The Developing Person

Through Childhood and Adolescence

What we will cover?What is child development?What is child development?

What theories have been developed about the developing human?What theories have been developed about the developing human?

What about genetics?What about genetics?

How does it all begin? What happens during pregnancy and birth?How does it all begin? What happens during pregnancy and birth?

How does a child grow:Physically (biosocial)?Cognitively?Socially and emotionally (psychosocial)?

Chapter One: Introduction

The Science of human development:To understand how and why people –

all kinds of people, everywhere, of every age – change over time.

Issues to consider:

The Nature-Nurture Controversy

Nature: from the moment of conception, your genetic inheritance.

Nurture: All the environmental influences that affect your development, beginning the moment of conception.

What’s the issue?How much influence does either one of these have on you.

Study of human development is divided into 3 domains: biosocial development, cognitive development and psychosocial development

Though scientists study humans through these domains, development is a holistic experience.

Biosocial: How the body grows and changes related to genetic, nutrition, and other health factors – the social factors that can influence the biology of one’s body, including motor skills.Cognitive development: perception, imagination, judgment, memory, and language – and how people think, decide, and learn through formal and informal education.Psychosocial: How family, friends, the community, the culture, and the larger society impact emotions, temperament and social skills.

MULTIDIRECTIONAL

Multidirectional• Butterfly effect – unpredictable (any one moment

can change a person’s life)• Linear: life continues to move forward• Continuity: characteristics that are basically

stable over time and discontinuity: a change that occurs, such as quitting an addiction or learning a new language

• Growth and decline• Stages of growth• Critical periods of growth and sensitive periods

MULTICONTEXTUAL

Multicontextual

• I was born in the 50’s – We had a black and white TV – but no electronics.

• My daughter was born in the 70’s – Atari, pong were the first computer games, phones were still attached by a cord. My next daughter was born in mid-80’s. Cordless phones, more video games, pagers, then cell phones. Consider how many of you have cell phones and use them during class…what are the norms that society generates?

Multicontextual

• Young children have technology that you sitting here didn’t have when you were young.

• Families deal with the issues of technology and are impacted by socioeconomics status. Those who have and those who do not – how is a child’s future impacted by his/her economic status.

MultidisciplinaryTo study humans, all fields of

science need to be used.

Anthropology

BIOLOGY

Sociology

MULTICULTURAL – if video does not work – open link “North Korean children…” in ch. 1 of the media resource.

Multicultural

• Race: distinguished by how we look• Ethnicity: people whose ancestors come from the

same geographic area and share a common language, culture and religion.

• Culture: values, customs, clothes, homes, foods, assumptions…

• Social Constructs: terms like “race” are built by a groups of people to define others…Another example: teenagers, yuppies, hippies, etc.

PLASTIC

Plasticity

• In 2005, Eric Edmundson was injured in Iraq – sustaining brain injury from schrapnel. His family was told that he would live in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. His family didn’t accept that – and 1 year later he walked out of the hospital with help. The uninjured parts of his brain were adapting. He still cannot speak, but uses a computer to communicate. It took months for him to learn how to eat.

18

scientific method: – begins with curiosity– develop a hypothesis– test the hypothesis

– draw conclusions

The scientific method is a way to answer questions that requires empirical research and data-based conclusions.

Please view the following series on how the scientific method impacts our lives...

If link does not cooperate -Copy and paste – this is a 3 part series that aired on PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/expose_2007/episode205/watch3.html