Social development concepts and applications

Social Development

The Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) t the University of California, San Diego campus offers a five-part program in early childhood development. The program and its components reflects predominant developmental theories like that of Piaget. Both the young infant and the infant programs, for example, focus mainly on sensory-motor cognitive development: the first cognitive stage proposed by Piaget. Toddlers are mainly learning about their environments through motor activity. Hence the UCSD ECEC programs for young infant and infant incorporate hands-on experiential play that emphasizes sensory-motor coordination and learning. Finger painting, puppet play and outdoor activities are predominant features of the infant program. Similarly, the toddler program continues the educational focus on sensory-motor skills that enhance the young child's cognitive development in conjunction with Piaget's theory.

The preschool program builds on the foundation already established in the previous programs and allows the child to naturally progress into the pre-operational stage as outlined by Piaget. The per-operational stage is characterized by language acquisition, symbolic thinking, and magical thinking or imagination. UCSD's ECEC preschool and kindergarten programs both incorporate creative playtime. The program outline mentions the child's creative development as being integral to the program: enhanced by "A creative play area with clothes and materials that allow children to create different real-world settings." Use of symbols and language increases further in the pre-operational stage and especially when the child is in Kindergarten. Therefore, the ECEC Kindergarten program conforms to the notion that children at the pre-operational stage will be prone toward thinking about the world using a strong fantasy perspective. It would be useless at this stage to introduce activities that demand logic. The "scientific experiments" included as part of the preschool program are not offered to encourage children to use the scientific method before it is developmentally appropriate but are mentioned in conjunction with "puzzles, play dough, cutting and gluing tasks, drawing and collage materials." Therefore, the scientific experiments are presented as playtime, as a chance for the children to interact with the environment and develop an innate sense of curiosity. At the pre-operational stage of development, children are also developing their language skills. Therefore, the scientific experiments encourage the children to ask questions and frame those questions appropriately.

Still egocentric, children at or below Kindergarten age do not need to be thrust into activities requiring cognitive activities that are associated with higher stages of development. For example, when children progress to the concrete operational stage in later elementary school they will reap more benefit from activities that require concrete or logical thought. At an early age, the child's cognitive development precludes logical thinking. The UCSD ECEC program fosters natural, organic cognitive growth within a structured environment.