DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDREN:
Ways of stimulating Children Intellectual Development.
They include:
- Provoking thinking
- Providing group practice
- Establishing relationship
- Problem solving
- Promoting conservation ability
- Using flexibility /different styles of teaching
- Giving children opportunity to do things independently
- Monitoring own thinking
Provoking Thinking:
The class teacher can provoke thinking positively from children by first of all, providing a good and conducive learning environment also, the teacher needs to arrange his or her lesson in a manner that it can be interesting to the thereby giving room for their participation fully in the lesson. An atmosphere that is free for to be carried along and also the teacher should give enough room for questioning from the learners. The teacher can also ask questions especially to the ones lacking behind in order to brush them up.
Providing Group Practice:
There are very many opportunities daily for children to group and organize objects, ideas, events and people the teacher and the children could bring a collection of objects for grouping. When they are grouped, the children tell the basis for the grouping. The objects could be grouped on the basis of number i.e write two, three, four, five and six letter words etc. where each group will do one according to their age, class and ability.
Establishing Relationship:
Under this method, the class teacher need to be teaching the children things that relates to one another example.
Problem Solving
There are unlimited ways that the class teacher can adopt in order to see that every child in the classroom participate actively in the problem solving group on while the teaching and learning is taking place in the school.
For example the teacher can use the cardboard sheet of paper and write out the Alphabets in one sheet and another one sheet of paper containing numerals (1-26) and ask the children to come and arrange the alphabets according to their numbers. E.t.c
Improvisation And Teaching Of Basic Science
Promoting Conservation Ability:
Setting up situations and allowing children to play with objects can help them to conserve example when a teacher teaches the children on the topic: farm implements after showing the children the instructional materials which has the drawings of things like knife, hoe, shovel, rake etc. the teacher also need to bring to the class the real objects mentioned and use the real objects and practice farming to the admiration of the children. so that anytime, anywhere they cannot forget what they have learnt about the lesson this brings about the conservate ability in children.
Practice flexibility:
Under this point the teacher can adopt to solve a problem using different ways. Example of story could be told in words, by drawing and by modeling or teaching addition subtraction, division and multiplication at the same time.
Giving Children opportunity to do things independently:
One reason why the children are not doing well in the classroom is just because, some teacher are not always ready to allow every child in the class to participate fully or actively in the class to participate fully or actively in the class either due to time factor and when the child fails the test or class work, the teacher will not create time again to show the children how and why they failed it.
Again some children don’t even know how to copy well the questions talkless of solving the problem. Then at home, some parent prevent to do the home work for their children instead of allowing the children to do it themselves. There is no room created for the child to do the work by himself or herself. This is a problem in the teaching and learning environment.
Monitoring Own Thinking:
The kinds of errors that an children sometimes make is unbelievable. Let me give you an example a child was given an assignment to add 25+14 and the child did 2+5+1+4= 12.
The teacher usually mark the child wrong and stop there. So if the teacher have told the children that the product of addition will always be higher than when subtraction is taking place. The child will be conscious of that development and will not make mistake of such nature. Estimation is important in monitoring the way we think.