1.

0 ANALYSING AND INTERPRETING DATA

Student A (male) Size : average Height : average Health : well-nourished Attire : neat and complete school uniform Inattentive and plays with friends Able to response to question Has high selfconfidence Active extrovert playful friendly confident have an eye contact Personality Physical appearance Categories Student B (female) Size : small Height : average Health : well-nourished Attire : neat & complete school uniform attentive Not talkative follows instruction Able to response to question bold answer questions readily timid Meek follower Lack of eye contact disciplined passive

Father : Works in Measuring Department Mother : Housewife Kampung Air Panas, Jln. Usahawan 6, 53200, Kuala Lumpur. Location (place staying) Occupation

Father : Police Mother : Housewife

Tmn Mutiara Bt 21/2 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

Table 1

1.1 ANALYSIS 1

Level 1 students: Based on the table above, it can be seen clearly that between the two students, there are some similarities and also differences. For the beginning, I will analyse the data gathered from the two students from level 1. Firstly, I will start with their profile. Both students are from a same class with same age but in contrast, they are different in gender. Student A is male student while student B is female student. Through the question posed to them, I managed to gather some information on them. For student A, he loves to draw and his favourite subject is Art. For Student B, he likes English and Bahasa Melayu subject. Next, I want to discuss about their behaviour in class. For student A, he is quite active in class. When teacher is not in class, he will move around the class and approach his friends to ask them to play. While for student B, she will just sit on her chair watching their friends play. Other than that, student A is playful while student B is quite timid. This can be seen through interview that has been carried out on her. In contrast, student A hold a position as a class monitor while student B do not hold any position in class. Thirdly is about their physical appearances. Both of them are same in height unless the student B is a little bit thinner than student A. Other than that, they wear complete and neat uniform to school. For student A, he combed his hair pretty well while for student B, she wears veil tidily if to be compared with other female students. After that, I want to talk about their family background. It seems like both of them have a stable family financial status as both their fathers work with the government. For the student A, his father works in the Map Measuring Department while student B, her father works as policeman. If to be compared with other students in their class, most of them live in flat house but not them. Other than that, both of their family use Bahasa Melayu as the communication language while at home.

Lastly, in term of academic, both of them can be considered as good and best students in class. For the previous examination, the student A manages to be at the second place while the student B manages to be at the first place in the class. In the next discussion on them, I will discuss more on how the several factor mentioned above can affect their academic performance and their behaviour in class.

Table 2

Student A (male) Weight : 47 kg Height : 152 cm Health : well-nourished Attire : neat and complete school uniform Childish

Categories

Student B (female) Weight : 41 kg

Physical appearance

Height : 146 cm Health : well-nourished Attire : neat & complete school uniform A little bit matured High self-esteem Speak BM and dont have confidence to speak in English

Well-mannered

Loves reading

Speaks English well Personality

Come to school just for making friends Ambition Favourite subject: Mathematics

Least favourite subject: Bahasa Melayu

Ambition: policeman Comes to school by bus skips school when there are family emergencies

Rarely study Send and fetch from school by her father

Family background

Like dancing and basketball father as a police officer mother own a food stall Lives in Police flat Has computer

Father passed away when young (was a bus driver) Mother (43 years old) earns money by taking care of an old lady

Lives in flat Has no computer

Youngest in her family

ANALYSIS 2
Level 2 students: Next, I will move on analysing the students that I interviewed during SBE form level 2. For level 2, I once again chose students from different gender as assigned in the task sheet but this time from different race and religion. For labelling, the first student from level 2 is student C while the other one is student D. For their profile, both of them are from the same class which is standard 5 in other words both of them are at the same age. Student C is male student while student D is female student. Student C is Indian student and he is Christian while student D is Malay student and she is a Muslim. Moving on to their ambition, student C wants to be a policeman due to its training way while student D, she really wants to be pilot. This really might affect their favourite subject as we can see both students put Mathematics as their favourite subject in class. Secondly, we look into their behaviour in class. To be compared, both of them have different attitude. For student C, he tried his best to give full answer in answering the question posed by me while student D kind of tries to avoid in answering a few questions. In other words, student C is more confident if he is compared with the student D. Other than that, the male student seems to be childish if compared to the female student even though in answering question, the female student becomes a little bit hesitate. Thirdly, is regarding their physical appearance. Both of them can be categorize as not thin as their weight is around 45 kg even though they are not really high. Both students wear ironed shirts but what makes them difference is their shoes. The shoes of student C seems to be a little bit dirty but student D wears clean shoes. The student C bares very minimum possession while for student D, all her stationary still in very good condition. Moving on their family background, for student C his father has passed away when he was really young while his mother earns money by taking care of an old lady. For student D, she has a good life as her father is a police officer while her mother owns a food stall. Student C doesnt have computer at home> as an entertainment, he has only radio and television.

For an academic performance, student C can just be considered as an average as his position in class is at the 11th while student D at the 1st place among 19 students in class. For sure the analysis above can be the reason of how their academic performance could be different.

2.0 ACADEMIC WRITING:

Through School-Based Experience programme that I have attended for a week at school of Sekolah Kebangsaan Yaacob Latif 1 or known in short as SKYL 1, a few observations have been carried out on several students in the school. With help of their class teachers, the information of the observation can be gathered well. A few aspects have been considered such as their family backgrounds, physical appearance and their emotional or behaviour. Most of the information is mutual between 4 students which can help me how far the truth of theory that can be used on them. With the information gathered, the study will focus on the Child Development. Child development refers to the biological and psychological changes that occur in human beings between conception and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy (Wardell, 2008). It mainly being related to two main theory which is Vygotskys theory and Piagets theory. In the further discussion, I will focus more on both of these theories. Based on Piagets theory, it focuses on the idea that children are motivated and active learners. He emphasize strongly on the 4 stages which is sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. It means that, the development of the students cannot be forced and everything will happen naturally based on the 4 stages. As he suggested, language plays only minimal roleas cognition primarily directs language. While for Vygotsky, he emphasizes more on sociocultural context. Difference with Piagets theory, his theory is not depending on any stages. The key process is zone of proximal development (ZPD). Based on his theory, language plays a powerful role in shaping thought. He sees education as the central role and as the main tool in developing the children. In other words, we can see that nature and nurture may be part of development of children. Other than the two theories, there are also several factors that can influence the academic performance of the children. For an example the family background can really help the student to motivate them in studying harder if they take is

positively. If the students think of changing and improving the lifestyle of his or her family, the students tend to study harder but if they use the family background to be compared with their peers, they can sink down and get demotivated. With For

students with stable and good family social status, they tend to get comfortable study place and have less distraction in his or her study. Their family also will able the send them to extra classes or tuition to ensure that they can perform better in examination. This can really give big impact on their academic performance. School experience also can really influence the academic performance of the students. We can see those days, most teachers use the teacher-centred method where the student were being spoon fed. Nowadays, student-centred approach seems to be better than the teacher-centred approach. In other words, the nation plays a really important role in the development of the students. The educational system may be varied and each of the system can lead to different effect on the society especially the students.

2.1 Level 1 student:

At first, I will be focusing on the two students from level 1. As it is being analysed, both of them has a good academic record. Both of them have grown in the culture of Malay and Islam. Growth pattern vary individually (Burns & others, 2009). There is a factor that influence their physical development that caused their physical appearance is different. In term of physical appearance, student A which is male can be seen having same height with the student B. According to Darrah, Senthilsevan, & MagillEvans, in the previous stage of where there are now which is early childhood, the percentage of increase in height and weight decreases with each additional year. Girls are smaller and lighter than boys during these years. In addition girls have more fatty tissue than boys as boys have more muscle tissue. What can be concluded here, both students have not completely reached the stage where there are on now which is the stage of middle and late childhood. When it comes to their personality, I can be seen that both of them have many differences. For an example the student A was quite confident in answering all the questions given by me during the interview while student B was quite shy and sometimes ask how they should answer the question given. Other than that, the male student which is student A is quite active in class if compared to the female student. When teacher is not in class, the male student tends to play with their friends while the student B just sits down in her chair by either sleeping or drawing. Other than that, student A seems to be friendly as he can easily approach their friend while student B prefer to just sit alone watching her friends playing. Even though they have several differences in term of personality, they also share some common personality. For an example, both of them were able to answer the question given quite well even though student B was not really confident if compared to the student A. Other than that, there was also not rude as their friends. Even though I as the interviewer can just be considered as their brother, they respected me as I am their teacher for already a long time.

According to Tink, 2009 elementary school children need to be active. They become more fatigued by long periods of sitting than by running, jumping, or any other physical action. In polishing their developing skills, they must be active. In other words, primary school students must get involved in activities that can make them active and involve a lot of movement. Teachers have to know how to attract their attention so that they will get involved in the teaching and learning process. In applying the two theories, the theory of Piaget can be applied. As we can see, both students have the same academic performance. Even though their behaviour in class is different, they manage to lead the position in the class. Other than that, before ending the interview session, I give them 6 pieces of sweets as gift. But I try to test them using the sweets by asking them the total of the sweets on my hand. Both of them manage to count is as 6 even though I try to make them confuse by swapping some candies with other candies that have different colours. This situation can be related to the Piagets theory where the 3 rd stage being concerned. In the 3rd stage according to Piaget, children begin to develop the fundamental of logic where they will be able to sort and classify objects. This stage is known as Concrete Operational Stage. Family background also may affect their academic performance. As we know through the analysis, both of them have a family with good financial status. Their parents might be able to give them enough extra support for their study by buying exercise book for them and provide them a comfortable place for them to do revision while at home.

2.2 Level 2 student:

Through analysis that has been mentioned before, the academic performance of student C is lower if to be compared with student D. Student D is the best student in the class while student C is quite far at the back. The difference is quite large if compared to both students from level 1. The first factor that may influence their academic result is because of their family background. Student C lives with his father for a long time ago as his father has passed away. He lives through the hardship if his mother that work of taking care old lady and earn money from there. In other words, their financial status is not really stable if to be compared with the student D. Due to the family financial problem, student C might not able to get enough learning facility at home. Student Ds father works a policeman with salary more than RM2000 per month. Even though her mother has a food stall, her mother doesnt really have to pay attention at the stall as she can just hire people to take care of the stall and she will have extra time to look after their children and guide them in learning. This can be related to the Vigotskys theory where the idea of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is being concerned and directly linked to the scaffolding. With helps and guides from her mother, student D can reach the upper limit of ZPD and perform better in class. Other than that, with the situation of student C, he might get demotivated whenever he compares his life with his peers which have a better family background. This might affect his study very well. Other than that according to Geoff Hannan, girls have a language-centred, logical learning style, rooted in an interest in people and relationships while boys are speculative thinker. This may be the other reason why Student D may be good in academic performance. If we look back at the two students from level 1, even though they have almost same level of family background, the student B is still better than the student A in term of academic performance. In other words, for the subject in the primary school such as Bahasa Melayu, English Language and Science, girls tend to be good at those subjects their learning style focuses more on logical and language.

Next, both of the students are really good in Mathematic. This can be related to the main idea of Piaget. He advocated what is known as "cognitive constructivism," where he believes that children are able to create their own meaning and understanding through interaction with the environment. Mathematic subject for primary school is not complicated as for the secondary school. It can easily be related to the daily live such as reading the clock, counting the pocket money or the balance of coin after bought something from shop. Through this daily situation, the students will make full use of the experience and facilities in improving their thinking. So the Piagets theory is very relevant with this situation. Lastly, their ambition can really influence their academic result. As mentioned earlier, student D wants to be a pilot while student C wants to be a policeman. To be a pilot, someone needs a high qualification and achievement in his or her study. Same goes to the student D. His ambition to be a pilot can really encourage her to study harder so that she can achieve her ambition. For student C, he might think that being a policeman doesnt really need high qualification as long as he is good physically. So he tends to be lazy in studying and it becomes the other reason why his academic performance is not as good as the student D. As the conclusion of all the statements being mentioned, it can be concluded that both nature and nurture play a very important role in the development of the children. The theory of Piaget and Viagotsky are really relevant to be applied on every situation. Besides that, there are several other factors that may influence the development and academic performance of the students.

3.0 REFLECTION

Praise to God as I managed to complete the short coursework of Child Development. For a week, I have to attend School-based experience programme (SBE) and during the SBE, I have been assigned to do an observation on 4 students where 2 of them are from level 1 and another 2 from level 2. After that, I have to analyse the students before writing an academic essay. In completing this coursework, I faced a few obstacle and problems that indirectly has helped me a lot in improving several aspects in me. First and foremost, it helped me in improving my understanding on the cognitive development. I now can differentiate the two theories, Vygotsky's theory and Piaget's theory better. Through interviews that have been carried out, I was able to apply both of the theories on the information that I managed to gather. I realised that both theory can be wrong and right as it depends on the children that being applied with those theories. This is due to several factors that may influence the development of children such as the family background, culture and the children themselves. Based on my information gathering, I notice that family background gives big impact on the development of the children. Second, I faced some problem in interviewing the students and teachers as I attended the SBE during their examination week. Most of the time, the students are busy with the examination. In overcoming this problem, I try to get the schedule of their examination and approached the teacher on duty if it is possible for me to interview the students even though the free time is only 15 minutes. This is because their exam schedule is very compact and last paper of the day is on the last period of their time table. I feel so grateful because managed to do the interview as fast as I cann. Other than that, this short coursework also helped me in improving my language and communication skill. For communication skill, I have to choose a right way to approach the students with range of age between 8-11 years. I also got to know, the way to approach them is not as the same as approaching an adult. As a stranger, they might get scared of us so that we must appropriately plead them in

order to interview them. Other than that, I also managed to improve my communication skill by interviewing their class teachers. As a future teacher, I must be pleasant and always choose a right word in avoiding anyone to get hurt with my words. It also helped me in improving my english language. This is because in writing more than 10 pages of essay, I usually did some grammatical and sentence error. With helps from my classmate, I was able to know where my mistake was before making correction. Lastly, I am now able to manage my time better. During this short coursework being assigned to me, there is few more assignment that also has to be submitted on the same date of this coursework has to be submitted. In order to make sure that I can finish all the assignment on the time given, I created a mini time table so that I was able to make sure that I can do all the assignment fairly. I also sacrificed some of my time dinner time just to finish this short coursework. In conclusion, this coursework is really good in improving my understanding on cognitive development. It also helped me to be more punctual person besides helped me in improving my communication skills and language. This short coursework should be assigned to our junior as it is really good for the future teacher like us.

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU KAMPUS ILMU KHAS KUALA LUMPUR

NAME IC NUMBER MATRIC NUMBER GROUP / CLASS COURSE LECTURERS NAME

: MOHD NASYARUDDIN BIN MAHMOD : 921106-01-6323 : WMA0002/G/012012/BI 130 : TESL / G 1.7 : CHILD DEVELOPMENT (EDU 3102)

: PUAN RAFIDAH BINTI RUHANI : 23rd MARCH 2012

DUE DATE

4.0 REFERENCES:

Fewings, J. (2011, November 06). Learning Styles and Gender. Retrieved March 24, 2012, from Brainboxx: http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/LSgender.htm

Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2012, March). Social Development Theory (Vygotsky) at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved March 25th, 2012 from http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html

Macionis, J. J. (2010). Thirteenth Edition: Sociology. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc.

Santrock, J. W. (2011). Thirteenth Edition: Child Development. New York: McGrawHill Companies.

Stetsenko, A. (2000, April). Gender Effects in Childrens Beliefs about School Performance:. Child Development, March/April 2000, Volume 71, Number 2, Pages 517527, pp. 517-527.