PSY 2301 Child Psychology

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Child psychology spring 2014

Final report

Vincent fung

Due: 5/21/14

For my class project I am going to make a children game for kidā€™s ages between 1 -7 years old. The game would be like a simon say game. The game will start by randomly displaying one of four colors. That the child would have to hit the same color that was displayed. If the child hit the right color the game will continue and add another random color after the first color was displayed. Than if it will repeating on adding a new color to the sequence until the child hit the wrong color. The purpose of this game is to help the child short term memory skills that help motor development and concrete reasoning. For the life stage of infancy aging 1-2 they develop mostly in motor development. Than the next life stage childhood aging 3-8 they develop in concrete reasoning. Infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions. I hope to target kids from preschooler, first and to second grade kids. The reason I target these group is because I want to target kids early brain development stages.Ā  This game challenge the child to extend the sequence long as possible. That will help with cortical neuron development. My product target this age of kids because in the early days of the kids it is crucial for them to develop more and better dendritic spines. In chapter 6 on brain developments environmental factors can shape and influence the brain changes. Social and emotional learning can help brain development as well. The kids enter a stage of use it or lose it stage in their first two years of life. With the early exposure of my product I expect the kids ageing from 1-2 years old to develop better dendritic branches. That also help development of the motor cortex that help motor skill. But for the age of 1-2 years old are mostly motor skills. Just like Piagetā€™s studies kids these age go in to the sensorimotor period. They need the coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions to help them develop. Than for the higher age range of the kids 2-7 years old the develop more in their concrete reasoning. This will help these kids develop cognitive function

There is a few development principles in this game. For the younger age 1-2 it mostly meant for solo play. That help development of the brains synaptogenesis and help early infants learn their basic colors. For their age the game go in to a two button game mode. Do to the infants of 1-2 years old they might not understand the purpose of the game. But with only two button instead four we only want to test and develop their reaction to the button, color and to see the dishabituation on the infant. Than for the older range from 3- 7 years old kids there also a solo game play and also a multiplayer mode. In the normal solo mode of the game with four button the kids are looking to get the longest sequence as they can. This can develop better concrete reasoning that they get better at solving the sequences in the game. Than with this in mind the multiplayer mode seek others to beat your score. The kids may look for their friends and see if they have a better score than him. In this state of mind the kids go in to extrinsic motivation. That they would want to strive to beat their friends score. This create a competition between the kids that help develop social interaction with other kids. Than in some game that is called social games. Than in competition between friends some might lose and some might win. But through losing they can learn and build ā€œemotional resilienceā€ that can go in to their daily life. Emotional resilience is refers to the personā€™s ability to adapt to stressful situations. More resilient people are able to adapt to adversity without lasting difficulties. While less resilient people have a harder time with stress and life changes. In one of my research ā€œBy learning to cope with ongoing failures in games, the authors suggest that children build emotional resilience they can rely upon in their everyday lives.ā€ Than the one that is winning the game that give them positive reinforcement of self-efficacy. Motivate themselves to do even better next time. That will lead them to Mastery orientation as well as performance orientation. That they would want to master their skills in this game no matter they are the winner or the loser.

In a paper I found in the web it talk about social network play with others. Social game players are largely constituted of people who might already know each other in person and share close connection. Unlike some other type of games called massively multiplayer online game (MMOs). That the players are mainly virtual friends and have never met in real life outside of their game. With that in mind social games indeed function as interesting ecological systems that foster interactions in order for people to play well. In such playful activities will in turn enhance their playing experience, boost their moral for continued participation in the game with their friends.

Than in another article I found it talks about games can help boost social, memory and cognitive skills. In this article research suggest playing games may strengthen some range of cognitive skills such as memory and perception skills. In perception skill the kids playing some shooter game have proven that these kids has the capacity to think about objects in three dimensions areas. Also in this article they have studies that play game may also help kids develop problem-solving. In my game it help strengthen the short-term memory skills with the sequence. Also that I hope that in my game when the kids play the game they can picture the sequence in their head. Not in the aspect of say seeing three dimensions put just remember and picture the game sequence in their head.

With my game I hope to target early infantā€™s development stages and increase their intelligent. By getting kids to play the game in their early age of 1-2 it help develop better cortical neuron. Also that this game can teach the infants colors. Than for kids in the age of 3-8 can develop their concrete reasoning. With this is can help build up their basic knowledge of sequence, colors and placement. But the main point of the game is to have fun and help develop basic knowledge. Kids tend to like to play and donā€™t like to do boring things. Than with this in mind using a game to help kids learn solve that problem that they wonā€™t get bored and learn some basic knowledge of color and sequencing.