The Important Role of Parents

Cognition is vital in child development. Cognition is how we remember things, think, pay attention and learn. When children are born, they are ready to develop cognitive skills. They learn new ideas and how to solve problems. From an early age children seek out information to strengthen their learning development. Learning is done through trial and error. Every time a child fails, they will generally try it again by using new ideas.

During the adolescent years, relationships become closer and more critical in cognitive learning as well as social development.

Frequently adolescences will be around their peers more often than their own families. During the adolescent years, friendships with peers become more important. They look to their peers for emotional support and which friends are loyal which can lead to cliques. Cliques can be a negative or positive factor in social influences. They can help adolescents develop critical social skills, leadership, and collaborations. When addressing negative cliques it is easy for peers with shared attitudes and values to become antisocial and show deviant behavior. There is a tremendous amount of peer pressure is some cliques that can lead to positive or negative socioemotional, and cognitive learning. In the classroom learning can be affected by the cognitive development the child has acquired.

Teachers tend to teach students as if they all learn the same way. Students can fall anywhere from a level of special education to gifted in the classroom. If these struggles are not hard enough, there is the socio-emotional aspect of every student and how they will react to the situation. If an adolescent has not developed the age-appropriate cognitive skills, they will struggle. This could be anywhere from not understanding a concept to having a learning disability that makes the student physically not able to learn.

Social-emotional aspects play a huge factor in adolescent cognitive behavior in the classroom. This can be affected by peers and have a huge impact on the student’s learning ability in class. Social-emotional and cognitive situations can affect learning as well as several other factors. Another factor that affects learning is identity development.

The adolescent years are an essential time for individuals to commit to self-chosen values and goals. This is a critical stage when adolescents are trying to find out who they are and where they fit in. Identity development is an important step in psychological health. If adolescents are exploring their self-identity, they will often be more likely to engage in critical and abstract thinking and having higher self-esteem and being more advanced in moral reasoning. Sometimes adolescences can get stuck at this stage. This can result in less mature identity.

A less mature identity can be caused by parents, teachers, or other authority figures may have to choose the identity for them. Personal behavior can also affect a student’s learning. This is a portion of self-identity. Adolescents often test the boundaries of their parents and authoritative figures. They are more likely to act before they think, get in fights or misread social cues. This behavior can affect classroom and learning time. It is not only a distraction to the teacher but to other students as well. For a teacher, it is important to form a good relationship with the student before these behaviors occurring. While making lesson plans, a teacher should prepare for different learning experiences. Several educational approaches are appropriate for different students level and a wide range of cognitive abilities. It is also important to base your learning strategies from real life experiences. If a student can relate to how the lesson can be useful in real life they are more likely to comprehend it. There are many diverse learners in the classroom. They can range from special education inclusion to gifted learning. Within these learners there can be other factors such as cultural diversity. This is why it is important that we make sure to meet the needs of all learners.

Children are unique individuals. Therefore, we should treat their learning styles as unique as well. It is also important to teach each student at an advanced level of mastery. If the material is at a low level of proficiency the student is not growing. If the level of proficiency is too high, the student will get frustrated and give up.

Learning is not a one size fits all model. It is very individualized to fit every student’s need. Whit the different learning needs of each student, it is nearly impossible to help a student succeed without the help of not only the student’s parents but the community as well. It is part of a communities responsibility to see that the children have a high-quality education and involvement. When parents, families, communities, and schools work together to enhance learning students, tend to do better by improving attendance, higher grades, and lower drop out rates. This is regardless of the parent’s income, education, race, or background.

A common characteristic of high performing schools is a strong community/parent relationship. Parent involvement tends to decrease once a child reaches middle school. The community depends on educated students to enter the workforce. Many people believe that student learning is a teachers only purpose. Educators try to meet the needs of all their students but need help. This help comes from parents, and community members. By building a relationship with the community, there is an opportunity for students to have hands-on learning experiences in the workforce. This could lead to a job or a summer internship. As parental involvement keeps decreasing it is important that communities step in to help fill that void in a learning community. The schools, parents, and community can work together to enhance student development and learning, improve schools, and strengthen families.

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