ENVIROMENT AND CHILDRENS LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Enabling Enviroment Role In & Childrens Learning And Development



Enabling Enviroment Role in Childrens Learning & Development

Introduction

Young children's everyday lives are made up of many different kinds of planned and unplanned, and intentional and incidental learning opportunities and experiences. Going to a parent/child play group is an example of a planned activity, and getting to pet a puppy on a neighborhood walk is an example of an unplanned activity. Teaching a child to tie her shoes is an example of an intentional activity, and splashing in a puddle is an example of an incidental activity.

Research shows that everyday family and community activity settings are a primary source of these kinds of learning opportunities. Activity settings are the social experiences (e.g., parent/child lap games) and the characteristics of physical places and locations (e.g., quacking ducks at a community pond) that give rise to children's natural learning opportunities. This Children's Learning Opportunities Report presents findings from an intervention study examining the characteristics of everyday activity settings and learning opportunities related to improved child learning and parents' judgments of child progress (Nader et al. 1999, pp 695-704).

Holistic Development In Children

Children need to develop academic capacities as these are required to live in the modern world. But much more than this is needed, and adults looking at what was required in order to meet the many challenges of their lives and the successes they have had can attest to this. The essential learning that we all need should begin in childhood(Block & Davis, 1996, pp 230- 246)

Children need to begin to learn about themselves. The value of "knowing thyself" is so undisputed as to be a cliché, but conveying to children that they are worth knowing about seems fundamental to healthy self-respect and self-esteem. Children also need to learn about relationships.

Relationships are the greatest source of human happiness and misery, yet most children only have the relationships they see in their immediate surroundings (e.g., family, friends, etc.) and on the media (which are usually caricatures and unreal) to learn from. Sociology and child development psychology repeatedly affirms that learning about relationships is acquired and not inherent, and yet the institutions created for children's learning have little to no time nor resources given to helping children learn how to have healthy, productive relationships (Dunst, 2001, PP 121-190).

Learning about relationships is sometimes seen as part of social development, which includes pro-social behavior and social "literacy" (i.e., learning to see social influence). As our societies become increasingly pluralist, complex, and fraught, social development becomes more difficult as well as more necessary (McKenzie et al. 1996, pp 423-431).



Over the last decade research has demonstrated that emotional development, or what has become known as "emotional literacy," is of fundamental importance. Learning emotional literacy has been shown to be crucial for intellectual development, social development, aesthetic development, and health. Studies have shown that resilience is not an inherent quality, but one that is learned. Resilience is fundamental to overcoming difficulties, facing challenges, and ...