An Educology of Development and Learning: The Early Years (0 Through 5)

The educology of development and learning is the fund of knowledge (the set of recorded true statements) about the mutual effects of human development (the physical and psychical maturation process), learning (the process of coming to know) and education (the activities of teaching and studying intentionally under guidance). Human development is a synchronous progression of physical and psychical development. Physical development includes progressive changes in size, mass, proportion, strength and function. Psychical development includes synchronous progression of volition, perception and cognition. Volition is determining what to do and what not to do. Perception is the extrospection of physical objects (trees, grass, birds, etc.) and the introspection of mental objects (emotions, imaginings, internal sensations, urges and memories. Cognition includes conceiving, knowing, understanding, inquiring and reasoning. Children are born with the capacity and desire to learn an extensive range of knowing, and they learn from many circumstances. From happenstance (serendipity and misadventure), they experience accidental learning of a range of accidental knowing. From coercion (socialization, enculturation and indoctrination), they experience coerced learning of a range of compelled knowing. From inquiry (playful trial and error and/or systematic investigation), they experience discovery learning of a range of discovered knowing. From education (teaching and studying intentionally under guidance), they experience conduced learning of a range of prescribed knowing. The four variants of learning (accidental, coerced, discovered, conduced) have mutual effects with the physical and psychical development of children, especially in the early years from birth to five years of age. Of the four variants of learning, only conduced learning of a prescribed range of knowing is the product of education. Education is a field of phenomena in which there are teachers, students, content and context (the physical, social and cultural setting). Education can be unofficial (taking place in families, among friends, at workplaces, etc.), and it can be official (taking place in schools, academies, institutes, universities, etc.) Education can be ineffective (the students do not achieve the intended learning outcomes), and it can be effective. Education can be bad (the students study under unethical conditions and/or they study to learn a range of knowing that is not worth knowing or is harmful), and education can be good. The ideal education, of course, is that it is effective and good. In education, teachers provide opportunities, guidance and supervision for students to study intentionally under guidance some content. Students accept voluntarily and willingly the opportunities, guidance and supervision to study intentionally under guidance the content. The content is some fund of knowledge and/or some range of knowing that is organized for the purposes of teaching and studying intentionally under guidance. When the teaching and intentional guided studying are effective, the students learn some prescribed range of knowing. A range of knowing is a combination of some kind, level and form of learned ability. Knowing is a cognitive state of mind. Students who have learned some range of knowing can express and/or use their range of knowing linguistically, emotionally, imaginally, physiologically and/or physically to solve problems and/or achieve desired outcomes or states of affairs. Education begins at birth, continues throughout our lifetime, and contributes to part (but not all) of human development and learning.

Author: James E. Christensen

Publisher: Independently Published

Publication Date: Aug 24, 2022

Number of Pages: 354 pages

Binding: Paperback or Softback

ISBN-10: NA

ISBN-13: 9798848080674