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smiller123
smiller123
Student

What can we conclude about Erik Erikson and his developmental theory? Why was he so important for childhood education?

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Posted by smiller123 on Thursday February 19, 2009 at 6:30 PM and tagged with childhood education, erik erikson, psychology, social sciences.

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  1. herappleness
    herappleness Teacher
    Graduate School

    eNotes Editor

    Overall, we could conclude easily that Erik Erikson is one of the few psychoanalysts that has actually keyed-in one of the most difficult periods of human development: Adolescence.  There is enough empirical and quantitiative research that would back up his philosophical frameworks regarding how teenagers think.

    Also, we can conclude that Erikson had enough schema to pinpoint the major issues that arise from aging at each developmental level. He was able to divide ages into subgroups, and explain each one according to the issues that come up.

    The reason why he is so important to childhood ed is because he was able to categorize, compartmentalize, and analyze these very complex and intertwined elements, separately. He was also able to explain them in a real-life scenario and even label them in a way that those who would replicate his studies could relate and integrate into other fields.

    M.O.

    Sources:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Erikson

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    Posted by herappleness on Wednesday March 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM