UNIT I.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 1: What is Child Development?

1.1 What is “development”?

There are plenty of disagreements about what development really is. At least, scientists agree
on one thing: that development implies a “systematic and successive change.”
Development can be defined as “progressive, orderly and continuing changes over time in a
person’s physical and neurological structure.” In other words, development is a series of age-related
changes that happen across the life span.

1.2 What are the stages of child development?

The human life span can be divided into four (4) life stages, and in this course, we will study
only the first three (3):
1. Infancy (birth to 2 yrs. Old – “newborn,” “infant,” “toddler”)
– the child is totally dependent on the caregiver for the fulfilment of his/her needs.
The child experiences rapid growth during this period.
2. Childhood (“early childhood” – 2 to 8 yrs. Old, and “middle childhood” – 9 to 12 yrs.
Old)
– the child refines his/her skills he/she learned in earlier years, from basic to more
complex skills; he/she learns new skills. The most rapid period growth and development
is seen in early childhood.
3. Adolescence (12 to 18 yrs. Old)
– “puberty” (11-14 yrs. Old). A child undergoes a series of changes in the body.
4. Adulthood
– period when an individual has reached his/her maturity. Usually above 18 yrs. Old.

1.3 What are the domains of child development?

Child psychologists classify different areas of a person’s development.
 a. Physical Domain
About the measurable, visible changes in the body of a child from birth to old age.
Includes growth of the body size and proportions, appearance, brain development, sensory
capacities, motor skills, and overall physical health.
Motor development refers to the increasing amount control that a child has over
his/her body. It includes the different levels of skills that he/she can master. Also involves gross
motor skills (major movements of the body involving large muscles) and fine motor skills
(movement of fingers and hands).

Gross Motor Skills

Fine Motor Skills

 Adaptive development refers to the ability of a child to do age-appropriate life skills. It
may refer to how a child adapts to the environment and is able to perform things
independently. Sone psychologists define them as self-care skills.
When children go through a physical growth spurt, it affects them cognitively and
emotionally as well. Like when somebody is about to get sick or is already sick, he/she may
become moody or disorganized. So, when something in the physical domain happens, it
impacts everything else.

b. Cognitive Domain

About the changes

and progression in the
thought processes –
thinking abilities of a person
from infancy up to old age.
The mental processes
include learning, attention,
memory, language, thinking,
reasoning, problem-solving,
creativity, imagination,
academic knowledge,
everyday knowledge, and
understanding what is
happening around you.
 Language development or communicative domain is about how a person’s
language or communication skills develop from crying to laughing, to babbling, and then to
talking. This involves one’s ability to comprehend, use, and manipulate language.

There four (4) aspects of

language development:
Phonology (forming sounds
into words)
Syntax (creating sentences
from these words using
language rules and
conventions)
Semantics (understanding
meaning and shades of
personal use)
Pragmatics (how to apply
language to communicate in
practical and personal use)

c. Psychosocial Domain

Includes emotions, personality, and social relationships.

Social development is all about the child’s relationship with different kinds of people
and his/her unique way of interacting with them. It also includes self-knowledge and moral
reasoning.
Emotional development refers to how a child’s emotions develop, how he/she
understands and expresses his/her emotions in socially acceptable ways, or regulating one’s
emotions, having confrontations without violence.
Socioemotional domain which is all about living at peace with oneself in the context of
living with others.
 Lesson 2: Theories and Perspectives in Child Development (Nature vs. Nurture)

2.1 Maturation Theory by Arnold Gesell (1925)

- Gesell emphasized that children develop individually, at their own pace, but that every child
follows the same sequence. He said there were two major forces that influenced development:
environment and genetics.
Genetics affects the rate of development; environment teaches children how to
behave in a proper manner.
- He emphasized sequential development and letting children tell you when they are ready to
learn things. For example, in his twin studies trying to speed up motor development in one of
the twins, the efforts bring negligible or very small differences.
- He said we should measure growth in patterns of what the baby can do. For example, the
vision of babies starts with looking around aimlessly. Then depending on the rate of
development of the babies, they will start looking at certain objects, until they are able to
coordinate their eye movements with their hand movements.
- You must follow the child’s cues, with the child telling us when the time is right.

2.2 The Bioecological Theory by Urie Bronfenbenner (1977)

- Urie Bronfenbrenner believed that a child is affected by everything in his/her environment.
- This bioecological theory aims to highlight multiple layers of influence on the child.
- It is called bioecological theory because it describes how child development is influenced by a
child’s biology, which interacts with influences from his/her surroundings (ecology). In this
theory the child is embedded within a complex series of interacting layers that influence or
affect development. This model has five (5) subsystems.
 Microsystem (1st system; innermost). Consists of activities and interactions of the
child with his/her immediate surroundings or with the closest to the child, and one in
which he/she has direct contact with – parents and family at home, teachers and peers
at school, or caregivers at daycare. Relationships in this system is called bidirectional.
Your reactions among the people in the microsystem affect how they treat you. This is
the most influential system of this theory.
Mesosystem (2nd system). Includes connections or interactions between all the
microsystems related to the child. It also includes other features of the people in a
child’s immediate surroundings like their socioeconomic status. The interactions in this
system have an indirect impact on the child.
Exosystem (3rd system). This includes the social settings that do not contain the child
but still affect his/her experiences in his/her immediate settings.
Macrosystem (4th system). This includes the cultural environment in which a person
lives in and all the other systems that affect the child. It includes cultural values,
customs, traditions, laws, resources, or the economy and the political system in a child’s
country. This system can have a negative or a positive effect on the development of the
child.
Chronosystem (5th system). This is all about the continuous influence of time on all
other subsystems and their interactions. This is the defining characteristics of
development. Time influences child development in terms of physical, cognitive, and
personality characteristics. Time also influences developmental challenges and
opportunities that affect children.

2.3 Biopsychosocial Model by George L. Engel and Jon Romano (1977)

In the olden days, there was a debate on what influences or shapes child development: nature or
nurture. But now we know that both nature and nurture influence child development. This idea of
nature plus nurture is also called the biopsychosocial.
 The biopsychosocial model illustrates that life span development is the product of the interaction
between biological, psychological, and social forces.
Biological Forces. One’s organs, physiology, and genetics – explain the role of genes (DNA)
and hormones in the health care of the individual. These includes a person’s physical health,
genetic vulnerabilities, disability, and IQ, which can be affected not just by being in a good
environment where there is an abundance of books that the parents read to the child, but also
by nutrition that affects the development of the brain.
Psychological Forces. It is all about cognition, emotion, and motivation. These include a
person’s coping skills, social skills, self-esteem, how we think, and the way we develop our
ideas.
Social Forces. A person’s family, community, and society, including school, peers, and work
environment among others affect the development.
In this model, we can study the interconnections of different events in various stages in a
person’s life. We can also see the effect of things like culture, religion, socioeconomic status,
traditions, physical stature, birth order, health conditions, school, peers, family, good and bad
experiences in life, and events, among others that can explain a person’s current and future self-
esteem, personality, behavior, reasoning, or thinking, among others.
Teachers (and parents) may have to assess all the factors that may be affecting the child and
how the child is impacting the environment. For example, when observing, take note of what the child
is being exposed to in the home, school, neighborhood, community, or what is being shown in media.
What are these places teaching the child? How do these things affect a child’s sense of belonging,
self-esteem, self-efficacy, and sense of safety.

2.4 The Model of Probabilistic Epigenesis by Gilbert Gottlieb (1991)

This theory gives more emphasis on the levels within the individual. The term “epigenesis”
refers to a change in genetic expression because of environmental influences. In this theory, the
products of development are epigenetic, not just genetic.

This model describes how genetic activity, neural activity, child behavior, and the environment
are all bidirectionally related. It views development as a product of the interaction between biological
and environmental forces. In other words, the genetic potential of the child was there at the
beginning, but how the child develops depends on the environment he/she is in.
 Even different social experiences can affect epigenesis. In an experiment with mice, it was
found that parental negligence can affect genes that help manage stress and can be blocked.
Lesson 3: Physical Domain of Growth and Development
 Physical Growth and Development
 Brain Development
 Motor Development
Lesson 4: Factors Affecting the Physical Development of Learners
 Factors Affecting the Physical Growth and Development

UNIT II. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 1: Behaviorism
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
 Cognitive Behaviorism
 Implications of Behaviorism for Teaching
Lesson 2: Cognitivism
 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
 Jerome Bruner (1915-2016)
 David Ausubel (1918)
 Robert Gagne (1965)
 Benjamin Bloom (1956)
 Cognitivism and its Implications for Teaching
Lesson 3: Constructivism and Learner-centered Teaching
 What is Constructivism?
 The Nature of Learning
 How to Change Misconceptions
 Constructivism Types and Theorists
d. Cognitive Constructivism
e. Social Constructivism
 Connectivism and Constructivism
 Learner-centered Teaching/Constructivism and Its Implications for Teaching
Lesson 4: Factors Affecting Cognitive Development
 Biological Factors
 Environmental Factors
UNIT III.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Lesson 1: Developmental Theories
  Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
 Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
 Bandura’s social Cognitive Theory
 Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
Lesson 2: Development of Motivation and Self-Regulation
Theories for Motivation and Self-Regulation
 Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs
 Alderfer’s ERG Theory
 McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory
 Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
 Classroom Implications of Motivation and Self-Regulation
Lesson 3: Moral Development Theories
 Piaget’s Theory of Moral Reasoning
 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
 Giligan’s Stages of Moral Development
Lesson 4: Factors Affecting Social and Emotional Development
 Environmental Risk Factors
 Family Risk Factors
 Within-Child Risk Factors
 Essential Points to Remember

UNIT IV:
TEACHING AND LEARNING PRINCIPLES
Lesson 1: Making sense of the Teaching and Learning Process
 The Teaching and Learning Process
 Reflecting on Pedagogy
 Principles of Effective Teaching and Learning
1. The teacher must be a role model.
2. Learning is an active process where learners need to be involved.
3. Prior knowledge and experiences must be used to enhance learning.
4. Learning is meaningful when contextualized.
5. Cooperation enhances learning.
6. Learning is influenced by interpersonal relations and communications.
7. Learner’s motivations can define effective learning.
8. Learning takes place in different ways.
9. Feedback enhances learning.
10. Learning must always be goal oriented.
Lesson 2: Components of effective Teaching and Learning
 The Teacher
 f. Top Five Characteristics of a Twenty-First Century Educator
g. Teaching styles
 The Learners
 The Learning Environment
Lesson 3: The Basics of Instructional Planning
 Importance of Lesson Plan
 Parts of a Lesson Plan
 Features of K to 12 Curriculum
 Things to Consider in Lesson Planning
Lesson 4: Classroom Management
 Overview of Classroom Management
 Culturally Responsive Classroom Management
 Maintaining Classroom Control
 Managing Student Misbehavior