Deb Smith and I got together to blog on our early release this afternoon. We began discussing play and how important it is for children. (We are strickly thinking of 5 and 6 year old children.) We read the article Piaget Development Statagies and I fould it fasinating how children move from stage to stage.
The following is the site if you would like to read it.
coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/piaget/start.htm
Our world is changing and I wonder how video games, "the wee", computer games and the lack of playing games at home will effect children moving from the different stages. I have been amazed to hear from some kindergarteners this fall that on the weekends they play video games or are 4 wheeling.
I also wonder about Special Ed students (say Elementary) do they ever move from Preoperational Stage to Concrete Operational Stage or do they flip flop back and forth until they are in Middle or High School.
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http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/pdf/mathchart.pdf
Reading about Piaget brought me back to my roots with NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children).
I found a chart: Learning Paths and Teaching Strategies in Early mathematics. The chart contains some things 3-6 year olds may know and be able to do in the content areas of Number and Operation; Geometry and Spatial; Measurement, Patterns/Algebra and Displaying and Analyzing Data.
The chart also includes sample teaching strategies. I think this chart would go along with Piaget's developmental stages for the 3 to 6 year old age group.
I also hear my students share their weekends full of video games and movies, but I hadn't thought about how it was affecting their development. This year I seem to notice a difference in my third graders in their attitudes about school and learning. They are much more egocentric and less interested in how their choices affect others. They also create competition where it doesn't/shouldn't exist, and expect an extrinsic reward for a job completed (not even well done, at times...).
In my math group, I posed the problem: Your having a party, but it wasn't your parents' pay day week, so there's not enough money for decorations. You do have one piece of construction paper. What is the longest paper chain you can make from that construction paper to decorate for your party?
Once they began, it immediately turned into a contest. They asked about prizes for the "winner," and despite my repeated attempts to emphasize it was not a contest, they continued to talk about winning.
It does make me wonder about the competition in their lives, especially in video games, and the focus on highest score, getting to the next level, etc. How do we deemphasize competition and encourage creative thinking for creative thinking's sake? I want them to be proud of the thinking they have done, and to compliment others for their thinking, not want to "beat" them.
Rick Lavoie has a great book out called, "The Motivation Breakthrough" In it he addressed the different motivators that students have. He has a short survey to see where your students are at. He has some nice ideas for working with this issue. I don't work with this specific age, but I think many of his thoughts could be applied across ages.
Amy, I so agree with your observations about competition! I have a bunch of boys in my 2nd grade class who are close friends yet turn everything into a competition. From who has written the most books during writer's workshop to who "won" a math game (that may/may not have been designed to have a winner) they are constantly trying to "beat" each other. Over and over I repeat the words, "it's not a competition, just worry about what you are doing and how you can improve" etc. but they remain competitive. I guess I had never thought about the connection to video games (my poor deprived 10 and 13 year olds at home don't have them)but that makes sense! Sheila
Is it possible to harness that competitive nature in a positive way?
A number of years ago, I was teaching a modified Wilson Language Program to some second grade boys. It was painful to listen to each of them struggle through lists of words during the drill portion of the lesson. The boys were listless and less than enthused.
One day I told them they'd receive one point for each correct word, but I'd receive five points for each incorrect word. I'd keep score as we went. There was no reward other than beating the teacher.
I have never seen such a turnaround! Motivation soared! Never knowing which day we would play, they started to work incredibly hard at mastering whatever sounds, blends, or syllable types we were studying. Suddenly, they were getting it, feeling successful, which created a wonderful cycle.
Based on that experience, I'd have to say that competition doesn't have to be a bad thing.
I love how Linda turned around the competition in her class to motivate her kids to learn! I agree that competition frequently gets in the way of learning, as kids can sometimes accuse each other of "cheating" or make other accusations when they feel they are not "winning," and there are egos and pride at stake. I'm going to keep her idea in mind, and perhaps provide an incentive for collaboration against a safe opponent such as myself.
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