Theories and Concepts CourseChild Growth and Development

Principle of development Pre-Natal development The newborn Infant (Group 1) Physical Growth (Group 2) Motor Development (Group 3) Development of Speech (Group 4) Emotional Development (Group 5) Social development (Group 6)

Social adjustments Play Development of understanding Moral development Some childhood interests Family relationships personality

Instruction is a crucial factor in the teaching-learning process. The teacher assumes the responsibility of bringing out the best in the individual transformation in the different phases of his development.

Life is a changing process from conception to death.

Human beings undergo many complex processes of development.

Through life, people have the potential to grow, to change, and to develop.

Human development is the scientific study of the quantitative and qualitative ways by which people change over time.

Quantitative changes are changes in the number or amount of something such as height, and weight.

Growth is an example of quantitative change. Any changes in the body and its parts is known as physical growth.

Development or qualitative change refers to the increase in skills and complexity of function resulting in increased specialization. It is a gradual and orderly unfolding of the characteristics of the successive stages of growth.

Development is a progressive series of changes that occur as a result of maturation and experience. A complex process of integrating many structures and functions

Qualitative changes are changes in kind, structure, or organization, such as changes in the nature of a persons’ intelligence or in the way the mind work.

Maturation generally refers to a natural process of growing up ascribed to heredity. It is a biological process that accounts for age-related changes in growth and development and requires favorable support from the environment to occur.

A stage of human development that occurs in an orderly fashion.

Examples are increase in height, gain weight, ability to walk steadily in infants, first word uttered by infants, etc.

Dramatic stages of maturation are evident at early stage of human development.

Learning is the aspect of development that connotes modification of behavior that results from practice and experience.

The development of individual at any given time is the result of both the maturation of his innate potentialities (heredity).

Growth and development result from an interaction of maturation and learning in making the individual what he is at a given time.

It is a change of behavior that takes time The change in behavior persists Learning involves not only change in

knowledge but also change in skills, attitudes, and perceptions

Development-means the progressive series of changes of an orderly, coherent type toward the goal of maturity.

1.progressive-refers to changes that are directional leading forward rather than backward

2.Orderly and coherent-suggest that the development is not of haphazard casual type but rather that there is definite relationship between each stage and the next stage in the development sequence.

Psychologist define development as orderly changes that remain for a reasonably long period of time. These changes occur in human beings between conception and death.

Human development can be classified into several aspects:

Physical development refers to the changes in the body

Personal development a term to signify changes in an individuals’ personality

Social development refers to changes in the way an individual relates to other

Cognitive development involves changes in thinking

Although there is disagreement about what is involved and how development takes place, theorists agree on the following general principles of development:

People develop at different rates Development is relatively orderly Development takes place gradually.

3 aspects of development1.Anatomic-physical structure2.Physiologic-function3.Behavioral-the way how people behave

Major type of changes in development1.Changes in size-physical and mental

growth2.Changes in proportion-not limited in size

but also in mental development. 3.Disappearance of old features like the

thymus gland, baby hair, Babinski reflex, baby forms of locomotion such as creeping and crawling

4.Acquisition of new features such as secondary sex characteristics, new mental traits such as curiosity, sex urge, knowledge, morals and standards, religious beliefs, different forms of language etc.

2 Causes of development1.Maturation

-the development of unfolding of traits potentially present in the individual from his hereditary endowment-the net sum of the gene effects operating in a self-limited life cycle-it is not only changes in physical characteristics but also in function, capacity to perform or behave which are possible through changes in any part of the organism

Therefore, Maturation is a developmental process within which a person from time to time manifests traits whose “blueprints” have been carried in the persons’ cells from the time of conception.

2. Learning-the result of the activities of the child himself. It is a persistent change in human performance or performance potential. This means that learners are capable of actions they could not perform before learning has occurred.-to be considered a form of learning, a change in performance must come as a result of the learners interaction with the environment. Learning requires experience.

-learning is an enduring change in a living individual that is not heralded by genetic inheritance. Learning always involves a systematic change in behavior or behavioral disposition that occurs as a consequence of experience in some specified situation.-the idea that learning is a process means that learning takes time. To measure learning, we compare the way organism behaves. If the behavior differs in two points in time then learning has taken place. Behavior refers to action such as moving, speaking, and writing.

In your own words, define learning. Give at least three examples.

Describe maturation. Write three examples observed in human beings.

Studies of maturation and learning1. Methods of isolation-isolation of young

from older members of the same species to see if certain traits of behavioral characteristic of that species will appear.

2. Method of co-twin control- identical twins

3. Match group method-group with identical characteristics

4. Genetic study of large group-environmental

Rates of development1.Rapid-pre-natal to babyhood up to 6

years2.Slow -6 years to adolescence Implications of the rate of

development1.Variation is possible because

development is dependent on maturation and learning

2.Maturation which depends upon hereditary endowment, sets a limit beyond which development cannot go on even when learning is encouraged.

3. The effectiveness of learning depends upon maturity. A child cannot learn until he is ready to learn. The necessary physical and mental development must be present before new skills or abilities can be built upon the foundations

4. Premature forcing of the child results in negativistic resistant behavior which militates against successful learning and which may even retard learning.

5. Developmental readiness is the individual’s state of preparedness with respect to one or more areas of functioning.

3 ways to indicate a child’s readiness to learn

1. Child’s interest in learning2. How sustained his interest will

remain over a period of time3. What progress he makes with

practice

1. Development follows a patterna. cephalo-caudal sequence-development start

first from the head.b. Proximo-distal-development from the center to

peripheral segmentsc. General patterns of development

Babies follow a pattern of development:1. From 4-16 weeks, he gains a command of

his oculomotor muscles (eyeball movement)2. From 16-28 weeks, he gains command of the

muscles which support his head and move his arms.

3. From 28-40 weeks, he gains control of his trunk and hands. This enables him to sit, grasp, and manipulate objects

4. From 40-52 weeks, he extends control to his legs and feet, to his forefinger and thumb. He can now stand upright.

5. During the second year, he can walks and run, articulate words and phrases, acquire bowel and bladder control and acquires rudimentary sense of personal identity and personal possession

6. During the 3rd year, he speaks in sentences and uses words as tools of thoughts. He displays a tendency to understand his environment and comply cultural demands.

7. During the 4th year, he asks questions, perceives analogies, and displays a tendency to generalize and conceptualize.

8. At 5 years, the child is well matured in motor control.

d. Specific phases of development such as motor, social, and play also follow a pattern.

2. Development proceeds from general to specific responses

-the infant moves his whole body at one time, not one part of it.

-can see large objects first before small ones

3. Development is continuous-growth continues from the moment of conception until maturity

4. Individual differences in rate of development remain constant-those who develop rapidly at first will continue while those who develop slow will continue to develop slow

5. Development occurs at different rates for different parts of the body-not all parts of the body grow at the same rate. The brain attains its mature size at the age of 6 to 8. other parts of the body reach maximum development during adolescent years.

6. Most traits are correlated in development-the child whose intellectual development is above average is generally above average in size, sociability, and special aptitude.

7. Development is predictable-because the rate of development is fairly constant, it is possible to predict at an early age the range within which the mature development of a child is likely to fall

8. Each development phase has traits characteristic of it-at each age, some traits develop more rapidly and clearly than others.

9. Many forms of so-called problem behavior are normal behavior of the age in which they occur.

10. Every individual normally passes through its major stage of development