UNIT 2 – BASIC CONCEPTS AND ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

“By virtue of being born to humanity, every human being has a right to the development and
fulfillment of his potentialities as a human being.” _ Ashley Montagu

Every living creature is called to become what it is meant to be. Just like the caterpillar is meant
to become a butterfly; a seed into a full grown herb, bush or tree; and a human baby into a
mature person. The person “who is fully alive, the glory of God” in the words of St. Irenaeus.
The process of development involves beginnings and endings. What was this organism then?
What will this organism be?

MODULE 1 – HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: MEANING, CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and
entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts… _ William Shakespeare

 Learning Outcomes
At the end of this Module, you should be able to:
 Define human development in your own words.
 Distinguish between the traditional and life-span approach of development.

 Activity

 Here are pictures of seven-year old Naschielle and three-year old Kenn. Each one is
bundle of responsibilities. Describe what they were before birth (their point of origin) and
who they will possibly be after birth unto adulthood. What will they possibly become?
Expound on your answers as a group.

Kenn Naschielle
After listening to the predictions given by each member of the group, answer the
following questions:
1. When you gave your own predictions as to the kind of child, adolescent, and adult pf
Naschielle and Kenn may become and hypothesized on who they once were, you
were referring to human development. What then is development? Translate the
meaning of development in your Mother Tongue.
 2. Will three-year old Kenn be able to do all that seven-year old Naschielle can do?
Why or why not?

3. Will there be anything common in the pattern of development of Naschielle and

Kenn? If yes, what?

4. Will there be differences in their development, e.g., pace or rate of development?

What and why?

5. Will the process of development take place very fast or gradually? Expound on your
answer.

6. Do you believe that Naschielle and Kenn will continue to develop even in adulthood?
Or will they stop developing in adulthood?

TWO APPROACHES TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT- the pattern of movement or change that begins conception and
continues through life span and it includes growth and decline. It can be positive or negative.
- Includes the biological/physical, socio-emotional, cognitive,
moral and linguistic growth or changes.

Traditional - this approach of development emphasizes extensive change from birth to

adolescence, little or no change in adulthood and decline in late old age.
Life-span- this approach of development emphasizes the developmental change during
adulthood as well as childhood.
5 CHARACTERISTISTICS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT FROM LIFE-SPAN
PERSPECTIUVE.
According to Paul Baltes (Santrock, 2002) – an expert in life-span development and gives this
following characteristic:
1. Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. It will continue developing even
in adulthood.
2. Development is plastic. Plasticity refers to the potential for change. Development is
possible throughout the life-span. No one is too old to learn. There is no such thing as “I
am too old for that…” Aging is associated with declines in certain intellectual abilities.
These declines can be prevented or reduced. In one research study, the reasoningabilities
of older adults were improved through retraining. (Willies & Schose, 1994 cited by
Santrock J., 2005)
 3. Development is multidimensional. Development consists of biological, cognitive and
socio-emotional dimensions.
Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological, cognitive
and socioemotional processes (Santrock,2002)
Biological processes involve changes in the individual’s physical nature.
e.g., gaining of height and weight; experiencing hormonal changes in period of puberty
and cardiovascular decline in approach of late adulthood.

Development is relatively orderly. Naschielle and Kenn will learn to sit, crawl then walk
before they can run.

Proximodistal pattern: development proceeds from the trunk outward, from body’s
central axis toward the periphery; brain and spinal cord follow a central axis down
through body due to necessity for nerves to be in place before infant can control arms and
legs.

Cephalocaudal pattern: development proceeds from the upper part of the head of the
body due to the importance of brain regulation such as breathing; head develops more
rapidly than the rest of the body during embryonic stage.

Development takes place gradually. Naschielle and Kenn won’t develop into pimply teenagers
overnight. It takes years before they become one.in fact, that’s the way of nature. While some
changes occur in a flash of insight, more often it takes weeks, months, or years for a person to
undergo changes that result in the display of developmental characteristics.
Cognitive processes involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.
Naschielle and Kenn develop from mere sounds to a word becoming two words, two words
becoming a sentence.
Socioemotional processes includes changes in the individual’s relationships with other people,
changes in emotions, and changes in personality. As babies, Naschielle and Kenn responded with
a sweet smile when affectionately touched and frowned when displeased and even showed
temper tantrum when they could not get or do what they wanted.
These three processes; biological, cognitive, and socioemotional are inextricably intertwined.
E.g., if a pupil/student saw his/her parents will separate how will affects her personally?

4. Development is contextual. – individuals are changing beings in a changing world.

- Individuals repond to and act on contexts.
- Its includes the individual’s biological make up, physical
environment, cognitive processes, historical, social and cultural
contexts. (Santrock,2002)
5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation.
- a three goals of human development. Its vary among
developmental stages.
- For instance, as individuals reach middle and late adulthood,
concern with growth gets into the back stage while
maintenance and regulation take the center stage

Problem
For the past 70 years,
scientist in Britain have
been studying thousands of
children through
their lives to find out why
some end up happy
and healthy while others
struggle.
Research Methology
Scientist used questionnaires to
collect
ifnformations that can be use to
comapare
the one who says do well at at
school or end
up healthy or happy or wealthy
as adults
and the one who struggle much
more.
Findings
Disadavantafe children have
been more likely
to struggle on almost every
score. Theyve
been more likely to do worse at
school, to end
up with worse jobs and to earn
less money.
Likwise, children who who had
tough start in
life are also more likely to end
up unhealthy
as adults.ntheyre more likely to
be overweight,
to have high blood pressure, and
then decades
down the line more likely to
have failing
memory, poor health and even
to die earlier.
Conclusions
The study shows that poverty
and parenting
matter. The data showed also
that good
parenting only reduced the
educational gap
between the rich and poor
children by about 50
percent. Meaning if we want to
to ensure the
success and well being of the
next generaton then
tackling child poverty is an
incredibly important
thing to do.
RESEARCH CONNECTION
View on YouTube of Helen
Pearson: Lessons from the
longest study on human
development. Fill out the
How are the findings of this
research useful to teachers?
 This research helps and guide
the teachers on how to deal with
students effectively not only as
teacher but also as a second
parent to their student