Blog 1

 

        My understanding of the conservation of mass is that matter is not added or taken away just because its shape may change.  When I think about the conservation of mass, I think about a ball of clay being rolled out into a large, flat piece.  Even though the clay may look like it got bigger simply because it was rolled out, we know that the amount of clay is still the same.  Young children are often fooled by these types of tasks early on in their lives.  The conservation of mass theory falls under Piaget's Theory of Intellectual Development.  

        One researcher that shares my perspective on child development thus far is Piaget.  I have always been interested in Piaget's research on the impact of play on child development.  I believe, along with Piaget, that play is critical to child development.  Through play, children are able to capitalize on their curiosity and use this as fuel for learning.  This theory also lines up perfectly with the fact that learning is a social experience and students benefit so much from playing with other children in terms of developing cognition.  Piaget was always one of my favorite researchers to learn more about because his ideas line up very well with many of my own.  I have learned so much from his work that I apply in my own classroom.

        Reading about the institutionalization of childhood in chapter 2 was very interesting for me because this is something I have never really given much thought to in this way.  The institutionalization of childhood, in very simple terms, means more structured activities for children and less time for free play especially outdoors.  Children in each generation have played outside in their neighborhood less and less.  When I was little, my parents let me play with the neighbor kids, but we lived in a very small town where everyone knew everyone.  I was always outside running around and I could play outside for hours without ever being bored.  Now, I have my own daughter and she can find things to keep her busy outside as well, but we don't have neighbor kids for her to play with.  One of the reasons that the shift to the institutionalization of childhood has occurred is that people don't know their neighbors today like people did years ago.  This is very true.  The primary reason I feel that this shift has occurred is because of safety.  We are constantly hearing of terrible things happening to children, so, as a parent, I feel like I have to be more and more protective.  Finally, I see the parents of the students that I teach needing after school childcare, so it makes sense for their children to be in structured activities rather than running around at home by themselves.