Week 2 Assignment
Cultural Differences in Caring for Infants
The major assumptions of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development are that infants are active agents in constructing knowledge and that the interaction of experience and biology leads to growth and development. The cultural-contextual view agrees with these assumptions but adds two more: (1) other people make active contributions to infant development, and (2) cultural practices, which reflect the dominant beliefs and values of a culture, shape infant interaction with others and, ultimately, shape cognitive development. Variations in sleeping and feeding behaviors reflect the role of infants in a culture. Beliefs about babies in different cultures determine how they are treated, who interacts with them, and, consequently, how babies experience their world.
Choose a culture other than your own, and fill in the chart with details contrasting how the 2 cultures care for infants. Use at least 2 resources, cited using APA style, to support your assertions about the different culture’s ways of caring for infants. Before completing this assignment, be sure that you understand the definition of culture. Here is a resource that may be helpful. What is culture? Your references need to relate to concepts learned about culture and child care and must be scholarly/academic in nature. Use of .com websites is not appropriate.
| My own culture (give it a name): | A different culture: | |
| Sleeping | ||
| Feeding | ||
| Who are primary caretakers | ||
| Games and toys | ||
| Role of father |
| Possible points | Student points | |
| You fully completed the chart | 30 | |
| Your chart clearly showed an understanding of cultural differences in attitudes towards raising infants | 50 | |
| You supported your work with at least 2 appropriate references, cited in APA formatting | 10 | |
| Your work was free of spelling and grammar errors | 10 |
Solution Preview
Choose a culture other than your own, and fill in the chart with details contrasting how the 2 cultures care for infants. Use at least 2 resources, cited using APA style, to support your assertions about the different culture’s ways of caring for infants.
| My own culture: American Culture | A different culture:
Indian Culture
|
|
| Sleeping
|
Infants mainly sleep alone in cubes.
Co-sleeping is not practiced. Infants are supposed to get as much sleep as possible. All distractions and disturbances should be avoided when they are sleeping. Their rooms should be insulated from noise. |
The newborn sleeps with the mother at all times.
Sleeping is encouraged for infants Disturbances must be reduced when children are sleeping. Fathers do not sleep with the infants. |
(585 words)