UNIT 2 Basic Concepts and Issues on Human Development

-Brenda B. Corpuz, PhD

“By virtue of being born to humanity, every human being has a right to development
and fulfilment of his potentialities as a human being.”
- Ashley Montagu

INTRODUCTION
Every living creature is called to become a butterfly; a seed into a full grown
herb, bush or tree; and human baby into a mature person, the person “who is fully
alive, the glory of God” in the words of St. Irenaeus.
How this development happens is what we learn in our biology class. We have
seen it to be a fantastic process. So wonderful process that we can’t help but
experience a feeling of awe for the Power of Force or the Principle (theists call this
Power or Force or Principle (God) behind all these.
The process of development involves beginnings and endings. What was this
organism then? What will this organism be?
A number of researches on human development have been conducted. A lot of
theories on human development have been forwarded. Researches on human
development continue existing theories get corrected, complemented or replaced.
Up to the present several issues on human development are unresolved and so the
search for explanations continue.
In this Unit, you will be acquainted with human development as a process, the
developmental task that come along with each developmental stage and relevant
issues that are raised about human development.

MODULE 1 Human Development: Meaning, Concepts and Approaches

-Brenda B. Corpuz, PhD

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exist and entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts…
- William Shakespeare

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this Module, you should be able to:
 define human development in your own words.
 distinguish between the traditional and life-span approach of development.

INTRODUCTION
As you read this textbook and do the activity in your small groups, you are
undergoing the process of development. How does this development take place?
What do experts say about development? These are the concerns of this module.

ACTIVITY
1. Here are pictures of seven year old Naschielle and three-year old Kenn. Each one
is a bundle of possibilities. Describe what they were before birth (their point of
origin) and who they will possibly be after birth unto adulthood. What will they
possibly become? Expound on your answers.

ANALYSIS
After listening to the predictions given by eac member of the group, answer the
following questions:
1. When you gave your own predictions as to the kind of child, adolescent and
adult Naschielle and Kenn may become and hypothesized on who they once were,
you were referring to human development. What then is development? Translate
the meaning of development in your Mother Tongue.
2. Will three-year old Kenn be able to do all that seven-year old Naschielle can
do? Why or why not?
3. Will there be anything common in the pattern of development of Naschielle
and Kenn? If yes, what?
4. Will there be differences in their development, e.g. pace or rate of
development? What and why?
5. Will the process of development take place very fast or gradually? Expound
on your answer.
6. Do you believe that Naschielle and Kenn will continue to develop even in
adulthood? Or will they stop developing in adulthood?

ABSTRACTION
Two approaches to human development
If you believe that Nikki and Kenn 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 developmental change takes place as it does during childhood, your
approach is termed life-span approach.
What are the characteristics of human development from life-span
development, gives the following characteristics:
1. Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. Ken and Naschielle will
continue developing even in adulthood.
2. Development is plastic. Plasticity refers to the potential for change. Development
is possible throughout the life-span. No one is too old to learn. There is no such
thing as "I am too old for that... " Neither Kenn nor Naschielle will be too old to
learn something. Aging is associated with declines in certain intellectual abilities.
These declines can be prevented or reduced. In one research study, the reasoning
abilities of order adults were improved through retraining (Willies & Schose, 1994
cited by Santrock J.. 2005)
3. Development is multidimensional. Development consists of biological, cognitive,
and socio-emotional dimensions. Development as a process is complex because it
is the product of biological, cognitive and socioemotional processes (Santrock,
2002). Biological processes involve changes in the invidual's physical nature. The
brains of Naschielle and Kenn develop.They will gain height and weight. They will
experience hormonal changes when they reach the period of puberty, and
cardiovascular decline as they approach late adulthood. All these show the common
biological processes in development.
Development is relatively orderly.
(http://www.cdipage.com/development.htm) Naschielle and Kenn will learn to sit,
crawl then walk beforethey can run. The muscular control of the trunk and the arms
comes earlier as compared to the hands and fingers. This is the proximodistal
pattern. During infancy, the greatest growth in size, weight and future
differentiation gradually working its way down from top to bottom (for example,
neck shoulders, middle trunk and so on). this is the cephalo-caudial pattern. These
development patterns are common to Naschielle and Kenn.
Development takes place gradually
(http://www.cdipage.com/development.htm) Naschielle and Kenn won’t develop
into pimply teenagers overnight. It takes years before they become one. In fact,
that’s the way of nature. The bud does not blossom suddenly. The seed does not
germinate overnight. While some changes occur in a flash of insight, more often it
taks weeks, months, or years for a person to undergo changes that result in the
display of developmental characteristics.
Cognitive processes involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence,
and language. Naschielle and Kenn develop from mere sounds to a word becoming
two words, the two words becoming a sentence. They would move on to
memorizing their first prayer, singing Bayang Magiliw in every flag ceremony to
imaging what it would be like to be a teacher or a pilot, playing chess and solving a
complex math problem. All these reflect the role of cognitive processes in
development.
Socioemotional processes include changes in the individual’s relationships with
other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality. As babies Naschielle
and Kenn responded with a sweet smile when affectionately touched and frowned
when displeased and even showed temper tantrum when they could not get or do
what they wanted. From aggressive children,they may develop into a fine lady and a
gentlement or otherwise, depending on a myriad of factors. They may fall in love
and get inspired for life or may end up betrayed, deserted and desperate afterwards.
All these reflect the role of socioemotional processes in development.
These bological, cognitive and socioemotional processe are inextricably
interwined. While these processes are studied separately, the effect of one process
or factor on a person’s development is not isolated from the other processes. If
Kenn and Naschielle where undernourished and troubled by the thought of father
and mother about to separate, they could not concentrate on their studies and
consequently would fail and repeat. As a consequence, they may lose face and drop
out of school, revert to illiteracy, become unskilled, unemployed and so on and so
forth. See how a biological process, affects the cognitive process which in turn,
affects the socioemotional process.
4. Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a changing world.
Individuals respond to and act on contexts. These contexts include the individual’s
biological make up, physical environment, cognitive processes, historical, social and
cultural contexts. (Santrock, 2002). Naschielle’s and Kenn’s biological make up,
social and cultural contexts may vary and therefore make them develop differently
from each other.
5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. Growth,
maintenance and regulations are three (3) goals of human development. The goals
of individuals vary among developmental stages. For instance, as individuals reach
middle and late adulthood, concern with growth gets into the back stage while
maintenance and regulation take the center stage.

APPLICATION
1. State five characteristics of human development from a life-span perspective and
their implications to child care, education and parenting.

Characteristic of human development Educational Implication to Child Care,

from a life-span Education and Parenting
1. Development is a lifelong
2.
3.
4.
5.

2. “Growth is an evidence of life” or “development is an evidence of life.” What

does this mean? What does this imply to a person’s development?
3. If your approach to human development is traditional, are the characteristics of
human development from a life-span perspective acceptable? Explain your answer.
4. Below are the principles of child development and learning which are the bases of
developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) in eary childhood program for children
from birth through age 8, which were stated in the position paper of the National
Association for the Education of Young Children (2009). They affirm the
characteristics of life-span development approach we just discussed. Find out which
one is a re-statement of the principles of human development by stating the
characteristic of human development from life-span perspective in the second
column.

Principles of Human Development Characteristic of Human Development

(NAEC, 2009) from Life-span Perspective
a. All the domains of development and e.g. Development is multidimensional
learning - physical, social and emotional,
and cognitive - are important, and they
are closely interrelated. Children’s
development and learning I one domain
influence and are influenced by what
takes place in other domains.
b. Many aspects of children’s learning
and development follow well
documented sequences, with later
abilities, skills, and knowledge building
on those already acquired.
c. Development and learning proceed at
varying rates from child to child, as well
as at uneven rates across different areas
of a child’s individual functioning.
d. Development and learning result from
a dynamic and continuous interaction of
biological maturation and experience.
e. Early experiences have profound
effects, both cumulative and delayed, on
a child’s development and learning; and
optimal periods exist for certain types of
development and learning to occur.
f. Development proceeds toward greater
complexity, self-regulation, and symbolic
or representational capacities.
g. Children develop best when they have
secure, consistent relationships with
responsive adults and opportunities for
positive relationships with peers.
h. Development and learning occur in
and are influenced by multiple social and
cultural on texts.
i. Always mentally active in seeking to
understand the world around them,
children learn in a variety of ways; a
wide range of teaching strategies and
interactions are effective in supporting
all these kinds of learning.

TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING

1. Do the following to ensure mastery of the big ideas presented in this Module.
a. Give the meaning of human development
____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________

2. Fill in the blanks with the correct answer.

Patterns of development
a. The direction of growth following the cephalocaudal pattern is from
the_____________________ to the
_____________________________________________
b. The direction of growth following the proximodistal pattern is from
_________________________ to the
____________________________________________

3. Differences between the traditional and life-span approaches to human

development.
4. Characteristics of human development from a life-span perspective.

Characteris
tics of
human
developme
nt

5. In one sentence, write the characteristics of human development expressed in

this Venn diagram.
_____________________________________________________________________
____________
6. Discuss the meaning of the quotations written beneath the title of these Unit and
Module. Relate the quotation to your life. Child care, education and parenting.

a. Socioemotional proceses
b. Cognitive processes
c. Biological processes

7. Put a √ check before a correct statement and an × before a wrong one. If you put
×, explain why.
___ 1. Development is a pattern of change.
___ 2. Development is either growth or decline.
___ 3. From both traditional and life-span perspectives development is lifelong.
___ 4. In the development process, there are things that hold true to all people.
___ 5. Individuals develop uniformly.
___ 6. Development is predictable because it follows an orderly process.
___ 7. Development is unidimensional.
___ 8. Development takes place in a vacuum.
___ 9. The effect of biological process on development is isolated from the effect of
cognitive and socioemotional processes.
RESEARCH CONNECTION
View on YouTube of Helen Pearson: Lessons from the longest study on human
development. Fill out the matrix given below.

Problem

Source: (biolographical
entry format)
__________________ Research
Findings
Methodology
________________
___________

Conclusions

How are the findings of this research useful to teachers?

____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________

REFLECTION
5- Minute Non-Stop Writing begins…NOW!

Guide Question:
1. You are a bundle of possibilities. You are meant to develop like any other living
thing or else you will rut. Remember “Growth is an evidence of life.” If you are alive,
then you must be growing and developing. Are you on your way to development?
2. Like you each of your future student is also a bundle of possibilities. How should
you look at them in terms of development? Write down your reflections. There’s no
wrong answer, remember.