UNIT 1 - Basic Concepts ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

1. Nature vs. Nurture – Which has a more significant influence on

STUDYING LEARNERS’
DEVELOPMENT
IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING
CHILDREN’S GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
 Teachers should know how the learners develop or how they
learn.
 knowing how learners at different stages develop is critical in
making the daily decisions in the classroom, setting, curriculum,
and behavior of children.
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT LEARNERS
 A child is any person under the age of 18. (United Nations
Children’s Fund)
 Children must be given a stable environment in which to thrive,
including good health and nutrition, protection from threats
and access to opportunities to learn and grow. Investing in
children is one of the most important things a society can do to
build a better future (World Health Organization).
human development? The individual’s biological inheritance or his
environmental experiences?
2. Continuity vs. Discontinuity – Does development involve gradual,
cumulative change or distinct changes?
3. Passivity vs. Activity – Are we a byproduct of our life
experiences or we have the authority to control our life?
4. Early Experience vs. Later Experience – Are we what our first
experiences have made us or do we develop into someone different
as we age?
STAGES IN
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Prenatal Stage (Conception until Birth)
 The human embryo develops during pregnancy, from
fertilization until birth.

 Adolescence is the phase of life between childhood and

adulthood, from ages 10 to 19.
 It is a unique stage of human development and an important
time for laying the foundations of good health.
 Adolescents experience rapid physical, cognitive and psycho- Infancy (Birth to 2 weeks)
social growth. This affects how they feel, think, make  The bond that develops between the infant and their primary
decisions, and interact with the world around them (WHO). caregiver is important in terms of the infant’s later emotional
development.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Growth – quantitative changes in individuals as
they progress in chronological age.
Development – refers to the progressive series of
changes of an orderly and coherent type leading
toward maturation.

PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT Babyhood (2 weeks to 2 years)

1. Early foundations are critical  A time of rapid growth and change and of decrease
2. Development and learning result from interaction of dependency, increase individuality, and beginning of
heredity and the environment
3. Development proceeds in definite and predictable
directions
4. There are individual differences in development
5. Each phase of development has hazard
6. Development is aided by stimulation
7. Domains of children’s development – physical, social,
emotional, and cognitive – are closely related socialization.
8. Development is affected by cultural changes Early Childhood (2 to 6 years)
9. There are social expectations for every stage of development  The helplessness and dependency of a child is replaced by his
growing independence
FACTORS OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT  Become aware of some simple concepts of social and physical
Human development is affected by two important factors: realities
heredity and environment.

Heredity – the process of transmitting genes from parents to

offspring Maturation refers to the unfolding of traits that are
potentially present.
Environment – refers to surrounding people, situations and/or area
where the individual resides.
Learning refers to acquiring information and behavior.
Middle Childhood (6 to 12 years)
 Children become increasingly independent from their parents
as they learn to do things themselves and gain selfcontrol
 Children’s cognitive skills develop and they also begin to develop
an understanding of what is right and wrong.
Puberty
 This is the stage where the child’s body matures into an adult
body capable of sexual reproduction to enable fertilization
Adolescence (12 to 20 years)
 Dominated by seeking independence from parents and
developing one’s own identity
 Thought processes are more logical, complex and idealistic
Young Adulthood (20 to 40 years)
 Establishing financial independence and consolidating career
 Time in which individuals select a partner, develop an ongoing
intimate relationship and begin a family
Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years)
 This is a period of expanding social and personal involvements
and responsibilities, advancing a career, and supporting
offspring in their development to become mature individuals
Late Adulthood (65 years and older)
 The period of considerable adjustment to changes in one’s life
and self-perceptions
Aspects of Development
  Physical-motor development
  Cognitive development
  Language development
  Social development
  Emotional development
  Moral development
Developmental Tasks
 Havighurst (1972) defines a developmental tasks as one that
arises at a certain period in life.
Three sources of Developmental Tasks
 Tasks that arise from physical maturation
 Tasks that arise from personal sources
 Tasks that have their source in the pressure of society
Infancy and Early Childhood
1. Learning to walk
2. Learning to take solid foods
3. Learning to talk
4. Learning to control the elimination of body wastes
5. Learning sex differences and sexual modesty
6. Forming concepts and learning language to describe social and
physical reality
7. Getting ready to read
Middle Childhood
1. Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games
2. Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing organism
3. Learning to get along with age-mates
4. Learning an appropriate masculine and feminine social role
5. Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing, and calculating
6. Developing concepts necessary for everyday living
7. Developing conscience, morality and a scale of values
8. Achieving personal independence
9. Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions
Adolescence
1. Achieving new and more mature relations with agemates of both
sexes
2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
3. Accepting one’s physique and using the body effectively
4. Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults
5. Preparing for marriage and family life
6. Preparing for an economic career
7. Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to
behaviour; developing ideology
8.Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior
Early Adulthood
1. Selecting a mate
2. Learning to live with a marriage partner
3. Starting a family
4. Rearing children
5. Managing a home
6. Getting started in an occupation
7. Taking on civic responsibilities
8. Finding a congenial (suitable) social group
Middle Adulthood
1. Achieving adult civic and social responsibility
2. Establishing and maintaining an economic standard of living
3. Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy adults
4. Developing adult leisure time activities
5. Relating oneself to one’s spouse as a person
6. Accepting and adjusting to the physiologic changes or middle age
7. Adjusting to aging parent
Late Adulthood
1. Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health
2. Adjusting to retirement and reduced income
3. Adjusting to death of a spouse
4. Establishing an explicit affiliation with one’s age group
5. Meeting social and civil obligations
6. Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangement
UNIT 2
Biological Development
Prenatal Development
 Human development started from the union of two kinds of sex
cells or gametes that meets in the female’s reproductive
system.
 Each of the sex cells contains chemically coded genetic
messages that when combined serves as a blueprint of human
life
Prenatal Development
Zygote – formed by the union of the sperm cell and
the egg cell; composed of 23 pairs of chromosomes
contributed equally by the parents
Chromosomes – composed of long threadlike
molecules known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
DNA – contains the genes which is the basic unit of
Heredity
Genetic and Chromosomal Abnormalities
 Some are known as early as birth while others appear later in
life
 Studies have shown that there are more than 4000 human
genetic disorder which either caused by recessive gene and
dominant gene
 Genetics plays a major role in development. However, in some
cases genetic problems can emerge that may impact both
current and future development.
 Down Syndrome
 also known as trisomy 21
 The most common genetic abnormality during prenatal
development which is caused by an extra chromosome on
the 21st pair (there are 3 chromosomes instead of the
usual 2)
 Typical features include flattened facial features, heart
defects and mental retardation.
Down Syndrome
 Inherited diseases
 A number of illness can be inherited if one or both
parents carry a gene for the disease
 Genetic tests can often determine if a parent is a carrier
of genes for a specific disease
 Sex-Chromosomal Abnormalities
Klinefelter’s syndrome – when a boy is born with
an extra copy of the X chromosomes; also known as
47 or XXY
Turner syndrome – chromosomal condition that
affects the development in females; missing one of
their X chromosomes Sex Determination in Human Being
 The twenty-third pair consists of sex chromosomes

Multiple Births
  Identical twins (monozygotic)
  Fraternal twins (dizygotic)

Stages of Prenatal Period

First two weeks after conception – Germinal stage
Third through eighth week – Embryonic period
From ninth week until birth – Fetal period
Stages of Prenatal Period
1. Germinal Stage
Cell division begins approximately 24-36 hours after
conception
 Morula (3-4 days after fertilization)
 Blastocyst (4-5 days after fertilization)
As cells multiply, they will separate into two distinctive
masses
Placenta – outer cells
Embryo – inner cells
Turner Syndrome

Blastocyst
• Endoderm – inner layer (which
will become the digestive and
respiratory system)
• Mesoderm – middle layer
(which will become the muscle
and skeletal
system)
• Ectoderm – outer layer (which
will
become the skin and nervous
system)

Implantation
 happens when the blastocyst arrives at the uterus and
attached to the uterine wall
 When implantation is successful, hormonal changes halt a
woman’s normal menstrual cycle and cause a whole host of
physical changes.
  Alcohol use – fetal alcohol syndrome; heart defects, body
2. Embryonic Stage malformations, and mental retardation
 The mass of cells is now known as embryo.  Illicit psychoactive drugs – low birth weight and neurological
 22 days after conception the neural tube forms (embryonic impairment
precursor to the central nervous system) Maternal Disease
 4 th week – head begins to form quickly followed by the eyes, Herpes, rubella and AIDS
nose, ears and mouth. The blood vessel that will become the
heart starts to pulse. Kinds of Birth
 5 th week – buds that will form the arms and legs appear 1. Natural Childbirth
 8 th week – embryo has all of the basic organs and parts except  refer to vaginal labor and delivery with limited to no
the sex organs; weight = one gram, length = 1 inch medical intervention

2. Caesarean Delivery (C-section)

 may be necessary for the safety of expectant mother and
the baby, especially when one of these complications is
present ;
Stages of Prenatal Period • When the baby is not in the head-down position
• When the baby is too large to pass through the
pelvis
• When the baby is in distress
Infancy
 Begins with birth and ends when the infant is approximately
two weeks old
 Considered the shortest and also a hazardous period
3. Fetal Stage
 From embryo to fetus
 3 rd month – Sex organs appear
 Second trimester – heartbeat grows stronger and other body The APGAR Test
systems further develop  The very first test given to the newborn, occurs in the delivery
 28 weeks – the brain starts to mature much faster room right after the baby’s birth
 Designed to quickly evaluate a newborn’s physical condition and
Environmental Hazards to determine any immediate need for extra medical or
 As early as prenatal period, environmental role plays a very emergency care
important role in the growth and development of the fetus.
Teratogen - substances or diseases that can cause
birth defect

Neonatal Reflexes
 essential for a newborn's survival
Moro Reflex
 outstretching of the arms and legs in response to a loud
noise or sudden change in the environment
 birth to 4-6 months
Sucking Reflex
 occurs when an object touches the lips
 birth to 2-4 months
Rooting Reflex
 turning of an infant’s head toward a stimulus such as a
breast or hand
 birth to 3-4 months
Grasping Reflex (Palmar Grasp)
 vigorous grasping of an object that touches the palm
Stepping (or Walking) Reflex
 moves legs when held upright with feet touching the floor
Maternal Drug Use  birth to 2 months
 Smoking – low birth weight, weakened immune Tonic Neck Reflex
system, poor respiration and neurological impairment
  the arm on the side extends while the opposite arm bends
at the elbow (fencing position)
 birth-2 months to 4-6 months
Babinski Reflex
 outward projection of the big toe and fanning of the
others when the sole of the foot is touched
 birth to 6-24 months
 By the onset of puberty – 28 of the 32 permanent teeth
 Muscle and Fat
 Each fiber will grow until it weighs more than 40 times
what it weight at birth
 Fat tissue develops rapidly during babyhood, due partly to
the high fat content of milk

Motor Development
 Gross Motor Development – require the coordination of the
large muscle groups of the body, such as the arms, legs, and
trunk
 Fine Motor Development – concerned with the coordination of
the smaller muscles of the body including hands and face

Physical Development: Motor Skills

Two Principles of Physical/Motor Development

1. Cephalocaudal Law – Children’s muscle control develop from
head to toe direction
2. Proximodistal Law – Children develop their motor skills from
Toilet Training
the center of their bodies outward
Most children are toilet trained by the age 5 or 6
Children normally master toilet training tasks in a specific
Body Changes
developmental order
 Height and weight
1. Learn to notice the warning signals and react in time to master
  Baby boys are longer and heavier than baby girls from
daytime defecation and then night time defecation
birth to one year of age
2. Learn how to react to their bodies’ signals for daytime urination
 The period of most rapid growth is during the second
3. Night time urination (bed wetting) is the hardest for young
year of life; slowest is during the few months before the
children to control
third birthday
 Bones
Middle Childhood
 The number of bones increases in babyhood Ossification –
School-age children’s growth is slow and regular
process of synthesizing cartilage into bone
 Gross Motor Skills develop
 begins in the early part of the first year but is not
 Fine Motor Skills develop
complete until puberty
 The fontanel (soft spot on the skull) has closed in
Adolescence
approximately 50% of all babies by the age of 18 months
 The period of developmental transition between childhood and
and in all babies by the age of 2 years
adulthood
 Teeth
 “Adolescent growth spurt” - a rapid increase in the individual's
 Usually occurs between the ages of 6-9 months
height and weight during puberty resulting from the
 The average baby has four to six of the primary teeth by
simultaneous release of growth hormones, thyroid hormones,
the age of 1 and 16 by the age of 2; the first tooth to
and androgens
erupt is the lower central incisors
 Sex hormones regulate changes in primary and secondary
 During the 1st-4 th months of early childhood (2 y.o.) the
sexual characteristic
last four baby teeth- the back molars- erupt; last half (3-
1. Primary Sexual Characteristics – involved in
6 years old) baby teeth are replaced by permanent teeth
reproduction, appear during birth
2. Secondary Sexual Characteristics – caused by hormones,
appear during puberty
 In girls, the ovaries begin to increase the production of
estrogen and other female hormones
 In boys, the testicles increase the production of
testosterone
 Adrenal glands
Puberty in Girls
 Breast development is the main sign
 Menarche usually follows within about two years
Before the first menstrual period, a girl will normally have:
• An increase in height
• An increase in hip size
• Clear or whitish vaginal secretion
• Pubic, armpit and leg hair growth
Menstrual cycles BILOGICAL THEORY
  Occur every month (28-32 days)
• Explained children’s development in terms of innate
  May be irregular at first
biological processes
  Over time, periods become more regular
• Heredity plays an important role in growth and
development of the individual
Ovarian Cycle
 Follicle-stimulating hormone - stimulates the growth of ovarian
follicles in the ovary before the release of an egg from one Genes – hereditary factor that carry the traits that were
follicle at ovulation
contributed by the parents
 Luteinising hormone – controls the production of estrogen
DNA – (Deoxyribonucleic acid) a molecule composed of two chains
Uterine Cycle
that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the
 Dysmenorrhea
 Amenorrhea genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning,

and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses.

Chromosomes – a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and

protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic

information in the form of genes.

Puberty in Boys

 The first sign is the enlargement of both testicles.

Afterward, boys will normally experience:
1. Faster growth, especially in height

2. Hair growth in the face, under arms and pubic area

3. Increase shoulder width Genotype – determine the features or trait of an organism

4. Growth of the penis, scrotum and testes Allele – variants of a gene

5. Nighttime ejaculation (nocturnal emissions or “wet dreams”) (Dominant and Recessive Allele)

6. Voice changes Homozygous – contain two identical alleles

Heterozygous – two alleles are different

Phenotype – expression of the genotype; depends on a complex

interaction between genes and the environment

Polygenic traits – influenced by multiple genes interacting with the

environment in complex ways

Dominant traits – traits that are passed on from generation to

generation; appeared in all first generation offspring

Recessive traits – appeared in about 1-quarter of the second own pace, but the expected thing is that they do the learning in the
same sequence.
generation offspring
• Arnold Gesell considered that genetics and the environment play a
Punnett Square very important role in the development of the person, however his
research focused especially on the physiological part of development.
– devised by Reginald C. Punnett
Using his language, the term ‘maturation’ for Gesell refers to a more
– used to predict the possible genotypes of biological process that is not so much social, in which the influence of
genes is given more weight than environmental factors to which the
an offspring that
person be exposed.
may affect the expression of the phenotype • However, the theory holds that each baby has its own maturation
rate,
Gregor Mendel – Father of Genetics
which will be optimized if the social environment is aware of how the
• He formulated three laws that explain how traits are transferred
child is developing and gives the necessary social stimuli given in due
from generation to generation
course. From the theory, it is extracted that once the child has
Law of Dominance – the presence of one dominant gene
acquired the full development of his nervous system, he can master
may mask or prevent the expression of recessive gene.
multiple individual and social capacities.
Law of Segregation – a pair of genes is separated during
• Gesell’s observations of children allowed him to describe
the formation of gametes with every independent trait or
developmental milestones in ten major areas: motor characteristics,
characteristics developing.
personal hygiene, emotional expression, fears and dreams, self and
Law of Independent Assortment – the separation of gene
sex, interpersonal relations, play and pastimes, school life, ethical
pairs on a given pair of chromosomes and the distribution
sense, and philosophic outlook. His training in physiology and his
of the genes during meiosis are entirely independent of the
focus on developmental milestones led Gesell to be a strong
distribution of other gene pairs on the other pair of
proponent of the “maturational” perspective of child development.
chromosomes. Each trait can hence be paired with the
• That is, he believed that child development occurs according to a
other trait in the pair
predetermined, naturally unfolding plan of growth.

Ecological Theory
• Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)
• There are systems that help human development
Microsystem – locale in which the individual lives; help
shape the individual (family, peers, neighbourhood)
Mesosystem – relationship between and among the parts of
microsystem
Exosystem – includes the other people and places the
individual may not interact with but still has a large effect
Macrosystem – Most distant set of people but still has a
great influence
Chronosystem – result of the individual’s experience in his
life; includes the transitions and shifts in one's lifespan.
This may also involve the socio-historical contexts that may
influence a person.

Maturation Theory
• The maturation theory was introduced in 1925 by the American
psychologist Arnold Lucius Gesell, who was also a pediatrician and
educator.
• The studies carried out by Gesell focused on finding out how
development occurred during childhood and adolescence, both in
children without any psychopathology or those who showed a
different pattern of learning and development than expected.
• According to their theory of maturation, all children go through the
same stages of development in the same order but not necessarily
presenting them at the same time. That is, each child goes at their