Last Updated9 June 2023

Understanding Children covers some of the more specialised areas of understanding children. Delve into the CAP Model, and how and why different age groups learn and behave. Dive deep into what motivates children and how to deal with behaviours, creating experiences that will develop a lifelong passion for the mountain environment.

Intro to the CAP Model

CAP Model Considerations

One of the most important aspects of effective teaching is understanding the student. Greater understanding leads to more effective communication, the setting of appropriate expectations and goals, and therefore greater success – for both the skier and the instructor. This is especially important when teaching children. Each person, no matter how old, has a unique combination of physical, mental and emotional characteristics. As they pass through different developmental stages these characteristics change, as do the behaviours associated with them. Children pass through many stages of development quite rapidly and as a result there are very different behaviours from age group to age group.

The current approach to the CAP model is to use it as a guide with fluid boundaries rather than having hard and fast rules for each age group. Each child is a unique individual and they will all develop at uniquely different rates and for different durations.

Example

A six-year-old may have the cognitive level of an eight-year-old, emotional characteristics of a four-year-old and have physical capabilities common to their age group.

Tailoring the lessons to the unique individuals in the lesson is the super power of knowing the CAP model. The information in this chapter will help the instructor to meet the students at their stage of development and understand their behaviours in response to teaching cues.

Multi-age-group lessons and family privates are a challenge that can be handled more effectively with an intimate knowledge of the stages of development.

This information gives the instructor a general idea of what to expect but is no substitute for active observations and questioning, attention and listening.

Ultimately it’s about making them comfortable and earning their trust so we can provide them with better experiences in the mountains.

Learning how to not have the child’s emotions permeate our energy bubble will help us greatly when teaching children. Often emotions run high with the younger children and they can become quite overwhelmed. This can affect us and can be hard to overcome.

Below describes the three main domains of development. There is a range of theories in relation to each of these domains, and whilst some of the studies seem contradictory, in general, most are complementary to each other.

The Three Domains of Development

Cognitive (thinking)

How a child processes information; this includes directions, understanding of time, distance and space, imagination and point of view. With this in mind, instructors will need to change the way they deliver information depending on the age and learning preferences of the children.

Affective (emotion/feeling)

This will affect how individual children feel about themselves and how they interact with each other and the instructor. Meeting a child’s emotional needs is crucial to the learning process because emotion drives attention, which in turn drives learning and memory.

Psychomotor (physical/kinaesthetic)

An understanding of this area of development will provide information as to why a child moves in a specific way and how to go about adapting this to improve his/her skiing technique. The following information maps out some of the specific characteristics associated with different ages/stages in each area of cognitive, affective and psychomotor development.