The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles

CHAPTER 1:
STUDYING LEARNERS’
DEVELOPMENT
 KEY QUESTIONS

1. What is the difference between growth and development?

2. What are the different principles of human development?

3. What are the different issues that concern human

development?

4. Why is it relevant to study the learners’ growth and

development?
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Differentiate human growth development by providing

examples.

2. Discuss the different principles of human development.

3. Present ideas on the different issues on human

development.
Studying Learners’ Development
The early year of children's lives are so critical for growth,
health, and development.

Parents, teachers, health professionals, and others can work

hand in hand as stakeholders to help children achieve their full
potential.

It is in these early years where foundations are built that will

support the future growth and development of the child.

Parents contributed the hereditary traits that will be part of the

child's makeup. And as the child grows and develops parents also
provide the necessary environment for growth and development
which will be continued by the teacher when the child enters school.
 Studying Learners’ Development

Teachers have to understand their learners.

In the teaching- learning process, the teacher has to know how

the learners learn. In so doing the teacher should understand the
developmental process that is happening to the growing learners.

Aspects of physical, mental, social, emotional development have

to be understood clearly for the teacher to facilitate learning. In the
process, the learner undergoes different changes from the time of
conception until old age.
 Importance of Studying Children’s
Growth and Development
Why study child and adolescent development?

The more future educators learn about children’s development, the

more they can understand as what level it is appropriate to teach
them.

Early childhood, elementary, and even secondary teachers should

know how learners develop and how they learn. It is known that
development occurs in a relatively orderly sequence so that teachers
can plan for two-year-olds with a variety of tactile materials, knowing
that their learning is more on discovering the relationship between
senses and motor behavior.
Importance of Studying Children’s
Growth and Development

Why study child and adolescent development?

Knowing how learners at different stages develop is critical

in making the daily decisions in the classroom setting,
curriculum, and behavior of children. The teacher who is
well versed in theory has very useful tools with which to
work with parents, advising them of the range of typical
behavior and discussing concerns that go beyond the
norms.
 Growth and Development
Growth essentially is the quantitative changes in individuals as they
progress in chronological age. It may also refer to the change in height
and weight.

On the other hand, development refers to the change over time which
begins from conception and continues throughout the lifespan. It is a
progressive series of changes of an orderly and coherent type leading
toward maturation. It occurs in different domains such as biological,
social, emotional, and cognitive. Development is coherent; it follows a
sequence of change that is related to each other.
Growth and Development

Growth

Size Height Weight

Figure 1.1: Factors affecting Growth

 Principles of Development
There are many studies conducted about growth and development;
researchers and psychologists have established basic principles that govern
growth and development in the life cycle of human beings. They are as
follows:

1. Early foundations are critical.

Attitudes, habits, and patterns of behavior that are established during
the early years determine to a large extent how successfully individuals will
adjust to life as they grow older.

2. Development and learning result from the interaction of heredity

and the environment.
Each child has a unique combination of genes that determine eye and
hair color, height, body shape, personality traits, and intelligence.
 Principles of Development
3. Development proceeds in definite and predictable directions.
The rate of development may vary, but the sequence remains the same
for all children. With the normal speech development, the babies coo first,
then babble, and begin to utter one word sentences and then two to three-
word sentences, and so

4. There are individual differences in development.

Children grow and develop at different rates. Each child has a
timetable. Timetables vary from child to child. In the classroom, the teacher
observes that some children will be larger, better coordinated, or more mature
in their thinking and social relationships. Others will be much slower to mature
in these areas.
 Principles of Development
5. Each phase of development has hazards.
Each stage in the lifespan has its hazards. Each period in the lifespan is
associated with certain developmental hazards whether physical or psychological in
nature. In babyhood, for example, is the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or
commonly known as "crib death". More crib death occurs during the first six months of
the first year. It is important that persons who are in charge of training of children be
aware of these hazards because such awareness makes it possible to prevent or at least
lessen these hazards.

6. Development is aided by stimulation.

It is known to everybody that development will occur as a result of maturation
and environmental experiences. The teacher can make a child reach its full potential once
they are stimulated. This can be done by encouraging the individual to use an ability
which is in the process of developing. For example, the more often the parents talk to
their young child, the earlier and the faster the child learns to talk and the stronger their
motivation to do so. In the same way, stimulation of the muscles during the early years
results in earlier and better-coordinated motor skills.
 Principles of Development
7. Domains of children's development - physical, social, emotional, and
cognitive - are closely related.
Development in one domain influences and is influenced by development in other
domains. One area of development affects the other. A child with hearing loss is likely to
have language delay as well. Thus, physical development affects language skills.

8. Development is affected by cultural changes.

An individual's development is molded to conform to cultural standards and ideals,
and changes in these standards affect the development pattern. For example, standards
for patterns of behavior for boys are different from those appropriate for the girls.

Boys need be strong, active, and aggressive. Girls, on the other hand, are
expected to be weak, passive, and modest. The parents and the teachers are expected to
mold these behaviors to conform to the approved standards. But change is the only
permanent thing in this world, culture even changes that may also result to change in the
child's development.
 Principles of Development

9. There are social expectations for every stage of development.

Every cultural group expects its members to master certain skills and
acquire patterns of behavior at different stages in the lifespan. Developmental
tasks serve as guidelines that enable individuals to know what society expects
of them at given ages. Developmental tasks show individuals what lies ahead
and what they will be expected to do when they reach their next stage of
development.
 Factors of Growth and Development
Human development is affected by two important factors: heredity and environment.
These two great factors are interrelated.

Heredity is the process of transmitting genes from parents to offspring (example: eye
color). In addition, it is the process of passing on the traits and potentialities of both the
mother and the father to their offspring.

Maturation refers to the unfolding of traits potentially present in the individual

considering the hereditary information inherited from the parents. According to Gesell,
et.al (1977), maturation is the net sum of the effects of genes operating in a self-limited
life cycle.

On the other hand, the environment affects the learning of an individual. In the same
way, the environment where the different activities are experienced influences the
learning of an individual. Maturation and learning that the individual experienced in the
environment are interrelated resulting in the development of the individual.
Factors of Growth and Development
Human
Development

Heredity Environment

Figure 1.2: Factors of Development

 Issues on Human Development
Theories are set of general statements used to explain facts. When applied to
development, a theory provides a framework for observing, interpreting, and
explaining changes in the child over time. There are a number of ideas that
explain human development. Conflicting ideas have been raised and are open
for discussions for them in one way or the other explain the changes that
happen as the individual grows and develops. The following are some
conflicting theories that made discussions on child development more
interesting:

1. Nature vs. Nurture

2. Continuity vs. Discontinuity
3. Passivity vs. Activity
4. Early Experience vs. Later Experience
 Issues on Human Development
1. Nature vs. Nurture

This controversy pertains to two

opposite ideas on child development.
Nature points to the idea that genetic
make-up the parent has endowed to
the child as early as conception is an
important factor in the child's
development.

On the other hand, nurture is the kind

of environment the child is subjected to
that contributes to development.
 Issues on Human Development
2. Continuity vs. Discontinuity

One part of this conflicting idea about

child development shows that
development is a continuous process
that occurs gradually in small
increments.

The other part says that development

is made up of a series of discrete
stages that represent major and abrupt
transformations in functioning.
 Issues on Human Development
3. Passivity vs. Activity

Passivity holds the idea that a child is

a passive organism that is simply
shaped by the genetic composition or
by the environmental influences.

In contrast, activity holds the belief

that children are active agents who
shape, control, and direct their own
development.
 Issues on Human Development
4. Early Experience vs. Later Experience

This opposite perspective shows the belief that early experience contributes a
lot to the development of the child. Psychoanalytic theorists give focus on
what developed and established during the early childhood period. According
to Freud, much of a child's personality is completely established by the age of
five.

On the other hand, researchers have found that the influence of childhood
does not necessarily have a dominating effect over behavior throughout the
life of the individual. Improvements have been observed in those individuals
who have not so good experiences during their childhood. They have
developed and become normally adjusted individuals later in their lives.
THE END
The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles

CHAPTER 1:
STUDYING LEARNERS’
DEVELOPMENT