EDU 6132: Reflection 1

My knowledge of child/adolescent development comes primarily from an anthropological perspective, in that child/adolescent development is viewed in context with the series of all life cycle phases for a more holistic understanding of this development phase in relation to others, infancy and adulthood. During each phase, the cognitive abilities of the brain are able to differentiate and address successive levels of knowledge. Additionally, the anthropological perspective considers the differences between modern human and human ancestor cognitive abilities through each life cycle phase. The relationship between developmental phases and culture and environment are also taken into consideration.

In Medina's (2008) introduction, he notes how the brain is specifically designed to solve problems in relation to surviving in an unstable outdoor environment. Swami (2011) notes in an evolutionary psychology text how a major hypothesis for the model of human cognition and cognitive development is based on the idea that the human brain is modular and consists of highly constrained cognitive abilities that evolved in response to specific and recurrent adaptive problems with relation to the environment. While the backgrounds of the literature are distinct, the theoretical constructs are quite similar ;)

Coming from an anthropological perspective, the most important piece of current knowledge that informs my instruction philosophy would be that knowing and understanding the various backgrounds of students and how this lends to shaping child/adolescent development and overall cognition is necessary to be able to craft instruction that fits with the multitude of learning styles and abilities in diverse classroom environments.