From: RESHMI SINGH
Email:
Course: CD169: MOTIVATING CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS
College: SJSU
Instructor: EUGENE MATUSOV
ClassWeb: http://WWW.EMATUSOV.COM/CD169
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 21 May 1997
Time: 15:56:41
Remote Name: daisy.sjsu.edu
Several reseach has been done in finding out about the types of preschool and educaiton which they provide. In this paper, we are talking about two teaching approach: Academic and Developmental. We found out that academic preschool do good in teaching their children about skills that they do need in upper grades but they start to hate school in some cases. On the other hand, developpemt approach meet the child's inner need to learn thilngs whilch they are motivated to learn. This chlildren do good when they go to upper classes.
Being a mothere of a 3 year old child, I am having haed time in deciding which preshool would be good for my child. For many years, Developmental Pschologists and Educators have debated on the effects of different instuctional approaches on young children's learning. Nowdays, we see increasing interest in early childhood education is an apparent trend toward earlier introduction of basic skills using a teacher directed approach of instruction. For example, more and more preschool and kindergartens are adopting prescribed, commercially prepared curricula that are often extensions of textbook series used in the early grade in elementary school. Nowday's one of our major concern about our childres's eduvation is to find a way that could motivate them into learnilng things' on their own. For long, school has done good job in educating our children but recently we feel that our children have no intrinsic motivation in learnilng when they get to high school. We all wonder, how did thils happen after er invested so much of our time, energy and money in their early childhood education.
Many child development experts fear that a proliferation of early childhood programs that focus on basic skills may have more negative than positive effects on our children's motivation in learnilng. Highly academic program is presumed by many experts to inhibit intellectual development directly by fostering superficial learning of sample response rather than real understanding and problelm solving ability. This insttuctional approach also fosters dependency in young children on adullt authority for defining tasks and evaluating outcomes endergers anxiety about achievement(Sigel, 1987). The teacher relies on external rewards and punushments. Driven by such pressure, they llearn to dislike schools and the learning process( (Montessori, 1948,p.14.Holt, 1965). They are not motivated to do things but to do ilt to please the teacher. Quite often children become so concerned with external evaluation and afriad of getting wrong answers and looking stupid that they cannot performo of concerntrate deeply on their work.
On the other hand, some researchers think that academic instrucitonal approach allows young children to experience success in schools, who build self-confidence and promotes further learnilng. For example, when a child expriences contined success with the help of extrinsic reinforcers, that new competence will lead to intrinsic motivation The aim of this approach is directly related to the skills and behaviors whiich enable the child to compete effectively in school. THese includes reading, languyage, writing and arithmetilc skills, and desired classrooom behaviors. They produce children who score high on tests of achievements(Martha. S. Abbot, Brends M. Galina, 1976. p14). A good example for this academic achievement is a prescahool 'Little Scholars', that I visited few weeks ago. I was impressed to see 3 year old's counting up to 10, identifying 3 shapes, leaern at least 10 rhymes, finger plays or songs and letters and their teacher stood infront of the class and asked questions. Eventhough it did sound impressive, we did see these young children struggling to memorize thilngs. I think this type of learning is not what children learn from because they do this to please their parents and teachers They are not doing what their inner needs are. To explore and learn what they are motivated to do.
A study conducted by a team of reserachers at Lousiana State University examined the effects fo different instructional approaches found in preshool and kindergarten programs in 1995. The children in child-centered preschool were compared to children in Highly academic programs in terms of their achievement, perceptions of ability, expectations for success enjoyment of school and school like activities, prefernce of basic skills tasks, preferenc for challenge, dependence, pride in accomplishment and anxiety. When compared to children in child-centered programs, chilldren in highly academilc programs rated their abilities signilficantly low. Children who initiated tasks and completed them without pressure to comform to a particular modells or to get righ answers, selected more challenging tasks, were less dependent on an adult for approval, and evidenced more pride in their accomplishments. This instrinsic motivatoin will always remain in a child and he will enjoy to do things like reading books, planning, organizing, etc when they grow up.
A similar study was done by Rebecca Marcon and in her study she compared academic progression in children who had attended three different model of preschool: model AD-Highly academic, model CI-Child-centered and Model M-Middle of the road belief. She found that overly academilc earlly learning experiences impact negatively on children's ability to successfully transition from the Primary grades to increased expectations of the upper elementary grades. Also, children whose first school experience was in academically focused preschool, showed the greatest decline in school a achievement between first and forth grades.
The result of this research can be explained by lack of motivation in children who are pressured to do thlings in school. They don't learn things because they enjoy it but they learn in order to pass exams and they forget after a while. THis may be one reason why our children do so well in elementary schools and not so good in High schools. We can motivated children into learning things in many ways either then academic education. The educators should provide materials that corresspong to the children's inner needs at various sensitive periods that they will enthussiastically work on them on their own. Children should be given free choice in early years of their life so they get to choose what they enjoy doing. At this age play is most important thing and those placed in academic oriented classroooms get stressed oout at very early age. These are the children who lack motivation to move further in life on their own and education. Children who lealrn through play, learn more thing by interacting with the envionment than taught by the teacher under a stressful envionment.
I feel that in preschool and kindergarten, we should not have formal eduation at all. It should be time for childeren to decide what they llike to do. This will motivate them in long run. In Thomas Armstrong's opinion, Preschooler's should not be formally taught to read. He belileve there are many different kinds fo reading readiness activities that you can provide aroung the house that will help encourage a book-positive attitute in our children. One should read and let child ocbserve you engage in reading activities of differnt kinds so that they see there's purpose behind reading. Also, read to your child from their favorite book and engage them in lots of different language activities, inclulding frequent conversations and peroids where you can share jokes, riddles, songs,poems, tongur twilster, and other verbal games and experiences. These activities will help your child develop auditory discrimination, vocabularly, sensitivity to syntax, and other skills important to later reading success (Thomas Armstrong, PH.D. 17 August 1996)
Another source that gave us some good information that would help us in motivating out children is North Seattle Community College. They have child development programs that develops quality teaching performance and serves as a community resource for developing the ability one had to acqire in order to teach in a child-responsive way. They endeavor to combine the laughing excitement of playful learning, with the openiness and unconditional positive regard for everyone, in problem focused, real-world- centered activities, the power of collaborative, measurable performance analysis. Their education mission is to teach adults how to help children grow into self-confient, socially adept young person. They want competence, not just knowledge for book learning, and to model exploratory, experilential, student centerd teaching and learning(North Seattle Community College Web Site)
After looking at the benefit and some negative effects on child who attends academic oriented school, I decide that we should let children in preshcol and kindergarten to have free choice of what they are motivated to do, they should not be forced to do things and think hard because it put pressure on yuoung minds and they might get confused. They may hate school or will be not motivated to do good in school when they really have to study in academic envionment. The children did better in grades who went to developmental schools rather than academic. We can also educate teacher how to motivate children in learning in schools.
REFERNCE
1. Deborah Stipek, Rachille Feiler, Denis Daniels, and Saron Mulburn (1995), Effects Of Different Instructional Approaches On Young Children's Motivation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 66. 209-223.
2. Rebecca Maron. Differiential Effects Of Preschool Models On Chilren April, 1995, p.16-22.
3. Thomas Armstong, Ph.D, Reading Readiness Activities for Preschool Parents Talk Newletter: http://www.xpose.com/mlm l
4. Intended to Promote the Professional Development of Preschool Teachers http://nsccux.sccd.ctc.edu/eceprog/