a specific
moment and are different in every subject.
From simple to complex
Every individual has his starting point fixed
in what is simple and ends up in more complex forms of what he already was
previously. Development is just the bridge that links both poles, providing the
human being what is needed to achieve complexity. The final result of this
process is an autonomous individual able to self-regulate his emotions and
feelings.
The following table defines clearly this
concept:
Regarding this table and the
previous definition of development as a bridge between two poles (simplicity
and complexity), it is important for us, as future teachers, to know in deep
the characteristics of each student as so to be aware of the stage that each
child goes through in order to provide the proper tools, knowledge and other
resources that he needs to progress. These resources offered have to be chosen
wisely and be coherent with the development of the individual in order to make
this transition easier and fluent.
The relation between Development and Learning
Didactical vs. Deterministic Approaches
There are two main factors that lead to
development: endogenous (biological)
and exogenous (contextual) factors.
The endogenous factors are those inherent in
the human being, the genetic inheritance that the subject receives from his
parents once he is conceived. These factors are not variable; they are fixed in
the individual and remain without any change.
The exogenous factors are those related with
the interaction that the subject establishes with his immediate context. These
factors are variable as so the different contexts and interactions possible
where the individual can take part on several processes that lead to
development.
Different theories and approaches have been
raised depending on their focus in the two different types of factors. Those approaches
focused on the development determined mainly by endogenous factors are called deterministic approaches. On the other
hand, those who define development as a process determined by exogenous factors
are called didactical approaches. Next,
some examples of these two different approaches will be given:
Deterministic
approach: Psychodynamic theory, Cognitivist theory
Didactical approach: Behaviorism theory,
Socio-historic-cultural theory
The following videos define the Cognitivist and
Behaviorism theory and their application to education.
Cognitivist Approach
Behaviorism Approach
When defining one’s own perspective in relation
to the different theories of development, the first thing that has to be taken
into consideration is that not only one type of factors leads to the
development of the individual but is the mixture of both endogenous and
exogenous factors what does. When a child is born (Palacios, J.; Coll, C.;
Marchesi, A., 1990), the first stages of life are clearly determined by the
biological factors (canalization),
whereas the following stages are defined by the influence of the context where
the kid is immersed and its social and cultural features. When working with
kids, it will be essential to determine the stage that the student is going
through in order to anticipate, detect and define the needs that he may have to
face and deal with.
Contextual perspective
Socio-historic-cultural theory
The contextual perspective is the approach that
has its focus on the interaction with the context and its social and cultural
features in order to develop the psychological functions. This perspective
remarks the influence and role that exogenous factors have on the individual’s
development. Some theorists developed their own theory under this point of view
such as Vigotsky.
Vigotsky was the proposer of the Socio-historic-cultural theory which
estates that the developmental changes the subject experiences are determined
by his participation in sociocultural interactivity systems of the community
where he is immersed. These changes are mainly produced because by the action
of the individual and the final result of this process is the acquisition of
symbolic tools specific to the context where he lives. The symbolic tools
(Turuk, M. 2008) that Vigotsky raises are all the different resources, whether
signs or tools, that are created by humans under specific cultural and historical
conditions (meaning by this that are specific to each different context) which
carry the main characteristics of the culture. Moreover, these tools are used
as aids in solving problems that cannot be solved in their absence.
The acquisition of symbolic tools will lead to
the main goals of development: autonomy and self-regulation.
How are symbolic tools acquired?
There are three main factors that determine the
acquisition of symbolic tools in the school context: 1. Interaction: the process of communication,
not only with teachers but among peers specially, that takes place in the
classroom helps the subject discover new tools (inter-psychological plane) and the latter acquisition and
internalization of them (intra-psychological
plane). 2. Guidance: the teacher will not interfere in the
learning process of the student but it will oversee and give guidance and
advice regarding the needs of the student in a determined moment. 3.Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD): considered
the gap between the current development of a subject and the development that
is wanted to achieve. The lane towards development is only built by the
individual, the different processes of interaction that he carries out with
peers and the scaffolds provided by
the teacher. The result of going through the Zone of Proximal Development is
the achievement of the intra-psychological plane.
To conclude, when thinking about education and the teachers’ action in the learning process of the students, it is needed to
be highlighted not only the awareness and consciousness of the stage and needs
that each individual may have in order to offer the students the proper
scaffolds to achieve development but to acknowledge the importance of moving
through the inter to the intra-psychological plane, as it will mean that the
subject is able to apply what has learnt from his context in different and new
situations. Besides guidance, the teacher will have to provide coherent and
appropriate situations and environment in order to make possible and easier
interaction amongst students.
Schooling and
development hand in hand
Education is one of the key factors regarding
the development of the individual at early ages. The different processes and
activities that are carried out throughout the schooling aid the student
improve his cultural and social skills as so the personal development and the
acquisition of positive values and attitudes.
School activities are defined by four main
dimensions that are clearly explained in the following conceptual map:
School activities are different to any other
educational activities such as the ones that are carried out in family because,
even though they help in the developmental process of the subject, they are
neither designed nor planned with and educational purpose.
As it can be seen in the conceptual map, each
school activity has a clear objective set and defined for a specific moment in
the learning process. All relations among the members of the educational
community and the hierarchies established have to be considered when developing
the different activities inside the educational institution in order to success
in reaching the goals set no matter the situation.
Moreover, the role of the teacher when planning
and designing the activities is not only to work for the development of the
students and the attention to the different needs they may have but to become
changing agents that lead to the reform of the institutions where they work.
The socio-affective development of the
individual influences in several ambits. Throughout the development, the
improvement and acquisition of skills regarding interpersonal relations,
emotional regulation, identity construction and critical thinking is achieved. Besides,
the discovery and understanding one’s own emotions and the others’ is also a
competence that appears and is worked on when the developing of the
socio-affective dimension occurs.
Emotions
Our reaction to stimulus
An emotion is a complex state of the organism of an
individual that is developed because of the excitation or disturbance produced
by a stimulus. The organism of the individual produces an organized answer
regarding the stimulus that has caused this emotion. Emotions lead the
individual to act regarding the people that surround him and even with himself.
Emotions are closely related with the development of the personality.
Regardless the common belief, not all emotions are universal, only basic emotions, such as
happiness, fear or sadness, are the ones shared by all human beings. Another characteristic of emotions is that
they are neither expressed nor felt voluntarily,
they are manifested through impulses that cannot be avoided. The manifestation
of these impulses is the behavioral component of emotions which, in other
words, means the reaction and actions that the individual carries out when
experiencing a determined emotion. Some examples of reactions regarding
emotions are the different gestures and facial expressions that the subject
reproduces when experiencing them. Both gestures and facial expressions let us
guess the emotions that other people is experiencing as it has been proved
(Russell, J. 1994) that the representation of basic emotions has common traits
amongst human beings.
Emotions
- Feelings - Mood
Are they the same?
Before starting to talk about emotions and their
relation with the development of the child and education, it is needed to be
done an appreciation, as there are three concepts that are usually considered
the same and their difference has to be clarified. These three concepts are emotions, feelingsandmood.
As it has been said before, emotions are the
reactions of the organism of a subject to a determined stimulus. However, feelings
are considered the cognitive component of an emotion or, in other words, the subjective
interpretation of an emotion experienced. Mood, instead, is defined as the
prolongation of an emotional state or an emotion that lingers in time. Besides,
moods can be also the precursors of feelings if they are prevail for long time
in the subject.
As it can
be seen, those three concepts are closely linked and related but the several
differences among them have to be acknowledged by us teachers as, when teaching
our students, we will have to be able to distinguish them easily in order to
make the students understand them and use the appropriate words when expressing
what they experience and feel.
The
child’s emotional development and education
In
terms of emotional development, the child moves through several stages that are
defined regarding the evolution they experience in their emotional
comprehension and regulation. In the
following table (Soldevila, A., Filella, G., Ribes, R. i Agulló, M. J. 2007),
the emotional development that the child experiences will be explained:
It is needed to highlight that this emotional
development grid is not universal as all
children are different and neither their rhythm of development nor their
characteristics are the same.
Regarding education, the behavioral component of basic
emotions can be educated if the subject is capable of identifying them and the
physical reactions that the experiencing of this emotion leads to. In this
sense, the school works for the development of the emotional self-regulation, meaning by this, the self-control and
regulation of the emotions that a determined subject may experience. In order
to achieve this objective, the school has to focus not only on the intellectual
development of the individual but on the emotional too. The achievement of
emotional self-regulation can be reached by working on the enhance of the
identification of emotions, the recognition of one’s own emotions and the
emotions experienced by other individuals in the context and finally the
expression of one’s own emotions.
Self-regulation of emotions is an important issue to
lay stress upon in school and further education since the subject will have to deal
with situations in his daily life that require the domain of this competence.
The more it is worked at early ages, the more the individual will be capable of
defending himself in the context where he is immersed.
When teaching
emotions to our future students, first of all, we will have to take into
consideration the different stages that the child goes through in terms of
emotional development. It is also important, as it has been said previously, to
take into account the differences among students as, even though they will
share common traits in their emotional development, some will arise and will
have to be treated properly in order to achieve the best outcomes for everyone.
Calvin and Hobbes, an example of lack of emotional self-regulation.
In the next video, two dynamics regarding the
emotional development are displayed. It can be seen that both teachers are not
only working on the identification of the emotions by explanations and facial
expressions or gestures but in the recognition of emotions in others. It is
really interesting to see in situ how kids of 4-5 years old lay aside their
egocentric perspective and try to empathize and to stand in someone else’s
shoes.
Factors influencing the emotional
development
There are
several factors that play an important role in the emotional development of the
individual. Factors like the attachment bond and the interrelations that a
concrete individual may have established with other members of a common
context. Depending on these two factors, the emotional development of a subject
will be easier to happen or not.
The attachment bond
The
attachment bond is considered the connection that the child, when he is born,
needs to establish with at least a primary caregiver (person who takes
responsibility of a subject which is not able to take care of himself) in order
to achieve social and emotional development. The attachment bond (Weiss, R. S.
1991) is characterized by three main features that make it different from any
other relational bond: proximity seeking,
secure base effect and separation protest.
1. Proximity seeking: Child’s attempt to remain close to his
parents. The distance range that the subject considers acceptable varies
depending on the situation as, in threatening situations the range will
decrease.
2. Secure base effect: While being with the attachment figure, the
child’s security will increase.
3. Separation protest: When the threat of being separated of the
attachment figure exists, the child will protest in order to return to a safe
and secure situation.
There are
four main types of attachment bond classified depending on how they influence
in the emotional development of the individual. The following grid will explain
them in deep and the consequences each type of attachment bond lead the child
to:
By
taking a look at the previous grid, it can be concluded that depending on the
attachment bond established between the adult and the child, the emotional
self-regulation of the latter will vary. It can be clearly seen that the most
stable attachment bond is the secure while the others have several lacks that
may affect the subject negatively.
When
being teachers, it will be very important for us to be able to detect the kind
of attachment bond that the different children have established with their families
as, therefore, we will be able to know which are their lacks and needs in terms
of emotional development. Those with attachment bonds different to the secure
one will have to be taught in deep and more helped in order for them to
overcome their difficulties and achieve emotional self-regulation. Moreover, as
teachers we will also have to design the dynamics and activities
Peers’ interaction and group relation
Another
factor influencing the emotional development of the individual is the
interaction and the relations he establishes with other members of the same context.
Friendship is one type of relation that influences the most in the child’s
development.
Friendship
Friendship
is defined as the affective relationship that is established between two or
more people. This interpersonal relation creates a solid affective bond that is
stronger than the one created by association. This type of social relation is
created voluntarily, based on reciprocity and the willingness of joy from the
members forming it.
People
involved in friendship establishment experience several changes in their
individual structure throughout the development of this process (García, F.
2013). First of all, positive emotions and feelings experienced lead to the
validation of the self of each of the individuals as so their moral and
self-concept development. Besides, the affective bond created among the
individuals involved in this process makes them protect each other against risk
factors that may affect them.
Friendship
also develops a sharing feeling that leads to the development of the detection
of needs and emotions that the friend is experiencing and, therefore, the
enhancing of empathy and the emotional comprehension of the individuals.
Even
though friendship provides lots of positive experiences, benefits and helps the
individual develop his own characteristics, the affiliation with people that
provide conflicts or poor individual enrichment may sometimes be negative for
the people involved in this process.
Friendship
does not only influence on the emotional development of the subject involved
but it also has a huge impact on the identity construction of the individual as
other social interaction processes do.
Identity construction
The construction of the identity of the subject
is determined by three main factors: self-esteem,
self-concept and group identity.
The
self-concept is the cognitive aspect of the self. It is the idea that the individual
builds of himself, the image not only physical but psychological of his being. However,
self-esteem is the evaluative aspect of the self, the conscious assessment of
the concept that the subject has previously established. The group identity is
closely related with the social interactions and friendship, which have been
explained previously.
The
evolution of the self-concept, as all developmental processes, takes place
throughout the life of the individual. Starting at early ages (2-6), the
individual develops an isolated representation of the self with few coherence
and highly changeable. This image built is idealized and more positive than
realistic. During the first years of primary schooling (6-8), the image built
does not only involve the external characteristics of the subject (physical)
but the internal aspects (psychological) too. At this stage, children still
compares only with themselves and not with other individuals, so their
perception of themselves positive. Finally, at the last years of primary
schooling (8-11), friendship plays an important role as group relations start
to gain importance. The kids at this stage tend to compare with other members
of the group and, while making these comparisons, they realize the differences
among individuals.
Self-esteem
is formed by three main dimensions: physical (the one related with the physical
appearance and skills), social (the one related with the different social
interaction processes that the child takes part into) and academic (which is
related to the school subjects and the outcomes obtained).
One
aspect that is closely related with the self-esteem is the locus of control which is understood as the idea of the control
that a subject has over the consequences of the acts carried out by him. There
are two types of locus of control, the internal and the external
1. Internal:
the responsibility of the consequences relies on oneself (i.e. “I passed the
exam”).
2. External:
the responsibility of the consequences relies on external causes (i.e. “The
teacher gave me a bad grade”).
We develop and construct our own locus of
control depending on the situations and interactions with parents or from
others, it is not genetically determined.
Regulating the locus of control between the
two, internal and external poles, is important regarding the self-esteem as it can
affect negatively on it. For instance, if a student with high internal locus of
control prepares a lot for an exam and fails it, he may think that he is not
capable of obtaining good outcomes even though he studies a lot. This attitude can
lead to the decrease of the self-esteem of the individual as the
self-assessment he carries out will provide negative information.
Gender influence in identity construction
Most of the traits that define the identity of
an individual are mainly determined by their genetic inheritance. Although the
common conception that people has regarding the identity construction is that
socialization plays the main role in this process, the construction that
society has built for both genders is way less than the role of genetics
(Tellegen, A. 1988).
It is important to acknowledge that the
condition of being born man or woman does not determine the identity traits as
we are not born knowing the existent differences among genders or the role we
will play throughout our life. It is socialization and the later awareness of
social constructions of genders what define this acquired part of our identity.
In the same way stereotypes, which determine the main traits that are expected
for each of the genders and even the social position of girls and boys, are
other agent that influence the identity construction of the individual.
Besides, stereotypes do not only influence on the individual’s building of
identity but they promote the appearance and maintenance of inequalities and
prejudices regarding this topic which lead to misleading beliefs, negative
attitudes and behaviors.
In the following video about Disney’s films can
be clearly seen how stereotypes are reproduced and transmitted to children without
they noticing it.
When working with kids, it will be essential
for us to try to foster the positive identity construction for each of our
students by balancing all different factors that play a role in this process.
We will have to act regarding all needs of students and help them in their path
towards the development. Besides, we will have to work taking into account the
importance that gender has in this process and trying to avoid popular
stereotypes or negative beliefs in our lessons and classes for every children
to create his/her own idea and without prejudices.
Soldevila, A., Filella, G., Ribes, R. i Agulló, M. J. (2007). Una
propuesta de contenidos para desarrollar la conciencia y la regulación
emocional en la Educación Primaria. Cultura y Educación, 19 (1), 47-59
Judge, T. A. and Bono, J. E. 2001. Journal
of Applied Psychology 2001, Vol. 86, No. 1, 80-92
Relationship
of Core Self-Evaluations Traits—Self-Esteem, Generalized Self-Efficacy, Locus
of Control, and Emotional Stability—With Job Satisfaction and Job Performance.
Retrieved from:
This third post of the blog will be mainly
focused on the psychomotor development of the individual as so as the different
processes that the subject goes through and acquires during it. It has to be
considered that the psychomotor dimension entails the capability of the
individual of expressing oneself with efficiency in the context where he/she is
immersed thanks to the interrelation among the cognitive functions, the
emotions and the physical movement.
A learning task is considered within the
psychomotor dimension if it requires motor control and coordinating muscular
movements. Although the movement and its control is essential in this type of
tasks, the senses play an important role when carrying out this processes as
they are the ones that allow the individual to perceive external stimulus
coming from the environment where he/she is found and then act according the
information received.
Which developmental line follows?
The psychomotor
development follows two main rules that determine the use and control of the
body parts of the individual (Ardanaz, 2009; Jiménez, 2006). These two rules
are called Cefalocaudal and Proximodistal laws.
The first one states that the first part that
the individual is able to control is the head. The development leads the
subject to the control of the movement of lower parts such as the neck, the
chest, the hips, the legs, the feet and finally the toes.
The latter raises that the nearest parts to the
body axis are the first ones to be controlled. Thus, the shoulder would be the
first part to acquire control and arms, wrists hands and fingers are the
following.
The following video exemplifies both Cefalocaudal
and Proximodistal laws by showing some images of kids that are in this
developmental stage.
Once these two laws have been clearly defined
and understood, it may be regarded that a child will first acquire control of the
upper limbs and then, gain control of the lower ones. Therefore, this fact may
explain why kids at early ages are able to grab things with the hands with more
movement definition than carried-out tasks in which the lower limbs are
involved. Tamara Ardanaz in her article La Psicomotricidad en Educación
Infantil explains in detail the steps that the child goes through regarding
these two laws since his/her birth until the subject reaches the age of five.
For instance, at the 6-8 months of the child’s life, the author argues that the
child is able to stay sit without help (in this case, the movement control of
the torso is also developed) and acquires prehension and object manipulation
ability but he still crawls in order to move around.
This assumption is essential to consider when
working and living together with kids as from its understanding, we will be
aware of the child’s normal course of psychomotor development and besides, we
will be also able to establish and adapt our expectations to it. The awareness
of this fact is not only important for us as teachers or monitors, also parents
should be conscious of both laws and their process in order to choose, reflect
and decide which actions they may carry out and which ones will be useful and
helpful for the child’s better development.
Referring to my previous experiences related
with this issue, I have to say that two years ago I had the privilege of
working as a psychomotor activities monitor for children from three to five
years old. It really amazes me how, for carrying out his job, I did not receive
any instruction or guide to follow in order to develop proper sessions for the
kids’ best psychomotor development. This field is often misrelated with having
fun and playing games, but it should go further than this and entail more
involvement for those in charge to manage this kind of activities and also
those enterprises that offer this services. Now that I have been able to go in
deep in this issue and discover such aspects of the psychomotor development, I
have to admit that even though I tried my best while carrying out my job, now I
feel more confident in my experience and knowledge regarding this topic and I
think I would be able to perform my job better than I did previously. Even
though I tried my best when thinking and developing the sessions and seeking
for the ones for the kids’ enjoyment and proper development, now I would change
several activities or sessions that I thought they were appropriate in order to
improve my previous performance.
Acquisition of psychomotor skills
Once the developmental line of the psychomotor
dimension has been defined, the acquisition of psychomotor skills should be
stated, as it is another essential factor to be aware of when working with
kids. As it has been mentioned in previous posts regarding the psychological
and the emotional development, the
psychomotor development is a continuous process that starts with the birth of
the individual and does not have a defined ending. There are several stages
that all human beings go through depending on his/her maturity, but it is the
context where each of them is immersed what establishes the differences and
gaps among individuals (do not forget about people with disabilities and
difficulties in their learning process which will also have delays in this
issue if they are compared to people who does not have them). Therefore, it
could be stated that those contexts with more variety of stimulus and possibilities
to experiment with one’s own body will be the ones in which children will be
able to develop psychomotor skills faster.
Knowing that the
variety of stimulus, objects and experiences enhances the acquisition of
psychomotor skills in children, teachers in schools in charge of this kind of
activities should try to come up with sessions that should help every child
acquire abilities related with this topic and improve the activities designed
by providing appropriate resources full of meaning and information that can be
used by children for them to develop these skills faster and efficiently.
The picture accompanying the text contains most
of the elements that a person has in mind when speaking about psychomotor
development. The main reason why most of the material that appears in the
picture comes to our mind when thinking about a psychomotor session or
classroom, is due to the need of providing a huge variety of stimulus for kids
to learn and acquire psychomotor abilities. Such objects offer the students
different and diverse opportunities to learn which, in other words, means that
having such assortment of objects allows the teacher to cover all the needs
that a child may have when developing his/her psychomotor skills. By assuming
that kids carry out their psychomotor development through the interaction with
the elements and objects of the context, it could be concluded that there are
similarities among the psychomotor and cognitive development as, regarding the
latter Piaget stated that children also acquire knowledge by interacting with
the existent elements of the environment where they are placed. This issue will
be explained more in detail in following posts.
But regardless the different stimulus that a
context may provide to the children which are immersed in, there are existent
differences among these kids that can be clearly seen when working with them
daily. The main reason why this happens may be found in ontogenetic aspects as,
in this case, the variety in the genetic pool of each of the individuals
coexisting in the same context is what will determine the differences in their
own psychomotor development. Therefore, the teacher’s acknowledgement and
realization of the individual characteristics of each subject is a key factor
that will determine the children’s proper development. If the teacher is able
to identify the needs and demands of every child, he/she will be successful
when teaching these kids to control their own body, movement and corporal
activity and, besides, to interact with efficiency within their social context.
Nevertheless, it is needed to highlight the need of working transversally and
exploring all different possibilities regarding one activity since the variety
and amount of capacities and dimensions developed in one single activity will
determine its usefulness and the possible enrichment that may suppose to the
student.
Searching on the internet for information
related with psychomotor sessions for kids of primary education, I ended up
finding a video that really caught my attention. In the following video can be
seen a group of elder people being instructed in psychomotor development. I
found this issue of interest as, when we think about psychomotor development,
we usually forget about the elders that are seeing their abilities and skills
reduced as time passes. This kind of exercises are focused on the maintenance
of abilities such as equilibrium, lateral dominance or muscle tone, but it is
also aimed to palliate possible diseases related with bone loss or lack of
muscle tone (Psicomotricidad y ejericicio físico para mayores).
Moreover, these sessions can also be seen as a meeting in which these people
does not only work on their physical maintenance but also have the opportunity
to create relationships and establish communication with people and thus,
foster their emotional dimension too. It is important to consider that through
the attendance to this kind of sessions, where not only exercises but games are
implemented, elders will also be working on some cognitive aspects such as the
memory and attention. For people with neurodegenerative disorders (Valencia,
2008), this set of activities will be of use in order to maintain their
physical abilities and also those related with the cognitive dimension
previously mentioned.
Taller psicomotriu - Acompanyament a la gent gran:
Children start
drawing at early ages, as it is a method that they use in order to communicate
with other people near them. Through drawings, the subject is able to express
his feelings and perception of the reality that surrounds him and, while
attempting to reproduce the elements and features of the context that he wants
to express to others, cognitive skills such as attention, perception or memory
are also being developed.
Moreover, drawing
does not only entail the expression of the child but also involves the
emotional dimension, as the subject tries to be valued thanks to their artistic
production. The emotions and feelings of adults related to the drawing of a child
will influence in his self-esteem as he/she will be able to perceive if s/he is
understood and accepted in a group of people. Thus, when observing and
analyzing drawings made by kids, it is important to acknowledge that there are
no mistakes or errors in their production but what the drawing is trying to
reflect is the reality and emotions that the subject is experiencing in a
determined moment.
In order to address
this issue, I will analyze a drawing of an eleven-year-old child that was asked
to draw “his house” with no more premises given; he was free to draw whatever
he wanted but respecting the topic raised. Through this analysis, we will be
able to determine in which stage related to the childhood drawing he could be
classified in. Below these lines, a grid with all stages regarding the childhood
drawings development is displayed in order for everybody to try to guess which
is the most appropriate stage for Èric’s drawing and its features.
In the drawing we can
observe how Èric has drawn the inside of his house. The corridor is the main
element of the picture, which gives profundity to the image and, around it
other elements of the house are drawn. Other elements that can be seen are the
door of his room (which has his name written in it), the entrance of the
kitchen and even both microwave and the fridge appear within the room (placed
at the left side of the drawing). Finally, at the end of the corridor can be
seen a door that leads to another room (living room) where a cage for budgies
has also been drawn.
By only analyzing the
different elements of the picture, it can be easily determined that what Èric
has drawn is a faithful reproduction of the reality that he perceived in the
moment he was drawing. It is a realistic picture that contains all the details
that define that place of his house.
Thus, regarding his interpretation of
reality, it could be concluded that while he was drawing, he carried out an
objective analysis of the elements that surround him in order to reproduce in
detail and give the receptors a clear idea of what he believed that his home
was.
Through taking a look
at the picture, we can clearly see that Èric is not only drawing on one plane,
but he is also considering the proportion and volume of the elements he wants
to draw, being able to play with the perspective and profundity and finally
obtaining a sensation of a three-dimensional picture.
Finally, the drawing
Èric has done has no color because he preferred to leave it in black and white,
as he thought it would look nicer than if he colored it. Through this
statement, we are able to appreciate that even though he wanted to give the
drawing an objective look, he also considered his own preferences while its
development. Therefore, even though the drawing could be seen as an absolute
realistic representation of his environment, by choosing not to color it he is
also expressing his own point of view and way of interpreting reality. It is
also important to consider that by drawing a determined place of the house and
not the whole building, he is also giving a personal vision of what he
considers his home which, in this case, is the inside of the house what he
really feels like home.
With all evidences
gathered related to this drawing, we could consider it within the realist stage as he is able to carry out some of the
features related with this stage such as the realization and reproduction of
proportion, volume and perspective. Nevertheless, there are some aspects that
could be included in the communicative stage,
such as the aim of analyzing the environment objectively but also offering some
elements that represent his vision of reality.
Other aspects to take
into account regarding the graphic gesture development that could be also
analyzed in Èric’s drawing could be the maturation of the hand muscles or his
psychological development. It is obvious that Èric has both muscles of the hand
developed as he is able to carry out all movements that are related to drawing
(flexion – extension / abduction – adduction / rotatory movements). In terms of
psychological development, Èric has acquired the fine motor skills needed to
draw as so the cognitive development in terms of symbolization (he has written
his name on the door of his room with clear calligraphy). Finally, in terms of
the socio-affective development, he may be not showing specific emotions (or I
am not able to perceive them), but as it has been said before, he is offering
to the receptors of this drawing his own vision of home.
Regarding this topic,
we can conclude that drawing is a method that children have in order to
represent the reality they are living and defining the characteristics of such
by meanings of observation. Through the drawing, the child is able to express a
determined message or emotions that he wants to transmit to others for him to
be understood. When being teachers, we should take into account the importance
of each drawing and its elements since, by analyzing them, we will be able to
know them more in deep and be aware of the characteristics or needs of each of
them. We should foster the development of the drawing skills and, therefore,
children will have the opportunity to represent what they are thinking in a
different way than speaking.
Why do we need a well-defined body scheme?
The body scheme is the mental image
that the individual has of his own body, it is the idea that he has about the
different parts and segments that form it and also the different movements he
can carry out with them. This mental representation (Pérez, 2005) also allows
the subject to determine his own body’s position whether it is in a repose
state or in movement. In addition, Le Boulch states that the body scheme does
not only allow the subject to create an idea of his own body but also is
determined by its relation with the space and objects that surround him. The
creation of this image is a progressive experience that the individual builds
up since his birth and finds its end at the age of 11-12 and its determined by
neurological maturation processes. There are three main types of body image
depending on the different approaches to this issue:
Perceptual image: the representation of the body
that the individual has in terms of size, shape and weight.
Cognitive image: it regards the set of beliefs and
thoughts that the individual has about his body.
Emotional image: this image entails the level of satisfaction
that the individual has according to his figure, features and the set of
experiences that the body provides the individual. This image is the most
subjective of the three since it implies the self-judgment of one’s own
characteristics.
The body scheme is a key factor in
the development of a child as the body is the first thing that he is able to discover.
Before knowing the context where he is immersed or the features of the
environment around him, he is able to get to know his own characteristics. The
body and the actions that the child is able to carry out are the link with the
context and other people that can be found there. The image of the body or body
scheme may be of use for the individual as a self-regulative system that helps
him to have control of his own body and its relation with the space and time.
It is needed to highlight the importance of the creation of a proper body
scheme in order to have the most objective perception of our possibilities and
capabilities to identify which tasks we will be able to carry out autonomously
and which will require of some help or guidance to reach success.
The self-regulation function of the
body scheme entails the control of three main aspects: the body
consciousness and regulation; the time representation; and the spatiotemporal
structuring. First of all, the body consciousness and regulation allows the
individual to perceive his own body and, therefore he is able to control
several psychomotor features that develop at school age such as equilibrium,
lateral dominance and independence among corporal segments (which is considered
to be the control of a unique part of the body and independent to others). Such
aspect of the body scheme helps us to define the actions we want to carry out
in our context depending to our possibilities, being able to know what we are
capable of and what will be more difficult for us to do. Another aspect that the
consciousness of our body allows us to regulate is the control of the
physiological impulses such as going to the toilet. This aspect is a key factor
to work with kids the soonest, since it means for them an important move
towards autonomy. Closely related with the previous issue, time representation
allows the individual to have a control and awareness not only of the time (by
using different tools to measure it) but also of the time that the individual requires
to carry out an specific task or the biological time which entails the
sequencing of physiological needs such as eating, sleeping or going to the
toilet. The addition of the latter aspect and the consciousness of space help
the individual when determining his position in a determined place and moment,
being able to orienteer himself by perceiving stimulus coming from the
environment.
As it can be clearly seen, all these
aspects related with the development of the proper body scheme help the
individual in his attempt to become more autonomous and less dependent to
others. Knowing this, when being teachers we should enhance the proper
construction of the body scheme since students at primary school ages have not
developed completely the image of their own body yet. Students should be
provided of activities and experiences which promote this kind of learning for
them to be able to get to know their body and discover what they are capable to
do. Activities within this category could be to ask students to stay in
equilibrium in a determined position (thus, proprioception will be developed)
or do concrete movements with determined parts of the body (so they are able to
realize which movements can be done with each of the articulations). When I was
studying the CFGS of Sport and Physical activities, I worked in deep the scheme
of the body, its different planes and the movements of the articulations. Even
though I had my body scheme already formed, I found very useful this information
as it help me understand why each segment of the body does a determined
movement (depending on the shape of the articulation and the distal parts of
the bones which are connected, a determined segment will be able to do a kind
of movement or more than one). The following image shows the different planes
of the body scheme. In each of them, determined movements can be done:
Coronal plane: abduction (moving away from the
body) / adduction (towards the body)
Sagittal plane: flexion (vertical movements aimed
at the head) / extension (movements on the opposite direction of the head.
Even though this information may not
seem of use for students as they are complex concepts to understand, teachers
should adapt it for them to be aware of the prefixed possibilities that their
body provides them. This information may also help to prevent lesions as, if
students are aware of the movements they can do, they will understand how a
lesion regarding this issue can be created and then avoid it.
It is also important to consider that the
construction of the body scheme can be influenced by several factors such as
social interrelations with others or a lack of objectivity towards the own body.
The negative influence of these aspects may lead to lacks in the construction
of the body scheme and, therefore, have difficulties when identifying one’s own
characteristics or even have a low-self-esteem. For this reason, teachers
should be aware of such factors in order to foster the positive and avoid the
negative and thus, help each student achieve the construction of a well-defined
body scheme.
REFERENCES
Ardanaz, T. (2009). La
psicomotricidad en educación infantil. Innovación y experiencias educativas,
(16). Retrieved from:
Valencia, C., López-Alzate, E.,
Tirado, V., Zea-Herrera, M. D., Lopera, F., Rupprecht, R. and Oswald, W. D.
(2008). Efectos cognitivos de un entrenamiento combinado de memoria y
psicomotricidad en adultos mayores. Revista de neurología, 46(8),
465-471. Retrieved from:
3. Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD): considered
the gap between the current development of a subject and the development that
is wanted to achieve. The lane towards development is only built by the
individual, the different processes of interaction that he carries out with
peers and the scaffolds provided by
the teacher. The result of going through the Zone of Proximal Development is
the achievement of the intra-psychological plane.
