MODULE 1.

BASIC CONCEPTS AND ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

A. Meaning of Human Development
B. Some Major Principles of Human Development
C. Two Approaches to Human Development

WEEK: 1

TIME ALLOTMENT: 3 Hours

OBJECTIVES/ LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this module, the students shall be able to:

1. define human development;

2. determine different principles on human development; and
3. enumerate different characteristics of human development as to life-span approach.

LEARNING CONTENT:

BASIC CONCEPTS AND ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Every living creature is called to become what is meant to be. 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, of the Glory” in the words of St. Irenaeus.

How this development happens is what we learn in our biology class. We have seen it to be a fantastic process.
So wonderful that we can’t help but experience a feeling of awe for the Power or the Force or the Principle
(theist call this Power or Force or Principle (God) behind all these.

The process of development involves beginnings and endings. What was this organism then? What will
this organism be?

A number of researchers on human development have been conducted. A lot of theories on human
development have been forwarded. Researches on human development continue as existing theories get
corrected, complemented or replaced. Up to the present several issues on human development are unresolved
and so the search for explanation continues.

In this unit, you will be acquainted with human developmental stage, the developmental tasks that come along
with each development.

Human Development: Meaning, Concepts and Approaches

A. Meaning of Human Development

Human development is the pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues
through the life span. Development includes growth and decline. This means that development can be
positive or negative (Santrock, 2002).

B. Some Major Principles of Human Development

1. Development is relatively orderly. The muscular control of the trunk and the arms comes earlier as
compared to the hands and fingers (proximodistal pattern). During infancy, the greatest growth
always occurs at the top – the head – with physical growth in size, weight and future differentiation
gradually working its way down from the top to bottom, for example: neck, shoulders, middle trunk
and so on (cephalocaudal pattern). By understanding how characteristics develop, we can make
relatively accurate and useful predictions about learners and design effective instructional strategies
based on our knowledge of development (Santrock, 2002).
 2. While the pattern of development is likely to be similar, the outcomes of development processes
and the rate of development are likely to vary among individuals. We can expect individual
differences in developmental characteristics and variation in the ages when people will experience
events that will influence their development. Meaning, if they come from a good home with loving
and caring parents, they may develop into warm and responsible children, adolescents and adults.
If they come from a deprived environment, they may develop into carefree and irresponsible
adolescents and adults.

3. Development takes place gradually. It takes years before they become one. In fact, that’s the way
of nature. The bud does not blossom suddenly. The seed does not germinate overnight. 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.

4. Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological, cognitive and socio
emotional processes (Santrock, 2002). Biological processes involve changes in the individual’s
physical nature. Cognitive processes involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence, and
language. Socio emotional processes include changes in emotions, and changes in personality.
These biological, cognitive and socio emotional processes are inextricably intertwined. While these
processes are studied separately, the effect of one process or factor on person’s development is
not isolated from the other processes. Example, if Rodrigo and Mark were undernourished and
troubled by the thought of father and mother about to separate, they could not concentrate on their
studies and consequently would fail and repeat. As a consequence, they may lose face and drop
out of school, revert to illiteracy, become unskilled, unemployed and so on and so forth.

C. Two Approaches to Human Development

1. Traditional – extensive change from birth to adolescence, little or no change in adulthood and
decline in late old age.
2. Life-span – adulthood developmental change takes place as it does during childhood. Paul Baltes
(Santrock, 2002), an expert in life-span development, gives the following characteristics:
• Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. No developmental stage
dominates development.
• Developmentis multidimensional. Development consists of biological, cognitive,
and socio-emotional dimensions.
• Development is plastic. Development is possible throughout the life- span.
• Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a changing world.
• Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. Growth, maintenance and
regulation are three (3) goals of human development. The goals of individuals 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.

Summary

In summary human development is defined as the process of enlarging people's freedoms and
opportunities and improving their well-being. Human development is about the real freedom ordinary people
have to decide who to be, what to do, and how to live.

REFERENCE:

1. Corpuz, Brenda B., et al. (2010). Child and Adolescent Development. Lorimar Publishing Inc., Cubao,
Quezon City, Metro Manila. ISBN 971-685-721-4
MODULE 2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEARNER (Continuation)
D. Stages of Human Development
1. Biological Terms
2. Santrock
3. Havighurst
E. Developmental Tasks on Different Stages

WEEK: 2

Time Allotment: 3 Hours

OBJECTIVE/ LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of the period, the students will be able to:
1. Describe the developmental tasks in each stage; and
2. State for yourself how these developmental tasks affect your role as a facilitator of learning.

LEARNING CONTENT:

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEARNER

Introduction

Every living creature is called to become what is meant to be. 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, of the Glory” in the words of St. Irenaeus.
How this development happens is what we learn in our biology class. We have seen it to be
a fantastic process. So wonderful that we can’t help but experience a feeling of awe for the Power
or the Force or the Principle (theist call this Power or Force or Principle (God) behind all these.
The process of development involves beginnings and endings. What was this organism then?
What will this organism be?
A number of researchers on human development have been conducted. A lot of theories on
human development have been forwarded. Researches on human development continue as existing
theories get corrected, complemented or replaced. Up to the present several issues on human
development are unresolved and so the search for explanation continues.
In this unit, you will be acquainted with human developmental stage, the developmental tasks
that come along with each development.

Discussion E. Stages of Human Development as to Biological Terms 1. Germinal Stage

The germinal stage of development is the first and shortest of the stages of the human lifespan.
The germinal stage lasts a total of eight to nine days. It begins in a Fallopian tube when an ovum
is fertilized by a sperm to form a zygote (day 0). The germinal stage continues as the zygote
undergoes several initial cell divisions to a morula.

2. Embryonic Stage
In many cultures, marriage - along with birth and death - is considered the most pivotal life event.
For pioneering developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert, however, these life events are overrated.
According to Wolpert, "It is not birth, marriage, or death, but gastrulation, which is truly the
most important time in your life." Gastrulation is a major biological event that occurs early in the
embryonic stage of human development.
3. Fetal Stage
This mother-to-be is holding an ultrasound image of her fetus. She is nearly nine months
pregnant, so the fetus is fully developed and almost ready to be born. The fetus has grown
tremendously and changed in many other ways since it was a tiny embryo seven months
previously.
4. Infancy
Infancy refers to the first year of life after birth, and an infant is defined as a human being
between birth and the first birthday. The term baby is usually considered synonymous with infant,
although it is commonly applied to the young of other animals, as well as humans. Human infants
seem weak and helpless at birth, but the are actually born with a surprising range of abilities.
Most of their senses are quite well developed, and they can also communicate their needs by
crying.

5. Childhood
Legally, childhood is defined as the period of minority, which lasts from birth until adulthood
(majority). The age of majority varies by place and purpose. Biologically, childhood is defined as
the stage of a human organism between birth and adolescence.

6. Adolescence and Puberty

Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood. It is generally
considered to start with puberty, during which sexual maturation occurs and adolescents go
through a spurt in growth. In many children, however, puberty actually begins during the stage
called pre-adolescence, which covers the ages 11 to 12 years. Puberty may begin before
adolescence, but it usually continues for several years, well into the adolescent stage, which ends
during the late teens.

7. Adulthood
The typical age of attaining adulthood is 18. Human adulthood encompasses psychological adult
development. Definitions of adulthood are often inconsistent and contradictory; a person may be
biologically an adult, and have adult behavior but still be treated as a child if they are under the
legal age of majority. Conversely, one may legally be an adult but possess none of the maturity
and responsibility that may define an adult, the mental and physical development and maturity of
an individual is proven to be greatly influenced by the circumstances in which they exist.

SANTROCK’S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES (with Developmental Tasks)

John Santrock's research focuses on family processes and children's socio-emotional

development. He conducted the first major research study on comparisons of children in mother
and father custody families.

Eight (8) Developmental Stages

1. PRENATAL PERIOD
• Development happens quickly during this stage (tremendous growth from a single cell to
an organism complete with brain and behavioral capabilities)
• Time between conception and birth

2. INFANCY
• Birth to 18-24 months
• Time of extreme dependence on adults
• Many psychological activities are just beginning ( language, symbolic thought, sensori-
motor coordination & social learning)
3. EARLY CHILDHOOD
• End of infancy to 5-6 years old (preschool years-grade 1)
• Young children learn to become more self- sufficient and care for themselves, develop
school readiness skills and spend many hours in play with peers
 4. MIDDLE & LATE CHILDHOOD
• 6-11 years old (elementary school years)
• Fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are mastered
• Child is formally exposed to larger world and its culture
• Achievement becomes a more central theme of the child’s world and self-control increases
5. ADOLESCENCE
• 10-12 years old to 18-22 years old
• Begins with rapid physical changes (dramatic gains in height in weight, changes in body
contour, and development of sexual characteristics such as enlargement of breasts,
development of pubic and facial hair, deepening of voice)
• Pursuit of independence & identity are prominent
• Thought is more logical, abstract & idealistic
• More time is spent outside family
6. EARLY ADULTHOOD
• Late teens or early 20s to 30s
• Time of establishing personal & economic independence, career development, selecting
a mate, learning to live with someone in an intimate way, starting a family & rearing
children
7. MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
• 40 to 60 years old
• Time of expanding personal & social involvement & responsibility
• Assisting next generation in becoming competent & mature individuals, reaching &
maintaining satisfaction in a career
8. LATE ADULTHOOD
• 60s and above
• Time for adjustment to decreasing strength and health, life review, retirement and
adjustment to new social roles

HAVIGHURST’S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES (with Developmental Tasks)

In each stage of development a certain task or tasks are expected of every individual. Robert
Havighurst defines developmental task as one that “arises at certain period in our life, the successful
achievement of which leads to happiness and success with later tasks while failure leads to unhappiness
and success with later tasks.” (Havighurst, 1972).

Six (6) Developmental Stages

1. INFANCY & EARLY CHILDHOOD

• 0-5 years old
• Learning: to walk, to take solid foods, to talk, to control the elimination of body wastes, sex
differences and sexual modesty, to distinguish right from wrong and developing a conscience
Acquiring concepts and language to describe social and physical reality Readiness for
reading

2. MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
• 6-12 years old
• Learning: physical skills necessary for ordinary games, to get along with age-mates, an
appropriate sex role
• Developing: fundamental skills in reading, writing and calculating, concepts necessary for
everyday living, conscience, morality & a scale of values
• Building a wholesome attitude toward oneself
• Achieving personal independence
3. ADOLESCENCE
• 13-18 years old
• Achieving: mature relations with both sexes, a masculine or feminine social role, emotional
independence of adults
 • Preparing for: marriage and family life, an economic career
• Accepting one’s physique
• Acquiring values and an ethical system to guide behavior Desiring and achieving socially
responsible behavior

4. EARLY ADULTHOOD
• 19-29 years old
• Selecting a mate
• Learning to live with a partner
• Starting a family
• Rearing children
• Managing a home
• Starting an occupation
• Assuming civic responsibility

5. MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
• 30 to 60 years old
• Helping teenage children to become happy and responsible adults
• Achieving adult social and civic responsibility
• Satisfactory career achievement
• Developing adult leisure time activities
• Relating one’s spouse as a person
• Accepting the physiological changes of middle age Adjusting to aging parents

6. LATE MATURITY
61 and over
Adjusting to: decreasing strength and health, retirement and reduced income, death of spouse
Establishing: relations with one’s own age group, satisfactory living quarters Meeting social
and civic obligations

• For more information regarding to our topic, you can visit the link below
https://study.com/academy/lesson/human-development-stages-from-infancy-to-late-adulthood.html

Summary
In summary, stages of Human Development consist of the following as to Biological Terms, we have
Germinal stage, Embryonic Stage, Fetal Stage, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence and Puberty and Adulthood.
In Santrock’s Developmental Stages with Developmental Tasks, we have 8 Developmental Stages the Prenatal,
infancy,Early Childhood, Middle and Late Childhood, Adolescence, Early Adulthood, Middle Adulthood and Late
Adulthood. Lastly in Havighurts’s Developemntal Stages consist of 6 Developmental Stage the infancy and
Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolenscence, Early Adulthood, Middle Adulthood and late Maturity

REFERENCE:
1. Corpuz, Brenda B., et al. (2010). Child and Adolescent Development. Lorimar Publishing Inc.
MODULE 3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEARNER (Continuation)
A. Issues on Human Development

WEEK: 3

TIME ALLOTMENT: 3 Hours

OBJECTIVE/ LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of the period, the students will be able to discuss clearly their own opinion regarding on the
different issues on human development.
 LEARNING CONTENT:
ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Introduction
The interaction of heredity and environment is so extensive that to ask which is more important, nature
or nurture, is like asking which is more important to a rectangle, height or weight.

Discussion
In this lesson, you are challenged to take an informed stand/position on the three
(3) issues on development.
Each of us has his/her own informal way of looking at our own and other people’s development. These
paradigms of human development while obviously lacking in scholastic vigor, provide us with a conceptual
framework for understanding ourselves and others.
Scholars have come up with their own models of human development. Back up by solid research, they take
stand on issues on human development.
1. Nature versus Nurture – Which has more significant influence on human development? Nature or
nurture? Nature refers to an individual’s biological inheritance. Nurture refers to environmental
experiences.
2. Continuity versus Discontinuity – Does development involve gradual, cumulative change
(continuity) or distinct changes (discontinuity). To make it more concrete, here is a question: Is
our development like that of seedling gradually growing into an acacia tree? Or is it more like that
of caterpillar becoming a butterfly?
3. Stability versus Change – Is development best described as involving stability or as involving
change? Are we what our first experiences have made us or do we develop into someone different
from who we were at an earlier point in development?

Abstraction
The issues presented can be translated into questions that have sparked animated debate among
developmentalists. Are girls likely to do well in math because of their ‘feminine’ nature or because of society’s
‘masculine’ bias? How extensively can the elderly be trained to reason more effectively? How much, if at all,
does our memory decline in old age? Can techniques be used to prevent or reduce the decline? For children
who experienced a world of poverty, neglect by parents, and poor schooling in childhood, can enriched
experiences in adolescence remove the ‘deficits’ that they encountered earlier in their development (Santrock,
2002).
Each of us has our own explanations about our stand or opinion on the developmental issues. What is
the right answer? Up to this time, the debate continues.

Researches are on-going. But most life-span developmentalists recognize that extreme positions on
these issues are unwise. Development is not all nature or nurture, not all continuity or discontinuity and not
all stability or all change (Lerner, 1998 as quoted by Santrock, 2002). Both nature and nurture, continuity and
discontinuity, stability and change characterize our life-span development. The key to development is the
interaction of nature and nurture rather than either factor alone (Rutter, 2001 as quoted by Santrock, 2002).
In other words, it is a matter of “both-and” not “either-or”.
To summarize, both genes and environment are necessary for a person even to exist. Without genes,
there is no person; without environment, there is no person (Scarr and Weinberg, 1980, quoted by Santrock,
2002). Heredity and environment operate together –or cooperate and interact – to produce a person’s
intelligence, temperament, height, weight….ability to read and so on.
If heredity and environment interact, which one has a greater influence or contribution, heredity or
environment? The relative contributions of heredity and environment are not addictive. So we can’t say 50%
is a contribution of heredity and 50% of environment. Neither is it correct to say that full genetic expression
happens once, around conception or birth, after which we take our genetic legacy into the world to see how
far it gets us. Genes produce proteins throughout the life span in many different environments. Or they don’t
produce these proteins, depending on how harsh or nourishing those environment are (Santrock, 2002).
REFERENCE:
1. Corpuz, Brenda B., et al. (2010). Child and Adolescent Development. Lorimar Publishing Inc., Cubao,
Quezon City, Metro Manila. ISBN 971-685-7
 MODULE 4. DEVELOPMENTAL THEORISTS AND THEORIES
A. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

WEEK: 4

Time Allotment: 3 Hours

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the period, the students will be able to:
1. Explain Freud’s view about child and adolescent development; and
2. Draw implications of Freud’s theory to education.

LEARNING CONTENTT

DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIST AND THEORIES

Introduction

Each theorists’ ideas are independent of each other (they are different ideas), but when put together,
they give us a good overall understanding of how children develop as they age.

Discussion

A. Sigmund Freud: The Mind / Personality (1856-1939)

Austrian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
Victorian era: stifling straight-laced morality and attitudes toward sexuality “The
ego is not the master in its own house” – S.F.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of
the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This theory, known
as Freud’s structural theory of personality, places great emphasis on the role of unconscious psychological
conflicts in shaping behavior and personality. Dynamic interactions among these fundamental parts of the
mind are thought to progress through five distinct psychosexual stages of development. Freud’s theory
sparked the ideas in the brilliant minds of other theorists and thus became the starting point of many other
theories. Over the last century, however, Freud’s ideas have since been met with criticism, in part because
of his singular focus on sexuality as the main driver of human personality development.

Mind was divided into 3 levels of consciousness:

1. Conscious mind (tip of the iceberg - allows individuals to choose their actions based on whether it
is right or wrong).
2. Preconscious mind (memories recalled)
3. Unconscious mind (represents the individual’s internal wants and desires)
 The id, ego, and superego: According to Freud’s structural model, the
personality is divided into the id, ego, and superego. On this diagram, the
smaller portion above the water signifies the conscious mind, while the
much larger portion below the water illustrates the unconscious mind.

Freud’s Structure of the Human Mind

According to Freud, our personality develops from the interactions

among what he proposed as the three fundamental structures of the

human mind: the id, ego, and superego.

Conflicts among these three structures, and our efforts to find

balance among what each of them “desires,” determines how we
behave and approach the world. What balance we strike in any
Figure 1: Basic Part of Human
Personality
given situation determines how we will resolve the conflict between two overarching behavioral tendencies:
our biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking drives vs. our socialized internal control over those drives.

Three structures of personality which form the basic parts of human personality and motivate our
behaviour:
1. ID: unconscious inborn biological wants and desires – needs immediate gratification (e.g.
sex & aggression)
2. EGO: realistic part of our personality that tries to balance the ID and SUPEREGO in making socially
and morally acceptable decisions – understands cause & effect – starts to develop at 2 to 3 years of
age
3. SUPEREGO: our moral guide between right and wrong – starts to develop at 6 to 7 years of age

Figure 2: Basic Part of Human Personality

 Freud believed that the id, ego, and superego are in constant conflict and that adult personality and
behavior are rooted in the results of these internal struggles throughout childhood. He believed that a
person who has a strong ego has a healthy personality and that imbalances in this system can lead to
neurosis (what we now think of as anxiety and depression) and unhealthy behaviors.

He also believes that an individual’s personality develops through a series of stages based on
their Ability to control their internal needs and wants and depends on changes in the distribution of
sexual energy. Failure to progress smoothly through a particular stage can result in adult behaviours
fixated with that stage.

Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development

According to Freud, a person goes through the sequence of these five stages and along the way there
are needs to be met. Whether these needs are met or not, determine whether the person will develop a
healthy personality or not. The theory is quite interesting for many because freud identified specific
erogenous zone for each stage of development. These are specific “pleasure areas” that become focal
points for particular stage. If needs are not met along the area, a fixation occurs. As an adult, the person
will now manifest behaviors related to this erogenous zone.
1. Oral (Birth – 18 mths): Oral gratification/sucking/biting
Erogenous Zone: Mouth
Adult issues: orally dependent (passivity; smoking)/ orally aggressive (cruel)
Too much or too little satisfaction can lead to an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which
is shown in an increased focus on oral activities. This type of personality may be oral receptive,
that is, have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, overeat, or oral aggressive, that is,
with tendency to bite his or her nails, or use curse words or even gossip. As a result, these
persons may become too dependent on others, easily fooled, and lack leadership traits

2. Anal (18 mths – 3 yrs): Bowel pleasure/toilet training

Erogenous Zone: Anus
Adult issues: anal-retentive (e.g. cleanliness)/anal-expulsive (e.g. sloppiness)
The child finds satisfaction in eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s
expectations particularly the parents, the child needs to work on toilet training. Let us
remember that between one year and half to three years the child favorite word might be
“No!”. Therefore a struggle might exist in the toilet training process when the child retains
feces when asked to eliminate, or may choose to defecate when asked to hold feces for
some reason. In terms of personality, fixation during this stage can result in being anal
retentive, an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control; or anal expulsive where
the person may become messy and disorganized.
3. Phallic (3 – 5 yrs): Genital awareness/love-hate relationship with same-sex
Erogenous Zone: Genitals
Adult issues: selfishness; poor opposite-sex relationships; manipulative
During the preschool age, children become interested in what makes boys and girls
different. Preschoolers will sometimes be seen fondling their genitals. Freud’s studies led
him to believe that during this stage, boys develop unconscious sexual desire for their
mother. Boys then see their father as rival for her mother’s affection. Boys may fear that
their father will punish them for these feelings, thus, the castration anxiety. These feelings
compromise what Freud called Oedipus Complex. In Greek Mythology, Oedipus
unintentionally killed his father and married his mother Jocasta.
Psychoanalysts also believed that girls may also have a similar experience,
developing unconscious sexual attraction towards their father. This is what referred to as
the Electra Complex.
A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviances (both overindulging and
avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts.

4. Latency (6 yrs – puberty): Same-sex friends and few opposite-sex friends Erogenous Zone:
Adult issues: Lack of close friends
 It’s during this stage that sexual urges remained repressed. The children’s focus is
the acquisition of physical and academic of physical and academic skills. Boys usually relate
more with boys and girls with girls during this stage.

5. Genital (adolescence): intimate relationships & sexual attraction

Erogenous Zone: Genitals
Adult issues: Poor sexual relationships; guilt about sexuality; inadequacy
The fifth stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when
sexual urges are once again awakened. In their earlier stages, adolescents focus their
sexual urges towards the opposite sex peers, with the pleasure centered on the genitals.

Summary

In summary, in Sigmund Freud Theory includes the mind and personality. The mind was divided in to
3 level of consciousness the conscious mind, preconscious mind and unconscious mind and there are
three structures of personality which form the basic parets of human personality and motivate our
behaviour the ID, EGO and SUPEREGO and in Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development includes the
oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital
REFERENCE:
1. Corpuz, Brenda B.,Lucas, M. R., Borabo, H. G., &Lucido, P. (2018). Child and Adolescent Learners and
Learning Principles. Lorimar Publishing. Quezon City
 La Patria College
MODULE 5. DEVELOPMENTAL THEORISTS AND THEORIES (Continuation)
B. Intellectual Development
• Jean Piaget

WEEK: 5

TIME ALLOTMENT: 3 Hours

OBJECTIVE:
At the end of the period, the students will be able to describe Piaget’s stages of
cognitive development.

LEARNING CONTENT:
DEVELOPMENTAL THEORISTS AND THEORIES Introduction
Cognitive or intellectual development means the growth of a child’s ability to think and
reason. It's about how they organize their minds, ideas and thoughts to make sense of the
world they live in. In this module it focuses on the Intellectual development of a child by Jean
Piaget.

Discussion
Jean Piaget: Intellectual Development (1896-1980) Swiss biologist, psychologist, and
educator
Became interested in the scientific study of intellect when his three children were born
– used his children to observe and make scientific notes on intellectual development

How Piaget Developed the Theory

Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student,
publishing his first scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early exposure to the
intellectual development of children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and
Theodore Simon as they worked to standardize their famous IQ test.
Much of Piaget's interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by his
observations of his own nephew and daughter. These observations reinforced his budding
hypothesis that children's minds were not merely smaller versions of adult minds.
Up until this point in history, children were largely treated simply as smaller versions of adults.
Piaget was one of the first to identify that the way that children think is different from the
way adults think.
Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that grows and develops through a
series of stages. Older children do not just think more quickly than younger children, he
suggested. Instead, there are both qualitative and quantitative differences between the
thinking of young children versus older children.
Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than
adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so simple only
a genius could have thought of it."

Piaget's stage theory describes the cognitive development of children. Cognitive

development involves changes in cognitive process and abilities. In Piaget's view, early
cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses to changes
in mental operations.
Piaget was the first person to study children scientifically, through real-life
observations and obsessive note- taking. He discovered that ALL children’s intellectual
development progressed through four stages, beginning in infancy and are completed by
 La Patria College Santiago
City

adolescence. Thinking becomes more and more complex as the child ages. Each stage of
Santiago City
thinking causes the child to see the world in a different way. He indicated that a child must ‘master’
one stage before they can move onto the next stage. If they cannot master a stage, they will
never reach their full potential.
Piaget believed that intellectual development controls every other aspect of development.

Basic Cognitive Concepts

1. Schema. Piaget used the term “schema” to refer to the cognitive structures by which
individuals intellectually adapt to and organize their environment. It is an individual’s
way to understand or create meaning about a thing or experience. It is an individual’s
way to understand or create meaning about a thing or experience. It is like the mind
has a filing cabinet and each drawer has folders that contain files of things he had an
experience with.
2. Assimilation. This is the process of fitting a new experience into an existing or
previously created cognitive structure or schema.
3. Accommodation. This is the process of creating a new schema.
4. Equilibration. Piaget believed that the people have the natural need to understand how
the world works and to find order, structure and predictability in their life. Equilibration
is achieving proper balance between assimilation and accommodation. When our
experiences do not match our schemata (plural of schema) or cognitive structures, we
experience cognitive disequilibrium. This means there is a discrepancy between what
is perceived and what is understood. We then exert effort through assimilation and
accommodation to establish equilibrium once more.
5. Cognitive development involves a continuous effort to adapt to the environment in
terms of assimilation and accommodation. In this sense, Piaget’s theory is similar in
nature to other constructivist perspectives of learning like Bruner and Vygotsky.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Stage 1. Sensorimotor Stage (Birth – 2 years)

Children develop an understanding of the world through their 5 senses and muscles–
learn by doing. Learns basic shapes, textures, and object permanence (ability of the child to
know that an object still exists even when out of sight) through touching, grasping, hearing
and ‘tasting’ objects. In working with children in the sensori-motor stage, teachers should
aim to provide a rich and stimulating environment with appropriate objects to play with.

Stage 2. Preoperational Stage (2 – 7 years)

Intelligence at this stage is intuitive in nature. Children develop an understanding
through language and images - learn through their own actions, thoughts, and feelings.
Knowledge is based on their own personal feelings, not reality. No logical thinking. They make
use of mental representations and is able to pretend, more closer to the use of symbols. This
is highlighted by the following:
Symbolic Function. The ability to represent objects and events. A symbol is a thing
that represents something else. A drawing, a written word, or a spoken word comes to be
understood as representing a real object.
Egocentrism. This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to
assume that everyone also has his same point of view. The child cannot take the perspective
of others.
 La Patria College
Centration. This refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one aspect of a
thing or event and exclude other aspects.
Irreversibility. Pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse their thinking.
Animism. This is the tendency of children to attribute human like traits or
characteristics to inanimate objects.
Transductive reasoning. This refers to the preoperational child’s type of reasoning that is
neither inductive nor deductive. Reasoning appears to be from particular to particular.

Stage 3. Concrete Operational Stage (7 – 12 yrs)

Children can think logically (only in terms of concrete objects) and empathetically but
still learn best through experience. Children begin to understand patterns, other people’s
feelings and points of view. The concrete operational stage is marked by the following:
Decentering. This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different features of objects
and situations.
Reversibility. During the stage of concrete operations, the child can now follow that
certain operations can be done in reverse.
Conservation. This is the ability to know certain properties of objects like number,
mass, volume, or area do not change even if there is a change in appearance.
Seriation. This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in a series based on one
dimension.

Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage (13 – adult)

In this final stage, thinking becomes more logical. They can now solve abstract
problems and can hypothesize. This stage is characterized by the following:
Hypothetical Reasoning. This is the ability to come up with different hypothesis
about a problem and to gather and weigh data in order to make final decision or judgment.
This can be done in the absence of concrete objects. The individuals can now deal with “what
if” questions.
Analogical Reasoning. This is the ability to perceive the relationship in one
instance and then use that relationship in one instance and then use that relationship to
narrow down possible answers in another similar situation or problem.
Deductive Reasoning. This is the ability to think logically by applying a general rule
to a particular instance or situation.

From Piaget’s findings and comprehensive theory, we can derive the following principles: 1.
Children will provide different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive
development.
2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations that
engage learners and require adaptation (assimilation and accommodation).
3. Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or
mental operations for a child of given age; avoid asking students to perform tasks
that are beyond their current cognitive capabilities.
4. Use teaching methods that are actively involve students and present challenges.

Why are Piaget’s ideas significant?

His theory reinforces the idea that nurturance (comfort, teaching, and play) should be
suitable for the child or adolescence's stage of thinking.
Piaget’s ideas have greatly influenced our understanding of what children can and cannot do
based on their age and intellectual ability.
If children are given tasks that are too difficult for them, they will not be able to
succeed, which may affect them negatively, psychologically and emotionally.
 La Patria College Santiago
City

His theory describes children's ways of thinking and how it develops as they gain experiences.
Piaget overlooked the stages of adult intellectual development.

For additional information regarding to our topic, you can visit the link below:
https://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development
Santiago City

Summary:
In summary, in Jean Piaget Intellectual development includes the basic cognitive
concepts and Jean Piaget Stages of Cognitive Development. In Basic Cognitive Concept
include the schema, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration and in Piaget Stages of

REFERENCE:

1. Corpuz, B., Lucas, M. R., Borabo, H. G., & Lucido, P. (2018). The Child and Adolescent
Learners and Learning Principles. Lorimar Publishing. Quezon, City.
 La Patria College
MODULE 6. DEVELOPMENTAL THEORISTS AND THEORIES (Continuation) B.
Intellectual Development • Jean Piaget

WEEK: 6

Time Allotment: 3 Hours

OBJECTIVE:
At the end of the period, the students will be able to describe Piaget’s stages of
cognitive development.

LEARNING CONTENT:
DEVELOPMENTAL THEORISTS AND THEORIES
Introduction

Cognitive or intellectual development means the growth of a child’s ability to think and
reason. It's about how they organize their minds, ideas and thoughts to make sense of the
world they live in. In this module it focuses on the Intellectual development of a child by Jean
Piaget.

Discussion

Jean Piaget: Intellectual Development (1896-1980) Swiss biologist, psychologist, and

educator
Became interested in the scientific study of intellect when his three children were born
– used his children to observe and make scientific notes on intellectual development

How Piaget Developed the Theory

• Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student,
publishing his first scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early
exposure to the intellectual development of children came when he worked as an
assistant to Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon as they worked to standardize their
famous IQ test.
• Much of Piaget's interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by
his observations of his own nephew and daughter. These observations reinforced
his budding hypothesis that children's minds were not merely smaller versions of
adult minds.
• Up until this point in history, children were largely treated simply as smaller
versions of adults. Piaget was one of the first to identify that the way that children
think is different from the way adults think.
• Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that grows and develops through
a series of stages. Older children do not just think more quickly than younger
children, he suggested. Instead, there are both qualitative and quantitative
differences between the thinking of young children versus older children.
• Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than
adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so
simple only a genius could have thought of it."
• Piaget's stage theory describes the cognitive development of children. Cognitive
development involves changes in cognitive process and abilities. In Piaget's view,
early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later
progresses to changes in mental operations.
 La Patria College Santiago
City

• Piaget was the first person to study children scientifically, through real-life
 La Patria College Santiago
City

observations and obsessive note- taking. He discovered that ALL children’s

intellectual development progressed through four stages, beginning in infancy and
are completed by adolescence. Thinking becomes more and more complex as the
child ages. Each stage of thinking causes the child to see the world in a different
way. He indicated that a child must ‘master’ one stage before they can move onto
the next stage. If they cannot master a stage, they will never reach their full
potential.
• Piaget believed that intellectual development controls every other aspect of
development.

Basic Cognitive Concepts

Schema.
o Piaget used the term “schema” to refer to the cognitive structures by which
individuals intellectually adapt to and organize their environment. It is an
individual’s way to understand or create meaning about a thing or experience.
It is an individual’s way to understand or create meaning about a thing or
experience. It is like the mind has a filing cabinet and each drawer has folders
that contain files of things he had an experience with.
• Assimilation.
o This is the process of fitting a new experience into an existing or previously
created cognitive structure or schema.
• Accommodation. o This is the process of creating a new schema.
• Equilibration.
o Piaget believed that the people have the natural need to understand how the
world works and to find order, structure and predictability in their life.
Equilibration is achieving proper balance between assimilation and
accommodation. When our experiences do not match our schemata (plural of
schema) or cognitive structures, we experience cognitive disequilibrium. This
means there is a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is
understood. We then exert effort through assimilation and accommodation to
establish equilibrium once more.
Cognitive development involves a continuous effort to adapt to the environment in terms of
assimilation and accommodation. In this sense, Piaget’s theory is similar in nature to other
constructivist perspectives of learning like Bruner and Vygotsky.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Stage

1.
• Sensorimotor Stage (Birth – 2 years) o Children develop an understanding of the
world through their 5 senses and muscles–learn by doing. Learns basic shapes,
textures, and object permanence (ability of the child to know that an object still
exists even when out of sight) through touching, grasping, hearing and ‘tasting’
objects. In working with children in the sensori-motor stage, teachers should aim
to provide a rich and stimulating environment with appropriate objects to play with.
Stage 2.
• Preoperational Stage (2 – 7 years) o Intelligence at this stage is intuitive in nature.
Children develop an understanding through language and images - learn through
their own actions, thoughts, and feelings. Knowledge is based on their own
personal feelings, not reality. No logical thinking. They make use of mental
 La Patria College Santiago
City

representations and is able to pretend, closer to the use of symbols. This is

highlighted by the following:

Symbolic Function. The ability to represent objects and events. A symbol

is a thing that represents something else. A drawing, a written word, or a
spoken word comes to be understood as representing a real object.

Egocentrism. This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of

view and to assume that everyone also has his same point of view. The
child cannot take the perspective of others.

Centration. This refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one
aspect of a thing or event and exclude other aspects.

Irreversibility. Pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse

their thinking.

Animism. This is the tendency of children to attribute human like traits or

characteristics to inanimate objects.

Transductive reasoning. This refers to the preoperational child’s type of

reasoning that is neither inductive nor deductive. Reasoning appears
to be from particular to particular. Stage
3.

• Concrete Operational Stage (7 – 12 yrs) o Children can think logically (only in terms
of concrete objects) and empathetically but still learn best through experience.
Children begin to understand patterns, other people’s feelings and points of view.
The concrete operational stage is marked by the following:
 Decentering. This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the
different features of objects and situations.
 Reversibility. During the stage of concrete operations, the child can
now follow that certain operations can be done in reverse.
 Conservation. This is the ability to know certain properties of objects
like number, mass, volume, or area do not change even if there is a
change in appearance.
 Seriation. This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in a series
based on one dimension.
Stage 4.
• Formal Operational Stage (13 – adult) o In this final stage, thinking becomes more
logical. They can now solve abstract problems and can hypothesize. This stage is
characterized by the following:
 Hypothetical Reasoning. This is the ability to come up with different
hypothesis about a problem and to gather and weigh data in order to
make final decision or judgment. This can be done in the absence of
concrete objects. The individuals can now deal with “what if” questions.
 Analogical Reasoning. This is the ability to perceive the relationship
in one instance and then use that relationship in one instance and then
 La Patria College Santiago
City

use that relationship to narrow down possible answers in another similar

situation or problem.
 Deductive Reasoning. This is the ability to think logically by applying
a general rule to a particular instance or situation.

From Piaget’s findings and comprehensive theory, we can derive the following
principles:
1. Children will provide different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive
development.
2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations that
engage learners and require adaptation (assimilation and accommodation).
3. Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or
mental operations for a child of given age; avoid asking students to perform tasks
that are beyond their current cognitive capabilities.
4. Use teaching methods that are actively involve students and present challenges.

Why are Piaget’s ideas significant?

His theory reinforces the idea that nurturance (comfort, teaching, and play) should be
suitable for the child or adolescence's stage of thinking.
Piaget’s ideas have greatly influenced our understanding of what children can and cannot do
based on their age and intellectual ability.
If children are given tasks that are too difficult for them, they will not be able to succeed,
which may affect them negatively, psychologically and emotionally.
His theory describes children's ways of thinking and how it develops as they gain experiences.
Piaget overlooked the stages of adult intellectual development.

For additional information regarding to our topic, you can visit the link below:
https://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development

Summary:
In summary, in Jean Piaget Intellectual development includes the basic cognitive
concepts and Jean Piaget Stages of Cognitive Development. In Basic Cognitive Concept
include the schema, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration and in Piaget Stages of
Cognitive Development
Has different stages the sensory stage, the operational stage, concrete operational stage and
lastly the formal operational stage.

REFERENCE:
1. Corpuz, B., Lucas, M. R., Borabo, H. G., & Lucido, P. (2018). The Child and Adolescent
Learners and Learning Principles. Lorimar Publishing. Quezon, City.

Prepared by:

ELVIRA D. TAGUDIN, LPT, MSME

 La Patria College Santiago
City

Program Head, Teacher Education