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LENNEX MARIE L. SARIO February 18, 2020

EDUC 606 MODULE 2

Early Childhood
Development
MODULE 2.

Introduction
Take a look at yourself in the mirror. Have
you ever wondered how and why, from a
single cell at conception, you became
what you are now – a complete individual
who can do so many things, experiences
changes every day, though at times may
not be aware or may not feel so.
Your thought is about human
development. The study of human
development explores how and why
people change as they grow and develop
and how and why they remain the same. It
covers the entire life span from conception
until death.
Development is a continual
unfolding and integration of changes in all
domains – physical, cognitive, social,
emotional, moral – beginning at birth.
Changes in one domain often reflect those
in other domains.
This module focusses on early
childhood development. Early Childhood
Development is defined as the period of a
child’s life from conception to age five
(internationally up to age eight). The
American Academy of Pediatrics defines
early childhood as the period between one
and five years of age, including both the
toddler and preschool years.

Specific Objectives
1. Define early childhood development
2. Value the importance of understanding early childhood development
3. Determine the functions of principles of growth and development to early
childhood development.

ACTIVITY 1.
Read the following statements.
Put a before each statement if you Concur or Agree and X if you Refute or
Disagree with the statement.
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__/__1. Development is a series of age-related changes that happen over the course of a life
span.
__/_____2. Development refers to a process of change in growth and capability over time, as
a function of both
maturation and interaction with the environment.
__/_____3. Early childhood is the period between one and five years of age.
___/____4. Early childhood is considered as one of the stages in the life span.
__/_____5. Internationally, early childhood development is the period of a child’s life from
conception to age eight.
__/_____6. According to the American Academy of Pediatricts, early childhood is the period
between one and five
years of age, including both the toddler and preschool years.
__/_____7. Child development is the scientific study of the patterns of growth, change, and
stability that occurs from
conception to adolescence.
___X___8. Early childhood has the same meaning as preschool.
__/____9. Preschool is a level of schooling in the academic ladder or in the educational
system.
_/_____10. A domain is a realm of psychological functioning.
Study Questions
1. How did you find the statements? The statements tell about the importance and
development of early childhood.
2. Did you concur with all of the statements? Why? Why not? No, because some
statements are not agreeable.
3. What was/were your basis/bases in answering whether you concur or refute each
of the statements? My basis are on my knowledge and understanding of early
childhood.
4. Were you right in answering that all of the statements are right except number 8?
Yes.

Abstraction
Early Childhood Development

Development – is defined as the process of change in which the child comes to

master more and more complex levels of doing things, learning relationship with self and
others, and dealing with people and objects in his/her environment.

Early Childhood Development

 Refers to the different skills and milestones that children are expected to
reach by the time they reach the age of 5. Examples of milestones between
the ages of 5 to 6: writes name (physical domain), engages in simple addition
and subtraction (cognitive), vocabulary reaches about 10,000 words
(language), and has acquired many morally relevant rules and behaviour
(emotional/social/moral).
 Emphasizes a holistic approach on the child’s physical/motor,
cognitive/language, personal-social/emotional, and moral development.
 There is a general pattern or sequence of development that is true of most
children.
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 The rate, character, and quality of development vary from child to child.
 Development is influenced by culture in different ways and the goals for
children differ from culture to culture.
 What is happening within the child is not only the main concern of
development but also the care that the child needs in order to survive/live.

ACTIVITY 2.
a. Read and analyze the given preschool students’ behaviors in the
classroom and the teacher’s behaviour for every student’s behavior.
b. If you were the preschool teacher, will you do the same thing or
exhibit the same behaviors? Explain.
c. If your answer is NO, write in Column 3 your suggest thing or
behaviour that a preschool teacher must do in that situation.

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3

Student’s Behavior
1. Does not like to answer the
exercises on the paper given
by the teacher.
2. Talks to a seatmate. Does not
listen to the teacher’s
explanation about the lesson.
3. Keeps on standing to throw
something in the trash can.
4. Keeps on yawning.
Feels like sleeping.
Teacher’s Behavior Suggested Behavior
of the Teacher
1. Ignores the Give the student
student another
exercises/activity that
will interest him/her.
2. Shouts at the Talk to the student &
student to stop gently tell not to talk
talking. while the teacher is still
talking. in that way you
show respect to the
teacher.
3. Asks the student Ask what is the reason
to sit in front of behind his/her action
the class. then talk to him/her how
to make it right.
4. Asks the student Let the child take a nap
stand and jump for a little time, maybe
ten times he/she is not feeling
well. Or if not give the
whole class an active
activity like singing or
dancing.
Study Questions
1. Are the given behaviors normally exhibited by preschool students? Why? Do you
say so?
Yes, normal it happens in every classroom.
2. What can you say about the teacher’s behaviors? Are these the right things to
do?
The teacher’s behavior shows no consideration to the children and it is not the
right thing to do.
3. If you wrote some suggested behaviors of teachers, do you think these will
change the behaviors of the preschool students?
Yes, it will change the behavior of the children because it is a positive way of
disciplining or the children.

Abstraction

Importance of Understanding Early Childhood Development

Understanding about human development in general and early childhood
development in particular will help the preschool teacher in several ways.

 Early childhood is considered to be the most rapid period of development in a

human life. Although development rates vary, all children progress through an
identifiable sequence of physical, cognitive, social, emotional and moral
growth, and change. If that is the case, the teacher will know what to expect -
realistic expectations – from specific individual children. The teacher will know
when a “typical” child acquires a particular skill, behaviour or emotion.
 Knowledge of development can help the teacher do what is appropriate to
children’s actual behaviour.
 The teacher will be able to recognize what children’s behaviors are considered
normal for a particular age level/stage of development and which behaviors
are deviations from what are typical or normal.
 The first five years of life are called the formative years. These years are
crucial in the formation of intelligence, personality, social behaviour and
others that the child needs to develop.
 Children are born with physical, social and psychological capacities which
allow them to communicate, learn, and develop. If these capacities are not
recognized and supported they will never be developed. This is partly the
teacher’s role.
 Knowledge of early childhood development will help teachers in their personal
as well as professional development. One’s experiences will help one
understand himself/herself better leading to better understanding of others.
 Professionally, knowing the capacities and potentials of young children,
teachers can be in a better position to persuade or influence others of the
importance and value of children.

ACTIVITY 3.
Arrange the jumbled words in each box to form one definition.
Write the definition in the space provided for.

A B

that facts to about set of

explain organized
scientists thin
gs
a set of
interpret proposals
behaviour
how
interpret ope
rate

Definitions :

A. Scientist that interpret a set of facts to explain behavior.

B. Set of organized things about how proposals operate

Study Questions

1. What are the two given definitions? The two given definition are more about on
the behavior of the child.

2. Explain the meaning of each definition.

A. The first definition tells about the study of early childhood behavior
in every environment and how to interpret it.
B. The second definition tells how to handle the behavior of every child
in every situation.

END