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At this point I was rather shocked and speechless. I wondered where she had learnt the differences between a Deer and Fawn and how to recognize these differences when I remembered the farmyard animal game that we had been playing a few weeks earlier. During that game we ran through what the younger versions of all of the animals were and Rainee had recognized that the animal on the advert wasn't a fully grown Deer, so must be a Fawn.
What is learning? As I thought about what I understand 'learning' to be and what is meant by 'learning theories' I drew upon the recent literature and academia that I have read as a part of my studies as well as remembering an episode that occurred a few years ago while babysitting my nieces. An episode that at the time quite frankly left me speechless, and mighty impressed, by the truly enormous learning capacity of children when in the right environment.
While I initially based this on what I assumed was fantastic memory retention, I have since come to understand was Rainee's excellent Cognitive Development. What my sister and I were able to achieve on that Saturday, with the play based learning activity, closely resembled Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, or ZPD (McLeod, 2010), with my sister and I taking on the role of the More Knowledgeable Other, or MKO (McLeod, 2007).
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“Look Cara, it's a Horse!” I said, and “Wow, did you see that Deer Rainee?” I beamed, and before I could move on to the next animal, Rainee replied, rather cheekily I might add, “No Uncle Alan, that's not a Deer, it's a Fawn!”.
By taking on the role of the MKO, we could help the girls understand the difference between a Deer and her Fawn, or a Cow and her Calf, through 'guidance' and 'encouragement', which then enabled them to reach their 'potential development' from their 'current development' (Eddy, 2010).
One Saturday morning in late 2008, I was at my sister's to spend time with my nieces, Cara and Rainee, who were 4 at the time. Like most children of this age, they had an incredible imagination, which my sister and I sought to utilize through play based learning, which Friedrich Froebel has stated as “the highest expression of human
development in childhood”
(Caldecott, 2011), my
sister and I were able to
create a game using
farmyard animal toys
where we asked the girls
to identify the animals and
what noises they make.
Caldecott, S. (2011). Child-Centred Education. Retrieved from http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9551
Eddy, S. J. (2010). Theories of Cognitive Development: Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from http://psychohawks.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/theories-of-cognitive-development-lev- vygotsky/
Edwards, S. (2009). Early Childhood Education and Care: A Sociocultural Approach. Castle Hill, NSW: Pademelon Press.
McLeod, S. A. (2007). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
McLeod, S. A. (2007). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
McLeod, S. A. (2010). Zone of Proximal Development. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html
Touhill, L. (2012). Sustained shared thinking. NQS PLP e-Newsletter, 42. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/nqsplp/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NQS_PLP _E-Newsletter_No43.pdf
Another learning aspect that I noticed we were able to implement that day was 'Operant Conditioning', which was developed by famed Behaviorism theorist, B.F. Skinner. Through 'positive reinforcement' by providing compliments,
approval, encouragement,
and affirmation, that my
sister and I undertook
during the farmyard
animal game with the
girls, we were able to
strengthen their
development
(McLeod, 2007).
Coming from my own experiences as a child, I clearly remember how much I enjoyed these sorts of games myself, and the time I spent with my parents, aunties and uncles during them was very memorable. So by engaging the girls in these sorts of games, my sister and I tried to provide a rich and engaging environment that was also positive and fun as to provoke ideas and encourage conversation (Touhill, 2012).
On this occasion, after me and the girls had made a mess in the kitchen cooking dinner, we were watching TV when an advert came on for the local wildlife sanctuary. This was one of the girls favourite ads as it had a lot of animals they recognized and could name. So the next time the advert came on, I enthusiastically started naming the animals with them.
While at the time I wasn't as well read on the learning theories that I've covered, looking back on this occurrence, I have come to see the positive influence that Operant Conditioning and the Zone of Proximal Development had on the cognitive development for my nieces. By providing a rich, engaging, positive and fun environment through play based learning, my sister and I were able to help guide the girls to reach their potential development, and I hope we were also able to create some happy memories that will stay with them forever, as experienced when I was their age.
While these sort of activities and games where common place when I visited my nieces, I never truly understood how much of the information that we covered during this play time was retained by them over the long term. Referring to Froebel's thoughts on child development, I had yet to see the girls blossom into the flower that they were to become as I tried to take on the role of an educator with supporting and nurturing their growing developmental abilities (Edwards, 2009).
Only a couple weeks after that Saturday morning I was asked to babysit the girls while my sister and her husband attended a fund-raising dinner for the local community, to which I was more than happy to do as my nieces are a heap of fun to look after.
After the initial shock, and a little embarrassment, of being corrected by my 4 year old niece, I was quick to continue with the positive reinforcement as I could see the benefits it was having on Rainee and Cara. So with our bowels of ice
cream, topped with
hundreds and thousands,
we settled in to watch
Tinkerbell and I was left
with another positive
memory that won't soon
be forgotten, this time
as an extremely proud
Uncle.