Human Growth and Development - A Matter of Principles

ID

350-053

Authors as Published

Novella J. Ruffin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Extension Child Development

Specialist, Virginia State University, Virginia Dept. of Education Licensed School
Psychologist and NCSP

There is a set of principles that characterizes the pattern and process of growth and
development. These principles or characteristics describe typical development as a
predictable and orderly process; that is, we can predict how most children will develop
and that they will develop at the same rate and at about the same time as other children.
Although there are individual differences in children's personalities, activity levels, and
timing of developmental milestones, such as ages and stages, the principles and
characteristics of development are universal patterns.

Principles of Development

1. Development proceeds from the head downward. This is called the

cephalocaudle principle. This principle describes the direction of growth and
development. According to this principle, the child gains control of the head first,
then the arms, and then the legs. Infants develop control of the head and face
movements within the first two months after birth. In the next few months, they
are able to lift themselves up by using their arms. By 6 to 12 months of age,
infants start to gain leg control and may be able to crawl, stand, or walk.
Coordination of arms always precedes coordination of legs.
2. Development proceeds from the center of the body outward. This is the
principle of proximodistal development that also describes the direction of
development. This means that the spinal cord develops before outer parts of the
body. The child's arms develop before the hands and the hands and feet develop
before the fingers and toes. Finger and toe muscles (used in fine motor dexterity)
are the last to develop in physical development.
3. Development depends on maturation and learning. Maturation refers to the
sequential characteristic of biological growth and development. The biological
changes occur in sequential order and give children new abilities. Changes in the
brain and nervous system account largely for maturation. These changes in the
brain and nervous system help children to improve in thinking (cognitive) and
motor (physical) skills. Also, children must mature to a certain point before they
can progress to new skills (Readiness). For example, a four-month-old cannot use
language because the infant's brain has not matured enough to allow the child to
talk. By two years old, the brain has developed further and with help from others,
the child will have the capacity to say and understand words. Also, a child can't
 write or draw until he has developed the motor control to hold a pencil or crayon.
Maturational patterns are innate, that is, genetically programmed. The child's
environment and the learning that occurs as a result of the child's experiences
largely determine whether the child will reach optimal development. A
stimulating environment and varied experiences allow a child to develop to his or
her potential.
4. Development proceeds from the simple (concrete) to the more complex.
Children use their cognitive and language skills to reason and solve problems. For
example, learning relationships between things (how things are similar), or
classification, is an important ability in cognitive development. The cognitive
process of learning how an apple and orange are alike begins with the most
simplistic or concrete thought of describing the two. Seeing no relationship, a
preschool child will describe the objects according to some property of the object,
such as color. Such a response would be, "An apple is red (or green) and an
orange is orange." The first level of thinking about how objects are alike is to give
a description or functional relationship (both concrete thoughts) between the two
objects. "An apple and orange are round" and "An apple and orange are alike
because you eat them" are typical responses of three, four and five year olds. As
children develop further in cognitive skills, they are able to understand a higher
and more complex relationship between objects and things; that is, that an apple
and orange exist in a class called fruit. The child cognitively is then capable of
classification.
5. Growth and development is a continuous process. As a child develops, he or
she adds to the skills already acquired and the new skills become the basis for
further achievement and mastery of skills. Most children follow a similar pattern.
Also, one stage of development lays the foundation for the next stage of
development. For example, in motor development, there is a predictable sequence
of developments that occur before walking. The infant lifts and turns the head
before he or she can turn over. Infants can move their limbs (arms and legs)
before grasping an object. Mastery of climbing stairs involves increasing skills
from holding on to walking alone. By the age of four, most children can walk up
and down stairs with alternating feet. As in maturation, in order for children to
write or draw, they must have developed the manual (hand) control to hold a
pencil and crayon.
6. Growth and development proceed from the general to specific. In motor
development, the infant will be able to grasp an object with the whole hand before
using only the thumb and forefinger. The infant's first motor movements are very
generalized, undirected, and reflexive, waving arms or kicking before being able
to reach or creep toward an object. Growth occurs from large muscle movements
to more refined (smaller) muscle movements.
7. There are individual rates of growth and development. Each child is different
and the rates at which individual children grow is different. Although the patterns
and sequences for growth and development are usually the same for all children,
the rates at which individual children reach developmental stages will be
different. Understanding this fact of individual differences in rates of
development should cause us to be careful about using and relying on age and
 stage characteristics to describe or label children. There is a range of ages for any
developmental task to take place. This dismisses the notion of the "average child".
Some children will walk at ten months while others walk a few months older at
eighteen months of age. Some children are more active while others are more
passive. This does not mean that the passive child will be less intelligent as an
adult. There is no validity to comparing one child's progress with or against
another child. Rates of development also are not uniform within an individual
child. For example, a child's intellectual development may progress faster than his
emotional or social development.

An understanding of the principles of development helps us to plan appropriate

activities and stimulating and enriching experiences for children, and provides a
basis for understanding how to encourage and support young children's learning.

Catalog Course Description:

The study of human growth and development across the life span with emphasis
upon normal growth and milestones achieved in the physical, cognitive, social,
and emotional systems. Educational and familial contexts are highlighted.

Objectives:

1. Define and differentiate among the research methods used in human growth and
development, including cross-sectional, longitudinal and sequential designs. The
student should also be able to define the major techniques used in descriptive
statistics and the elements of basic experimental designs used in the study of
developmental psychology.
2. Name and describe the following theories of development:
a. Piaget's theory of intellectual development;
b. Erickson's psychosocial theory of personality;
c. maturational theory/stages (Gessell);
d. Kohlberg's theory of moral development;
e. behavioral and social learning theories; and
f. others
3. List and describe the major stages of human growth and development.
4. State appropriate behavioral expectations and developmental tasks associated with
each major stage of development.
5. State and discuss (pro and con) the basic issues of the nature/nurture
controversies.

Human Growth & Development introduces preservice educators, nursing students and
others to lifespan development. During the semester students will become knowledgeable
with the major theories of development that have been empirically studied.
Topics covered include:

I.       Developmental theories, research methods, and history (Chapter l);

II.      Biology of development

         A. Biological basis of Development (Chapter 2)
         B. Prenatal Development (Chapter 3)

III.     Infancy and toddlerhood

        A. Overview (Chapter 4)
        B. Cognitive Development (Chapter 5)
        C. Emotional and Social Development (Chapter 6)

IV.    Early childhood

        A. Physical and Cognitive Development (Chapter 7)
        B. Emotional and Social Development (Chapter 8)

V.     Middle childhood

        A. Physical and Cognitive Development (Chapter 9)
        B. Emotional and Social Development (Chapter 10)

VI.    Adolescence
        A. Physical and Cognitive Development (Chapter 11)
        B. Emotional and Social Developement (Chapter 12)

VII.   Early adulthood

        A. Physical and Cognitive Development (Chapter 13)
        B. Emotional and Social Development (Chapter 14)

VIII.  Middle adulthood

        A. Physical and Cognitive Development (Chapter 15)
        B. Emotional and Social Development (Chapter 16)

IX.    Late adulthood

        A. Physical and Cognitive Development (Chapter 17)
        B. Emotional and Social Development (Chapter 18)

X.     Death, dying and bereavement (Chapter 19)

Because Human Growth & Development is a broad field, this is an introductory course
and there is a large amount and variety of material to cover, the course's information has
been divided into units consisting of 1 or 2 chapters per unit, each of which incorporates
certain data-based instructional principles. The reading for each unit is found in the
assigned chapter of the required text, and you will be provided with study questions to
help you master the content and prepare for exams.
ITASC Principles:

The following are COE Conceptual Framework Principles (modified from INTASC
statements). Not every principle will be addressed in every course but students and
faculty should be aware of them all and the COE motto: Developing Professionals for
Schools. (Teacher is the college student in training. Teacher could be any developing
professional, a classroom teacher, a school counselor or school psychologist, etc.)

1. The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of
the fields of knowledge he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that
make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
2. The teacher understands how children learn and develop and provides learning
opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development.
3. The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and
creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
4. The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage
students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance
skills.
5. The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and
behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social
interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
6. The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media
communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive
interaction in the classroom.
7. The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students,
the community, and curriculum goals.
8. The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to
evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development
of the learner.
9. The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates, using
qualitative and quantitative resources, the effects of his or her choices and actions
on others and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.
10. The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, families, businesses, and
agencies in the larger community to support students' learning and well-being.

 
Human Learning and Development

Human Learning and Development

Human Learning and Development

The study of growth through learning and development can help us to know a child more
systematically and thereby allowing us to be better mentors.   As teachers, we are able to
observe the student at various cross sectional stages of life that enables us to develop
methods to assist them in understanding the world, as well as giving us the means to
reach into their mind.   Knowing more about growth through learning and development
will help you to generate questions when talking and educating students that will deepen
our knowledge of them; questions that otherwise might not have occurred.   Like Piaget,
Erikson maintained that children develop in a predetermined order and instead of
focusing on cognitive maturity he was interested in how children socialize as it would
affect their sense of self.   Vygotsky differentiated between our higher and lower mental
functions conceiving our lower functions to be those that are genetically inherited while
our higher functions develop through social interaction.
Socialization and our perception of acceptance do have extreme impacts on our sense of
self that really does determine our development and growth as was shown to me during
my service learning experiences.   Truly being in the classroom with students is what can
make or break the future teacher as it is interacting with those young individuals that
make the job not a job, but a life path.   I experienced several stages of development to
which I had to step back and realign my perception as to accurately handle the situation.  
Being forced into a shell and reflecting anger is a protection device that adolescent's can't
understand, but they use very well and through observing the same young girl on 3
separate occasions, I had realized that she had perfected the art of protection as to not let
anyone close to her within her scope of existence.   She seemed to remove her armor
when sitting with a group of other young girls, as if she truly...
Child development that occurs from birth to adulthood was largely ignored throughout
much of history. Children were often viewed simply as small versions of adults and little
attention was paid to the many advances in cognitive abilities, language usage, and
physical growth that occurs during childhood and adolescence.

Interest in the field of child development finally began to emerge early in the 20th-
century, but it tended to focus on abnormal behavior. Eventually, researchers became
increasingly interested in other topics including typical child development as well as the
influences on development.

An understanding of child development is essential, allowing us to fully appreciate the

cognitive, emotional, physical, social and educational growth that children go through
from birth and into early adulthood. Some of the major theories of child development are
known as grand theories; they attempt to describe every aspect of development, often
using a stage approach. Others are known as mini-theories; they instead focus only on a
fairly limited aspect of development, such as cognitive or social growth.

The following are just a few of the many child development theories that have been
proposed by theorists and researchers. More recent theories outline the developmental
stages of children and identify the typical ages at which these growth milestones occur.

Psychoanalytic Child Development Theories

Sigmund Freud

The theories proposed by Sigmund Freud stressed the importance of childhood events
and experiences, but almost exclusively focused on mental disorders rather that normal
functioning.

According to Freud, child development is described as a series of 'psychosexual stages.'

In "Three Essays on Sexuality" (1915), Freud outlined these stages as oral, anal, phallic,
latency and genital. Each stage involves the satisfaction of a libidinal desire and can later
play a role in adult personality. If a child does not successfully complete a stage, Freud
suggested that he or she would develop a fixation that would later influence adult
personality and behavior. Learn more in this article on Freud’s stages of psychosexual
development.

Erik Erikson

Theorist Erik Erikson also proposed a stage theory of development, but his theory
encompassed human growth throughout the entire human lifespan. Erikson believed that
each stage of development was focused on overcoming a conflict. For example, the
primary conflict during the adolescent period involves establishing a sense of personal
identity. Success or failure in dealing with the conflicts at each stage can impact overall
functioning. During the adolescent stage, for example, failure to develop an identity
results in role confusion. Learn more about this theory in this article on Erikson’s stages
of psychosocial development.

Cognitive Child Development Theories

Theorist Jean Piaget suggested that children think differently than adults and proposed a
stage theory of cognitive development. He was the first to note that children play an
active role in gaining knowledge of the world. According to his theory, children can be
thought of as "little scientists" who actively construct their knowledge and understanding
of the world. Learn more in this article on Piaget’s stages of cognitive development.

Behavioral Child Development Theories

Behavioral theories of child development focus on how environmental interaction

influences behavior and are based upon the theories of theorists such as John B. Watson,
Ivan Pavlov and B. F. Skinner. These theories deal only with observable behaviors.
Development is considered a reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli and
reinforcement. This theory differs considerably from other child development theories
because it gives no consideration to internal thoughts or feelings. Instead, it focuses
purely on how experience shapes who we are. Learn more about these behavioral theories
in these articles on classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Social Child Development Theories

John Bowlby

There is a great deal of research on the social development of children. John Bowbly
proposed one of the earliest theories of social development. Bowlby believed that early
relationships with caregivers play a major role in child development and continue to
influence social relationships throughout life. Learn more in this overview of attachment
theory.

Albert Bandura

Psychologist Albert Bandura proposed what is known as social learning theory.

According to this theory of child development, children learn new behaviors from
observing other people. Unlike behavioral theories, Bandura believed that external
reinforcement was not the only way that people learned new things. Instead, intrinsic
reinforcements such as a sense of pride, satisfaction and accomplishment could also lead
to learning. By observing the actions of others, including parents and peers, children
develop new skills and acquire new information.

Lev Vygotsky

Another psychologist named Lev Vygotsky proposed a seminal learning theory that has
gone on to become very influential, especially in the field of education. Like Piaget,
Vygotsky believed that children learn actively and through hands-on experiences. His
sociocultural theory also suggested that parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large
were responsible for the development of higher order functions.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, some of psychology's best known thinkers have developed theories to
help explore and explain different aspects of child development. Today, contemporary
psychologists often draw on a variety of theories and perspectives in order to understand
how kids grow, behave and think.
Human growth is based on biological events that cause you to grow physically that
naturally occur during the early stages of your life. Developmental growth, however, is
the product of psychological and social growth, emphasized by environmental and
individual behavioral factors, sometimes more simply referred to as maturity. While both
of these natural processes are vastly different, both growth and development are closely
related steps in producing healthy adults.

Human Growth
From early childhood until adolesence, or sometimes early adulthood, growth plates on
the ends of long bones, called epiphyseal plates, allow bones to grow. This occurs
through osteoclasts and osteoblasts breaking up old bone tissue and rebuilding new bone.
It only happens during early human growth and will stop after the epiphyseal plates close.
As bone grows, so does tissue and muscle throughout your body. While bone growth
ceases early in life, muscles will continue to grow through strength training.

Job Australia 5 urgent open positions. Apply now! Job Australia

jobrapido.com/job+australia
Sponsored Links

Time Frame
Several psychology and sociology theorists have coined theories of human development.
One of the most widely taught theories is Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages of
development. Just as human growth takes place continually at different rates for children
and adolescents, developmental stages follow similar patterns. For instance, children will
grow throughout childhood, but one child may grow at a slower rate than another.

Likewise, development will eventually take place in children and adolescents but these
stages may come at different rates for different children. A large difference between
physical growth and development, however, is that physical growth from bone largely
stops at some point. Adults will likely lose and gain weight through fat and muscle
growth and loss but will not grow taller after growth plates close. Development continues
throughout life, from childhood, adolescence and adulthood, until death.

Developmentally Challenged
According to Erikson's theory, successful completion of each stage of development is
necessary to move on to the next stage of life development. Unfortunately, if a stage of
development is never completed, that individual may not complete a healthy life-long
development.

For example, in early stages of life, a child learns competence sometime between the ages
of six and 12. If this child's competence is hindered for some reason, he may have
difficulty graduating to the next developmental stage, which is identity versus role
confusion. This adolescent could grow into adulthood feeling inferior and lacking
competence, which is often crucial for successful, healthy living.

Development Stages
Early life stages are based on the development of the sense of self. These stages involve
trusting others, self control, shame, competence and self faith. As a person progresses
from childhood to adulthood, each stage may last for a longer period. For example, the
first developmental stage of life, which involves trust and mistrust, lasts from birth until
approximately 1 year old. However, the fourth developmental stage of competency and
inferiority could last from age 6 to age 12.

Adulthood Stages
Stages six through eight of human development occur during adulthood. Each of these
three stages either occur in early adulthood, mid-adulthood or late adulthood. Early
adulthood focuses on intimate relationships outside the family. During this time, you will
either commit to long-term relationships or avoid relationships and commitment. Mid-
adulthood concentrates on furthering your career and raising families. Late adulthood
centers on preparing for the end of life and either embracing this stage or living with
regret on the choices made throughout life.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/473407-difference-between-human-

growth-development/#ixzz1xIw3r8r0