“Individual differences in children and its importance to the teacher in

the school setting”..”

PAPER
PRESENTED TO

REV. AMBRUSE FAITH JOEL SANDY

COURSE LECTURER
LIBERIAN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

IN
PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE PYSCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT & LEARNING (PSYC 233)

BY

LAWRENCE Y. YEOH, SR.

1
Table of content:

A. Introduction…………………………………………………………………...........3

B. Definition of terms…………………………………………………………............4

 Heredity

 Environment

C. Ways in which one child / Children may differ from Another………………….5-6

D. The school as a Social / Educational Agency…………………………………..6

E. Importance of a knowledge of individual differences to the teacher ………...6-7

F. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………,,,,,,,,7

G. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...8

2
A. Introduction:

“Individual differences in children and it

s importance to the teacher in the school setting”, is the center of this paper. It is
required to prepared a 5-7pages paper for presentation as mid-term. The paper reflects
on seven (7) contents areas stipulated below the table of content. These are dialogue
and dialectics here and in other educational settings worldwideother educational setting
around the world.

Teaching as an activity takes place in many contexts, in religion, politics, education, etc.
however, this paper will be considered the teacher, and school as a place of activities to
for the teacher and the children as the main activities involving education.

B. Definition of terms:

The combined effects of heredity and environment creates an individual who is an

individual distinctly different from any other person in many ways. The concept of
individual differences simply meansIndividual differences mean that no two persons are
the same or behave in the same mannersimilarly. Wide variations exist among people
due to hereditary and environmental influences.

Heredity: it is the transmission of traits or characteristics from parents to their

offspring’s is the transmission of traits or characteristics from parents to their
offspring through the genes. E.g., Characteristics such as long/short figures, the color
of skin, the color of hairs or eyes, level of intelligence, and certain diseases such as
sickle cell. Hereditary influences the transmission of defective chromosomes and
genes. Individual The individual with Down’s syndrome have has been found to
exhibitexhibited some forms of behavioral disorder.

3
Environment: this refers to the physical surroundings of the childchild's physical
surroundings both before and after birth. All factors that affect the child’s growth and
development which do not work through the genes are environmentalEnvironmental
factors that affect the child’s growth and development that do not work through the
genes. E.g., Physical deformities that result from the pregnant mother’s use of drugs,
acquired behaviors such as gossiping, etc. It is clear that the environmental factors such
as parental neglect and abuse (lack of maternal love), peer influence, and socio-
economic background has its an influence impact on the child

Heredity sets the limit of an individual’s potential, but the environment determines
whether that potential will be reached or not.

C. Ways in which one child / Children may differ from another:

According to Lawrence O. Richards & Gary J. Bredfeldt in their book;

Creative Bible Teaching. Focus on needs: Understanding and Assessing
Student Needs, Subtopic: Understanding Student’s needs, page 94. “The
student is at the heart of the teaching – -learning process. The ultimate
objective in teaching the Bible is not Bible knowledge, though that is very
important; it is applied Bible knowledge in student’s everyday lifeit is
essential; it is applied Bible knowledge in students' everyday lives.”

This in my own mind, means we teach people, not the lesson. So we must begin
with people. There is a need to understanding the needs of people and relate
them to the everyday life. Jesus focused on people and their genuine personal
needs. In Mark 2:27, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for
Sabbath”..”

Therefore, children are different from others in so many ways. Ways in which one
person may differ from another are:

 Children are different in physical structure – size, height, weight, etc.

4
 Intellectual ability – high, average, and low achievers. One may be smarter more
intelligent than the other
 Health differences
 Temperament
 Gender – male and female
 Rate of maturation – physical and mental changes occur faster in some children and
slow in others.
 Interest.
 Aptitudes and Talents
 Attitude toward situations
 Socio-economic background

D. The school as a Social / Educational Agency:

The school is a Formal Agency of Education in every normal society. The school is an
Agency of cultural transmition transmission and cultural innovation. It is an agency of
socialization reflecting the culture of the society in which it is located, a miniature of the
society and a microcosm within a social macrocosm. To perform its formal educational
functions, it should have all attributes/characteristics in place, for example: have having
it a definite population of pupils, and teachers, an administrative structure headed by a
Principal, Time table (schedule of the school activities), a Graded classification, ectetc.

There are many definitions for the term teaching. According to Kenneth D. Moore
(1989:6), the Random House Collage College Dictionary defines teaching as the action
of a person, “To impact impart knowledge or skill to; give instruction toinstruct; or “the
act or profession or a person who teaches.

Clerk and Steer (1986), as cited by Moore, suggest, teaching is an attempt to assist
students in acquiring or changing some, knowledge, ideals, attitude, or appreciation.

J. S. Farrant (1982-168) views teaching as a process that facilitates learning, for a

lesson is not taught until it has been learned. In this sense, teaching and learning are
opposite sides of the same coin. In this process the teacher has an important role to

5
playThe teacher plays a vital role in this process because he acts as a “catalyst” actively
stimulating learning.

The definitions and the roles that teachers perform imply that teachers need to be
concerned with all aspects of students’ development – physical, social, emotional, and
cognitive. Therefore, a broad definition of teaching might be; the actions of someone
who is trying to assist others to reachin reaching their fullest potential in all aspects of
development in a culturally approved direction.

On the contrary, Psychology is a science that studies the behavior and mental
processes of both humans and Animals.

Thus, Educational Psychology/ Psychology in Education is therefore the application of

findings and Theories of psychology to the field of Education.

Teaching as an activity takes place in many contexts, in religion, politics, education, etc.
however, in this paper, teaching is considered as one of the main activities involving
education.

The teacher's task is to create or influence desirable changes that is are accepted by
society.

E. Importance of a knowledge of individual differences to the teacher:

Therefore the Importance of Educational Psychology to the Teacher for the purpose of
this paper areis:

 It enables the teacher to deal with each person as an individual.

 The teacher would realize that it is not useful to try to compare all pupils using the
same yardstickcomparing all pupils using the same yardstick is useless. There is no
ideal child, and each individual has his or hetheir strengths and weaknesses.
 It places the teacher in a position to appreciate individual pupil’s pupils’ specific
problems.

6
 Instruction should involve enough individual teaching methods to suit different
students.
 In classroom management, the teacher should also take individual differences into
considerationconsider individual differences. E.g., in sharing duties, consideration
most must be given to emotions (which are both biological and environmental),
interest, intelligence, etc.

The school as a social unit to the teacherAs a social unit to the teacher, the school is a
micro-society within a macro-society. For this reason, the school teacher and school
manager MUST ensure the school must maintainmanager MUST ensure the school
maintains good relationships with the society orsociety or the community. The education
promoted at the school through the curriculum must satisfy the needs of the larger
society. This will make for harmony between the school and the society. There should
be an open communication between the school and the community so that the school
will be aware of the needs of the communitycommunity's needs. The community will
support the school when the school is seen to be relevant to the community. The school
should accept the existence of other agencies of education in the society and cooperate
with them, the family, the church, and the mass media. The school should learn to “use
the whole society” to educate the children of the school. The school should be willing to
exploit resources within the society – materials, sites, work places, and resource
persons for teaching.

F. Conclusion:

As education is a profession like any other profession, it is a concerned to educators in

their quest to further explore more solutions and ways to resolving, it concerns
educators in their quest to further explore more solutions and ways to resolve critical
issues in Education. According to Jack L. Nelson (Rutgers University), Stuart B.
Palonsky (University of Missouri), Mary Rose McCarthy (Pace University), foreword by
Nel Noddings Stanford University; Teacher College, Columbia University, in the book

7
“Critical Issues in Education”. .” In the part one: Whose interest should School serve?
Justice and Equity is are a dialogues and dialectics. Psychology is understanding how
individuals are different in many ways, and there should be a better way to impact
individuals to relate positively within their societies. There is the a need to always
employed Educational Psychology. This means in other words education is infinite, for
there are lots of argument and studies on new knowledge, facts, their relevant, and how
they can be useful to achieving its desireeducation is infinite, for there are many
arguments and studies on new knowledge, facts, their relevance, and how they can be
helpful to achieve its desired goals in any field, mostly mainly to in the field of education.

G. Bibliography:
Critical Issues In Education Dialogues and Dialectics, Jack L. Nelson (Rutgers
University), Stuart B. Palonsky (University of Missouri), Mary Rose McCarthy (Pace
University) foreword by Nel Noddings Stanford University; Teacher College, Columbia
University.

8
The Educational Ministry of a Church, a Comprehensive Model for Students and
Ministers, Revised and Expanded, 1982.
Introduction to Teaching as a Career, by Alfred Tgnatius Taylor (BED HONS. Dip Akan,
M. ED Guidance and Counselling, U.C.C. Department of Pyschology Psychology and
Education, University of Education, Winneba, March, 2003.

Kindly rewrite the reference correctly.