Development of Concepts PDF

MENTS OF CONCEPTS Dr. Fatma al zahraa Magdy Lecturer at Psychological Sciences department- faculty of education for early childhood Cairo University  CHAPTER THREE DEVELOPMENT...

MENTS OF CONCEPTS Dr. Fatma al zahraa Magdy Lecturer at Psychological Sciences department- faculty of education for early childhood Cairo University  CHAPTER THREE DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPTS  The Importance of Basic Concepts  Formation of Concepts  Developments of Concepts  Building Blocks necessary for the development of Concepts  Troubles understanding concepts  Tips to improve the child’s understanding of concepts  Suggested Activities for Parents  Therapeutic intervention with children with concept difficulties. Basic concepts are tools that enable a child to make sense of the world. Theyhelp the child to explore the world in a logical way and enhance its ability to understand its properties. HE IMPORTANCE OFBASIC CONCEPTS Basic concepts assist children in their ability to follow instructions. They also help children be more specific in the choice of their words. It also enables them to understand and follow instructions in a better way. Basic concepts are also necessary for early success at school. They help the child to read and write better. They help the child to become better communicators. ATION OF CONCEPTS We will throw light upon the four main steps involved in the formation of concepts. The steps are: Observation Generalization Discrimination Abstraction. STEP (1): OBSERVATION The first stage in the formation of concepts is the observation of an event, object or an experience. This can also be called the stage of becoming aware. This can be either direct or indirect. The child can directly see a dog and become aware of it.  On the other hand, he also hears stories about devils and giants from his parents and grandparents; here the awareness is indirect.  Thus, all of us have some knowledge or awareness of primitive people even though most of us have not seen them.  Generally repeated experiences provide the basis for the development of concepts ): GENERALIZATION  Repeated experiences or observations of different objects result in a tendency to form a general idea.  Thus, a child first sees one dog, then another dog, then a third and so on and begins to form the general idea of a dog.  This is called the process of generalization.  The process of generalization explains how the child acquires many concepts like the concepts of gender, shape, number, etc. (3): DISCRIMINATION Along with generalization and the observation and organization of similarities among things and objects, the child also becomes aware of the differences between them. Thus, all dogs are alike and all cows are alike. Dogs run on four legs and cows also do the same.  At the same time dogs and cows are different from each other and big dogs are different from small dogs, and bulls are different from cows. this type of sequential operation of generalization and differentiation in interaction that leads to the formation of concepts. : ABSTRACTION From the description of the above processes the operation of abstraction becomes evident. The child has seen dogs and he happens to see a cow on a different occasion. He does not observe them at the same time but inwardly he compares his experiences on the two occasions. The perceptions and the experiences are now inwardly analyzed and re- experienced in the absence of the objects. This results in an appreciation of similarities and differences. This process by which the experience is analyzed in the absence of actual situations is known as abstraction. It is abstraction which actually transforms comparable and contrasting experiences into concepts.  This ability to respond to concrete situations in the absence of the actual situations is known as abstract thinking ability.  It can be seen that as the child grows older, the process of abstraction plays an increasingly important role in the development of concepts.  this process of abstraction which helps us to form ideas of the future and far off objects.  The ability to form abstract concepts is related to the intellectual ability of an individual and the richness of his experience.  To a large extent performance in intelligence tests also reflects the ability to form abstract concepts.  The development of concepts proceeds from general and undifferentiated concepts to differentiated concepts. For example, when a child looks at an object for the first time, he forms a vague and general idea of the object as a whole. This is why, a child’s concepts are not very clear. Gradually the details of the concepts become clear. The formation of clear concepts, therefore, involves the three processes – generalization, differentiation and abstraction. thewider and the richer an individual’s experience with different objects and stimuli the better is the process of formation of concepts. NTS OF CONCEPTS  There are five types of developments of concepts. The types are:  Concepts are based on Actions  Words are Expressions of Concepts  Animistic and Realistic Concepts of Physical Objects  Ego-Centric Concepts and Objective Concepts  Abstraction and Generalization. ON ACTIONS The little child probably thinks a little and forms some rudimentary concepts before he begins to talk. He can recognize his mother or nurse, expects what she will do to him, and gets ready for her action.  Similarly, he recognizes a feeding bottle and expects to suck milk from it.  Thus he certainly has rudimentary concepts of the person and the thing.  The child’s behavior, even before he can talk, suggests that he is forming rudimentary concepts.  His concept of a thing is based upon his behavior towards it or its behavior towards him.  His concepts of thing are based upon actions. IONS OF CONCEPTS When the child begins to understand words, and soon after talks, he certainly forms concepts. First imbibes the concepts of common things from the social environment.  ‫)‪ (2‬ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺎﺕ ﺗﻌﺒﻴﺮﺍﺕ ﻋﻦ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺎﻫﻴﻢ‬ ‫‪‬ﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﻳﺒﺪﺃ ﺍﻟﻄﻔﻞ ﻓﻲ ﻓﻬﻢ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺎﺕ ‪ ،‬ﻭﺑﻌﺪ ﻓﺘﺮﺓ‬ ‫ﻭﺟﻴﺰﺓ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﺎﺩﺛﺎﺕ ‪ ،‬ﻳﻘﻮﻡ ﺑﺎﻟﺘﺄﻛﻴﺪ ﺑﺘﻜﻮﻳﻦ‬ ‫ﻣﻔﺎﻫﻴﻢ‪.‬‬ ‫ﻳﺴﺘﻮﻋﺐ ﺃﻭﻻ ﻣﻔﺎﻫﻴﻢ ﺍﻷﺷﻴﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺘﺮﻛﺔ ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺌﺔ ﺍﻻﺟﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ‪.‬‬ PTS OF PHYSICAL OBJECTS Between the ages of three and twelve, the child develops concepts of physical objects on the lines of animism and realism. He conceives of natural phenomena with which he does not deal practically as akin to living beings like himself.  He forms animistic concepts of the sun, the moon, the storm, the rain and the other like phenomena.  But he forms mechanistic or realistic concocts of the properties of the physical objects with which he deals practically.  Gradually he forms realistic concepts of ‘milk’, ‘bread’, ‘rice’, and the other objects of practical use.  There is a gradual development from animistic to mechanistic concepts of nature in the child’s mind. For example, he has animistic concepts of a ball, a balloon, a cycle, a doll, and the like. But as he makes use of them, he develops mechanistic concepts of them. His conception of nature passes from animism to mechanism. At first, he ascribes human feelings and desires to physical objects. Then he looks upon them as inanimate objects devoid of feelings and desires. ONCEPTS AND OBJECTIVE CONCEPTS  The child passes from ego-centric concepts to objective concepts.  He forms concepts of physical objects as related to himself.  Then he forms concepts of them as related to one another.  For example, the child sees the sun and the moon move with him when he walks.  At first, he thinks that he makes them move, or that they follow him. He forms egocentric concepts of them. Then he comes to conceive of them as related to other physical objects, and forms objective concepts of them. Ego-centric concepts are related to the individual’s desires. But objective concepts are practical and correspond with the real nature of things. Objective concepts are gradually developed in conformity with the physical environment and the social environment. They must accord with nature, They must conform to the accepted ideas of the social group. Thus gradually some of the child’s concepts becomes objective. AND GENERALIZATION  The child generalizes concepts by assimilation, analysis and abstraction.  He assimilates the new to the old, and the strange to the familiar.  He forms general concepts by association by similarity.  By this process he recognizes the similarity of objects that are not identical, and forms the concepts of a class of similar objects. R SO FAR  The Importance of Basic Concepts (6)  Formation of Concepts (Observation, Generalization, Discrimination, Abstraction)  Developments of Concepts (Concepts are based on Actions, Words are Expressions of Concepts, Animistic and Realistic Concepts of Physical Objects, Ego-Centric Concepts and Objective Concepts, Abstraction and Generalization)  Building Blocks necessary for the development of Concepts (4) (Listening, Attention and Concentration, Play Skills, Receptive Language)  Troubles understanding concepts (7) (Following instructions, Proper use of concepts, Lack of Vocabulary, Drawing pictures, Puzzle Completion, Problem Solving, Literacy)