Dicussion Questions

4 . With your knowledge about how children learn , consider the mental age theory and implications for today 's classroom . Consider the wide range of abilities which are present in early childhood education classroom discuss methods for assessing where children are , and create activities which will address the needs of every child

Children are all different from each other . The capacity of a child to learn varies from one individual to another . Some children have the ability to learn faster , others lag behind . It all depends on the mental age of the child

. A higher mental age means a faster learning process Mental age is not connected to the physical age of a person . Recent researches and theories have suggested that mental age depends more on grooming , schooling , educational exposure and inner born traits rather than just the physical age (Mental age Theory

Therefore , there are several children who can do much better than some elder ones while others cannot cope up with their syllabi as well as find easier ones difficult . Early childhood education is of of the most independent forms of education which can address these differences very easily

Since children at tender ages do not tend to get carried away by individualistic differences , there is a high chance that individuals can have access to the tools that groom their needs . An early childhood classroom is the place where the teacher can actually evaluate these needs and accordingly adjust the environment to suit the child . For example , a child having a problem wih sitting in the last seat , can be moved to the first seat , while another child can be moved to the last seat , both being told that it is a reward for their behavior . Although things of this kind are a little extreme case , such are the ways in which the different needs can be asessed for different children (Child Need Theory

The different abilities that children hold at young and tender ages are perhaps some of the most diverse skills n individual can have . Teachers having the power to mould these abilities , can do so by catering to the individualistic needs of each child and nurturing their weaknesses by attending to them in a soothing way . It is true that mental age differs amongst individuals but teachers can be the driving stones for bringing this mental age up to a certain mark

Some of the activities that teachers can use to bring this mental age to a certain level of uniformity or to bring out the maximum creativity out of an individual are

Create teams and groups for task completion : Group work brings about interaction and peer learning is the fastest and most influential form of learning . Young learners seldom have bias amongst themselves that will hinder learning

Divide work equally and evaluate performance : It is true no two people are alike and somebody will do better at a piece of work than another The evaluation section will create a sense of admiration amongst peers and...