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Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences

(PGIHS)
Education Diploma Program

PDE 505 – Educational psychology

Task;
Explain how the knowledge of child development affect on a successful
teacher role.
By Dr. Walter Senevirathne

Student; Ven. Pemarathana H.

Re.No; DIP/EDU/19/20/076
Department of Education
University of Peradeniya
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Explain how the knowledge of child development effect on a successful

teacher role.
Abstract - Teacher is the main character in society to empower children for the future needs.
That is why we needs successful teacher. Development is popular concept but it is difference
with children. Childs should change mentally related to social awareness and that results will
change his behavior in good manner with the well effect where does for the society. Child
development is progressing based on psychological process. Teacher must have child
development knowledge to make good child into society. Teacher who with such qualities are
called successful teacher.

Introduction

This paper will discuss regarding child development process and how it effects for the
teacher’s role. Every aspect in future depended on the children of today. Children are look like
a water. It presents regular form in order to place or shape where is in like the lake, bottle,
glass, mug, or whatever things. Shape should be created by us then the water will be taken such
position beyond the shape as well. everyone cannot be a successful teacher because teacher
wants high capabilities with good skills, creativities. Buddhism says that the most people can
be a successful person but only few of them would be immensely successful persons. This is
very related in teacher’s profession. There are lots of teachers but few of them are only
immensely successful teachers in professionally. That is the reason for consider about this
topic. It can investigate in theoretical knowledge as well as vivid perspectives but the
consequences are the same. It will apply both sociological and psychological theoretical
knowledge concerning child development and successful teacher role.

The child

psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology, and neuroscience, terminology are able

to give dimension for this term. All definition has to follow functioning of the child and final
argument might be that the child is a being which is being developing both mentally and
physically. Every aspect around the child is very importance for the development of child.
Child can imagine whatever before he verified. But his logical or critical thinking does not
perfect than adolescence. Child is being with limited world since without cultivated
competitive thinking but by curiosity makes limitless child. By birth the child mind is pure that
is why child can be call mother for any woman who taken after birth. If child sees the actual
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mother he cannot identify even after he develop. This the reason child should be fed with good
environment and transform into good people.

Biology gives biological conditions of the child and that simulated for the development
in biological condition of the child. Neuroscience identifies the bad and good state which affect
for the development of child. Sociology says that how this child makes as sociological being
in relation with actual social phenomenon. Psychology gives the guidance for the mind
development of the child that made good behavior. These all social phenomena guide to train
well person for the society.

Child Development

Development is thirsty for every field. Child development also is a scientifical studies.
It has given many results for the development of children education. Society wants adjustable
people for the existing condition. Researcher has directed child from their research.
Development must be society in positively which is confronted for the any challenge and under
many disciplines they investigate. The field of child development, as it exists today, is a
monument to the contributions of these many disciplines. Its body of knowledge is not just
scientifically important but also relevant and useful.

Development is always separated into three broad section: physical, cognitive, and
emotional and social. The domains are not really distinct. Rather, they combine in an
integrated, holistic fashion to yield the living, growing child. Furthermore, each domain
influences and is influenced by the others. For example, we can see that new motor capacities,
such as reaching, sitting, crawling, and walking (physical), contribute greatly to infants’
understanding of their surroundings (cognitive). When babies think and act more competently,
adults stimulate them more with games, language, and expressions of delight at their new
achievements (emotional and social). These experiences, in turn, promote all
aspects of development.

Physical development can observe external appearances like changes in body size,
proportions, appearance, functioning of body systems, perceptual and motor capacities, and
physical health;
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Cognitive development can see like changes in intellectual abilities, including

attention, memory, academic and everyday knowledge, problem solving, imagination,
creativity, and language;

Changes in emotional communication, self-understanding, knowledge about

other people, interpersonal skills, friendships, intimate relationships, and moral reasoning
and behavior are called as social and emotional development;
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These three domains of development are distinguished in order to age levels of person.
Laura has mentioned age levels that affected for the development of child. According to her
clarification;

1. The prenatal period: from conception to birth. In this nine-month period, the most rapid
time of change, a one-celled organism is transformed into a human baby with remarkable
capacities for adjusting to life in the surrounding world.
2. Infancy and toddlerhood: from birth to 2 years. This period brings dramatic changes in
the body and brain that support the emergence of a wide array of motor, perceptual, and
intellectual capacities; the beginnings of language; and first intimate ties to others.
Infancy spans the first year; toddlerhood spans the second, during which children take
their first independent steps, marking a shift to greater autonomy.
3. Early childhood: from 2 to 6 years. The body becomes longer and leaner, motor skills are
refined, and children become more self-controlled and self-sufficient. Make-believe play
blossoms, supporting every aspect of psychological development. Thought and language
expand at an astounding pace, a sense of morality becomes evident, and children establish
ties with peers.
4. Middle childhood: from 6 to 11 years. Children learn about the wider world and master
new responsibilities that increasingly resemble those they will perform as adults.
Hallmarks of this period are improved athletic abilities; participation in organized games
with rules; more logical thought processes; mastery of fundamental reading, writing,
math, and other academic knowledge and skills; and advances in understanding the self,
morality, and friendship.
5. Adolescence: from 11 to 18 years. This period initiates the transition to adulthood. Puberty
leads to an adult-sized body and sexual maturity. Thought becomes abstract and
idealistic, and schooling is increasingly directed toward preparation for higher education
and the world of work. Young people begin to establish autonomy from the
family and to define personal values and goals.

These types of age levels child develop under few environments. Physical, cognitive and
social and emotional development can change from scientifical knowledge who is the guardian of
child. In previous history many scholars made researches to reveal fruitful methods for child
development. They made theoretical strategy for development child behaviour. A theory is an
orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior. This helps
to identify actual situation of the child by observation in theoretical framework. Any society in
the world there are cultural beliefs and they guide to child into only such limited area but in
theories are based on scientifical investigation regarding any cases or situation, that verify to
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take new decision for community in common way without any limited concept. Theories
always perform free thinking or common values and theories must be tested with research
procedure therefore it raises fruitful results.

Child development is gradual procedure and there are some stages. According to the
development stages, qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize
specific periods of development. That means development is a continuous; a process of
gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with and also it may
be discontinuous; a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world
emerge at specific times. When it considers in theoretical way it is not a single process but it
combines with many factors which needs for development of child. It may happen relative
influence, nature influence and nurture influence.

The writings of British philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) served as the forerunner
of a twentieth-century perspective that we will discuss shortly: behaviorism. Locke viewed the
child as a tabula rasa-Latin for “blank slate.” According to this idea, children begin as nothing
at all; their characters are shaped entirely by experience. Locke (1690/1892) saw parents as
rational tutors who can mold the child in any way they wish through careful instruction,
effective example, and rewards for good behavior. He was ahead of his time in recommending
child-rearing practices that present-day research supports. According to behaviorism, directly
observable events, stimuli and responses are the appropriate focus of study.

French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) introduced a new view of

childhood. Children, Rousseau claimed, are not blank slates or empty containers to be filled by
adult instruction. Instead, they are noble savages, naturally endowed with a sense of right and
wrong and an innate plan for orderly, healthy growth. Rousseau believed that children’s built-
in moral sense and unique ways of thinking and feeling would only be harmed by adult training.
Rousseau’s philosophy includes two influential concepts. The first is the concept of stage,
which we discussed earlier. The second is the concept of maturation, which refers to a
genetically determined, naturally unfolding course of growth.

British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) joined an expedition to distant parts of

the world, where he observed infinite variation among plant and animal species. He also saw
that within a species, no two individuals are exactly alike. From these observations, he
constructed his famous theory of evolution. Hall and Gesell launched the normative approach,
in which measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related
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averages are computed to represent typical development. Alfred Binet (1857–1911) also
followed such approach to child development. Early Developmental Theorist A final important
figure, long overlooked in the history of child development, is American psychologist James
Mark Baldwin (1861–1934). A theorist and keen observer of children’s behavior, Baldwin’s
(1897) rich interpretations of development are experiencing a revival today. He believed that
children’s understanding of their physical and social worlds develops through a sequence of
stages, beginning with the simplest behavior patterns of the new born infant and concluding
with the adult’s capacity to think abstractly and reflectively.

According to the psychoanalytic perspective, children move through a series of stages

in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How
these conflicts are resolved determines the person’s ability to learn, to get along with others,
and to cope with anxiety.

Freud (1856–1939), a Viennese physician, sought a cure for emotionally troubled adults
by having them talk freely about painful events of their childhoods. Freud examined the
unconscious motivations of his patients and constructed his psychosexual theory , which
emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few
years is crucial for healthy personality development. In Freud’s theory, three parts of the
personality—id, ego, and superego—become integrated during a sequence of five stages, The
id, the largest portion of the mind, is the source of basic biological needs and desires. The ego,
the conscious, rational part of personality, emerges in early infancy to redirect the id’s impulses
so they are discharged in acceptable ways. Between 3 and 6 years of age, the superego, or
conscience, develops through interactions with parents, who insist that children conform to the
values of society.

Erik Erikson (1902– 1994), who expanded the picture of development at each stage. In
his psychosocial theory, Erikson emphasized that in addition to mediating between id impulses
and super ego demands, the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring
attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society.
According to Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory, children actively construct
knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world and he divided child development into
several stages like Sensorimotor (Birth–2 years), Preoperational (2–7 years), Concrete
operational (7–11 years) and Formal operational (11 years on).
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A new area of investigation arose, called developmental cognitive neuroscience. It

brings together researchers from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the
relationship between changes in the brain and the developing child’s cognitive processing and
behavior patterns as well as ethology and evolutionary developmental psychology was another
observation theory in child development. In sociological perspective also has studied
concerning this field; Vygotsky’s (1934/1987) perspective, known as sociocultural theory,
focuses on how culture—the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group—is
transmitted to the next generation. According to Vygotsky, social interaction—in particular,
cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable members of
society, is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving
that make up a community’s culture.

What the successful teacher is affected child development knowledge.

Teacher is key person in society since he/she has to transform children next generation
successfully and development in a country also depend on teacher’s skills. If there is good
economics system in a country it might have really good education system also and if there is
a good education system in a country it might have really strong environment in any field. But
teacher does not know about how to transform child into well position nothing any results for
the society. That’s why teacher’s role must have knowledge about child development method
as well as skills meanwhile teacher would compose strong person into society. Teaching and
learning are similarly very difficult but, if teacher should have knowledge about teaching with
awareness of child development levels and other particular things, student would learn well.

Children are not same in development therefore teacher has to hard work to find out
real level of the children. If there is satisfied body it does not mean that the child is perfect in
all-round. Child should be balanced in physically and mentally then teacher can teach as well
and it is easy that there is knowledge through the child development what I have mentioned
above. Teacher’s role is known as cluster of behaviour and expectations and it can’t to give
single definition and it should be a strong regulatory and transparent accountability. Teacher
as profession theoretical knowledge and practical awareness are an importance in a role of
teachers. Profession is an expectation something from which built systematically organized
and transferable knowledge base so teacher must have such contemplation for takeout
consequences. Researcher, Coach, Curriculum Developer, Gatekeeper, Broker and other many
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things expect from as the teacher’s role. All the qualities are better to improve with knowledge
concerning child development for the child development.

Reference
Kremer-Hayon, L., & Zuzovsky, R. (1995). Themes, processes and trends in the professional
development of teacher educators. In T. Russell & F. Korthagen (Eds.), Teachers who teach
teachers: Reflections on teacher education (pp. 155-171). London: Falmer Press.

Lanier, J. E., & Little, W. J. (1986). Research on teacher education. In M. Wittrock (Ed.),
Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 527-569). New York: Macmillan.

Cross, W. E., Jr. “A Two-FactorTheory of Black Identity: Development in Minority Children.”

In J. S. Phinney and M. J. Rotheram (eds.), Children’s Ethnic Socialization. Newbury Park,
Calif.: Sage, 1986.