Effective Teaching in Christian Education
“What do you
know…”
(Sept 2003)
By David B.
Every human
being goes through a life series of changes and growth development. In each
stage there are new discoveries of life and various personality marks that
form. The basic four age groups include preschooler, elementary children,
youth, and adult. Of these four there are wide ranges of characteristics that
will show the steady increase of age and bring the person from child to adult.
The first
age group begins with the child as it is born and enters into a new world of
discovery and preschool. It is in these early years of development that the
child is just starting out with new sights, sounds, and smells. Every new
sensation and touch is something to take in fully but the child’s attention
span can only take in so much at a time. They express curiosity in everything
as they explore the limited amount of space they can realize.
Preschoolers
are commonly reserved in social climates when it comes to strangers and new
unidentified people. Most children of this age group feel insecure when their
familiarity is taken away or something changes. They have a strong need for
routine and do not find repetitious habits boring or tedious. To every child
the world is only seen from their eyes and theirs is the only right
perspective. They do not mentally look for several meanings but focus on
whatever aspect appeals to them.
In the mind
of the preschooler there is a limit to what they can do and usually seek to attain
far more then their skills allow. Their time frame is always now centered and
logical answers to their endless questions are difficult to understand. What
they think and feel about the world is in a literal perspective often best
depicted in pictures. As they grow and discover new things their excitement
continues to reach far beyond their capacity. Preschoolers will soon develop
patterns, which slowly take them from their age into the age of elementary
children.
This second
age group, elementary children, has a fading line from preschool but becomes
clear as their character develops. As the child’s muscles coordination and
height level begins to grow so does their ability in other development. The
child’s elementary years are a series of growing and discovering new things as
well as being able to mentally determine and make choices for themselves. Their
attention span slowly increases but still requires the need for various
activities. In the span of years learning is a growing desire for the child as
they begin to think more and use more decision making in situations. It is a
great age for memorization as they will acquire much and be able to display
almost accurately what they learn.
Emotions
and feelings are slowly developing throughout the elementary years. A child
will begin to make more friends and cling onto social relationships. Their
feelings are held out to the world and most easily hurt. Because of their
growing need for acceptance it is important to instill confidence and assurance
into the child’s life. As the child watches and feels the love from parents and
teachers they are able to understand the feeling better and experience the
difference between emotions. A child’s enthusiastic behavior is often
overpowering and they lack the ability to know how to control themselves.
As the
elementary years continue on the child will develop more and more patterns
seeking adult hood maturity. They watch adults and mimic them hoping to soon be
bigger. In the growing of a child comes the search for self-identity and worth
in the world as each new day new things are discovered. The child develops the
understanding of right and wrong and seeks to maintain positive behavior and
emotional balance. There is a strong dependence on friends and seeking strong relationships
with others. Interests grow and strengthen the child’s personality and
character.
With the
growth of the child comes more evidence of intellectual development. It is the
age when the child groups’ people and can distinguish between various types.
There is still a struggle with abstracts as the mind tries out new forms of
thinking. Creativity is high in the elementary child and they have the ability
to come to logical conclusions with help. Often the child can be critical of
adults as they struggle for the answers and rebellion spurs. Their sense of right and wrong along with
ability to seek God as a loving friend continues to strengthen. Knowledge of
responsibility and personal conviction will grow more as the child continues to
develop out of the elementary years.
As the
child approaches the third age group, youth, the slow growth speeds up rapidly.
These are the days of early adolescence when everything about their body, their
social world, and their feelings begins to change. There is a great amount of
development that occur during the years of this group which prepare it for
adulthood while tearing it away from childhood.
Energy
levels are among the many things, which increase in the youth. They have a fast
train of thought and experiment with adventurous risky behavior. As this takes
place their bodies begin to change from children into adults and this causes
them to feel new things and experience new desires which are often scary to
them. The youth goes through changes, which affect their social and emotional
style as well.
Since there
is an increase in change the youth becomes more aware of their body and outward
appearance. Youths desire to blend into their group on part while seeking their
own individuality. They develop attraction with one another and have higher
interest in the opposite sex. The changes, which take place, cause many
questions and searches for answers.
There is a
strain on the youth to find his or her personal identity and be able to make
something out of their life. Each stage in their development through Jr High
and High school years takes the youth from stage to stage in emotional growth.
It is the age of youth where faith is taken personally and worth can come from
what others and think. The growth of the youth reaches closer to adult maturity
as they seek to fit in socially and become emotionally balanced.
Adulthood
comes as the last of the four stages of development. It is this stage where the
child is now a man or woman and has a defined self-impression of their world
and place. The adult has come along away from the years of preschool and
continues to learn on the basis of personal experience and growth.
The life of
an adult starts in the mid 20’s after they have grown out of childhood and
matured to an understanding of the world around them. Throughout their days
there is much more stress and frustration as age progresses and responsibility
increases. Their need for goals and to deal with life issues is stronger in
adulthood. As age progresses so does the need for support from others who have
experienced the same life issues.
Adults
never outgrow the need to learn nor the desire for knowledge and wisdom in any
age. They continue to seek out understanding of things that have been kept with
them for years and they seek to teach the younger generations. Every need
varies on the adults individual social and economic status in the world. Their
age, health, martial and other such things affect the adult in great ways
throughout their age. They continue to seek close friends and will gather
around support and encouragement groups as needed.
Throughout
the four age groups there is a great deal of development and learning taking
place. Each new age slowly increases the persons overall character and
personality in every physical, emotional, social, and spiritual way. What can
be learned from seeing how the individual develops is the defining sense of
change and the power of experience in all of lives stages.
