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  • Writer's picturemurakami26

TOC Thinking Process and Children's Education (6)

Updated: Apr 28, 2022

6)From "4 year old wall" to 6 year old


I talked about the "wall of 4 years old", but this time, let's think about the development of children aged 4 to 6 years old when entering elementary school from kindergarten.


A child's brain grows to a level of 80% at age 4 and to a level of 90% at age 9, which is almost complete. It seems that the development is deeply related to the prefrontal cortex, which makes decisions on the construction and execution of complex action plans in the cerebrum. With the development of this prefrontal cortex, the awareness of time and space expands, and it is said that one gradually becomes aware of the relationship with others and the difference between oneself and another.


I think this can be thought of as a major "turning point" in which the growth that began with recognizing oneself in infancy is finally changing to the inside. In other words, the development that accompanies the activity of thinking for oneself and acting for oneself progresses, and by objectively recognizing oneself in the outside world, we are getting a driver who acts more enthusiastically.


What is characteristic of 4- to 6-year-old children is that they can objectively see things and recognize the order, that is, they can grasp the story of the story and convey the content of their own mind. At this age, children will be able to think and speak in their own way, such as "If ... maybe ..." (causal relationship / hypothesis) and "Why?" (Reasoning). Then, you will have more conversations with your friends, and you will be able to have an image of the content of the story by dialog, such as imagining and understanding the content of the story as well as the experience.


Along with that, you will be able to control your actions with words, and you will be able to express yourself in a planned manner. For example, you will be able to control yourself little by little, such as "I have to clean up after playing". It was around this time that I gradually became able to recognize letters and understand the meaning of sentences.


As I have explained, the explosive expansion of spatio-temporal cognition that accompanies the development of the brain is origin of the "four-year-old wall". But it is not easy for some children to overcome this wall.


It is said that the characteristic of such a child is that child falls into a psychological situation such as "smearing" and "smiling" when child starts something new. "smearing" and "smiling" mean "to be embarrassed to notice yourself being seen." In other words, because he is conscious of "I am looking at myself who is acting".


It is easy imaginable that such "hesitation" hinder children's behavior, affect their development. As a result, their hesitation makes "language abilities" vary and their learning results are not good. I think "Cloud" is an effective TOCfE tool to get "awakening" state.


The cloud consists of five boxes, A to B, C, D, D', and arrows connecting each. A stands for "common goal", B and C are "conditions" necessary to achieve the common goal (translated as "request" in TOCfE), and D and D'are for achieving B and C. It is an "action (means)" to be taken.


The cloud is mainly used to clarify the conflict structure and resolve conflicts. And that conflict can be a dilemma within you (internal conflict) or a disagreement between you and others (external conflict).


The cloud as a TOCfE tool is slightly different from the role of the cloud in "Jonah skills" that systematically solves organizational problems, and from one important matter of "conflict" to various positions and backgrounds. It is used as a tool for multifaceted understanding (analysis) of various factors. In short, it means starting from "now (present)".


How to make a cloud with TOCfE first clarifies "conflict (D and D')". Then, clarify the "conditions (requests) of B and C" that lead to conflicting actions, and find a common goal A (goal) that can be achieved by achieving B and C. In addition, we will clarify the "Assumption" that makes up each arrow, extract ideas that invalidate it, and resolve the conflict.


On the other hand, the method of creating a cloud taught by Jonah Skill first extracts UDE (undesirable effect) and identifies the "behavior D" that initiated it. Next, find "action D' that should be taken" and identify the conflict.


How do you think about this difference? Of course, it does not mean that which usage is correct. Even though the "four-year-old wall" has been overcome, children around this time are still apt to be trapped in the events in front of them.


That is why the training to start with the confrontation in front of you and then broaden your horizons in order of "requirement", "common purpose", and "reason" to structure the event is very effective for the development of the brain.


By actually writing the cloud, the connection between each box becomes clear, and the issue of conflict becomes clear. Also, in external conflicts between friend, many effects have been reported, such as facilitating communication by writing the cloud with the other party.


Next chapter, let's think about the relationship between development from the age of 7 and the expansion of time and space, and ATT (Ambitious Target Tree).





TOC Thinking Process and Children's Education (1)~(8)


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