Rona Grace L.

Baldo BSEd-English 2-2 August 1, 2016

Jessa D. Patigue BSEd-English 2-2

Last July 27, 2016, we visited Totolan Elementary School to observe the
preschool class. We arrived at the school at 7:45 am while the students had their flag
ceremony. After that, they had their regular hataw dance in which all students,
including the preschool class, danced altogether guided by the Grade 6 pupils who lead
the dance in the front. This shows Vygotzkys Socio-Cultural Theory in which the
students, particularly the preschoolers had their guided participation in performing the
dance and someone should guide or lead them that would enable the students to
perform the dance well. After that, the preschoolers proceeded to their respective
classroom and had their prayer. After the prayer, the teacher led their energizer in which
the students have to act and use symbols to stand for some objects, like a glass of
water, egg, house and etc., which were not present and is only imagined by the
students. This shows Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development, specifically focuses on
Preoperational stage. Preschoolers had their Representational Thinking in which they
used symbols to stand for a real object which is not present. During the preoperational
period, children begin to use words in a truly representational way. Rather than focusing
exclusively on ongoing activities or immediate desires, children begin to use words to
stand for absent objects and past events. In Piagets view, the development of
representational thinking allows children to acquire language.
The teacher started the lessons and gave some activities to the students. The
teacher observed and checked the students from time to time, and she then gave
assistance to the students who needed help. The students acquired possible learning
after they had their interaction with the teacher, which is a knowledgeable adult, and it
shows Vygotzkys Socio-Cultural Theory in which he said that development happens
only with the interaction with knowledgeable adults.
During recess, the students then took their snacks and weve noticed that some
of them share their snacks with their classmates while others were eating by their own
not minding their other classmate who asked for some snacks. There was also a
student who had no courage to give his classmate even if he has lots of snacks in his
hands. This attitude shows egocentrism in which it refers to the tendency to perceive,
understand, and interpret the world in terms of the self.
Since it was still time for recess, we took the opportunity to ask the students to
count 1 to 20, and noticed that most of them skip or forget some of the numbers from 13
to 19. This shows Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development, specifically in number
concepts. It was said that although preschoolers are beginning to understand basic
number concepts, it is important to keep in mind that they will make plenty of counting
errors. It is also difficult for preschool children to count beyond 10 because the teen-
number words do not follow their 1 to 10 counterparts.
We believed that Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development and Vygotzkys
Socio-Cultural Theory have greatly helped for the development of the students. Even if
these two theories contradict with each other and have different views and standpoint,
in which Piagets Theory was based on biological processes and the readiness of the
child before he learn, while Vygotzkys theory was based on Socio-Cultural Influences,
they both still contributed to the better meaning and understanding of the development
of the children.