Module 1 : Basic

Concepts in Child
Growth and
Development
SED 2100 - The Child and Adolescent
Learners and Learning Principles
 Overview
• In this module, you will have a thorough understanding of
the basic concepts on human being growth and development
as well as their characteristics and nature. You will identify
the different life span development of a human being as well
as it challenges for each stage, the domains of development
and the different factors that influence them.
• You are expected to define in your own words the basic
concepts of child growth and development and explain the
different periods as well as the basic factors that influence
growth and development of a learner that makes him/her
different from another person.
• This would also account the impacts of development of the
child in which social considerations changed.
 Objectives
After studying this module, the student should be able to:

• Explain and give the meaning of child, growth, development,

nature, nurture, human development and developmental
processes.
• Discuss the difference of child development to adolescent
development
• Evaluate the reciprocal impacts between genes and the
environment and the nature vs. nurture debate
• Distinguish between quantitative and qualitative changes
and give example of each
 Objectives
• Name the different periods in the life span and describe the
developmental tasks for each stage.
• Identify the three domains of development and cite and
examples how they are interrelated to one another.
• Cite examples of the influences of social and historical
context on the development of a human being.
• Explain how current research and theories on child and
adolescent development contribute to teaching and learning
within and across different areas.
 Discussion
A. Definition of Child Adolescence Learners
Biologically, a child (plural: children) is a human being
between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the
developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition
of child generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person
younger than the age of majority.
Below are the following definitions for child according to:
WHO – A child is a person 19 years or younger unless national
law defines a person to be an adult at an earlier age. World
Health Organization defines a child as a person 19 years or
younger unless national law defines a person to be an adult at an
earlier age. However, in these guidelines when a person falls into
the 10 to 19 age category they are referred to as an adolescent
(see adolescent definition below).
 Discussion
Adolescence is frequently defined by several UN agencies as
ranging from 10 to 19 years of age, which more accurately
encapsulates the lower and upper secondary levels of education
(UNESCO, 2009b; UNICEF, 2002; WHO, 2009). As children up to
the age of 18, most adolescents are protected under the
Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In US, adolescent ages between 12 and 14 and ends at 19 or
20. Philippines consider those aged 15-24 years as young adult
and those aged 15-19 years as adolescents.
 Discussion
UNICEF – A child is any person under the age of 18.
According to UNICEF, a child means every human being below
the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to
the child, majority is attained earlier. Childhood is the time for
children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident
with the love and encouragement of their family and an
extended community of caring adults. It is a precious time in
which children should live free from fear, safe from violence and
protected from abuse and exploitation. It refers to the state and
condition of a child’s life, to the quality of those years.
UNESCO – A child means every human being below the age
of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the
child .Early childhood, defined as the period from birth to eight
years old, is a time of remarkable growth with brain
development at its peak. During this stage, children are highly
influenced by the environment and the people that surround
them, stated by UNESCO.
 Discussion
In general, for the first year after birth, a baby is called an
infant. Early childhood begins at age two, when a child may be
referred to as a toddler. Childhood continues until adolescence,
which generally coincides with the teen years. Adolescence is
the period of transition into adulthood.
 Discussion
B. Growth and Development
Growth – refers to quantitative changes in an individual as he
progresses in chronological age. It may refer to increases in
size, height, or weight.
• refers to physical increase in the size of the body. (Increase in
weight, height, etc.)
• There is a change in form and increase in the complexity of
body parts and their functioning, thinking abilities and social
skills.
• Growth is only one aspect of the larger process of
development.
 Discussion
Development – refers to the progressive series of changes of
an orderly and coherent type leading to the individual’s
maturation. This definition implies that for development to be
progressive, there is a direction in the manner in which changes
occur.
Development is also coherent, essentially because the
sequence of changes that occur are related to each other and do
not occur haphazardly or abruptly.
It is the changes in a person’s physical and behavioral traits
that emerge in orderly ways and last for a reasonable period of
time. The changes could be:
• PROGRESSIVE (results in acquisition of skills and abilities that
are complex, finer and more efficient)
• IN ORDER (there is an order in development.)
• LONG LASTING
 Discussion
Growth and development are influenced by maturational,
environmental and genetic factors. All humans follow the same
pattern of growth and development. There are sequences in
growth and development that even individual differences cannot
changes. The sequence is predictable although the time of
onset, the length of each stage, and the effects of each stage
vary from one person to another. Learning can either help or
hinder the maturation process, depending on what is learned.
 Discussion
Nature versus Nurture
• Nature (Heredity) – inborn traits or characteristics inherited
from the biological parents.
• Nurture (Environment) – the world outside the self
beginning in the womb and the learning that comes from
experience. The totality of nonhereditary or experiential
influence on development.
 Discussion
Developmental psychology seeks to understand the influence
of genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) on human
development. A significant issue in developmental psychology
has been the relationship between the innateness of an attribute
(whether it is part of our nature) and the environmental effects
on that attribute (whether it is derived from or influenced by our
environment, or nurture). Environmental inputs can affect the
expression of genes, a relationship called gene-environment
interaction. An individual’s genes and their environment work
together, communicating back and forth to create traits. This is
often referred to as the nature vs. nurture debate, or nativism
vs. empiricism.
 Discussion
A nativist (“nature”) account of development would argue
that the processes in question are innate and influenced by an
organism’s genes. Natural human behavior is seen as the result
of already-present biological factors, such as genetic code.
An empiricist (“nurture”) perspective would argue that these
processes are acquired through interaction with the
environment. Nurtured human behavior is seen as the result of
environmental interaction, which can provoke changes in brain
structure and chemistry. For example, situations of extreme
stress can cause problems like depression.
 Discussion
We are all born with specific genetic traits inherited from our
parents, such as eye color, height, and certain personality traits.
Beyond our basic genotype, however, there is a deep interaction
between our genes and our environment: our unique
experiences in our environment influence whether and how
particular traits are expressed, and at the same time, our genes
influence how we interact with our environment (Diamond, 2009;
Lobo, 2008). There is a reciprocal interaction between nature
and nurture as they both shape who we become, but the debate
continues as to the relative contributions of each.
Some concrete behavioral traits are dependent upon one’s
environment, home, or culture, such as the language one
speaks, the religion one practices, and the political party one
supports. However, some traits which reflect underlying talents
and temperaments—such as how proficient at a language, how
religious, or how liberal or conservative—can be partially
heritable.
 Discussion
BASIC CONCEPTS IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Human Development – is the pattern of movement or
change that begins a conception and continues through the life
span. Development includes growth and decline. This means
that development can be positive or negative (Santrock, 2002).
Child development - refers to the biological and
psychological and emotional changes that occur in human
beings between birth and the end of adolescence then through
adulthood, as the individual progresses from dependency to
increasing autonomy.
Child development or child and adolescent development refer
to the process of growth and maturation of the human individual
from conception to adulthood. In many cultures, the care
of children is shared among a wider group of adults, and often
older children, than is common in western societies.
 Discussion
The emotional, social and physical development of
young children has a direct effect on their
overall development and on the adult they will become. That is
why understanding the need to invest in very young children is
so important, so as to maximize their future well-being.
Childhood - refers to the time or state of being a child, the
early stage in the existence or development of something. It
connotes time of innocence, where one is free from responsibility
but vulnerable to forces in his environment. It is the time for
children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident
with the love and encouragement of their family and an
extended community of caring adults. It is a precious time in
which children should live free from fear, safe from violence and
protected from abuse and exploitation.
 Discussion
Developmental Processes
1. Quantitative Change- is a change in number or amount,
such as growth or loss in height, weight, gains in vocabulary, or
an increase or decrease in frequency of aggressive behavior or
social interaction.
2. Qualitative Change – is a change in kind, structure or
organization. It is marked by the emergence of new phenomena
that cannot easily be anticipated on the basis of earlier
functioning.
 Discussion
C. Periods of Development
Think about the life span and make a list of what you would
consider the periods of development. How many stages are on
your list? Perhaps you have three: childhood, adulthood, and old
age. Or maybe four: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and
adulthood. The human life span has been divided into the stages
of
1. Prenatal period
The first developmental stage, in this period conception
occurs by normal fertilization or other means. This is where
development begins.
 Discussion
The genetic endowment interacts with environmental
influences from the start. Basic body structures and organs form:
brain growth spurt begins. Physical growth is the most rapid in
the life span. Vulnerability to environmental influences is great.
2. Infancy and Toddlerhood
The infancy period, birth to 24 months (2 years of age), is a
period of “firsts” – first tooth, first steps, first words. During this
period, infants move from babyhood to first forms of
personhood; personalities become clearer, more stable, and
more individual.
 Discussion
The first two years of life are filled with progressively refined
development in physical, motor, and manipulative skills. The
baby’s brain is being “soft-wired” by the environment and is
highly dependent on caregivers providing windows of
opportunities from its development. We have a sensorimotor,
highly action-oriented thinker capable of effectively processing
information and retaining it.
During this period, infants move from a symbiotic relationship
with their principal caregiver to establishing a separate sense of
self.
• The child is totally dependent on the caregiver for the
fulfilment of her needs.
• The period of the most rapid growth and development.
• Their skills and abilities increase
 Discussion
3. Early Childhood
This period has been correctly labeled, “the Declaration of
Independence”, for young children between the ages of 2 to 6
years are busy exerting their self-initiated drives for autonomy
and separateness. During early childhood, the body becomes
more agile and controlled. Thought at this stage is based on
mental representation; the child learns to represent the world
mentally by means of language or symbols. Thinking, however,
is heavily influenced by children’s visual perceptions of the
problem-solving event. This period is an imaginative, creative,
fanciful time. Children branch out socially, as they learn to adapt
to ever-widening social networks, and friend tend to change
rather quickly.
• ages 3 to 5 years old
 Discussion
• referred to as the preschool years consisting of the years
which follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling.
• the child is busy learning language, is gaining a sense of self
and greater independence, and is beginning to learn the
workings of the physical world.
• This knowledge does not come quickly, however, and
preschoolers may have initially have interesting conceptions of
size, time, space and distance such as fearing that they may
go down the drain if they sit at the front of the bathtub or by
demonstrating how long something will take by holding out
their two index fingers several inches apart.
• A toddler’s fierce determination to do something may give way
to a four-year-old’s sense of guilt for doing something that
brings the disapproval of others.
 Discussion
4. Middle Childhood
Children generally exhibit a strong desire to engage in
vigorous physical activities, which reflects their increasing size
and strength of muscles. During these developmental years,
children can reason logically about objects, events, and
relationships. Their thinking is bound, however, to a concrete
world in which they can only reason about objects they can see
or manipulate. Children’s all consuming interests in parents
begin to subside as they withdraw some of their emotional
energy from adults and begin to unite with their society of peers.
As such, middle childhood is a time when peer relationships play
an increasingly complementary role to that of parents.
• Ages from 6 to 11 years old
 Discussion
• Comprise middle childhood and much of what children
experience at this age is connected to their involvement in the
early grades of school.
• the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic
skills and by assessing one’s abilities and accomplishments by
making comparisons between self and others.
• Schools compare students and make these comparisons public
through team sports, test scores, and other forms of
recognition.
• Growth rates slow down and children are able to refine their
motor skills at this point in life.
• Children begin to learn about social relationships beyond the
family through interaction with friends and fellow students.
 Discussion
5. Adolescence
The teenage years represent a period of transition in many
areas. Physically, adolescents are embarking on maturing both
physically and sexually; cognitively, their concrete world of
thinking becomes unhinged as they can now reason abstractly;
and socially, friendships become more enduring and more
intimate.
• from 12 to 18 years of age
• a period of dramatic physical change marked by an overall
physical growth spurt and sexual maturation, known as
puberty.
• a time of cognitive change as the adolescent begins to think of
new possibilities and to consider abstract concepts such as
love, fear, and freedom.
 Discussion
• have a sense of invincibility that puts them at greater risk of
dying from accidents or contracting sexually transmitted
infections that can have lifelong consequences.
• the beginning of this period is marked by puberty.
• Puberty refers to the stage around 11-14 years of age, when
there is a spurt in physical growth.
• This results in a rapid increase in height and weight and the
emergence of secondary sexual characteristics (face hair,
pubic hair, sexual organs)
• Conflicts due to peer pressure occur and there will be needs for
emotional adjustment.
 Discussion
6. Early Adulthood
• The twenties and thirties are often thought of as early
adulthood.
• The time when we are at our physiological peak but are most
at risk for involvement in violent crimes and substance abuse.
• The time of focusing on the future and putting a lot of energy
into making choices that will help one earn the status of a full
adult in the eyes of others.
• Love and work are primary concerns at this stage of life.
 Discussion
7. Middle Adulthood
• The late thirties through the mid-sixties is referred to as middle
adulthood.
• A period in which aging, that began earlier, becomes more
noticeable and a period at which many people are at their
peak of productivity in love and work.
• It may be a period of gaining expertise in certain fields and
being able to understand problems and find solutions with
greater efficiency than before.
• Also be a time of becoming more realistic about possibilities in
life previously considered; of recognizing the difference
between what is possible and what is likely.
• This is also the age group hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic in
Africa resulting in a substantial decrease in the number of
8. Late Adulthood Discussion
• Late adulthood is sometimes subdivided into two or three
categories such as the “young old” and “old old” or the “young
old”, “old old”, and “oldest old”.
• the “young old” are the people between 65 and 79 and the
“old old” or those who are 80 and older.
• One of the primary differences between these groups is that
the young old are very similar to midlife adults; still working,
still relatively healthy, and still interested in being productive
and active.
• The “old old” remain productive and active and the
majority continues to live independently, but risks of the
diseases of old age such as arteriosclerosis, cancer, and
cerebral vascular disease increases substantially for this age
group.
 Discussion
• Issues of housing, healthcare, and extending active life
expectancy are only a few of the topics of concern for this age
group.
• A better way to appreciate the diversity of people in late
adulthood is to go beyond chronological age and examine
whether a person is experiencing optimal aging, normal
aging (in which the changes are similar to most of those of the
same age), or impaired aging (referring to someone who has
more physical challenge and disease than others of the same
age).
 Discussion
D. Developmental Tasks and Education (Havighurst)
The Developmental Stages according to Robert
Havighurst
A developmental stage is a task which arises at or about a
certain period of life of the individual, successful achievement of
which leads to his happiness and to success with later tasks,
while failure leads to unhappiness in the individual, disapproval
by the society, and difficulty with later tasks.
Robert Havighurst emphasized that learning is basic and that
it continues throughout life span. Growth and Development
occurs in six stages.
 Discussion
Developmental Tasks of Infancy and Early Childhood
(ages birth to 6)
• Learning to walk
• Learning to take solid foods
• Learning to talk
• Learning to control the elimination of body wastes
• Learning sex differences and sexual modesty
• Forming concepts and learning language to describe social and
physical reality
• Getting ready to read
• Learning to distinguish between right and wrong and beginning
to develop conscience.
 Discussion
Developmental Tasks of Middle Childhood (ages 6-12)
• Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games
• Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing
organism
• Learning to get along with age-mates
• Learning an appropriate masculine or feminine social role
• Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing,
and calculating
• Developing concepts necessary for everyday living
• Developing conscience, morality, and a scale of values
• Achieving personal independence
• Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions
 Discussion
Developmental Tasks of Adolescence (ages 12-18)
• Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of
both sexes
• Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
• Accepting one’s physique and using the body effectively
• Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults
• Preparing for marriage and family life
• Preparing for an economic career
• Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to
behavior; developing an ideology
• Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior
 Discussion
Developmental Tasks of Early Adulthood
• Selecting a mate
• Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
• Learning to live with a marriage partner
• Starting a family
• Rearing children
• Managing a home
• Getting started in an occupation
• Taking on civic responsibility
• Finding a congenial social group
 Discussion
Developmental Tasks of Middle Age
• Assisting teen-age children to become responsible and happy
adults
• Achieving adult social and civic responsibility
• Reaching and maintaining satisfactory performance in one’s
occupational career
• Developing adult leisure-time activities
• Relating oneself to one’s spouse as a person
• Accepting and adjusting to the physiological changes of middle
age
• Adjusting to aging parents
 Discussion
Developmental Tasks of Later Maturity/Old Age
• Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health
• Adjustment to retirement and reduced income
• Adjusting to death of a spouse
• Establishing an explicit affiliation with one’s age group
• Adopting and adapting social roles in a flexible way
• Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangements
 Discussion
E. Domains of Development
Human development is comprised of four major domains:
physical development, cognitive development, social-emotional
development, and language development. Each domain, while
unique in its own, has much overlap with all other domains. It is
important to understand these concepts, because everything
related to human development can be traced back to these four
domains.
 Discussion
1. Physical development – This area studies the basic
changes in the child’s body, such as height and weight, and
health factors that include nutrition and health-related issues,
such as safety concerns. The physical domain also includes
motor development, from the infant’s earliest grasping reflexes
to highly skilled execution of complex athletic feats during later
childhood and adolescence. The development of the brain and
genes inherited from parents is also a part of children’s physical
development. It also includes growth of the body and brain,
including patterns of change in sensory capacities, motor skills
and health.
It is also defined as the biological changes that occur in the
body and brain, including changes in size and strength,
integration of sensory and motor activities, and development of
fine and gross motor skills.
 Discussion
Physical development in children follows a directional pattern.
Muscles in the body's core, legs and arms develop before those
in the fingers and hands. Children learn how to perform gross (or
large) motor skills such as walking before they learn to perform
fine (or small) motor skills such as drawing. Muscles located at
the core of the body become stronger and develop sooner than
those in the feet and hands. Physical development goes from the
head to the toes.
As kids enter the preschool years, their diets become much
more similar to that of adults. Eating a variety of foods is also
important to ensure that kids get the nutrients that they need
for healthy physical development. Instead of allowing children to
fill up on juice and milk, experts recommend limiting the intake
of such drinks. If a child is filling up on juice and milk, then they
are probably missing out on eating other foods.
 Discussion
2. Cognitive development – This reflects all the mental
processes related to how children come to know and understand
their world- how they think, decide, and learn. Cognition
encompasses thought, intelligence, perception, imagination,
memory, and language. It refers to pattern of change in mental
abilities, such as learning, attention, memory, language,
thinking, reasoning and creativity.
It is also defined as the changes in the way we think,
understand, and reason about the world.
As mentioned under the Roles of the Theorists tab Jean Piaget
developed great theories regarding the cognitive development of
children. Piaget's stages of cognitive development illustrates a
child's growth.
 Discussion
3. Socioemotional development – this area studies changes
in emotions, temperament, moral reasoning, self-
understandings, and peer relationships. It also includes
personality.
It is also defined as the changes in the ways we connect to
other individuals and express and understand emotions. The
core features of emotional development include the ability of a
child to identify and understand their own feelings, to accurately
read and comprehend emotional states of others, to manage
strong emotions and their expression in a beneficial manner, to
regulate their own behavior, to develop empathy for others, and
to establish and maintain relationships.
 Discussion
Healthy social-emotional development for infants and
toddlers develops in an interpersonal context, specifically that of
positive ongoing relationships with familiar and nurturing adults.
Emotion and cognition work together, informing the child’s
impressions of situations and influencing behavior.
Children will experience a range of emotional and cognitive
development related to interactions and relationships with adults
and peers, identity of self, recognition of ability, emotional
expression, emotional control, impulse control, and social
understanding.
 Discussion
F. Contexts and Development
Influences on Development
1. Heredity inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the
biological parents
2. Environment the world outside the self beginning in the
womb, and the learning that comes from experience.
3. Maturation unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and
behavioral changes, including readiness to master new abilities.
 Discussion
Contexts of Development
1. Social Context
a. Family
Nuclear family is two generational kinship, economic and
household unit consisting of one or two parents and their
biological children, adapted children, or stepchildren.
Extended family is a multigenerational kinship network pf
parents children, and other relatives sometimes living together
in an extended-family household.
b. Socioeconomic status and neighborhood
It is a combination of economic, and social factors describing
an individual or family, including income, education, and
occupation.
 Discussion
c. Culture and ethnicity
Culture refers to a society’s or group’s total way of life,
including customs, traditions, laws, knowledge, beliefs, values,
language and physical products, from tools to artworks- all
behavior and attitudes that are learned, shared and transmitted
among member of a social group.
Ethnic group consists of people united by a distinctive culture,
ancestry, religion, language, and/or national origin, all of which
contribute to a sense of shared identity and shared attitudes,
beliefs, and values.
 Discussion
2. Historical Context
a. Normative Influences consists of two types:
Normative age-graded influences are highly similar for
people in a particular age group. They include maturational
events (such as puberty and menopause) and social
eventsm(such as entry into formal education, marriage,
parenthood and retirement)
Normative history-graded influences are significant events
(such as pandemic, World War II, nuclear explosion) that shape
the behavior and attitudes of a historical generation.
 Discussion
b. Nonnormative Influences- are unusal evetns that have a
major impact on individual lives. They are either typical events
that happen at an atypical time of life (such a marriage in the
early teens or death of a parent when a child is young) or
atypical events (such as having a birth defect or being in an
airplane crash). They can also be happy events (such as winning
the lottery).
c. Timing of Influences
Critical period is a specific time when a given event, or its
absence, has greatest or specific impact on development.
Sensitive period is a time in development when a person is
particularly open to certain kinds of experiences.
 Discussion

Assessment
Reflective Essay:
1. Discuss the importance of knowing the developmental tasks in
each period as a future teacher. How do you think acquiring
knowledge on it would help you deal with different types of
students?
2. Explain why two people are not exactly alike. What is the
implication of it in Teaching-Learning process.