Teachers/Families Collaboration to Foster Children’s Social Cognition and Self-Awareness

ECE 130: Topic 5 – Social Cognition Brochure
Due Date: September 18, 2022 Max Points: 75
Details:
Social cognition is the ability to think about the self and other people. Current research suggests that infants are able to distinguish themselves from their environment early in their development. The ability to differentiate the self from one’s surroundings and from other individuals grows with age. Proceeding from concrete to abstract to metacognitive, children learn to understand not only their own thinking, but also to consider the perspectives of others. The hallmark of social cognition is the development of self-awareness leading to complex understandings of how one fits into one’s social worlds. As children think about themselves and others, children increase their sense of self and develop the vital skill of perspective taking. Gradually children form an understanding of their own self-concept, one that is enduring and evaluative. Sensitive and collaborative environments can enhance social skills and judgements of self-worth.
In the classroom, increasing social cognition and enhancing social problem-solving skills has value in improving socially competent behavior, and reducing and resolving disagreements. Toward that end, multiple interventions have been developed to improve peer relations and reduce the risk of adjustment difficulties.
For this assignment, create a family-friendly digital brochure that explains the following:
• The various stages of development of social cognition and self-awareness in early childhood, along with the emotional and social capacities it supports in young children from birth to grade 3
• How teachers and families can work simultaneously to foster social cognition and self-awareness in students
• How self-awareness can support self-monitoring and identifying feelings and thoughts of self and others, as well as how teachers/families can support the development of self-awareness
• How learned helplessness is developed and how it affects the sense of self, as well as how teachers/families can prevent or hinder the growth of learned helplessness
• The effects a Montessori and a traditional classroom setting has on typical social and emotional development of young children
Use 3-5 scholarly resources to support your research. (Remember that this is in addition to the course materials.)
While APA style format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite Technical Support Articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
Learned Helplessness and How it is Developed:
Learned helplessness is developed by the relationship with the teacher and student. It affects the sense of self by hindering the growth of our learning/own knowledge. We constantly may wonder “Am I doing this right?” “Is this even the right way to answer this question?”. It hurts the students’ self-esteem in the classroom, knocking their confidence in answering questions without hesitation because of a sense of doubt that was installed into our learning early on.
How Families/Teachers Can Help Hinder Learned Helplessness:
Teachers and families can prevent or hinder the growth of learned helplessness by following these steps, curate and create learning resources, questions “for” (not “about”) learning, stop giving answers and allow for failure (Miller, 2015).
References:
Jones, A., & Cossentino, J. (2017). What’s Going on with This Child? Child Study for the 21st Century. NAMTA Journal, 42(2), 249–260. Retrieved from = https://lopes(dot)idm(dot)oclc(dot)org/login?url=http://search(dot)ebscohost(dot)com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1144514&site eds-live&scope=site
Miller, A. (2015, May 11). Avoiding "Learned Helplessness". Retrieved November 3, 2018, from https://www(dot)edutopia(dot)org/blog/avoiding-learned-helplessness-andrew-miller
Suvi H. Nieminen, & Nina Sajaniemi. (2016). Mindful awareness in early childhood education. South African Journal of Childhood Education , Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp E1-E9 (2016), (1), e1. https://doi-org(dot)lopes(dot)idm(dot)oclc(dot)org/10.4102/sajce.v6i1.399



THEORY OF MIND
SOCIAL COGNITION/SELF- AWARENESS
ECE-130
Stages of Social Cognition Development
• Infancy
• Early Childhood
• Middle/Late Childhood
Social and Emotional Capacities for Each Stage:
Infancy-Attentive towards one’s self in the mirror, crying is the most important way of communicating with world (Basic, anger and pain cries), social smiling, two types of fear (separation anxiety and stranger anxiety).
Early childhood-Understanding that other people have desires and emotions, perceive others in terms of psychological traits as well as themselves. Begin perspective taking
Middle/late childhood-Continue to develop perspective taking, Children began to understand that others may have a different perspective. These experiences will foster whether the child develops a pro or antisocial attitude/behavior

The importance of Self-awareness & Self-monitoring:
The aim of mindful awareness practices is to enhance self-management of attention, to promote concentration, to increase emotional self-regulation and to develop social-emotional resiliency (Suvi & Nina, 2016). The importance of self-awareness and self-monitoring is that they go hand in hand. You need to have good self-awareness in order to self-monitor, if you have good self-awareness you will be able to understand your surroundings and feeling as well as others feelings. This will help you adjust as needed in situations and accommodate as well. How can you work alongside your child’s teacher, to foster social cognition & self-awareness:
You can work along side your child’s teacher to help foster social cognition and self-awareness by setting aside time to acknowledge how your child’s day was. Have a conversation on how your day was as well. Make sure you are open about emotions and helping your child acknowledge/express his feelings. Also explain to them that their actions can impact how others feel.
Montessori Vs. Traditional Classroom: Effects on Social and Emotional Development of Children:
In a Montessori classroom setting when it comes to dealing with the emotional aspect of a child, they have a protocol they follow. ” Like Montessori, Greene’s assertion that “kids do well, when they can,” is based on the premise that developmental challenges–especially behavioral challenges–are the result of capacity rather than choice or motivation(Jones & Cossentino, 2017). Traditional classroom ways are education that involves the whole child by considering both the child’s physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development and the child’s needs, interests, and learning styles. Montessori approach are an educational philosophy in which children are given considerable freedom and spontaneity in choosing activities and are allowed to move from one activity to another as the desire.