Last modified: 2016-02-14
Abstract
Contemporary society views childhood as a separate, distinct, and unique period in the span of human life (Bukatko & Daehler, 2001). Childhood is a period that occurs as children grow from birth to adolescence (Stephens,1996; Bee & Boyd,2013 ). Childhood includes babyhood, early childhood, middle childhood and puberty periods. Each period has features distinct from the others and requires variation in terms of thinking education for Children.
Babyhood Period: 0-24 months of age. While observing things going on around him, it is seen that he is not able to understand the causes of these things, ask questions about them and express himself.
Early Childhood Period: This period starts from the end of babyhood and goes on untilage 5 or 6 (Santrock, 2012). In this period children begin to understand the relation of objects that they got familiar with before, with new objects and with individuals helping them discover the usage of them within the frame of determined purposes.
Middle Cildhood Period: Consists of the period between the ages of 6 to 11 (Santrock, 2010). They can understand the main idea in the stories. Appreciating creative ideas, providing time and place to this process, offering stimulus, and building a setting promoting creativity can support the development of children’s creative thinking skills (Fox & Schirrmacher, (2014).
Puberty Period: It is the transitional period from being a child to becoming an adult starting approximately at the ages of 10-12 and ending at the ages of 18-21 (Santrock, 2010). During this term abstract thinking skills develop and they can evaluate events in a multidimensional perspective way.
In the present study, the issues above will be discussed in developmental perspective within the frame of samples and suggestions.