CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
Principles of child development and learning
Development – is a pattern of change or movement
that begins from conception and continues
throughout lifespan
Principles of Human Development:
1. Development is relatively orderly
Proximodistal pattern – fetus grows from
inside of the body outwards
Cephalocaudal pattern – growth starts from
the top and working its way down to the
bottom; head grows more than the body
2. The outcomes of developmental processes
and the rate of development are likely to vary
among individuals
3. Development takes place gradually
4. Development is complex because it is the
product of biological, cognitive and socio-
emotional processes
Biological process – involves changes in
one’s physical nature
Cognitive process – involves changes in
one’s thought, intelligence, and language
Socio-emotional process – involves changes
in individual’s relationship and changes in
emotions and in personality
2 approaches to human development:
1. Traditional – views growth as rapid in
childhood to adolescence, little or no change in
adulthood and decline in old age
2. Life-span – views growth and development as
lifelong
Characteristics:
 Development is lifelong
 Development is multidimensional – consists
of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional
 Development is plastic – possible throughout
lifespan
 Development is contextual – changing
beings in a changing world
 Development involves growth,
maintenance and regulation
1. Development and learning in one domain (eg
cognitive, emotional, etc.) influence other
domains
2. Development and learning proceed at varying
rates from child to child
3. Development and learning result from
interaction of biological maturation and
experience
4. Early experiences have profound effects on
child’s development and learning
5. Children develop best when they have secure
and consistent relationships with adults and
opportunities for positive relationship with
peers
6. Development and learning occur and are
influenced by social and cultural contexts
7. Children learn in a variety of ways
8. Play is an important vehicle for developing self-
regulation
9. Development and learning is advanced when
children are challenged to achieve a level just
beyond their current level
10. Children’s experiences shape their motivation
Stages of Human Development (Santrock, 2002):
1. Pre-natal period
- Starts with the embryo
2. Infancy (birth to 2 years)
- Babies kick, cough, cry, suck
- Smiles do not have definite meaning
3. Early Childhood (3 to 5 years)
- Children learns to skip, play, run
- Has wild imaginations
- Small world has widened as children
discover new refuges and people
- Children ready to learn (school readiness)
4. Middle and Late Childhood (6 ton 12 years)
- Eager to know and understand things
- Mastery of basic skills
- Achievement becomes central
- Self-control increases
- More attached/builds relationship with
friends
- Fully enjoys the present
 5. Adolescence (13 to 18 years)
- More outrageous, confident and
expressive
- More acquainted with sex
- Eager to try being adults
- Pursuit of independence and identity
6. Early Adulthood (19 to 29 years)
- a high time for work and love
- wants to enter the society of adults and
committing to have a more stable life
- wonders about the fulfillment of self
- Dreams continue and thoughts were bold
but at the same time, practical
7. Middle Adulthood (30 to 60 years)
- What we have been forms what we will be
- Expanding personal and social
involvement
- Reaching and maintaining satisfactions in
career
- Discovery of the purpose, essence, and
reason of life
- More evaluations are made, however
reluctantly
- Conflict between the daring of youth and
discipline of age
8. Late Adulthood (61 and above)
- Learns the truth of life
- Learns that life is to be lived forward but
must be understood backwards
- Deep reflections about life occur
Issues of Human Development:
1. Nature vs Nurture – Is development/change
an outcome of heredity of environment?
2. Continuity vs Discontinuity – Does
development involve gradual, cumulative
change or distinct changes
3. Stability vs Change – Are we defined by what
our first experiences have made us or do we
develop into someone different from our past
experiences
FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Erogenous zone – the specific area that becomes the
focus of pleasure needs
Fixation – results from failure to satisfy the needs of
a particular psychosexual stage
 ORAL STAGE (birth to 18 months/1 ½ years)
- the erogenous zone is the mouth
- focused on oral pleasures (sucking)
- fixation is shown in an increased focus
on oral activities
Oral receptive: smoke, drink alcohol,
overeat
Oral aggressive: bite nails, use curse
words or gossip
Result: too dependent on others, easily
fooled, lack leadership skills, pessimistic
and aggressive on people
 ANAL STAGE (18 months to 3 years)
- The erogenous zone is the anus
- Fixations:
Anal retentive: obsession to cleanliness,
perfection, control
Anal expulsive: messy and disorganized
 PHALLIC STAGE (3 to 6 years)
- The erogenous zone is the genitals
Oedipus complex: unconscious feeling of
the son towards his mother and views his
father as a rival
Electra complex: unconscious sexual
attraction of a daughter towards her
father
 LATENCY STAGE (6 years to puberty)
- Focus is on acquisition of physical and
academic skills
- Boys relate with boys; girls with girls
 GENITAL STAGE (puberty onwards)
- The erogenous zone is the genitals
- Focus their sexual urges towards their
opposite sex peers
Freud’s Personality Components:
1. The id
- pleasure principle
- focuses on immediate gratification or
satisfaction of its needs
- works on children to provide their essential
needs
2. The ego
- reality principle
- aware that others have also their needs
- the deciding agent of the personality
3. The superego
- moral principle
- likened to conscience because it exerts
influence on what one considers right or
wrong
Freud’s Topographical Model:
1. The Unconscious
- most of what influence us is our unconscious
- buried deep within but still influence our
thinking
2. The Conscious
- all that we are aware of
- only comprises a very small part of who we
are that is why we are only aware of a very
small part of our personality
3. The Subconscious
- the part that is only prompted but not active
- area that is very huge
4. The Nonconscious
- all the things that we are not aware or have
not experienced
PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Basic Cognitive Concepts:
 Schema – cognitive structures; prior
knowledge
 Assimilation – the process of fitting an new
experience into an existing one
 Accommodation – the process of creating a
new schema
 Equilibration – achieving proper balance
between assimilation and accommodation
Stages of Cognitive Development:
1. Sensori-motor stage (birth to infancy)
- initially reflexive in grasping, sucking,
reaching
- focuses on prominence of senses and
muscle movement
Object permanence – the ability of a child
to know that an object still exists even
when out of sight
2. Pre-operational stage (2 to 7 years old)
- child can now make mental
representations
- child is even closer to use symbols
Symbolic Function – the ability to
represent objects and events using
symbols
Egocentrism – the tendency to only see his
point of view and assume that everyone
also has his same point of view
Centration – the tendency to only focus on
one aspect of a thing/event and exclude
other aspects
Irreversibility – the inability to reverse
their thinking (ex: 2+3=5; 5-3=2)
Animism – the tendency to attribute
human traits to inanimate objects
Transductive Reasoning – reasoning that
is neither inductive nor deductive (if A
causes B then B causes A)
 3. Concrete Operational stage (8 – 11 years)
- ability of the child to think logically but
only in terms of concrete objects
Decentering – ability of the child to
perceive the different features of objects
and situations
Reversibility – the child can now follow
that certain operations can be done in
reverse
Conservation – ability to know that
certain properties of objects (eg mass,
volume, etc) do not change even if there is
a change in appearance
Seriation – ability to order or arrange
things in a series based on one dimension
4. Formal Operational stage (12 – 15 years)
- thinking becomes more logical
- they can now solve abstract problems and
can hypothesize
Hypothetical Reasoning – ability to come
up with different hypothesis and to gather
and weigh data in order to make a final
decision. Individuals can now deal with
“What if” questions
Analogical Reasoning – ability to
perceive relationship in one instance and
then use the relationship to narrow down
possible answers in another similar
situation or problem
Deductive Reasoning – ability to think
logically by applying a general rule to a
particular instance or situation
Reflections:
 Children will provide different explanations of
reality at different cognitive development
 Cognitive development is facilitated by providing
activities and engaging learners that require
adaptation
 Learning materials and activities must suit to the
cognitive developmental stage of children
 Use teaching methods that actively involve
students and present challenges
ERIKSON’S PSYCHO-SOCIAL
THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT
 derived from two words: psychological meaning
“mind, brain, personality” and social meaning
external relationships and environment
 largely influenced by Sigmund Freud but
extended his by incorporating social and
cultural aspects
 helps understand various environmental factors
that affect students’ personality
Epigenetic principle
- we develop through a predetermined
unfolding of our personalities in 8 stages
- earlier stage is a foundation of the later stage
Psychosocial Crisis
- two opposing emotional forces
Virtue (Psychosocial Strength)
- the outcome of a successful, well-managed
stage
Malignancy
- involves too little of the positive and too
much of the negative aspect of the task
Maladaptation
- involves too much of the positive and too
little of the negative aspect of the task
Mutuality
- reflects the effect of generations to each other
Generativity
- reflects the significant relationship between
adults and the best interests of children
Psychosocial Stages of Development
1. Trust vs Mistrust (Infancy)
- goal is to develop trust without
completely eliminating mistrust
Maladaptation: Sensory Maladjustment
- child believes that no one would cause
him harm
Malignancy: Withdrawal
- depression, paranoia, and psychosis
Virtue: Hope
- even when things are not going well, they
will work out well in the end
2. Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt (Early - task is to achieve ego identity (knowing
Childhood) who you are and how you fit in the
- task is to achieve a degree of autonomy society) and avoid role confusion (leads
while minimizing shame and doubt to identity crisis)
Rites of passage – certain accomplishments and
Maladaptation: Impulsiveness
rituals that help distinguish the adult from a child
- shameless wilfulness that leads you to
Psychosocial Moratorium – a little “time-out” to
jump into things without proper
find oneself
consideration of your abilities
Malignancy: Compulsiveness
Maladaptation: Fanaticism
- person feels as if their entire being rides
- believes that his way is the only way
on everything they do and so everything
Malignancy: Repudiation
must be done perfectly
- they reject their membership in the world
Virtue: Willpower or Determination
of adults and they reject their need for an
- the belief of the person that he “can do”
identity
things despite difficulties
Virtue: Fidelity
- loyalty; the ability to live by societies’
3. Initiative vs Guilt (3 to 6 years old)
standards despite their imperfections and
- The task is to learn initiative without too
incompleteness and inconsistencies
much guilt
Maladaptation: Ruthlessness 6. Intimacy vs Isolation (Young Adulthood)
- to be heartless or unfeeling or to be - taks is to achieve some degree of intimacy
“without mercy” as opposed to remain in isolation
Malignancy: Inhibition
Maladaptation: Promiscuity
- will not try on things because “nothing
- tendency to become too freely, too easily,
ventured, nothing lost”
and without any depth to your intimacy
- fear of being blamed
Malignancy: Exclusion
Virtue: Courage
- tendency to isolate oneself from love,
- the capacity for action despite a clear
friendship, and community, and to
understanding of your limitations and
develop a certain hatefulness in
past failings
compensation for one’s loneliness
Virtue: Love
4. Industry vs Inferiority (6 to 12 years old)
- being able to put aside differences and
- task is to develop a capacity for industry
antagonisms through “mutuality of
while avoiding excessive sense of
devotion”
inferiority
Maladaptation: Narrow Virtuosity
7. Generativity vs Stagnation (Middle Adulthood)
- children who are pushed to achieve high
- task is to cultivate balance of generativity
level of competence; children without life
(concern/love for the future or next
Malignancy: Inertia
generation) and stagnation (self-
- the attitude that if something fails, you
absorption; caring for no one)
should never try again
Virtue: Competency Maladaptation: Overextension
- mostly industry with a touch of inferiority - tendency to be so generative that they
to keep us humble have no time for themselves to relax
Malignancy: Rejectivity
5. Identity vs Role Confusion (Adolescence) - no longer participating or contributing to
the society
Virtue: Care KOHLBERG’S STAGES OF MORAL
- serves others DEVELOPMENT

8. Integrity vs Despair (Late Adulthood)  PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL

- task is to develop ego integrity with a
minimal amount of despair Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience
- One is motivated by fear of punishment
Maladaptation: Presumption
- a person “presumes” ego integrity Stage 2: Mutual Benefit
without actually facing the difficulties of - One is motivated by the benefit that one
old age may obtain later
- person believes that he alone is right
Malignancy: Disdain  CONVENTIONAL LEVEL
- a contempt of life, one’s own and others
 POST-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL
- person becomes very negative and
appears to hate life
Stage 3: Social Approval
Virtue: Wisdom
- One is motivated by what others expect in
- strength where someone who approaches
behavior. Importance is what people
death without fear
think or say

Stage 4: Law and Order

- One is motivated to act in order to uphold
the law and order

Stage 5: Social Contract

- One will act based on social justice and
the common good
- Laws that are wrong can be changed

Stage 6: Universal Principles

- Development of one’s conscience
- Having a set of standards that drives one
to possess moral responsibility to make
societal changes regardless of
consequences to oneself
 VYGOTSKY’S SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)
- A competent adult or advanced peers
Central factors of Cognitive Development:
1. Social Interaction Zone of Proximal Development
2. Language - The difference between what the child
can accomplish alone and what he can
Piaget Vygotsky accomplish with the guidance of another
Focus: Individual Focus: Social (MKO)
Believed that there are Did not propose stages
universal stages of but emphasize of Scaffolding
cognitive development cultural factors in - The support or assistance that lets the
cognitive development child accomplish the task he cannot
Did not give much Stressed the role of accomplish independently
emphasis on language language in cognitive
development Scaffold and Fade-away technique
- The guidance can be withdrawn when the
Social Interaction child can perform the skill on his own
- the social environment takes a major role
in one’s development
- Effective learning happens in
participation in social activities
- Parents, teachers and peers contribute to
the process
Cultural Factors
- Looked into a wide range of experiences
that a culture would give to a child
- Culture’s view on education (how a child
should be trained) contribute to the
cognitive development of a child
Language
- Serves as a door for learners to acquire
knowledge that others already have
- Learners use language to know and
understand the world and solve problems
- “talking to self” is an indication of the
thinking that goes on in the mind of the
child
- Private speech: a form of self-talk that
guides the child’s thinking and action
Note: Vygotsky believes in hands-on learning;
children learn best through hands-on activities than
passive listening

Zone of Proximal Development

- The level of competency by which a child
may attain by doing the skill on his own
 BROFENBRENNER’S ECOLOGICAL THEORY
- presents child development within context of
relationship systems that comprise the child’s
environment
 MICROSYSTEM
- Structures which the child directly
interacts with
- Includes one’s family, school,
neighbourhood
 MESOSYSTEM
- connection between the structure of
child’s microsystems
- example parents interact with teachers;
parents interact with community or
church
 EXOSYSTEM
- bigger social system which the child does
not function directly
- includes city government, workplace,
mass media
 MACROSYSTEM
- the outermost part in the child’s
environment
- includes cultural values, customs, laws
 CHRONOSYSTEM
- covers the element of time as it relates to
a child’s environments
- involves “pattern of stability and
change” in the child’s life
- example: the timing of other siblings
coming or the timing of parental
separation, bodily changes that occur
within the developing child
DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEARNERS
AT VARIOUS STAGES
Pre-Natal period
- Human life begins from the moment of
conception
Stages:
1. Germinal Period (first 2 weeks)
- creation of the zygote
- continued cell division (differentiation of
cells)
- attachment of the zygote to the uterine
wall
Blastocyst – the inner layer of cells that
develops during the germinal period that
later develops into an embryo
Trophoblast – the outer layer of cells that
develops during the germinal period which
provides nutrition and support
2. Embryonic Period (2 weeks to 8 weeks)
- zygote becomes embryo
- cell division intensifies
- life support systems develop
- organs appear
Endoderm (inner layer of cells)
- develops into digestive and
respiratory system
Mesoderm (middle layer)
- develops into circulatory, muscular,
skeletal, excretory, and reproductive
Ectoderm (outer layer of cells)
- develops into nervous system, sensory
receptors (eyes, ears, nose) and skin
parts (hair, nails)
Organogenesis – the process of organ formation
 3. Fetal Period (2 months to 7 months)
- growth and development continue
dramatically
3 months
: 3 inches long, weighs one ounce
: fetus is active, moves its body parts
: face figures can now be
distinguished
: genitals can now be identified
4 months
: 6 inches long, weighs 4 to 7 ounces
: growth spurt in lower parts
: mother feels arm and leg movement
5 months
: 12 inches long, weighs close to a
pound
: structures of skin are formed (nails)
6 months
: 14 inches long, 1 ½ pound
: eyes and eyelids completely formed
: fine layer covers the head
: grasping reflexes are present;
irregular movements occur
7 months
: 16 inches long, 3 pounds
8 to 9 months
: fetus grows longer and gains
substantial weight (4 pounds)
Teratology – the field that investigates the causes of
congenital defects
Teratogen - the one that causes birth defects
Thalidomide – helps in morning sickness that
when taken, it has a negative
effect on the developing fetus
Antibiotics – can be harmful to pregnant
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – a cluster of
abnormalities that appears in
of mothers who are excessive
alcohol drinkers
Infancy and Toddlerhood
PHYSICAL
Height and Weight
- normal for babies to drop 5 to 10 percent of
their body weight (adjustment to neonatal
feeding)
- Breastfed babies are typically heavier than
bottle-fed babies in the first 6 months. Vice
versa after.
- Length increases about 30 percent in the first
5 months
- Weight triples during the first year but
slows in the second year
Brain
- At birth, only 25% of the adult weight
- 2nd year, 75% of the adult weight
Myelination – the process by which axons are
covered and insulated by layers of fat cells
Motor Development
Sucking reflex – needed for latch unto bottle or
breast
Rooting reflex – when an infant’s cheek is stroked,
the baby responds by turning his head
to the direction of touch and opening
her mouth for feeding
Gripping reflex – grasp anything they touch
Curling reflex – when the infant’s feet is stroked,
he responds by curling his toes
Startle/Moro reflex – response to sudden sounds
Galant reflex – when the infant’s middle or lower
back is stroked, the baby will respond
by curving his body towards the side
which is being stroked
Tonic neck reflex – when infants are placed on
their abdomens, whichever side the
baby is facing, the limbs of that side
will straighten while the other curls
Sensory and Perceptual Development
- Vision is about 10 to 30 times lower than
adults; 1st birthday, vision becomes like that
of an adult
- Hearing develops before birth
- Smells develops a number of days (6 days)
- Babies feel pain and respond to touch
- Sensitivity to taste might develop before birth
 COGNITIVE
Sensory Motor stage – construct an understanding
of the world by coordinating sensory experiences
with physical and motoric actions
6 sub-stages of sensory motor stage:
1. Simple Reflexes (birth – 6 weeks)
- coordination of sensation and action
- reflexes like sucking, moving eyes
towards interest, and grasping
2. First habits and primary circular reactions
phase (6 weeks – 4 months)
- coordination of sensation and habits
(reflex) & primary (action is focused on
the body) circular (repetition) reactions
- infants tend to repeat interesting
sensations
3. Secondary circular reactions phase (4-8 mos)
- development of habits
- infants intentionally grasp a desired
object
- Secondary (outside the body) circular
reactions; repetition of an action
involving external object
- differentiation between means and ends
- Beginning of insights and true creativity
- Marks the passage to preoperational
stage
Object permanence – the understanding that objects
continue to exist even without immediate perception
Infantile amnesia – inability to recall events that
happened when we are young
Language Acquisition Device (LAD) – the
metaphorical organ that is responsible for language
learning
Holophrases – one-word utterances used by infants
to convey intentions, desires and demands
Telegraphic speech – two-word or three-word
utterances with rudimentary syntax but with articles
and prepositions missing
Overextension error – child’s overextension of the
meaning of words to cover ideas that has the same
concept for which a new word is lacking

4. Coordination of reactions stage secondary

circular (8 – 12 months)
- coordination of vision and touch-hand-
eye coordination
- first proper intelligence
- beginning of goal orientation, planning of
steps to meet objective; action is directed
to a goal

5. Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and

curiosity (12 – 18 months)
- becomes intrigue about the properties of
objects and by the many things they can
make happen to objects
- children learn to experiment on things

6. Internalization of Schemes (18 – 24 months)

- Develop the ability to use primitive
symbols and form enduring mental
representations