The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles- Midterms
THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Human Development
 the pattern of movement or change that begins at
conception and continues through the life span of a person.
 the scientific of the quantitative and qualitative ways by
which people change over time.
Quantitative change – are changes in the number or amount
of something, such as height, or weight, or size of vocabulary
Qualitative change – refers to the increase in skills and
complexity of function resulting in increased specialization.
Aspects of Human Development
Human Development is very complex because growth and change
occur in different aspects of the self. These different aspects of life
are interwined.
1.) Physical Development
 Changes in the body, brain, sensory, capacities, and motor
skills.
 Exert major influence on both intellect and personality.
2.) Intellectual Development
 Changes in a wide variety of mental abilities such as
learning, memory, reasoning, thinking and facility with
language; related to both motor and the emotional aspect
of development.
3.) Personality and Social Development
 Personality is the unique way in which each person deals
with the world, expresses emotions and gets along with
other individuals.
 Social development is that which affects birth the physical
and cognitive aspects of functioning.
4.) Moral Development
 aware of what is right or what is wrong; to unfold standards
or habits that have to do with right or wrong conduct.
5.) Spiritual Development
 An evolved refinement of though and feeling of the spirit or
soul as distinguished from the body or material matters.
 A consciousness; of religion or the church.
Two Approaches to Human Development
If you believe that 2 people will show extensive change from birth to
adolescence, little or no change in adulthood and decline in late old
age, your approach to development is TRADITIONAL. In contrast, if
you believe that even in adulthood development change takes place
as it does during childhood, your approach is TERMED LIFE-SPAN
APPROACH.
Characteristics of life-span perspective by Paul Baltes
 Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. No
developmental stage dominates development.
 Development is multidimensional. Development consist
of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions
 Development is plastic. Development is possible
throughout the life span.
 Development is contextual. Individuals are changing
beings in a changing world
Principles of Human Development
1.) Development is relatively orderly.
Two Types of Pattern:
a.) Development proceeds from head downward.
 This is called cephalo-caudal
principle/ pattern. The child gains
control of the head first, then the arm,
then the legs. Infants develop control of
the head and face movements within
the first 2 months after birth
b) Development proceeds from the center of the body
outward.
 This is the principle of proximodistal
pattern/ development. This means
that the spinal cord develops before the
hands and the hands and feet develop
before the fingers and toes.
2.) Development involves change
- We can expect individual differences in developmental
characteristics and variation in the ages when people will experience
events that will influence their development.
a.) Cephacaudal
b.) Proximadistal
3.) Development takes place gradually
4.) Development as a process is complex because it is a product
of biological, cognitive and socio emotional processes.
(Santrock, 2002)
- We can expect individual differences in developmental
characteristics and variation in the ages when people will experience
events that will influence their development.
5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation
- Growth, maintenance and regulation are (3) goals of human
development. The goals of individuals vary among development
stages.
Other principle of Development includes:
A. Development is continuous- one stage of development lays the
foundation for the next stage of development
B. Early development is more critical than later development
C. The child develops as unified whole
D. Early development takes place in stages- each stage has a
certain unique characteristics and in each stage, certain types of
behaviour or traits are more conspicuous than others.
E. Each phase of development has characteristics behaviour
 the patterns of behaviour are marked by period of
equilibrium and periods of disequilibrium.
F. Each phase of development has its own hazard
 There are sample evidence that each phase of
development associated with its certain development
hazard
G. There are periods of accelerated growth and decelerated growth
H. Development is influenced by heredity and environment
The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles- Midterms
I. Development is product of maturation and learning
J. Development is influenced by heredity and environment
K. Development is product of maturation and learning.
The Entire Period of Development is Divided into 5 Stages
Parental Period - growth of all body parts.
1.) Infancy- period of new-born
2.) Babyhood
3.) Childhood- 2 to 13 years of age
 Early Childhood
 Late Childhood- “gang age”
4.)Adolescence- twelve years onwards
 Early Adolescence- physical growth is rapid
 Later Adolescence- tapering off of physical
growth but the psychological development
continuous in many complex ways
5.) Adulthood- physical changes are nearly complete but the
psychological adjustment continue.
Why is it important for us o have knowledge about the principle
of development?
 It helps us to know what to expect and when to expect it.
 It gives the adult information as to when to stimulate the
child. It gives a basis for planning the environmental
encouragement that must be offered and the correct time
of this encouragement.
 It makes possible for parents, teachers and other who work
with the children to prepare the child ahead of time for the
changes that will take place in his body, interests or his
behaviour.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
 Growth and development are similar words but different
from each other though it is not possible to separate them
totally.
 Is the physical process of development
 Growth if often referred as QUANTITATIVE change
 It is the process of physical maturation resulting an
increase in size of the body and various organs. It occurs
by multiplication of cells and an increase in intercellular
substance
 There are periods of accelerated growth and decelerated
growth.
 Growth in human are rapid at two stages. First, during the
period of gestation and two years after the births of a child.
Second, during adolescence (11-18).
 Growth generally takes place during the first 20 years of life
while development continue after that.
Growth Monitoring- is the process of maintaining regular close
observation of a child’s growth.
-Weight - Length and height -Body Mass Index (BMI)
- Head Circumference -Chest Circumference
GROWTH
1.) Growth is quantitative
2.) Growth comprises of height, weight, size and shape of
body organs like brain etc.
3.) Growth is for limited period of time
4.) Growth can be measured
5.) Growth tells about one’s aspect of personality nut in a
limited scope.
DEVELOPMENT
1. Development is quantitative as well as qualitative.
2. In this with the physical changes cognitive social and
emotional change are also included.
3. Development takes place till death
4. It can be observes by mature behaviour
5. Development deals with all the aspect of personality and
has a vast scope.
Relation between Growth, Maturation and Learning
MATURATION
 refers to sequential characteristic of biological growth and
development. Maturation is the process by which we
change, grow and develop throughout life and enable
orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by
experience. It is also an increase in competence and
adaptability.
Different Types of Maturation
THE PHYSICAL MATURATION
- indicates the physical development and growth that we go
through as we get older. A child goes through some very
distinct physical maturity as they progress through all their
development stages. For example, in the early stages of
development, a child depends on reflexes majorly. Then as
they age, they develop their motor skills and coordination.
They also grow taller and add more weight as they
develop. Their body goes through hormonal changes as
they leave adolescence and enter early adulthood.
THE COGNITIVE MATURATION
- refers to the cognitive development of children from birth to
adulthood. It refers to how babies think, learn, interact with
their environment, etc. Some important aspect of cognitive
development is the processing of information, language
development, reasoning skills, development of intellects
and memory.
Principles of Maturation
PRINCIPLE OF DIRECTIONALITY
- development govern with maturation has clear direction.
PRINCIPLE OF FUNCTIONAL SYMMETRY
- human has tendency to develop asymmetrically; one half of
the brain is dominant over the other half.
PRINCIPLE OF SELF-REGULATING FLUCTUATION
Is invoked to reflect the supposedly inherit spiral nature of
development with advances, regressions, consolidation and new
advances.
Learning
Learning takes place because of a child’s interaction a with
the environment, which then brings about a change in his behavior;
comes through experience, knowledge and practice.