Raymond is a senior in high school who loves literature and has a strong interest in working with children. He has worked at several summer camps and serves as a coach for one of the local youth baseball teams. He has always loved to read, and he hopes to publish short stories and poetry some day. Raymond is considering going into education. He will attend college in the fall; however, he did not

Question

indicate a major on his college applications. Raymond went to see his high school counselor to discuss his career options. His school counselor encouraged him to consider what age group he would like to teach. Raymond envisioned himself as a high school English teacher and baseball coach. However, he has recently been thinking about early childhood education, and he is considering becoming a kindergarten teacher. Raymond believes that if he goes into early childhood, it would be very rewarding to teach children how to read and begin their path to enjoying literature. Although Raymond is fairly familiar with the role and responsibilities of high school teachers, he really does not have an understanding of the work of kindergarten teachers. Therefore, his school counselor encouraged Raymond to shadow a kindergarten teacher for a few days. In addition, Raymond was encouraged to research the "big themes" in childhood development and explore the extent of his interests in early childhood education. Discuss three big themes or key issues in child development that Raymond is most likely to encounter as he explores the field.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Suggested Response: One big theme in the study of child development is the debate about nature vs. nurture. Is nature (biological processes, genes, heredity) more important, or is nurture (education, parenting, environment, social policies) more important in development? Current views focus on both and emphasize the study of interaction and coactions of influences. A second big theme in the study of child development is whether the nature of the changes is considered to be continuous or discontinuous. Continuous development refers to adding to or increasing abilities. For example, a child practices and gets faster at repeating the letters of the alphabet. Discontinuous development refers to qualitatively different changes rather than just getting faster at a task or "more of the same." Jean Piaget's stages identify qualitatively different (i.e., discontinuous) periods of development. A third major theme in development is the notion of critical periods or the idea that there are certain time periods in life that are essential for the development of certain skills or abilities (i.e., language development). Thus, if children are not on track with the development of specific abilities, it will be difficult for them to "catch up" later in life.