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MODULE 2: THE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT AND DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS

“Who are you ?”, asked the caterpillar. Alice replied rather shyly, “I-I hardly know,
Sir, just at present-at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I
must have changed several times since then.” – Lewis Carroll
At the end of this module, you should be able to:

• define developmental tasks in your own words;

• describe the developmental tasks in each stage; and
• come up with research abstracts/summaries of researches on developmental tasks.

INTRODUCTION
For every developmental stage, there is an expected task. What happens when
the expected developmental tasks are not achieved at the corresponding developmental stage?
How can you help children achieve these developmental tasks?

ACTIVITY
Study the pictures and the descriptions below each set of pictures, then answer the following
questions.

1. Do the picture suggest the respective developmental stages?

2. Symbolize each developmental stage. Give a symbol that stands for the developmental
task for each stage.
3. If you were given a chance, which developmental stage would you like to be in? Why?
Share your answers.

4-Week Human Embryo 7-8 Week Human Embryo

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
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Pre-natal Period
Referring to pre-natal development, Santrock (2002) asked
the following questions succinctly:

“How from so simple a beginning do endless forms develop

and grow, and mature? What was this organism, what is it
now, and what it will become? Birth’s fragile moment
arrives, when the new born is on a threshold between two
worlds.”

Infancy (from birth to 2 years)

As newborns, we were not empty-headed
organisms, We cried, kicked coughed, sucked, saw,
heard and tasted. We slept a lot and occasionally we
smiled, although the meaning of our smiles was not
entirely clear. We crawled and then we walked, a
journey of a thousand miles beginning with a single
step. …Sometimes we conformed, sometimes others
conformed to us. Our development was a continuous
creation of complex forms, and our helpless kind
demanded the meeting eyes of love. We split the
universe into two halves: “me and not me.” And we
juggled the need to curb our own will with becoming what we could will freely (Santrock,
2002).

Early Childhood (3-5 years)

In early childhood, our greatest untold poem
was being only being four years old. We skipped,
played, and ran all day long, never in our lives so busy,
busy something that we had not quite grasped yet.
Who knew our thoughts, which worked up into small
mythologies all our own. Our thoughts and images
and drawings took wings. The blossoms of our heart,
no wind could touch. Our small world widened as we
discovered new refuges and new people. When we
said “I” we meant something totally unique, not to be
confused with any other” (Santrock, 2002).

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
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Middle and Late Childhood (6-12 years)

“In middle and late childhood, we were on

a different plane, belonging to a generation and a
feeling properly our own. It is the wisdom of
human development that at no other time we are
more ready to learn than at the end of early
childhood’s period of expansive imagination. Our
thirst was to know and to understand. Our
parents continued to cradle our lives but our
growth was also being shaped by successive
choirs of friends. We did not think much about the
future or the past, but enjoyed the present.”
(Except for a few words, the paragraph is taken from Santrock, 2002)

Adolescence (13-18 years)

In no order of things was adolescence, the
simple time of life for us. We clothed ourselves
with rainbows and went ‘brave as the zodiac’,
flashing from one end of the world to the other.
We tried on one face after another, searching for
a face of our own. We wanted our parents to
understand us and hoped they would give up the
privilege of understanding them. We wanted to fly
but found that first we had to learn to stand and
walk and climb and dance. In our most pimply and
awkward moments we became acquainted with
sex. We played furiously at adult games but were
confined to a society of our own peers. Our
generation was the fragile cable by which the best
and the worst of our parents’ generation was transmitted to the present. In the end, there
were two but lasting bequests our parents could leave us – one being roots, the other wings
(Santrock, 2002).

Early Adulthood (19-29 years)

Early adulthood is a time for work and a time for
love, sometimes leaving little time for anything else. For
some of us, finding our place in adult society and
committing to a more stable life take longer than we
imagine. We still ask ourselves who we are and wonder if
it isn’t enough just to be. Our dreams continue and our
thoughts are bold but at some point we become more
Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
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pragmatic. Sex and love are powerful passions in our lives – at times angels of light, at other
times of torment. And we possibly will never know the love of our parents until we become
parents ourselves (Santrock, 2002).

Middle Adulthood (30-60 years)

In middle adulthood what we have
been forms that we will be. For some of us,
middle age is such a foggy place, a time when
we need to discover what we are running from
and to and why. We compare our life with
what we vowed to make it. In middle age, more
time stretches before us and some evaluations
have to be mad, however reluctantly. As the
young/old polarity greets us with a special
force, we need to join the daring youth with
the discipline of age in a way that does justice
to both. As middle-aged adults we come to
sense that the generations of living things pass
in a short while and like runners hand on the torch of life (Santrock, 2002).

Late Adulthood (61 years and above)

“The rhythm and meaning of human
development eventually wend their way to late
adulthood, when each of us stands alone at the
heart of the earth and “suddenly it is evening.”
We shed the leaves of the youth and are
stripped by the winds of time down to the
truth. We learn that life is lived forward but
understood backward. We trace the
connection between the end and the
beginning of life and try to figure out what this
whole show is about before it is over.
Ultimately we come to know that we are what
survives of us (Santrock, 2002).

ANALYSIS
1. How many developmental stages were described? How do these stages compare to
Havighurst’s developmental stages given below?

Havighurst has identified six major age periods:

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
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1. Infancy and early childhood (0-5 years)

2. Middle childhood (6-12 years)
3. Adolescence (13-18 years)
4. Early adulthood (19-29 years)
5. Middle adulthood (30-60 years)
6. Later maturity (61+)

2. What is an outstanding trait or behavior of each stage?

3. What task/s is /are expected of each developmental stage?
4. Does a developmental task in a higher level require accomplishment of the lower level
developmental tasks?
5. Refer to Havighurst’s Developmental tasks given in the table. Match the descriptions
given by Santrock. Are Havighurst and Santrock saying the same things?

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
 Infancy and Early Middle Childhood Adolescence Early Adulthood Middle Adulthood Later Maturity
Childhood (6-12) (13-18) (19-29) (30-60) (61-and over)
(0-5)
1. Learning physical 1. Achieving nature 1. Selecting a mate 1. Helping teenage 1. Adjusting to
1. Learning to walk skills necessary for relations with both 2. Learning to live children to become decreasing strength
2. Learning to take ordinary games sexes with a partner happy and and health

Tadeco Road, New Visayas

solid foods 2. Building a 2. Achieving a 3. Starting a family responsible adult 2. Adjusting to

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3. Learning to talk wholesome masculine or 4. Rearing children 2. Achieving adult retirement and

Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105

4. Learning to control attitude toward feminine social role 5. Managing a social and civic reduced income
the elimination of oneself 3. Accepting home responsibility 3. Adjusting to
body wastes 3. Learning to get one’ s physique 6.Starting an 3. Satisfactory death spouse
5. Learning sex along with age- 4. Achieving occupation career achievement 4. Establishing
differences and sexual mates emotional 7. Assuming civic 4. Developing adult relations with
modesty 4. Learning an independence of responsibility leisure time one’ s own age
6. Acquiring concepts appropriate sex adults activities group
and language to role 5. Preparing for 5. Relating to 5. Meeting social
describe social and 5. Developing marriage and family one’ s spouse as a and civic
physical reality fundamental skills life person obligations
7. Readiness for in reading, writing 6. Preparing for an 6. Accepting the 6. Establishing

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reading and calculating economic career physiological satisfactory living

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8. Learning to 6. Developing 7. Acquiring values changes of middle quarters
distinguish right from concepts necessary and an ethical age
wrong and developing for everyday living system to guide 7. Adjusting to
conscience 7. Developing behavior aging parent
conscience, 8. Desiring and
morality and a scale achieving socially

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of values responsible

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.
8. Achieving
personal
independence
9. Developing
acceptable attitude
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ABSTRACTION

Concept of Developmental Tasks

In each stage of development, a certain task or tasks are expected of every individual.
Robert Havighurst defines development task as one that “arises at a certain period in our life,
the successful achievement of which leads to happiness and success with later tasks while
failure leads to unhappiness, social disapproval, and difficulty with later tasks” (Havighurst,
1972).
Developmental Stages
There are eight (8) developmental stages given by Santrock. The eight (8)
developmental stages cited by Santrock are the same with Havighurst’s six (6) developmental
stages only that Havighurst did not include prenatal period. Havighurst combined infancy and
early childhood while Santrock mentioned them as two (2) separate stages. These
developmental stages are described more in detail in the next paragraphs.
The Developmental Tasks (Santrock, 2002)
1. Prenatal period (from conception to birth) – It involves tremendous growth- from
a single cell to an organism complete with brain and behavioral capabilities.

2. Infancy (from birth to 18-24 months) – A time of extreme dependence on adults.

Many psychological activities are just beginning – language, symbolic thought,
sensorimotor coordination and social learning.

3. Early childhood (end of infancy to 5-6 years old (Grade 1) – These are the
preschool years. Young children learn to become more self-sufficient and to care
for themselves, develop school readiness skills and spend many hours in play with
peers.

4. Middle and late childhood (6-11 years of age, the elementary school years) – The
fundamental skills of reading, writing and arithmetic are mastered. The child is
formally exposed to the 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 of age ending up to 18-22 years of age) - begins with
rapid physical changes – dramatic gains in height and weight, changes in body
contour, and the development of sexual characteristics such as enlargement of the
breasts, development of pubic and facial hair, and deepening of the voice. Pursuit
of independence and identity are prominent. Thought is more logical, abstract and
idealistic. More time is spent outside of the family.

6. Early adulthood (from late teens or early 20s lasting through the 30s) – It is a time
of establishing personal and economic independence, career development,
selecting a mate, learning to live with someone in an intimate way, starting a family

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
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and rearing children.

7. Middle adulthood (40 to 60 years of age) – It is a time of expanding personal and

social involvement and responsibility; of assisting the next generation in becoming
competent and mature individuals; and of reaching and maintaining satisfaction in
a career.

8. Late adulthood (60s and above) – It is a time for adjustment to decreasing strength
and health, life review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles.

APPLICATION
A. What are the implications of these developmental tasks to your role as a facilitator of
learning? Let’s play a particular attention to the stages that correspond to schooling-early
childhood, middle and late childhood and adolescence.

1. Early Childhood – What are preschool teachers supposed to do with preschoolers?

Help them develop readiness for school and not to be too academic in teaching
approach? They ought to give much time for preschoolers to play. Or perhaps help
preschoolers develop school readiness by integrating children’s games in school
activities.
2. Middle and Late Childhood – Elementary school teachers ought to help their pupils by
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Adolescence – High school teachers ought to help their students by
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

B. Group Work

1. Do a multimedia presentation of the outstanding characteristics and developmental

tasks of each developmental stage. You may use the text of Santrock found beside the
picture in the Activity Phase of this lesson.
2. Sing an appropriate song for each developmental stage.

REFLECTION

1. Reflect on your early childhood, middle and late childhood days. Were you able to acquire
the developmental tasks expected of early, middle, late childhood and adolescence. What
facilitated your acquisitions of the ability to perform such tasks.
2. Having mastered the developmental tasks of early childhood, middle, and late childhood
and adolescence, reflect on what you should do as a teacher to facilitate your students’
acquisition of these developmental tasks. Write down your reflections.

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
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RESEARCH CONNECTION

1. Read a research related to developmental stages and developmental tasks. Fill out the
matrix below. Kindly write your source of information in bibliographical entry format.

Problem Research
Methodology

Findings
Conclusions

2. How are the finding of this research useful to teachers?

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege