UNDERSTANDING CHILD WHAT ARE THE ENDURING THEMES IN
DEVELOPMENT CHILD DEVELOPMENT?
Why Student Child Development? 1. Nature and nurture
1. Raising Children ( important not just for 2. The active child
parents but also for teachers)
3. Continuity / discontinuity
2. Choosing Social Policies
- continuous-development come from small
- teaching have a say on this increments
- research can be a start of a new policy - gradual process of changes.
- through research it can help create - example is growth of a banana on a
policies to protect the children banana tree
3. Understanding Human Nature - discontinuous - it happens in stages
What are the Historical Foundations of - drastic change
the Study of Child Development
- example is the stages of a butterfly
1. Early Philosophers View of Children's
Development ( Aristotle and Plato belived 4. Mechanisms of developmental change
that children is the foundatiom of society) (humans are like computers)
2. Social Reform Movements - it can be compared to our neurons
3. Darwin's Theory of Evaluation 6. Sociocultural context
- Charles Darwin formally studied children ( - individual differences
objective study on his own child through
7. Research and children's welfare
observation)
- close sectional design you will observe set
• Early 1900 , French Government of different children with different lifestyle
commussioned people to study childrem
and develop an instrument to measure - longitudinal design you will only study one
intelligence group of participants and will observe for a
long period of time.
- Simon and Binet (1905) - came up with
the instrument Informal-interviews in public places
• In 1960 it was changed to Stanford & Formal- the child is placed in a controlled
Binet Intelligence test for children room with the supervision of parent
4. The Emergence of Child Development
as a Discipline
WHAT ARE THE ETHICAL ISSUES IN • 7 MONTHS- CRAWLS
CHILD- DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH? • 8 MONTHS - PULLS SELF TO
STAND
1. Be sure that the research does not harm
children physically or psychologically. • 9 MONTHS - PLAYS PAT-A-CAKE
2. Obtain informed consent for participating • 11 MONTHS- STANDS ALONE
in the research.
• 12 MONTHS - WALKS ALONE
3. Preserve individual participants'
anonymity. • 13 MONTHS- BUILDS TOWER OF
2 CUBES
4. Discuss with parents or guardians any
information • 14 MONTHS- SCRIBBLES
VIGOROUSLY
Yielded by the investigation that is important
for the Child's welfare. • 16 MONTHS- WALKS UP STAIRS
WITH HELP
5. Try to counteract any unforeseen
negative consequences that arise during • 23 MONTHS- JUMPS IN PLACE
research. • 25 MONTHS - WALKS ON TIPTOE
6. Correct any inaccurate impressions that MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY
the child may develop in the course of the CHILDHOOD
study.
• As children’s bodies become more
streamlined and less top heavy, their
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT center of gravity shifts downward,
toward the trunk.
GROSS AND FINE MOTOR
ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE FIRST 2 • Balance improves greatly, paving
YEARS the way for new motor skills
involving large muscles of the body.
• 6 WEEKS - HEAD ERECT AND
STEADY • As children become steadier on their
feet, their arms and tprssos are
• 2 MONTHS- ELEVATES SELF BY freed to experiment with new skills.
ARMS
• The upper and lower body skills
• 2 MONTHS- ROLLS FROM SIDE combine into more refined actions.
TO BACK
• By the end of the preschool years,
• 3 MONTHS - GRASPS CUBE all skills are performed with freater
speed and endurance.
• 4 ½ MONTHS - ROLLS FROM
BACK TO SIDE
• 7 MONTHS - SITS ALONE
FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
• Fine motor skills take a giant leap
forward during early childhood.
• Young children play put puzzles
together, build structures out of small
blocks, cut and paste, and string
beads because control of the hands
and fingers improves.
• Children gradually become self-
sufficient at dressing and feeding.
• Preschoolers get great satisfaction
from managing their own bodies.
• Drawing and writing improve.
FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE
CHILDHOOD
• Fine motor development also
improves steadily over the school
years.
• Children enjoy experimenting on
building models, working on puzzles
with tiny pieces, and weaving on
small looms.
• Middle childhood is also the time
when many children take up musical
instruments, which demand
considerable fine motor control.
• Gains in fine motor skill are
especially evident in children’s
writing and drawing.
• Children’s drawings show dramatic
gains in organization, detail, and
representation of depth.
• By the end of the preschool years,
children can accurately copy many
two-dimensional shapes and they
integrate these into their drawings.
