Promoting Cognitive Development Essay

The best thing my family said about me when I was young was how smart I appeared to be. I had been a participant in the elementary school science fair; it always takes place in the spring time of the school year in May- It is a traditional school event. I was only in third grade, I had to be creative and come up with a science project for the science fair. My teacher suggested that all of the students go to the library and research some science books to pick a project. I remember not having a lot of self-esteem, so I did not think I could accomplish the task. I found a short story in a book about a plant without a root, so I decided to grow a plant without a root in an egg shell, my mother helped me put the project together and she was very encouraging and helpful for my self-esteem. My science project was a success and I won first prize. This was one of the best days in my life and my family was so proud of me, they all told me I was very smart and to keep up the good work. They were especially proud because I found the book and made the decision on my own do the project that made me a winner. According to Vygotsky, education should focus on activities that involve interaction with others. Both child–adult and child–child interactions can provide the potential for cognitive growth† (Feldman, page 301). Children develop a sense of competence roughly around age 6 to 12, in their elementary school years; theorists Erik Erikson believes these years are the industry-versus-inferiority stage; these years are very important for children to understand concepts and challenges that are prepared for them by their peers, parents and school. My mother was the person that made me feel so great about myself, as she often did. She put my plant without a root science project on display in our home for all to see, and she just bragged to everyone that came to the house and she was calling people on the phone telling whoever called the house; she was would brag and tell them how smart I was and how proud she was of my winning first place in the school science fair. I had and still have the strangest nickname, my mother named me Toby Margo Barr. But my nickname is Trisha. The story behind having two real names is because my godmother wanted to name me Patricia. My mother decided that Trisha could be my nickname, she really liked Toby and she promised to name me after a Jewish woman that she knew way before I was conceived. She said the woman looked the spitting image of Elizabeth Taylor. I actually very much disliked the name Toby and wished my real name was Patricia; everyone thought Toby was my nick name anyway because it sounds more like a nickname. My family members never told me what I would end up doing or becoming, they valued the fact that I just had to work. My mother wanted me to have an office job, because I took up office practice in high school. I wanted to work in an office setting, but it was hard to accomplish in the small town I grew up and lived in. It was predominately white and there was a lot of prejudices in the town back them. My family would have described me as a good kid; I was mannerly and respectful to others, very disciplined as well when I was a child and adolescent. I remember being afraid a lot and having low self-esteem. I did not like being a dark-skinned person especially in an all white town and school- it also seemed if you were light-skinned life was a little better, I was bullied and teased by both blacks and whites. I started to rebel as a teenager and did what teens do when they are insecure, like smoking pot and cigarettes. This is when my parents would say I gave them grief. My family was concerned I would get in trouble and end up dealing with the law. Elementary-school-age children begin to follow the same sort of reasoning when they seek to understand how able they are. When they were younger, they tended to consider their abilities in terms of some hypothetical standard, making a judgment that they are good or bad in an absolute sense. Children begin to use social comparison processes, comparing themselves to others; Vygotsky‘s approach has been particularly influential in the development of several classroom practices based on the proposition that children should actively participate in their educational experiences. In this approach, classrooms are seen as places where children should have the opportunity to experiment and try out new activities.