MHW 522 Family Analysis Project Part 3: Impact of School Worksheet
Impact of School
Using your selected life stage, explain how the school environment can have (or could have had) an impact on identity formation.
Identity development begins at birth and continues throughout one’s life. One of the key factors in a child’s identity development is their schooling. A child who lacks a solid sense of self will experience a slew of issues as they get older. People who have a strong sense of self are at ease with who they are, do not try to imitate others, embrace their strengths and flaws, are able to recognize the people and circumstances that are helpful to them, and are aware of the necessary defense mechanisms (Formative Support Services, 2019).
Teachers are large contributors to the growth in identity and positive self-esteem by their interactions, classroom practices, and teaching practices. Children need to feel secure with a sense of trust, safety, and confidence that their needs will be met in a predictable manner from the critical people in their lives (Formative Support Services, 2019). Teachers must take on the “whole child” approach where the school can promote child development. For there to be school success there must be a positive school climate, creative instructional strategies, social emotional development, and individualized support (Flook, 2019).
Explain the influence school friendships can have/or could have had on a person in the selected life stage.
Through friendships, children are able to create refuge that helps to confirm their worth and give them opportunities to learn about themselves and relationships. These connections help children get through life transitions and help to learn life skills like getting along with others and managing conflict. Furthermore, they help to reduce the risk of mental health issues, pregnancy, substance use, and gang membership which can become a problem in adolescence (McGoldick et al., 2016).
Friendships that are created in middle childhood start off as material relationships and there is minimal understanding of each other’s perspective or personality. In the latter part of this stage, trust is established, and they start to understand that other children have feelings. It is important to learn to share and take turns at this phase. In adolescence, friendships progress into more complex connections and they depend on each other to provide emotional support. Close friends help adolescence work out their identity. That is why it is vital for children to progress through each phase appropriately (Schwartz, 2020).
Explain how the participation and nonparticipation in extracurricular sports or activities can have/or could have had an influence on your selected life stage.
Health benefits, education benefits, and psychosocial benefits are all reasons why children should participate in sports and extracurricular activities. Children who start playing sports at a early age decreases the risk of being obese in adolescence and beyond. It also increases the odds of them playing sports in high school and high school sports create many positive outcomes. A study done in 2020 found that 60% of American children had inadequate physical activity, which puts them at an increased risk for chronic diseases at a younger age (Youth Sports Facts…, n.d.).
Research has also shown that extracurricular activities positively impact youth academically and personally, and this carries into their adolescent years. These interests help them to build character development, positive social development, and opens the door to more interest in community involvement (Christison, 2013). Finally, this is a perfect time for youth to learn how to develop peer relationships and cultivate greater social development for future friendships, when children belong to these communities, they feel more comfortable going into new school settings like high school.
When youth do not participate in extracurricular activities, it has been found that there is a higher likelihood of having behavior problems in adolescence. Not being part of a team or other activity can create negative attitudes towards school. These children are missing the positive connection to the school that other kids have. Furthermore, kids who are involved in extracurricular activities throughout their school career are less likely to drop out (Massoni, 2011).
How can participants in extracurricular activities build resiliency throughout a person’s life?
Resiliency is about being able to recover quickly and effectively after a crisis. Resiliency can be enhanced and learned. Continuous positive connections with those around us is what helps to build resiliency. Through effective interactions in sports and activities that children engage in they are able to increase connectedness. This can be continued throughout life by staying actively involved in groups and organizations (Gurwitch, n.d.). Character development is another area that blossoms in children when they belong to outside activities. Some of the best educational experiences are not done in the classroom, and by practicing skills, they build strength that they can use for the rest of their lives.
How can school have/or has on the identity formation of children.
Identity formation is a lifelong development that starts at birth. School is one of the most important places for identity formation to unfold with children. Having a supportive school environment that includes teachers and other dependable adults that will help to explore their identity is imperative. Just the time that children spend in school is a reason why the school environment is so important to identity formation. They also spend a large amount of time in extracurricular activities that help them to find their interests and abilities (Abassi, 2016).
While children experience most of their social interactions in school, this is an ideal time for them to explore different roles, values, and relationships. In school, kids are given the freedom to make decisions and examine other areas like gender orientation, career choices, and life values for the future. The two key components that are responsive to identity formation are that schools support in focusing on individual and social integration needs and offering adolescents the opportunity for developmental exploration (Abassi, 2016).
Middle Childhood
Explain the developmental tasks of middle childhood.
During middle childhood, children are introduced to new settings and encounter new developmental challenges (U.S. National Library… 1984). Children at this age are entering into school and forming new friendships and bonding with new adults. This is a crucial time for physical, cognitive, and social emotional growth. Strong foundational skills for learning to build healthy social relationships will carry into future so this will be an important skill to learn. This is a developmental period where youth are setting the stage for school success, self-discipline, good decision making, healthy eating habits, and conflict negotiation (Early and Middle…, 2021).
Explain the developmental tasks of middle childhood in relations to each of the following: Gender:
Early in childhood children learn gendered attitudes and expectations. These are learned from parents, family members, caregivers, and teachers. They teach them about how each gender acts, what their role is in society, and their worth.
In past studies, it has been found that girls are more school ready in their emotional readiness, independence, maturity, and organizational skills. Girls have also been found to be advanced in emotional expression, emotional development, socioemotional development, and social competence. On the other hand, studies have shown that boys are more advanced in their physical activity level (Kent, 2018).
Social class:
Social class can impact how a child handles challenges in the classroom. These differences can influence a child’s education by mirroring inequalities in the classroom. It has been discovered that children who are from middle class families get more attention from their teachers because they seek it out. They are taught to ask for help when needed as opposed to working class children who feel that they may be a bother (Indiana University, 2014).
Social stratification has set it up so that those with more economic resources have access to more opportunities than those with lesser economic wealth. If we were to look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we would see that children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to have their basic needs met like food, shelter, water, and safety (Herbert, 2018). This makes it much more difficult for them to focus on self-fulfillment. Researchers have discovered that development of some psychosocial characteristics can influence how a child attains developmental tasks. Prosocial behavior has been proven to have a positive impact on a child’s development. Children who come from low-income families experience more unfortunate circumstances which decreases their success. This can also impact the teacher-child relationship which is vital to student’s success (Herbert, 2018).
Culture:
From the time that we are born, culture impacts development in ways such as our values, language, belief system, and how we understand ourselves individually and as a part of society. Cultural influences can come from parents, the environment, and the media. These influences can impact a child’s development. An example of this would be how a child is disciplined. If a child is disciplined in a way that clashes with the social environment, developmental issues can arise (Cultural Influences…, 2021).
Social-emotional development is influenced by cultural upbringing. Cross-culture differences can be associated with parental socialization expectations, attitudes, and practices. Behaviors among children can vary in terms of reactive behaviors, social engagements, and socio-dramatic activity in children’s play, Children who live with extended families may show more prosocial cooperative behaviors than those who live in economically complex communities. It has been found that children who live in North America showed higher levels of aggression and externalizing behaviors than those from Asian countries such as China and Japan (Chen, 2009). These social-emotional characteristics can impact building healthy social-emotional relationships.
Next, place the developmental tasks of middle childhood into the following categories. Physical:
Middle childhood growth happens until the onset of puberty and is heavily reliant on a child’s environment. This is a time when a child’s stamina, motor skills, and muscle strength increases.
It is important for children to gain the motor skills necessary to participate in a variety of physical activities. During this time boys and girls can participate in sports on an equal basis. When children are active, they feel accomplished, resilient, and secure. This environment creates positive interactions with peers and promotes adaptability, creativity, critical thinking, and effective communication. All of which are contributing to positive social and emotional stability (Mah & Ford-Jones, 2012).
Physical development at this stage is less dramatic. Growth is slow but steady until puberty is reached. Puberty differs across genders, but it starts earlier for girls.
Cognitive:
This is an age when children take on an active role in in their family and community and their thoughts become more abstract, their behaviors and reactions more controlled, and their decisions are more their own. Academic accomplishments and skill building are the focus as school is central in a child’s life. This is a time when cognitive changes take place almost daily. Language and memory are areas that make significant changes during this time. Children can understand literal concepts but struggle with the deeper meaning behind them (Theories of Middle…,n.d.).
Affective and social development:
During the middle childhood years, children start to have more of an outward view of the world, than an outward. They start to think of the feelings of others and understand that they have different feelings than they do. They are starting to do this with a sense of empathy and morality. They learn how to decipher between right and wrong. Parental guidance and modeling are important at this stage as it will help to form this behavior. Finally, children can comprehend stereotypes by the end of this stage. Furthermore, how a child comes to interact and view the world is established at this stage (Mah & Ford-Jones, 2012).
MHW 522 Family Analysis Project Part 3: Impact of School Worksheet References
Abassi, N. (2016). Adolescent Identity Formation and the School Environment. https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/191885/04_NAbbasi.pdf.
Chen, X. (2009, June). Culture: Culture and Early Socio-Emotional Development. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. https://www.childencyclopedia.com/culture/according-experts/culture-and-early-socio-emotional-development.
Christison, C. (2013). The Benefits of Participating in Extracurricular Activities. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1230758.pdf.
Cultural Influences on Child Development. Maryville Online. (2021, April 8). https://online.maryville.edu/blog/cultural-influences-on-child-development/.
Early and Middle Childhood. Early and Middle Childhood | Healthy People 2020. (2021). https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/early-and-middle-childhood.
Flook, L. L. (2019, April 23). Four Ways Schools Can Support the Whole Child. Greater Good. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/four_ways_schools_can_support_the_whole_
Formative Support Services. Identity Formation. (2019). https://parentteachersupport.org/identityformation.html.
Gurwitch, R. (n.d.). Building Resilience in Our Children. University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. http://www.warrencountyesc.com/docs/Building%20Resiliency%20in
Hebert, A. (2018). Impact of social stratification on child development and learning. Int J Pregn & Chi Birth;4(6):232-235. DOI: 10.15406/ipcb.2018.04.00132
Indiana University. (2014, August 27). Social class makes a difference in how children tackle classroom problems. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 5, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140827163445.htm
Kent, G. (2018). Gender differences in cognitive development and school readiness. Children’s Research Network (en-IE). https://www.childrensresearchnetwork.org/knowledge/resources/gender-differences-in-cognitive-development-and-school-readiness.
Massoni, Erin (2011) “Positive Effects of Extra Curricular Activities on Students,” ESSAI: Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol9/iss1/27
Mah, V. K., & Ford-Jones, E. L. (2012). Spotlight on middle childhood: Rejuvenating the ‘forgotten years’. Paediatrics & child health, 17(2), 81–83. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/17.2.81
McGoldick, M., Preto, N.G., & Carter, B. (2016). The expanding family life cycle. Boston, MA: Pearson. ISBN-13: 9780205968060.
Schwartz, P. (2020). Early friendships profoundly affects child’s development. Hudson Valley Parent. https://hvparent.com/early-friendships-profoundly-affects-childs-development.
Theories of Middle Childhood. Liberty University – Course Apps. (n.d.). https://www.liberty.edu/courseapps/book/psychology-201/module-4/section-3-title/article-
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (1984, January 1). Introduction. Development During Middle Childhood: The Years From Six to Twelve. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK216770/.
Youth Sports Facts: Benefits. The Aspen Institute Project Play. (n.d.). https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/youth-sports-facts/benefits.
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