Based on the many readings I have taken over this semester, as well as the discussions during our tutorials, it has donned on me that the socio-cultural aspect of development plays a key role in a child's learning. I have been privileged enough to have access to all the different age group rooms at my placement (A child care centre) which has allowed me to observe different learning styles of different children. I decided to go into placement and observe three culturally different childrenand test out my ability to observe the differences in their literacy and numerical learning.
Culturally different children
I observed three five-year-olds with three different cultural backgrounds.
I observed three five-year-olds with three different cultural backgrounds.
Chloe*: An Australian-borned girl with an Asian background
Zara*: An Australian-borned girl from an Australian family
Mandeep*: An Indian-borned boy from an Indian family, who had recently moved to Australia
We were all at the drawing table when these observations were taken. I had given the children a photo of a rainbow that was taken at placement the day before, and suggested we all draw our own rainbow. Both Chloe and Zara had no problem drawing out the rainbow and included their own elements in their drawings such as a house, their families and a pet dog. Mandeep on the other hand had some trouble understanding English and decided to draw a building. I then asked Chloe and Zara if they could both count the number of colours in a rainbow and this conversation took place:
Chloe: My rainbow has 11 colours
Zara: My rainbow has 100 colours!
Me: Well, if we look in the photo, let's count how many colours there really are. *counts with the children to seven* So how many colours do rainbows have?
Chloe and Zara: SEVEN!
Me: And what if there were two rainbows ?
Chloe: *counts with her fingers* Um.. 14?
Me: Very good! Is 14 the right answer Zara?
Zara: I only have 10 fingers.
Chloe: My mummy taught me how to count more than 10 with my fingers!
I was honestly a bit startled at this because I wasn't sure where this conversation was going. Zara had also commented on Chloe's drawing as she felt that Chloe's family's hair needed to be black instead of red. I took the opportunity to explain how different people had different features but we are all still a part of the same community and should love each other anyway. Either way we further went on to discuss about the other drawing elements and we pasted both drawings on the wall. I tried to talk to Mandeep about his drawing but found there was still a communication barrier. I then proceeded to label different colours with him and he would repeat the words with me. For example, I would show him a green colour pencil and say 'Green.', and he would repeat after me.
As you can see from my observations, I think that culture and social backgrounds definitely plays a key role in the learning abilities of children. This may be highly stereotypical but Chloe may have come from a traditional Asian family that places a high importance in numerical skills, but she is also at an advantage from Mandeep as she was born in Australia and is able to communicate in English. Mandeep may also have sharp numerical skills but may only be able to convey them in Hindi. Zara has a keen eye for colour and I believe she expresses herself very well through colour. She is observant and recognised that Chloe's hair was black, and hence assumed that Chloe's family's hair must have been black as well. Perhaps this was due to her own family background that may have been fully brunette.
While this whole observation may have indicated the differences due to culture and social background, I believe that the result may have been influenced by age. Chloe is about ready to join the December school term whereas Zara only goes to school next year. This may have influenced the difference in Chloe and Zara's counting abilities.
Overall, I think this observation has taught me so much about the importance of really planning individual lessons instead of assuming that all children are on the same level.
*Names have been changed in respect to the children's privacy
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