Child Studies

There are various children development theories that are applicable in the elucidation of the ad's claim and the aforementioned general concepts made in the ad. The two development theories that will be discussed in this particular section are the Theory of Cognitive Development and Multiple Intelligences Theory.

One theory is the Cognitive Development Theory. This theory was developed by Jean Piaget, and it lays emphasis on predictable cognitive stages. In particular, Piaget asserted that cognition was dissimilar in the course of every stage of development. This theory includes four stages, which include the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, and formal operations stages. To begin with, the sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and two years of age and in this phase the child utilizes all his or her senses to discover and learn. In this manner, experiences of the different senses and motor development give rise to cognitive development. The second phase is the preoperational phase that occurs between two years and seven years of age. In this phase, representational skills are developed, which consist of language skills, drawing and symbols. In addition, they can recognize groups of objects and place them sequentially (Goodheart-Willcox, 2004).

Third phase is the concrete operations. Here, a child develops the capability to have methodical thinking, but solely when they can allude to actual objects and use hand-on activities. The last phase is the formal operations phase, which occurs between the ages of eleven to the point of adulthood. In this phase, individuals do not rely on concrete examples in order to think. Thus, they attain reasoning and problem solving skills. Therefore, this theory substantiates the claim made in the ad. The ad shows that the product is reliable for children up to three years. In this phase, based on the cognitive development theory, they are able to develop their sense sand fine motor skills (Piaget, 2000). Piaget outlines that a child while developing is an active learner and therefore must be granted all chances to explore, discover, and experiment. It is in this way that the child is able to grow and develop. By playing with the blocks contained in the product, the child gets an opportunity to explore, experiment and advance his or her fine motor skills.

The second theory is the Multiple Intelligences Theory developed by Howard Gardner. In particular, this theory lays emphasis that there are various types of intelligences that are utilized by the human brain. It goes further to assert that intelligence comes about from intricate interactions between a child's experiences and his or her genetics. Children are able to learn and also express themselves in several various manners, and through these ways, they utilize the different kinds of intelligence (Goodheart-Willcox, 2004). Gardner points out eight intelligences and these include logical-mathematical, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinesthetic, verbal-linguistic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, visual-spatial along with naturalistic. With respect to the claims made by the ad, the bodily-kinesthetic and verbal-linguistic intelligences can be used to explain the assertions made in the ad (Steinburg et al., 2010).

With respect to the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, one has the capability to control body movements and operate objects. This takes into account the use of hands, fingers, legs to express themselves, solve problems and also construct things (Woolfolk et al., 1980). Therefore, this shows that through the product, the child will be able to develop his or her bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and utilize his fine motor skills by moving and manipulating the objects. Secondly, the verbal-linguistic intelligence takes into account the sensitivity to sounds, words and rhythms. This supports the claim made by the ad in the sense that the product will help the child to develop his sense through the sounds made by the objects (Steinburg et al., 2010).

In designing a quantitative study to assess the claim of the ad, what is your research hypothesis? Remember to be specific.

In designing a study that examines the claim of the ad, the research would have three hypotheses:

H1: Bright colors, textures and fun sounds that are exuded by the toy aid in the stimulation of the baby's senses

H2: The action reaction activity nurtures understanding of cause and effect in discovering how to make noise with the activity blocks

H3: The product develops fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as the child grasps and interacts with the blocks.

Explain how your research hypothesis is an example of basic or applied research?

The research hypotheses outlined above are examples of applied research. This is because it encompasses the use of multiple working hypotheses that try to explain the phenomena being studied and examined in the research. This also indicates the interaction of the different impacts of development on the child, for instance sensory development, fine motor skills development and sound development.

References

Goodheart-Willcox. (2004). Child Development Principles and Theories. Retrieved from: http://www.g-w.com/pdf/sampchap/9781590708132_ch04.pdf

Piaget, J. (2000). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Childhood cognitive development: The essential readings, 33-47.

Steinberg, L., Vandell, D., & Bornstein, M. (2010). Development: Infancy through adolescence. Nelson Education.

Woolfolk, A., Hoy, A. W., & McCune-Nicolich, L. (1980). Educational psychology for teachers. Prentice Hall.