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Study Guide in Prof. Ed. 101 Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles Module No. 15

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. 15

DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEARNERS AT VARIOUS STAGES:

UNIT 6: ADOLESCENCE (THE HIGH SCHOOL LEARNER)
MODULE OVERVIEW

This module seeks to facilitate the learning in defining/describing the adolescent along physical
development with focus on the major change factor of puberty. Early and late physical maturation
will be discussed, while identifying dangers and opportunities for the growing teenage child. The
impact of social media will be highlighted, to invite learners to further research on topics as body-
image, social media and the adolescent, and the roles and responsibilities of the family, school and
government.

Adolescence is a stage of human development that coincides with puberty, a biological

development occurring at the average age of 11 for girls and 12 for boys. There are factors,
however, which contribute to early puberty and delayed puberty. These factors include heredity,
diet, exercise and socio-environmental influence.

Early and late maturation in adolescence accompany the cognitive and socio-emotional
development of adolescents. In this situation, the teacher must be an understanding teacher
learners in their high school years.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, challenge yourself to:

 Describe the physical and sexual changes accompanying puberty.

 Identify the psychological consequences of early and late physical maturation in
adolescence.
 Identify factors that enhance/impede the socio-emotional development of adolescents.
 Identify causes of possible habit disorders and ways of coping with them.
 Present an abstract of recent related to the physical development of adolescents.
 Draw implications of these physical development concepts to high school teaching-learning,
and parenting.
 Describe the cognitive development of adolescents in the light of Piaget’s and Siegler’s
cognitive development theories.


LEARNING CONTENTS : PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Adolescence Defined

Adolescence is often characterized as a period of transformation, primarily, in terms of physical,

cognitive, and social-relational change. Adolescence is a developmental stage that has been
defined as starting with puberty and ending with the transition to adulthood (approximately ages 10–
20). Adolescence has evolved historically, with evidence indicating that this stage is lengthening as

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individuals start puberty earlier and transition to adulthood later than in the past. Puberty today
begins, on average, at age 10–11 years for girls and 11–12 years for boys. This average age of
onset has decreased gradually over time since the 19th century by 3–4 months per decade, which
has been attributed to a range of factors including better nutrition, obesity, increased father
absence, and other environmental factors (Steinberg, 2013). Completion of formal education,
financial independence from parents, marriage, and parenthood have all been markers of the end of
adolescence and beginning of adulthood, and all of these transitions happen, on average, later now
than in the past. In fact, the prolonging of adolescence has prompted the introduction of a new
developmental period called emerging adulthood that captures these developmental changes out of
adolescence and into adulthood, occurring from approximately ages 18 to 29 (Arnett, 2000). (46)

Puberty

Adolescence begins with puberty. While the sequence of physical changes in puberty is predictable,
the onset and pace of puberty vary widely. Several physical changes occur during puberty, such as
adrenarche and gonadarche, the maturing of the adrenal glands and sex glands, respectively. Also
during this time, primary and secondary sexual characteristics develop and mature. Primary sexual
characteristics are organs specifically needed for reproduction, like the uterus and ovaries in
females and testes in males. Secondary sexual characteristics are physical signs of sexual
maturation that do not directly involve sex organs, such as development of breasts and hips in girls,
and development of facial hair and a deepened voice in boys. Girls experience menarche, the
beginning of menstrual periods, usually around 12–13 years old, and boys experience spermarche,
the first ejaculation, around 13–14 years old.

During puberty, both sexes experience a rapid increase in height (i.e., growth spurt). For girls this
begins between 8 and 13 years old, with adult height reached between 10 and 16 years old. Boys
begin their growth spurt slightly later, usually between 10 and 16 years old, and reach their adult
height between 13 and 17 years old. Both nature (i.e., genes) and nurture (e.g., nutrition,
medications, and medical conditions) can influence height.

Because rates of physical development vary so widely among teenagers, puberty can be a source
of pride or embarrassment. Early maturing boys tend to be stronger, taller, and more athletic than
their later maturing peers. They are usually more popular, confident, and independent, but they are
also at a greater risk for substance abuse and early sexual activity (Flannery, Rowe, & Gulley, 1993;
Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Rissanen, & Rantanen, 2001). Early maturing girls may be teased or
overtly admired, which can cause them to feel self-conscious about their developing bodies. These
girls are at a higher risk for depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders (Ge, Conger, &
Elder, 2001; Graber, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Striegel-Moore & Cachelin, 1999).
Late blooming boys and girls (i.e., they develop more slowly than their peers) may feel self-
conscious about their lack of physical development. Negative feelings are particularly a problem for
late maturing boys, who are at a higher risk for depression and conflict with parents (Graber et al.,
1997) and more likely to be bullied (Pollack & Shuster, 2000).
Read more on:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-fscj-childpsychology/chapter/physical-development-during-
adolescence/
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescence2.html

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LEARNING ACTIVITY 1

Reflection:
Write a personal journal on your experiences as an adolescent and how you were able to
overcome issues related to the period, such as self-esteem, body image, boy-girl romantic
relationship, etc.

LEARNING CONTENTS : COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Adolescence is a time of change. Some changes are hard to miss, like when you turn around and
notice that your child seems to have grown a head taller. But what may be the most miraculous
change is one you can’t see at all. It is the transformation in how your child can think — or cognitive
development. Cognitive development is critical in preparing young people to be able to manage
complexity, make judgments, and plan for the future.
Adolescents whose thinking is well-developed will be successful and prepared to lead us forward.
Parents and caregivers support adolescents’ growing cognitive development when we:

 Create an environment where teens’ ideas and independent thinking are valued.
 Engage teens in discussions about current events, and ask them to consider solutions to
problems.
 Recognize when teens make well-thought-out decisions.
 Help teens reconsider their mistakes. Encourage them to imagine how consequences could
have been avoided.
 Engage in political and spiritual discussions calmly, even if we do not share their views.
 Celebrate the idealism of youth and recognize it as the hope for the future.
 Listen to teens plan for their future and encourage them to discover more about themselves
over time.

Piaget's Formal Operational Thinker

Piaget formulated the theory of Formal Operational Thinking which demonstrates how the cognitive
capacity of the adolescent allows him/ her to go beyond the sensible and concrete in order to dwell
on what is abstract, hypothetical and possible. In this realm of thought, the adolescent begins to
attain subtlety in thinking, entering the sphere of possibles and futuribles. More specifically, formal
operational thinking consists in:

(a) Propositional thinking--making assertions outside visual evidence, and stating what may be
possible in things not seen by the eyes (for example, whether an unseen object is red or green, big
or small, flat or round),
(b) Relativistic thinking - subjectively making an opinion on facts involving one's own bias, prejudice
of distortion of facts - which may be either right or wrong (for example, arguing for or against the
superiority of the races, whether white, brown, yellow or black).
(c) Real versus possible - examining a situation and exploring the possible in terms of situations or
solutions (e.g. possible success in implementing a student project or a school policy).

For Piaget one indication of the presence of formal operational thinking is the ability of the
adolescent thinker for combinational analysis, which is his taking stock of the effects of several
variables in a situation, testing one variable at a time, and not randomly. An application of a
situation which requires combinational analysis is the school laboratory experiment where high
school students test chemical elements singly and in combination, resulting in an understanding of

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chemical changes.

A new capacity known as Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning emerges in the adolescent reasoning

from general facts / situations to a particular conclusion. The school pendulum experiment is an
example of deducing from variables and generating and recognizing a truth, expressed by the
transitional process of deriving a conclusion from a hypothesis.

Scientific evidence shows that while adolescents may obtain the capacity for formal operational
thinking, only experience and education will allow them to practice it. School math and science
activities such as performing Physics-type problems (balance scales, pendulums, projections of
images and shadows, etc.) certainly help in actualizing formal operational thinking.

Outside formal operational thinking through mathematical and science studies, the adolescent
enters into a new capability which makes him a problem-solving thinker. This involves identifying
problems and seeking new and creative solutions for them. The problem-finding thinker is one who
is able to rethink and reorganize ideas and ask questions, even defining totally new problems not
previously seen.

The adolescent may further experience an increase in depth of thought. Thus he/she is able to bring
what is logically "best" for everyday life, whether or not this may be the objectively correct solution
or response to a situation or problem.

Siegler's Information Processing Skills

As in information-processing theories, Robert Siegler views the influence of the environment on

thinking. He sees cognitive growth, not

as stages of development, but more of a sequential acquisition of specific knowledge and strategies
for problem-solving. He observes the quality of information the adolescent processes that influences
him/her in facing tasks at hand through strategies or rules.

In his experiments, Siegler used rule models in relation to balance, weight, distance, conflict-weight,
conflict-distance, and other conflict balance problems. He examined the correct and wrong answers
to each of the problems, drawing out rule models in thinking and knowing.

Thereupon, adolescents may show: (a) speed in information processing, coupled with greater
awareness and control and acquired knowledge base - a more efficient kind of thinking compared
with that of the child (b) complexity by way of considering longer-term implications and possibilities
beyond the here-and-now, and (c) increased volume of information processing coupled with longer
memory span.

Behavior and adolescent cognitive growth

1. Egocentrism
2. Idealism
3. Increased argumentativeness

Read more on:

https://pedsinreview.aappublications.org/content/34/8/354
https://parentandteen.com/adolescent-cognitive-development/

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2

Share your thoughts on the following:

a. What were the improvements of your thought patterns during adolescence comparing these

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with those of your elementary school days?

b. How does cognitive advancement among teens relate to how they think about (i) relationship
with parents (ii) school authority figures such as teachers and administrators (iii) social
relationship with the opposite sex?

LEARNING CONTENTS : SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Human emotions

Generally emotions are commonly known as human feelings that are manifested by varied
conscious or unconscious moods. A more accurate description is that it is a subjective reaction to
internal or external stimulus that involves physical change, action or appraisal. Thus the child reacts
to inner hunger for food or comfort from surrounding environment. The unique patterns of emotions
are (i) event that is strong or important (ii) physiological changes in heart pulse rate, brain activity,
hormone levels and body temperature (iii) readiness for action often described as "fight or flight" (iv)
dependence of the emotion on how the stimulus is appraised or interpreted.

Biologists view that the part of the body which controls emotional reactions is the autonomic
nervous system connected to most of the glands and muscles in the body. The system has two
parts: the sympathetic part which excites or arouses and the parasympathetic part which depresses
body functions. These parts coordinate for arousal or slowing down amid the challenges of life.

Positive and negative emotions

Emotions function by focusing attention, motivating and enabling the individual to face a situation in
life or withdraw and run away from it. Positive emotions like interest and joy motivate the individual
to continue his/her behavior. On the other hand, negative emotions may cause withdrawal from
what may be perceived as bad or dangerous. For Charles Darwin there are six basic emotions,
namely interest, joy/ happiness, sadness, anger, disgust and fear. Other scientists expanded the list
to include love, pride, hope, gratitude, compassion, jealousy and anxiety.

Social emotions

Social emotions start to emerge as early as the toddler years (15-24 months) comprised by such
feelings as envy, embarrassment, shame, guilt and pride. Observable emotions during these years
may not be accurate, but they can be a problem if not controlled. Even among early learners,
emotions affect learning, since learners pay more attention to things with emotional significance.
Emotions can also organize recall, such that learners tend to remember details of emotionally
strong experiences. In time, emotional competence can be developed by the child and this means
he/she gains the ability to regulate emotions and understand the emotions of other people.

Girls are more skilled in regulating emotions, but they are more likely than boys to be anxious, and
twice as likely to be depressed. Adolescent girls are more likely than boys to have both negative
and positive interactions with family and friends. Adolescents especially feel stress, usually from
relationships with parents, friends, sweethearts, also from pressure of school work. Thus,
adolescents are stereotyped as moody and negative, poor emotion control. Some studies argue
against stereotyping adolescents pointing at other emotions among teens such as feeling bored,
tired, sleepy, social discomfort like awkwardness and loneliness. Generally, adolescents are seen to
tend to emotions from social evaluation such as feeling embarrassed when being looked at, also
only fairly happy most of the time. Other observations are that most adolescents are not moody,
while some are frequently angry, anxious or sad. An important lesson for high school teachers is:

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you should not simply dismiss emotional negativity as a normal phase, but should address the
needs of teenagers who are chronically unhappy or moody. computers, cell phones, video games,
music iPods, FM radio and cable television. Almost all household have television sets and about
three

The adolescent and social media

On the present-day profusion of media, the adolescent has easy access to the culture of various
media and social media, inclusive of quarters of adolescents' homes have access to the Internet.
The total media exposure of the whole populace has greatly increased, even as adolescents have
the highest rates of use of video games, texting, social networking through Facebook, and portable
gadgets for music, mobile communication and virtual reality games.

Findings indicate that electronic communication negatively affects adolescents' social development.
As face-to-face communication is replaced, social skills are impaired sometimes leading to unsafe
interaction with those who use social media to exploit others financially or sexually. Girls are
particularly vulnerable to online socializing, while boys socializing in Internet cafes lower their
academic work and achievement. Socially insecure teens become victims rather than beneficiaries
of the modern gadgets innovations of the digital age.

Read more on:

https://www.virtuallabschool.org/infant-toddler/social-emotional/lesson-2

LEARNING ACTIVITY 3

REFLECTION:

Through a reflection journal, relate the concept of maturation of feelings and growth of self-image to
what you see as the best theory on human emotions. You may answer the following questions:

1. How was I emotionally affected by my own beliefs, bias or prejudice about people?
2. How has the physical environment at home or school affected my emotions- positively or
negatively?
3. How did people affect my emotional maturity, e.g. parent, teacher, friend?

SUMMARY

Adolescence is a period of life with specific health and developmental needs and rights. It is also
a time to develop knowledge and skills, learn to manage emotions and relationships, and acquire
attributes and abilities that will be important for enjoying the adolescent years and assuming
adult roles.
All societies recognize that there is a difference between being a child and becoming an adult.
How this transition from childhood to adulthood is defined and recognized differs between
cultures and over time. In the past it has often been relatively rapid, and in some societies it still
is. In many countries, however, this is changing.

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Age: not the whole story

Age is a convenient way to define adolescence. But it is only one characteristic that delineates
this period of development. Age is often more appropriate for assessing and comparing
biological changes (e.g. puberty), which are fairly universal, than the social transitions, which
vary more with the socio-cultural environment.

Adolescence: physical changes

Adolescence is one of the most rapid phases of human development. Although the order of
many of the changes appears to be universal, their timing and the speed of change vary among
and even within individuals. Both the characteristics of an individual (e.g. sex) and external
factors (e.g. inadequate nutrition, an abusive environment) influence these changes.

Adolescence: psychological and social changes

Linked to the hormonal and neurodevelopmental changes that are taking place are psychosocial
and emotional changes and increasing cognitive and intellectual capacities. Over the course of
the second decade, adolescents develop stronger reasoning skills, logical and moral thinking,
and become more capable of abstract thinking and making rational judgements.
Changes taking place in the adolescent’s environment both affect and are affected by the
internal changes of adolescence. These external influences, which differ among cultures and
societies, include social values and norms and the changing roles, responsibilities, relationships
and expectations of this period of life.

Implications for health and behaviour

In many ways adolescent development drives the changes in the disease burden between
childhood to adulthood—for example, the increase with age in sexual and reproductive health
problems, mental illness and injuries.
The appearance of certain health problems in adolescence, including substance use disorders,
mental disorders and injuries, likely reflects both the biological changes of puberty and the social
context in which young people are growing up. Other conditions, such as the increased
incidence of certain infectious diseases, for example, schistosomiasis, may simply result from
the daily activities of adolescents during this period of their lives.
Many of the health-related behaviours that arise during adolescence have implications for both
present and future health and development. For example, alcohol use and obesity in early
adolescence not only compromise adolescent development, but they also predict health-
compromising alcohol use and obesity in later life, with serious implications for public health.
Implications for policies and programmes
The changes that take place during adolescence suggest nine observations with implications for
health policies and programmes:
 Adolescents need explicit attention.
 Adolescents are not all the same.
 Some adolescents are particularly vulnerable.
 Adolescent development has implications for adolescent health.

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 Adolescent development has health implications throughout life.

 The changes during adolescence affect how adolescents think and act.
 Adolescents need to understand the processes taking place during adolescence.
 To contribute positively, adults need to understand the processes taking place during
adolescence.
 Public health and human rights converge around concepts of adolescent development.

REFERENCES

Brenda B. Corpuz, Ph.D, et. al. (2018). The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles.
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Phil. Lorimar Publishing Inc.

https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/development/en/
https://www.virtuallabschool.org/infant-toddler/social-emotional/lesson-2

https://pedsinreview.aappublications.org/content/34/8/354

https://parentandteen.com/adolescent-cognitive-development/

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-fscj-childpsychology/chapter/physical-development-during-
adolescence/

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescence2.html

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