Running head: VIRTUAL CHILD REFLECTION
Virtual Child Reflection
Jillian Dale
Ivy Tech Community College
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InTASC Standard, Description, and Rationale
Standard 1: Learner Development
The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of
learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic,
social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally
appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
Name of Artifact: Virtual Child Reflection
Date: August 2, 2014
Course: EDUC 121: Child and Adolescent Development
Brief Description: For this assignment, I used an interactive online program called
“The Virtual Child” to raise a child virtually from birth to age eighteen. I answered a
series of questions regarding my parental actions for various stages of development. My
answers affected the emotional, social, physical, and cognitive development of the child.
Rationale: To demonstrate my understanding of Standard 1: Learner Development, I
have chosen to include my Virtual Child Reflection. Through completing this
assignment, I recognized the importance of the parental role in raising a child. I
regularly assessed the child, recognizing the patterns of development. I responded to
the child based on my assessment of its cognitive, emotional, social, and physical
development. The assessment provided a foundation to produce developmentally
appropriate actions.
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The Virtual Child program allowed me to raise a child on the internet from birth to
eighteen years of age. Overall, I enjoyed the experience. I felt that this virtual simulation
was personal, difficult at times, and very informative. The Virtual Child program gave me
a better understanding of parenting.
I felt that this simulation was a lot more personal than I expected. During the
beginning stages, infant to four years, I felt that this experience was somewhat boring. I
think the questions during infancy through the toddler stages were obvious answers. I
do not feel that these stages were as beneficial as the others. When the child was in
fifth grade, she received her report card. I was pleased with her academics. I thought
that she had strong cognitive development skills. When I reviewed her report card, she
performed well in her academic subjects but needed to work on a few things. I expected
this and I was proud of her. I received a below average score on my parenting comfort
and love toward her. This is when the simulation became more personal. I felt that this
simulation was unable to accurately judge my affection. I was offended. Then I realized
that it was silly for me to take offence to a virtual simulation.
After I took the program more personally, I felt that it stayed somewhat personal
throughout her growth. By the time she was in eleventh grade, I felt that she was a lot
like me. I thought that this was odd. We had the same strengths and the same interests.
I thought that it was neat that I was able to form a child that was like myself through
simple questions. I was proud that she was able to get into different colleges. One of my
goals as a parent is to see my child study at a four year university. I was proud to see
that I was able to raise my child to get into college.
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Some questions I found difficult to answer at times. Sometimes I did not like any
of the answers. I would be forced to choose an answer that I did not feel was a smart
way to deal with the child. As the child got older, some of the questions I felt were polar
opposites. Some answers would resemble answers of an authoritarian parent and other
answers would resemble answers of an absent-minded parent. It was difficult to pick an
answer on these questions.
Other questions contradicted themselves. At the beginning of age ten, I received
an update that my child was an exceptional reader. The update said that she enjoyed
reading and she always seemed to have a book in her hand. The very next question
told me that her reading skills were below average. The question asked me what
actions I would take to get her more interested in reading. I did not know how to answer
that after being told that her reading skills were great and she enjoyed reading.
Overall I thought this experience was very informative. From infancy to late
adolescence, I felt that I learned a lot. I have always been around kids, but it was
different when I had to make my own decisions about how to raise and punish this child.
I also learned about interactions we should have during infancy and adolescence. After
reading the information and answering the questions, I felt like I had a better grasp on
what I should be doing to enhance her cognitive development. I felt this way after I was
able to interact with my ten month old niece. She is learning so much now and it was
fun to see how she would react based on my new ideas of how to interact with her.
During her late adolescence, it was also informative to see her reactions as I made
decisions. It was interesting to see how things turned out after she tried drugs and
VIRTUAL CHILD REFLECTION
alcohol. I think I made the right decisions, because she did not make it a habit and
ended high school successfully.
The Virtual Child experience was much more beneficial than I could have ever
expected. I learned a lot about interactions and ways I can respond to problems.
Although some parts of the experience did not make logical sense, I still felt that it was
very informative. It was much more personal than I expected. I felt that the experience
helped me learn about child development as well as raising children.
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References
(www.myvirtualchild.com, n.d.)