As we will see, the cognitive skills are ones that early childhood teachers value, and that they can encourage deliberately. The other area of research discussed, literacy development, is especially important to educators working with older young children.his chapter is about how the cognitive development of young children can be affected by early childhood programs. It therefore does not describe everything that psychologists know or believe about cognitive development in young children.
However, Polynesians have a long storytelling tradition that includes tales of migratory travel between many of the main island groups--Samoa, Tahiti, etc. The Polynesian Triangle encompasses 16 million square miles of ocean, making Oceania the largest continent on earth. The first person of European descent to arrive in Hawaii was Captain James Cook, who came in 1778. Hawaiians had been living in the islands for more than 1500 years by the time he arrived.
For Hawaiians, there is a primal connection to the universe, to nature, to the land and the sea, a connection that comes from a deep spiritual as well as genealogical belief system. Nature is where it all begins for the Hawaiians. In fact, they call themselves keiki o ka 'ainaâ âchildren of the land.â. The 'aina (land) is not just soil, sand or dirt. The 'aina is a heart issue for Hawaiians. The very word 'aina brings forth deep emotion evolved from ancestral times when people lived in nature as an integral part of it.