EDU10004 Assignment 1 theories of learning and practice PDF

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There are may theories that have helped us to have a better understanding of the various ways children develop whether it be cognitively, physically, socially or emotionally...

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As a first time mum and pregnant with number 2, toilet training was something I hoped to achieve with my two year old daughter before her brother made an appearance. We had already transitioned Louise from nappies to pullups and purchased a book, ‘Princess Polly’s Potty’, that Louise and I could read together. I sat down with Louise and we began talking about wearing underwear and as she was quite tall for her age it was apparent that we needed to use the ‘big’ toilet. Figure 1

The day had come. I said to Louise “We are going to go the shops and you are going to pick out the underwear you like”. She was very excited. We walked into Kmart. Having Louise pick out the underwear she wanted would make this learning experience a lot more fun. I said to Louise “Have a look and pick out the underwear you like”. They had a wide variety like Barbie, Minnie Mouse, My Little Pony and so on. After a while, Louise had decided she wanted Barbie and My Little Pony ones. I also grabbed a toilet seat with a ladder. With everything in hand we went to the registers and purchased everything. I had already printed out some reward charts at home. “We just need to go to one more shop” I said to Louise. She walked next to me with a big grin on her face. We walked into Smiggle to look at stickers. “Have a look and pick out the ones you like”. While she was looking, I picked up some extra items I would give to her as a reward when we reached goals.

Figure 2

The use of stickers and reward chart shows operant conditioning (McLeod, 2018; Edwards, 2009). After our exciting day out and waiting for Daddy to come home so we could tell him what we did, Louise and I sat down and decided we would start tomorrow. The next morning, I got Louise to pick out one of the underwear she had chosen the day before. She picked one that had Barbie on it. “These one’s Mummy”. After putting them on, I sat down with her and explained that she now has underwear on and that when she feels like she needs to do a wee or a poo to let Mummy know. “Okay Mummy”. After a few successes of letting me know, she had her first accident. She was quite upset at this. From the look on her face she had realised what happens when you aren’t wearing pullups. This shame and doubt is evident in Erikson’s stage two (Kearns, 2012 p.143). I reassured her that it was okay and that accidents happen and we went and picked out another pair of underwear. After a few more attempts we had success. She had done a

Figure 3

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wee. Woohoo! Giving Louise lots of praise and telling her what a good job she’d done, I had her pick a sticker to put on her reward chart. When Louise had achieved a whole day without any accidents, she was given a surprise for achieving a goal. By Louise using the toilet correctly and being rewarded by choosing a sticker to put on her chart, this type of positive reinforcement encourages Louise to keep trying to use the toilet when she feels like she needs to so that she can get another sticker (Thomas, 2005). This shows the role that operant conditioning plays in learning. By showing praise that is in no set pattern, it shows that Louise will grasp this repetition of going when she feels the need to. So that toilet training didn’t become boring, we would sing ‘The Potty Song’ by the Wiggles. Louise showed signs of when she needed to go more regularly by either telling me when she had to go or attempting to get herself onto the toilet. These signs and gestures showed that Louise was developing milestones at Piaget’s Preoperational stage of symbolic thought and language (Kearns, 2012) When Louise began preschool, I explained that we were toilet training and that at times Louise still needed reminding. Scaffolding is a defining way of learning for a child and being with other children who were at the same learning development increased Louise’s confidence (Kearns, 2012 p. 184-185). Learning and watching others around her shows that Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development help human development (Kearns, 2012 p. 172-173) With Louise observing more during this learning development, it shows how behavioural factors as well as environmental factors influence one another which has helped guide Louise’s learning with toilet training. During this experience, Louise had become toilet trained in a little over a week. On occasion where there was a small amount of negative reinforcement it was interesting to observe that Louise would take a step backwards and not use the toilet and so more accidents happened. However when we kept up with the positive reinforcement, Louise’s confidence built up more and she was happy with her achievements and accidents ceased. Louise’s learning was enhanced when she had help and support from her family, preschool environment and friends.

REFERENCES Edwards, S. 2009. Theoretical and philosophical informants to early childhood education and care in ‘Early childhood education and care: a sociocultural approach’. Ch. 1, pp. 5-11. Pademelon Press, Castle Hill, N.S.W.

EDU10004

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Kearns, K. 2012. Supporting Education: The Teaching Assistant’s Handbook. Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd McLeod, S. 2018. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/operantconditioning.html Thomas, R. Murray. 2005. Theories, models, paradigms and such in ‘Comparing theories of child development’. 6th Ed. pp. 2-26 Figure 1 retrieved from https://www.booktopia.com.au/princess-polly-s-potty-andreapinnington/prod9781409302193.html? source=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhJrqBRDZARIsALhp1WT7ngzwLRufVB0Y1OEGj7VLyk E6cfhdawmPWrCiruA2w-6v12U0lQ4aAlsCEALw_wcB Figure 2 retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Training-Sticker-MotivationalProgress-Children/dp/B07DP972ZX Figure 3 retrieved from https://careforkindies.com.au/guide-toilet-training/...