Home Search Sitemap Contact Bookmark

Free Dissertations - Education Dissertations

Vygotsky, Believes That The Meanings Of Words Evolve During Childhood, And ...

Vygotsky, believes that the meanings of words evolve during childhood, and their meanings are dynamic, not static entities. Tough (1976) found that language and literacy is directed in the young child by factors such as the size of family, parents and their educational background, class, language, their situation and location. Therefore the foundation of learning is on social constructivism that involves language & home background; and the importance of play by way of meaningful stimulation that promotes intellectual development.
Another argument on Piaget's theories regarding the pre-conceptional stage, 2A, was by Povey and Hill (1975) showing that the social activity of language may have been undervalued, not only as a source of variation between children's concept development but also as the vehicle by which children convey their ability to form concepts (Child, 1997, p.195). Povey and Hill also found that children up to the age of four gain specific and generic concepts from pictorial information (pictures, drawings).
Moss & Penn (1996) produced a broad evaluation of nursery education in the UK and out of this concentrated their results on how the early learning services had been badly neglected. With continual under-funding an issue and increased fragmentation; staff poorly paid and trained; low aspirations and lower expectations, their provocative analysis of this evaluation also showed that young children are seen as important for what they may become, rather than for what they are.
In England children are legally required to start the National Curriculum (Key Stage 1) the term after their 5th birthday (31 August, 31 December or 31 March). Yet children often start earlier than this. children are taken into nurseries from 5 months through to 5 years. Across the world it is about the same, the age of 5 in Canada, and 5 in the USA. In the state of Indiana, USA, a child has to be 5 by August 1st, last year it was 5 by July 1st, and prior to that it was June 1st.
In the USA since 2004 plans were being made for a start age of 3 by researchers at the Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute in the USA were formulating plans to develop a rich learning environment for pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) that took into account the child's social, emotional and physical development. Now in 2006 the plans are a reality with FirstSchool, a new vision for early schooling of children ages 3 to 8. Developed through a partnership among families, the community, the FPG Child Development Institute and The University of North Carolina, which together are passionate about the future of schools and schooling for young children. The FPG aim is to use this model to inform other educational institutions to guide them to a successful early learning experience for children and families.


Thanks