Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of the assigned resources for this week. To view this week’s media resources, please use the streaming media player below.

Required Resources

Note: Please read/view the following Required Resources in the order indicated below. You are required to view only the segments of the CD-ROM that are indicated in the Learning Resources. Be aware that the developmental domains are referred to differently on the CD-ROM than they are in the course text (i.e., the biological realm is the same as the physical domain, and the psychosocial realm is the same as the social and emotional domain).

• Course Text: Discovering Child Development
  • Page 243: Early Childhood Development
  • Chapter 8: Physical Development and Health in Early Childhood
    • Pages 245–251
• CD-ROM: Development: Journey Through Childhood and Adolescence
  • Unit 6: Early Childhood
    • Learning Launch: Early Childhood: The Cognitive Realm
• Course Text: Discovering Child Development
  • Chapter 9: Cognitive and Language Development in Early Childhood
    • Pages 269–287 (Read to “How Does Early Childhood Education Influence Development?”)
  • Chapter 10: Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood
    • Pages 299–315 (Read to “How Do Parenting Behaviors and Family Context Influence Young Children’s Development?”)
    • Pages 326–331 (Read from “Young Children’s Friendships” to “Differences in the Quality of Sibling Relationships”)
• Online Reading: (PDF format)
  From Exploring Child Development (2nd ed.) by Richard Fabes and Carol Lynn Martin
  Published by Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA. Copyright 2003 by Pearson Education. Used by permission of the publisher.
  
  

Media

• Video: Laureate Education (Producer). (2008). Child development: Preschool children [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
  Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes.
  
  In this media segment, you will observe young children 3 to 5 years old in a mixed-age preschool classroom.
  Note: You will need to watch this media segment in order to complete your Application Assignment for this week.
   

Optional Resources

• Web Article: “Understanding Physical Development in Young Children” by Sean Brotherson
  (PDF format)
  
  
• Web Site: Six Stages to a Strong Self-Image
  
  
  
• Web Site: Growing Ideas: Friends & Feelings: Social-Emotional Development in Young Children
  
  
  
• Web Report: “Children’s Developmental Benchmarks and Stages: A Summary Guide to Appropriate Arts Activities,” an excerpt from the Arts Education Partnership report Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections
  (PDF format)

With these Learning Resources in mind, please proceed to the Content Review.

Gender Development and Stereotyping

“As early as age 2½, children have learned basic stereotypes about the sexes, including information about appearance and activities” (Martin & Fabes, 2009, p. 304).

Think about young children you know. Think about what they like to play, the activities they choose to participate in, or their favorite toys. Now, think about your own childhood. What were some of your favorite activities and toys? What messages did you receive—from your family, school, culture, and community—about being a boy or being a girl?

For this Discussion, review the section “How Do Young Children Develop a Concept of Gender?” in your course text (pp. 302 – 308). Think about gender stereotyping and the three theories—biological, social learning, and cognitive—that “attempt to explain critical changes that affect children’s gender development” (Martin & Fabes, 2009, p. 306).

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 3:

Post the following:

•  
• A brief summary of the theory that interests you most. State whether you agree with the theory and explain your reasoning. Explain whether this theory helped to confirm or dispel any assumptions you had about gender identification and stereotyping.
  
  
• Your views on how gender stereotyping during early childhood might influence children’s future development. Include examples from your own early childhood experiences and the messages you received that fostered stereotypic views and expectations, or helped to dispel them.