Module 2: The Stages of Development and Developmental Tasks

II. Overview/ Introduction

INTRODUCTION:

A living creature must have a life span in which to grow, develop, mature and to
learn. Its growth and development must be guided with a blue-print that everyone must
know. The growth and development of an individual is shaped by a continual active
interplay or interaction between genetically controlled behaviors or pattern and the
environment.

The first five years of life are a time of incredible growth and learning. An
understanding of the rapid changes in a child's developmental status prepares parents
and caregivers to give active and purposeful attention to the preschool years and to
guide and promote early learning that will serve as the foundation for later learning.
Understanding child development is an important part of teaching young children.
Developmental change is a basic fact of human existence and each person is
developmentally unique. Although there are universally accepted assumptions or
principles of human development, no two children are alike. Children differ in physical,
cognitive, social, and emotional growth patterns. They also differ in the ways they
interact with and respond to their environment as well as play, affection, and other
factors. Some children may appear to be happy and energetic all the time while other
children may not seem as pleasant in personality. Some children are active while others
are typically quiet.
You may even find that some children are easier to manage and like than others.
Having an understanding of the sequence of development prepares us to help and give
attention to all of these children.

III- OBJECTIVES

After having gone through with this lesson, the students will be able to:

a. Identify developmental stages of learners in different in each stage.

b. Describe and explain the development tasks in each stage.
c. Elaborately explain these developmental tasks affect your role as facilitator of
learning.

IV- Learning Content/Topics

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Development -refers to change or growth that occurs in a child during the life

span from birth to adolescence.
This change occurs in an orderly sequence, involving physical, cognitive,
and emotional development. These three main areas of child development involve
developmental changes which take place in a predictable pattern (age related), orderly,
but with differences in the rate or timing of the changes from one person to another.

The General Patterns of a Child Growth and Development

Newborn Infant - The World Health Organization defines the new born period as the first
28 days of life. This is also called the neonatal period, and the medical term for your
new born baby is neonate.

 Period of Partunate- This is the first 15 to 30 minutes of life, including the time
during and immediately after the parturition.
 Period of Neonate- This is the period where the newly born baby are making
adjustments essential to life, free from the protection of the intrauterine
environment.

Period of Adjustments of a New Born Baby

 Adjustment to temperature changes

 In the mother’s womb he is accustomed to a constant temperature of around 100
degrees. But after birth, the usual temperature is between 68 to 70 degrees and
sometimes it varies.

Adjustment to breathing

 Inside the womb, in its amniotic sac in the uterus, the fetus is surrounded by a
fluid environment and all the oxygen needed comes from the placenta through
the umbilical cord, but after birth, the newborn need to inhale and exhale air.

Adjustment to nourishment
  In the sac in the mother’s uterus, the supply of nourishment has been from the
placenta through the umbilical cord, but after birth, he needs to be nourish by
sucking and swallowing his mother’s milk.

Adjustment to elimination

 Inside the womb, elimination is through the umbilical cord and the maternal
placenta, after birth, elimination activities of a newly born is through excretory
organs-the normal way.

Factors that May Influence the Mortality rate during the Neonatal Period

1. Sex differences – More boys die than girls

2. Racial differences
3. Economic status
4. Birth weight, nutrition and gestation period
5. Birth order
6. Disease, illnesses of mothers
7. Ordinal position of siblings
8. Fetal activity

Sensitivities of the New Born Baby

1. Sight - The retina has not reached its mature development, at 30 to 32 hours
after birth, the pupillary reflex is well established
2. Hearing - Some infants do not respond on sounds, due to stoppage of the middle
ear with amniotic fluid.
3. Taste - They have slight development on taste, they prefer sweet taste.
4. Smell - it is well developed at birth. They respond easily to any smell stimuli
5. Skin sensitivities - the sensation of touch, pressure, pain and temperature is
present at birth
6. Organic sensitivities- the sensation on hunger and thirsts are not specifically
developed at birth, but the usual practice of mothers of which they give milk
every time the baby cries.

Vocalization period of the newborn

 The Birth Cry- marks the beginning of vocalization

 It serves two Purpose:

1. To supply the blood with sufficient oxygen

2. To inflate the lungs

FACTS:

 During the first 24 hours after birth, the infant’s cry may have different
meanings according to its pitch, intensity and continuity of the cry
 Stimuli which arouse the infant to cry may be from environment,
psychological condition like:

a. hunger
b. pain or discomfort
c. fatigue or lack of exercise
d. wet diapers
e. vomiting
 Explosive Sounds- this is another type of vocalization which are
commonly referred as the “coos”, “grunts” and “gurgles”
 Sneezing- healthy infant sneezes several times in a day and thus it
helps clears the nose of any unnecessary matter in it.
 Yawning
 Whining
 hiccupping

Understanding Pre-Mature Babies

It is indeed necessary to know some basic information about the child

background to understand his or weaknesses or shortcomings. This will enable us to
adjust from their tantrums or unexplainable behavior.

Facts about Prematurity

 The healthy premature infant does not acquire any unnatural precocity: neither
does he suffer any set back. He still follows the basic sequence of normal growth
upon coping up.
  The premature infants develop faster in his post-natal environment than do
infants who are born at full term
 On Physical development, the time needed to regain their weight lost at birth is
inversely related to the length at the gestation period.
 At the age of 20, premature babies are likely smaller than those who born at full
term.
 Premature infants have ore illnesses while growing up.
 The most serious defect develop among premature babies are related to their
eyes.
 The use of oxygen for premature babies usually results to retrolental fibroplasia.
This is the formation of scar tissue that makes the lens of the eye opaque and
leaves damage ranging from mild impairment of vision to blindness.
 On developmental status, premature babies are somewhat retarded for the first 5
months of life. But after that, retardation becomes increasingly less.
 On their motor control, Premature infants are most likely backward in terms on
motor performance.
 On their speech development, most probably, premature babies are retarded in
their speech development. They have more speech defects than of normal birth.
 Babies who are born premature, are most probably have retardation in their
intellectual development and performance during the first two years of life.
 On their emotional development, Psychologist found out that they are perturbed,
shy, irascible and negativistic. They are described as “gentle babies”
 On their social adjustments, there are researches that says, premature babies’
personal social adjustment is superior, and some are shy, attached to their
mothers and show more dependency reactions from mothers.
 In pre-school years and adolescence period, premature babies were found to be
less well-adjusted than full term children.
 On their nervous traits or behavior disorders have been found to be more
numerous among prematurely born babies than among full-term babies.
 Some indications of behavior disorders are:
 Thumb and finger sucking, nail biting
 Masturbation
 Psychosomatic difficulties like poor sleep, fatigability
 Emotional difficulties like irritability, shyness, hot-tempered
 Disturbances on intellectual performance like concentration and attention
difficulties, forgetfulness

PRE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT
 People sometimes mistakenly or probably they lack knowledge about the role of
heredity and environment.

In this chapter, we will be having important concepts to remember in order to

understand better the concept about heredity, genes, chromosomes, zygote, cytoplasm
and many other terms that will make us understand the importance of pre-natal
development of an unborn child.

The Carriers of Heredity

a. Gene- the transmitter of hereditary traits

b. Zygote -fertilized germ cell, this consist of the male cell (sperm cell) and female
cell (ova or egg cell)
c. Cytoplasm- outer ring part of the cells- this is composed of a mass relatively
undifferentiated protoplasmic material
d. Nucleus- the “life- giving part” of the cell, this is within the cytoplasm
e. Chromosomes- these are found in the nucleus and each chromosomes contains
about 3,000 genes.
There are 48 chromosomes in the fertilized germ cell of the human being, of
which 24 comes from the mother and 24 comes from the father.

The Zygote and the Process of Cell Division

The hereditary is transmitted at the time of conception when the female egg cell
is fertilized by the male sperm cell

The union of the egg cell and sperm cell within the mother’s womb results in a
new cell called zygote

The hereditary units that a child receives from a parent and transmit to the
offspring are carried by microscopic particles known as chromosomes.

Each chromosome is composed of many individual hereditary units called genes,

which also occur in pairs- one gene in each pair comes from the sperm chromosomes.

Maturation of Sex Cells

Terms to Remember:
 a. GONADS- these are the reproductive organs where the maternal and
paternal germ cells develop
b. TESTES- this is a male gonads and this produce male germ cells –called
sperm or spermatozoa/spermatozoon
c. OVARIES- this is the female gonads; this produces the female germ cells-
egg cell or ova/ovum’
d. HAPLOID CELL- a cell with one half its usual chromosomes
e. GAMETES- another term for germ cells or also called the “marrying cells”

Outstanding features of ovum and spermatozoon

1. The ovum is large compared with other cells of the body.

While spermatozoon is among the smallest cells of the body

A. The ovum is round shape and non –motile with no means of locomotion within
itself, while the spermatozoon is elongated in shape and very motile
B. Normally, only one ovum is produced each menstrual cycle with 28 days, the
spermatozoon is very numerous, approximately three million found in 3 cubic
centimeters of seminal fluid in one ejection.
C. The ovum contains 24 matched chromosomes while half of the spermatozoa
contain 23 matched and 1 unmatched, and half contain 24 matched
chromosomes

Chromosomes of the Father determine the sex of the child:

a. Woman have two special chromosomes called X chromosomes (XX)

b. Men have 2 kinds of sperm, half of which have the X chromosome and half the Y
chromosome
c. Men have only one X chromosome paired with a much smaller one, a Y
chromosomes(XY)
d. If an egg fertilized by an X sperm – it produces a baby girl
e. If an egg fertilized by a Y sperm –it produces a baby boy

HOW LIFE BEGINS?

Early Stages of Growth

Ovulation- the process of maturing and escaping from an ovary of one ovum
during the menstrual period.
 Fertilization- or conception- this is the stage of formation of the fertilized egg or
zygote.

PERIOD IN PRE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Period of the OVUM- or we call it the “germinal period” which extends from
the moment of conception to the end of 2nd week.
2. Period of the embryo- this is the second week to the end of second month or
6 weeks’ period of pregnancy.
3. Period of FETUS- it starts from the end of second month till it reaches baby’s
birth

Two hormones that prepare the uterine wall to receive and nourish the ovum

1. ESTROGEN- this is present in the follicle in which the ovum matured and
released when the follicle ruptured
2. PROGESTERONE- this is being produced in the wall of the ovary

Three layers from which all parts of the body develop

1. Ectoderm- the outer layer part

-it produces the epidermis of the skin, hair nails, parts of the teeth, skin
glands, sensory cells, and the entire nervous system

2. MESODERM- the middle layer part

-of which it comes the dermis or inner skin layer, the muscles circulatory and
excretory organs are developing

3. ENDODERM- innermost layer

-this will rise to the lining of the entire digestive tract, the Eustachian tubes,
trachea, bronchi, lungs, liver pancreas, salivary glands, thyroid gland and
thymus are developing

The Development Tasks (Santrock, 2002)

 1. Prenatal Period (from conception to birth)- It involves tremendous growth-from a
single cell to an organism complete with brain and behavioral capabilities.
2. Infancy ( from birth to 24 months) –A time of extreme dependence on adults. Many
psychological activities are just beginning- language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor
coordination and social learning.
3. Early childhood (3-5 years )- These are preschool years. Young children learn to
become more self-sufficient and to care for themselves, develop school readiness skills
and spend many hours in play with peers.
4. Middle and late childhood (6-12 years of age, the elementary school years) The
fundamental skills is reading, writing and arithmetic are mastered. The child is formally
exposed to the larger world and its culture. Achivement becomes a more central theme
of the child’s Worland self-control increases.
5. Adolescence-(13-18 years of age ending up to 18-22 years of age) Begins with rapid
physical changes-dramatic gains in height and weight, changes in body contour; and
the development of special characteristics such as enlargement of the breast,
development of pubic and facial hair, and deepening of the voice. Pursuit of
independence and identity are prominent. Thought is more logical, abstract and
idealistic. More time is spent outside of the family.
6. Early adulthood (19-29 years)- It is a time of establishing personal and economic
independence, career development, selecting a mate, learning to live with someone in
an intimate way, starting a family and rearing children.
7. Middle adulthood (30-60 years of age)- It is a time of expanding personal and social
involvement and responsibility; of assisting the next generation in becoming competent
and mature individuals; and of reaching and maintaining satisfaction in a career.
8. Late adulthood (61 and above)-It is a time for adjustment to decreasing strength and
health, life review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles.

V- TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

To test your awareness on the developmental stages of each child, try

to observe a model or a child or an individual for you to answer the
graphic organizer below.
There are eight (8) developmental stage cited by Santrock . Choose an individual for
you to observe their development tasks or outstanding development at every stages.
Record the data you gathered from your observation in the matrix below. Give at least
3 outstanding development in each stage .
Developmental Development Development Development Development

Stages Domain Domain Domain Domain

( Social and Moral (Emotional (Cognitive

Changes or Changes) Changes)
(Physical development )
Changes)

1. Prenatal Period 1.

From conception
to birth

2.

3.

2. Infancy

( from birth to 18-

24 months )

3. Early Childhood

(end of Infancy to
5-6 years )

4.Middle and late

Childhood ( 6-11
years of age

5. Adolescence
10- 12 years
ending up to 18-
22 years of age

6. Early adulthood

Late of 20’s
lasting through the
30’s
7. Middle
adulthood

(40 to 60 years of
age)

8. Late Adulthood

( 60’s and above

To further enhance your awareness and to reflect well on your role as a future teachers,
kindly honestly answer the following questions.

1. What are the implications of these developmental tasks to your role as facilitator of
learning to your learners? Please pay particular attention to the stages that
corresponds to schooling like early childhood, middle and late childhood and
adolescence period.

a. Early Childhood

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b. Middle and late Childhood

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c. Adolescence

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Reflect on your own experiences

Think of a teacher you cannot forget for positive or negative reasons. How did she /he
help you with your physical, emotional, social, moral and cognitive needs? (Just choose
one and share your experience) How did it affect you? How could this help you become
an effective teacher in the future?

a. Experience

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b. How did it affect you?

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c. How could this help you become an effective teacher? Reflect on what you should do as a teacher to
facilitate student’s situations and not to experience the same bad memories like you do.

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VI- Recommended Reading Materials

You may open these link:

(Fertilization period)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVS6lyG-4z0

(Embryo period )https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVS6lyG-4z0

Stages of pre-natal period) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPmJ-A40ySU

(Prenatal period)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJtRitVKsaY

(how to get pregnant with twins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkO9VJ39Ogo