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MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION

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 LESSON 1
BASIC CONCEPTS ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Learning outcomes:
At the end of this module, you should be able to explain the basic concepts on
human development.

Overview
Hello! Are you familiar with the term human development? Do you ever wonder how
development happens? This lesson will tackle the basic concepts on human
development that will serve as an introductory topic for this course. Happy reading!

What is human development?

According to Santrock, 2002, 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.
Human development follows pattern of movement or change. Before you become a
baby, you developed in your mother’s womb as fetus first. As expected during your
development you went on changes that expected by anybody. You crawl first before you
learn to run. Your development begins the moment the sperm cell of your father enters
the egg cell of your mother and it will end upon your death.
Development does not only about growth like gaining weight, getting taller and/or
having teeth for babies, (this is how development is in positive way), development also
happens when you aged and loss your hair and your teeth (this is development can be
negative). There are some major principles of human development, which will help you
understand our topic better.

PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Principle1-Development is relatively orderly.
As I mentioned in my example, as a human you learn how to crawl first before you
can run because we follow a pattern of human development. These are:

 Proximodistal pattern

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 This explains the motor development of a human. The muscular control of
the trunk and the arms comes earlier as compared to the hands and fingers. It is
the center to outward direction of motor development. As you can see in the
picture the baby first develop their chest muscle that is why baby just lay on
their back until their arms muscles will develop so that they can crawl, then
follows their legs muscles for them to be able to sit, stand, walk and run.

 Cephalocaudal pattern
During infancy, the greatest growth always occurs at the top. This means
that improvement in structure and function come first in the head region, then in
the trunk, and last in the leg region. This is from head to toe pattern of
development as illustrated in this picture.

Principle 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.
Individuals will encounter factors that make them different from other individuals like
the environment and/ or heredity. As a result, we can expect individual differences in
developmental characteristics and variation in the ages when people will experience
events that will influence their development.

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 Comparing the two pictures, it shows that the children at picture number one grow in
a peaceful and loving family. Probably her development is faster and favorably compare
to the child in the picture number two because development varies depending on the
heredity and environment.
Principle3-Development takes place gradually.
While some changes occur in the flash of insight, more often it takes weeks,
months, or year for a person to undergo changes that result in the display of
developmental characteristics. Development cannot happen overnight.

It is slow and gradual like what illustrated in this picture. It takes years before an
individual reach each developmental stage. In this picture it takes years before an infant
will develop into a toddler, teen and adult. Development will not happen with just a blink
of an eye or overnight. We grow and develop gradually.
Principle 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. Your
brains develop; you will gain weight and height. You will experiences hormonal
changes during puberty. All of these changes happen in your body is an
example of biological process of development.
 Cognitive process involves changes in individual thought, intelligence and
language. When you were an infant what you utter are just sounds, then you
learn to utter a word, the word become phrase, the phrase become sentence
until you learn to incorporate the things you have learned to your language. You
eventually learn to memorize a poem, solve complex math problems and to play
games like chess, which uses your cognitive ability. These developments
involve your cognitive aspect of development.
 Socio-emotional process involves changes in the individual’s relationship with
other people, changes in emotions and personality. When you were a baby you
were very attached to your mother, then your playmates came during your
school age, the attachment lessen. Now that you are teenager or young adult,
your favorite companion are your friends and peers. Then maybe time will come
that you will fall for someone and started a family, your attachment will shift to
your own family. Some of you might experience betrayal and will choose to grow
old alone. All of these changes belongs to the socio-emotional process of
development.

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  These biological, cognitive and socio-emotional processes are inextricably
intertwined, while the processes were studied separately, the effect of one
process or factor on a person’s development is not isolated from the other
processes. For example, if someone is undernourished because he/she has a
poor and troubled family, they could be emotionally troubled as well and may
result to his/her poor performance in school. See how a biological process,
affects the cognitive process in which in turn, affects the socio-emotional
process.
APPROACHES TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
According to Paul Baltes (Santrock, 2002), an expert in life-span development gives
the five characteristics of life span approach. Development is lifelong, it does not end in
adulthood but ends upon the death of the person.is development is multidimensional it
consists of biological, cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions as we discussed in the
principles of human development. Then, development is plastic it is possible throughout
the life-span.
Development is contextual, meaning the person is a product of his/her environment.
Lastly, development involves growth, maintenance and regulation, and these three are
the goals of human development. Do you believe that you show extensive change from
birth to adolescence or you believe that even in adult age you are still undergoing
development? Let us see if what your approach to human development is. There are
two approaches to human development first if you believe that development takes place
extensively from birth to adolescence, little or no change in adulthood and decline in old
age, your approach to human development is traditional.
In contrast, if you believe that even in adulthood developmental change takes place
as it does during childhood, and there is no dominant stage of development your
approach is lifespan.

The Main Areas of Growth and Development

There are five main areas of development namely:
 physical refers to change in weight, height, muscles, systems, organs.
 emotional it is about extend trusting relationships to other adults and to children,
show a strong sense of self as an individual, recognize feelings, label their own
feelings,
 social includes enjoyment in playing alongside other children, but will not interact
a great deal with them, show awareness of others’ feelings and might try to give
basic help, look to adults for comfort,
 spiritual is concerns the broad search for transcendental meaning that may be
as simple as a young child’s inquiries into how the world came into being,
 intellectual talks about the cognitive process of the child.

Wait for the teacher to announce and send the link of your google meeting and be ready
for a random graded recitation.

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 LESSON 2
ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Learning outcomes:
At the end of this module, you should be able to take an informed stand/position on
the three (3) issues on development.

Overview
Each of us has his/her own 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 others and
ourselves. Scholars have come up with their own models of human development. Back
up by solid research, they take stand on these issues on human development.

THREE ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT

1. Nature versus Nurture
The degree to which human behavior is determined by genetics/biology (nature)
or learned through interacting with the environment (nurture).
Nature
 Behavior is caused by innate characteristics.
 The physiological/biological characteristics we are born with.
 Behavior is therefore determined by biology.
 Also, a determinist view- suggests all behavior is determined by hereditary
factors: Inherited characteristics, or genetic make-up we are born with.
 All possible behaviors are said to be present from conception.
 Genes provide the blueprint for all behaviors; some present from birth,
others pre-programmed to emerge with age.
 Is a developmental approach: E.g. Piaget: children’s thought processes
change at predetermined age-related stages changes in age are related to
changes in behavior?
Nurture
 An individual’s behavior is determined by the environment
The things people teach them, the things they observe, and because of the

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 different situations they are in.
 In addition, a determinist view- proposes all human behavior is the result of
interactions with the environment.
 Behaviorist theories are nurture theories: - Behavior is shaped by
interactions with the environment. Born an empty vessel- waiting to be filled
up by experiences gained from environmental interaction.
 No limit to what they can achieve: -Depends on quality of external
influences and NOT genes.
 The quality of the environment is KEY -You can become anything provided
the environment.

Nature Nurture Interaction

Behavior is often a result of the interaction between nature and nurture. An
individual’s characteristics may elicit particular responses in other people e.g.
Temperament: how active, responsive or emotional an infant is influences in
part determines their caregivers’ responses.

2. Continuity versus Discontinuity

Continuity and discontinuity are two competing theories in developmental
psychology that attempt to explain how people change through the course of
their lives, where the continuity theory says that someone changes throughout
their life along a smooth course while the discontinuity theory instead contends
that people change abruptly. These changes can be described as a wide variety
of someone's social and behavioral makeup, like their emotions, traditions,
beliefs.
Furthermore, continuity and discontinuity disagree with one another in how
they assess the changes that someone undergoes throughout the course of their
life. The continuity theory examines the way someone changes in a quantitative
and continuous respect. Discontinuity theory, on the other hand, looks at these
changes through the lens of a qualitative analysis with an emphasis on the
discontinuous nature of how someone changes.
Developmental psychology encompasses a very wide array of observations
related to how people think, behave and interact with their environment as well
as other people. This field, at first, was focused on how young children develop
but, in recent years, it has expanded past the pediatric setting to encompass
studies of how people change throughout the course of their entire lives, up until
the point of their death.
Is child development continuous or discontinuous?
Not all psychologists, however, agree that development is a continuous
process. Some view development as a discontinuous process. They believe
development involves distinct and separate stages with different kinds of
behavior occurring in each stage.

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 3. Stability versus Discontinuity
Deals with the issue of whether or not personality traits present during
present during infancy endure throughout the lifespan. The stability-change
debate describes the developmental psychology discussion about whether
personality traits that are present in an individual at birth remain constant or
change throughout the life span. For example, does a naturally extroverted and
talkative baby remain that way for their entire life?

ACTIVITY- Debate
Group yourselves into six and choose one issue to defend in our online debate. Wait for
the link of the google meeting to be posted on your google classroom.

Scaffolding

 The support or assistance that the child needs to accomplish a task that he
cannot accomplish alone.
 it is not about doing the task while the child watches.
 The competent adult is needed to bridge the gap between the learners’ current
skill level and the desired skill level.
 When the learner can do the task alone this is called scaffold and fade-away
technique.
 Scaffolding, when done appropriately can make the child confident and
independent.

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ACTIVITY 1

APPLICATION

Write all the things that you have learned from Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory of
Development. How it differs from other developmental theories that you have learned?

2. Why scaffolding is essential in teaching

Congratulations you have successfully completed Module 8!

MODULE 9
BRONFENBRENNER’S ECOLOGICAL THEORY
Learning outcomes:

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 At the end of this Module, you should be able to:
 describe each of the layer s of Bronfenbrenner’s Biological Model;
 identify factors in one’s own life that exerted influence on one’s development;
 use the biological theory as framework to describe the factors that affect a child
and adolescent development.

ABOUT THE PROPONENT

Name: Urie Bronfenbrenner

Date of birth: April 29, 1917

Died: September 25, 2005

Spouse : Liese Price

Education: University of michigan, Harvard University,

Cornell University

Russian-born American psychologist

Bronfenbrenner Ecological Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian born American developmental psychologist

who is most known for his ecological systems theory of child development. He came up
with a simple yet useful paradigm showing the different factors that exert influence on
an individual’s development. It points out the ever-widening spheres of influence that
shape every individual, from his/her immediate family to the neighborhood, the country,
even the world.

Bronfenbrenner’s Model is also Known as Bioecological System

This theory presents the child development within the context of relationship
system that comprise the child environment.

Microsystems
 Is the layer nearest the child. It comprises structure which the child directly
interacts with. They are called immediate environment.
 It includes one’s family, school and neighborhood.
 Does the child have strong and nurturing relationships with the parents and the
family?
 Are his/her needs met?
 The child affected by the parents care and love and child give back the love by
smiling is called bi-directional influences or mutuality.

Mesosystem
 This layer serves as the relationships between two or more microsystems such
as what is learned at home culturally. They are called connections.

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  Interactions between the parents and teachers the parents and health services
the community and the church

Exosystem
 Environment that affect how one develops that is out of their control. They are
called indirect environment.
 workplace, mass media, city government are examples of this system.

Macrosystem
 Is a large cultural and social structural element of the environment that shape
human development. They are called social and cultural values.
 Example: in US students are more independent compared to Asian students.

Chronosystem
 Big events in the world that help psychologist understand the affect it will impact
in a person’s development through time. They are called Changes Over Time.
 Example: A family through a divorce A nation going to war

The Role of Schools and Teachers

“The instability and unpredictability of family life is the most destructive force to a
child’s development” Researchers tell us that the absence or lack of children constant
mutual interaction with important adults has negative effects on their development.
Bronfenbrenner’s Theory reminds the school and teachers of their very important role.
WHAT IF…. - If there is lack of support, care and affection from the home? - If
there is a serious breakdown of the basic’s relationships in a child’s life? - What can the
school, the teachers in particular do?
THIS THEORY HELPS… This theory helps teacher look into a very child’s
environmental systems in order to understand more about the characteristics and needs
of each child, each learner. The school and the teachers can contribute stability and
long-term relationships in the home.

ACTIVITY 1- APPLICATION

“Looking Back”

Read the following questions. Recall your childhood. You may also ask your parents for
some information. Write your answers on the graphic organizer bellow.

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 Answer the following sentences completion items.

1. When I was 5 years old, my parents

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

2. As a child, my unforgettable playmates were

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

3. When I was in elementary, I regularly watched the television show

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

4. When I was growing up, we went to church in

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

5. I cannot forget my teacher who

________________________________________________________________

6. When I was growing up, I was away from

________________________________________________________________

7. When I was in high school, I was close to

________________________________________________________________

8. As a child, I can recall this big news about

________________________________________________________________

9. The most serious challenge our family experienced was

_______________________________________________________________

10. The most important thing I learned from my elementary school was
________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY 2

Write each answer you wrote in the activity on the circle where it belongs.

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 Culture sub culture social class

Extended family

Family, church, school

me

Congratulations you have successfully completed Module 9!

MODULE 10
PRE- NATAL DEVELOPMENT
Learning outcomes:

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At the end of this module you will be able to:

 summarize the changes occur during the pre-natal development;

 explain the stages of pre-natal development;
 appreciate the value of life.
All the developmental theories that we discussed dwelt on the developmental
process after birth. None of them was concerned with what development went on before
birth. To make the description of human development complete, it may be good to
understand the beginnings of the child and the adolescent.

That which is the other’s womb is indeed a developing human being. An unborn baby of
eight weeks is not essentially different from one of eighteen weeks or twenty-eight
weeks. From conception the zygote, the embryo and the fetus are undeniably human
life.

To understand better our lesson, please do the following activities:

 Film Viewing
Please watch the film “The Silent Scream” in Youtube. Write a 100-word
reflection about the video you have watched and send your output in our google
classroom.

 Video Watching
Watch the video about Stages of Pre-natal Development and the Tetralogy and
Hazards to Pre- Natal Development on this link and take note all the important
information.

After you have watched the video and the film. Answer the following activities
and send your outputs in the google classroom.

ACTIVITY 1- GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

A. Give the three stages of pre-natal development and write a brief definition or
explanation about each stages using this graphic organizer

B. Give 5 hazards of pre- natal development using a web diagram.

C. Create a collage to illustrate what you have learned in the video.

MODULE 11
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PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, SOCIO- EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT OF
INFANT AND TODDLERS

Learning outcomes:

At the end of this module you should be able to:

 summarize the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development of infants

and toddlers;
 describe the changes happening in infant and toddlers’ physical, cognitive, and
socio-emotional development;
 draw implications of these principles and processes to parenting and caregiving.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

We have just traced the developmental process before birth. We shall continue to
trace the developmental process by following the infant or the baby who is just born up
to when he reaches age 2. The period that comes after pre-natal stage is infancy which,
in turn, is followed by toddlerhood. Infancy and toddlerhood span the first
two years of life.

Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal Patterns

As you learned in Unit 1, Module 1, the cephalocaudal trend is the postnatal
growth from conception to 5 months when the head grows more than the body. This
cephalocaudal trend of growth that applies to the development of the fetus also applies
in the first months after birth. Infants learn to use their upper limbs before their lower
limbs. The same pattern occurs in the head area because the top parts of the head the
eyes and the brain - grow faster than the lower parts such as the jaw. The proximodistal
trend is the pre-natal growth from 5 months to birth when the fetus grows from the
inside of the body outwards.

Height and Weight

 It's normal for newborn babies to drop 5 to 10 percent of their body weight within
a couple of weeks of birth. That is due tothe baby's adjustment to neonatal
feeding. Once they adjust tosucking, swallowing and digesting, they grow rapidly.
 Breastfed babies are typically heavier than bottle-fed babies through the first six
months. After six months, breastfed babies usually weigh less than bottle-fed
babies.
 In general, an infant's length increases by about 30 percent in the first five
months.
 A baby's weight usually triples during the first year but slows down in the second
year of life.
 Low percentages are not a cause for alarm as long as infants progress along a
natural curve of steady development.

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Brain Development
 Among the most dramatic changes in the brain in the first two years of life are the
spreading connections of dendrites to each other. (Please watch the video for
brain development)

Myelination or myelinization, the process by which the axons are covered and
insulated by layers of fat cells, begins prenatally and continues after birth. The process
of myelination or myelinization increases the speed at which information travels
through the nervous system.
 At birth, the newborn's brain is about 25 percent of its adult weight. By the
second birthday, the brain is about 75% of its adult weight. Shortly after birth, a
baby's brain produces trillions more connections between neurons than it can
possibly use. The brain eliminates connections that are seldom or never used
(Santrock 2002). The infant's brain is literally waiting for experiences determine
how connections are made.
 A study on rats conducted by Mark Rosenzweig in 1907 revealed that the brains
of rats that grew up in the enrich environment developed better than the brains of
the animals reared in standard or isolated conditions. The brains of the 'enriched'
animals weighed more, had thicker layers, had more neuronal connections and
had higher levels of neurochemical activity. Such finding implies that enriching
the lives of infants who live in impoverished changes in their development
(Santrock, 2002).
Depressed brain activity has been found in children who grew up in a depressed
environment (Circhetti, 2001, cited by Santrock, 2002).

Motor development

Along this aspect of motor development, infants and toddlers begin for reflexes,
to gross motor skills and fine motor skills.

Reflexes
 The newborn has some basic reflexes which are, of course automatic, and serve
as survival mechanisms before they have the opportunity to learn. Many reflexes
which are present at birth will generally subside within a few months as the baby
grows and matures.
 There are many different reflexes. Some of the most common reflexes that
babies have are:

Sucking Reflex: The sucking reflex is initiated when something touches the roof of an
infant's mouth. Infants have a strong sucking reflex which helps to ensure they can latch
unto a bottle or breast. The sucking reflex is very strong in some infants and they may
need to suck on a pacifier for comfort.

Rooting Reflex: The rooting reflex is most evident when an infant's cheek is stroked.
The baby responds by turning his or her head in the direction of the touch and opening
their mouth for feeding.

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Gripping Reflex: Babies will grasp anything that is placed in their palm. The strength of
this grip is strong, and most babies can support their entire weight in their grip.

Curling Reflex: When the inner sole of a baby's foot is stroked, the infant respond by
curling his or her toes. When the outer sole of a baby's foot is stroked, the infant will
respond by spreading out their toes.

Startle/Moro Reflex: Infants will respond to sudden sounds or movements by throwing

their arms and legs out, and throwing their heads back. Most infants will usually cry to
pull their limbs back into their bodies.

Galant Reflex: The galant reflex is shown when an infant's middle or lower back is
stroked next to the spinal cord. The baby being will respond by curving his or her body
toward the side which is being stroked.

Tonic Neck Reflex: The tonic neck reflex is demonstrated in infants who are placed on
their abdomens. Whichever side the child's head is facing, the limbs on that side will
straighten, while the opposite limbs will curl. (http://www.mamashealth.com/child/
inreflex.asp)

Gross Motor Skills

Study the Figure below. See how you developed in your gross motor skills.
It is always a source of excitement for parents to witness dramatic changes in the
infant's first year of life. This dramatic motor development is being able to grab things off
the cabinet, to chase the ball and to walk away from parent.

Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills, are skills that involve a refined use of the small muscles
controlling the hand, fingers, and thumb. The development of these skills allows one to
be able to complete tasks such as writing, drawing, and buttoning.
The ability to exhibit fine motor skills involve activities that involve precise eye-
hand coordination. The development of reaching and grasping becomes more refined
during the first two years of life. Initially, infants show only crude shoulder and elbow
movements, but later they show wrist movements, hand rotation and coordination of the
thumb and fore-finger.

Sensory and Perceptual Development

The newborn senses the world into which he/she is born through his/her senses
of vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Ideally, as he/she advances physically his/her
sensory and perceptual abilities alsomdevelop.
What are some research findings regarding newborns’ visual perceptions? Can
newborns see?
 The newborn's vision is about 10 to' 30 times lower than normal adult vision. By 6
months of age, vision becomes better and by the first birthday, the infant's vision
approximates that of an adult. (Banks & Salapatek, 1983 cited by Santrock,
2002)
 Infants look at different things for different lengths of time. In an experiment
conducted by Robert Fantz (1963 cited by Santrock, 2002), it was found out that
infants preferred to look at patterns such as faces and concentric circles rather

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 than at color or brightness. Based on these results, it is likely that "pattern
perception has an innate basis (Santrock, 2002). Among the first few things that
babies leam to recognize is their mother's face, as mother feeds and nurses
them.

Can newborns hear?

 The sense of hearing in an infant develops much before the birth of the baby.
When in the womb, the baby hears his/her mother's heartbeats, the grumbling of
his/her stomach, the mother's voice and music. How soothing it must have been
for you to listen to your mother's lullaby. Infants sensory thresholds are
somewhat higher than those of adult which means that stimulus must be louder
to be heard by a newborn than by an adult.

Can newborns differentiate odors?

 In an experiment conducted by MacFarlane (1975) "young infants who were
breastfeed showed a clear preference for smelling their mother's breast pad
when they were 6 days old. This preference did not show when the babies were
only two days old. This shows that it requires several days of experience to
recognize their mother's breast pad odor."

Can newborns feel pain? Do they respond to touch?

 They do feel pain. Newborn males show a higher level of cortisol (an indicator of
stress) after a circumcision than prior to the surgery (Taddio, et al, 1997 cited by
Santrock, 2002). Babies respond to touch. In the earlier part of this Module on
motor development, you learned that a newborn automatically sucks an object
placed in his/her mouth, or a touch of the cheek makes the newborn turn his/her
head toward the side that was touched in an apparent effort to find something to
suck.

Can newborns distinguish the different tastes?

 In a study conducted with babies only two hour old, babies made different facial
expressions when they tasted sweet, sour, and bitter solutions (Rosentein and
Oster, 1988, cited by Santrock, 2002).
 When saccharin was added to the amniotic fluid of a near-term fetus, increased
swallowing was observed.
 This indicates that sensitivity to taste might be present before birth.

Do infants relate information through several senses? In short, are infants capable of
intermodal perception?
 Intermodal perception is the ability to relate, connect and integrate information
about two or more sensory modalities such as vision and hearing.
 In a study conducted by Spelke and Owsley (1979). it was found out that as early
as at 3 1/2 months old, infants looked more at their mother when they also heard
her voice and longer at their father when they also heard his voice.
 This capacity for intermodal perception or ability to connect information coming
through various modes gets sharpened considerably through experience.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

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 Cognitive development in infancy refers to development in the way a baby thinks.
This includes his/ her language, communication and exploration skills. Examples of
cognitive activities include paying attention, remembering, learning to talk interacting
with toys and identifying faces.

Please review our past lesson the Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory.
Focus on sensori-motor stage of cognitive development. It was discussed about how
infant acquire knowledge by schema.

Theories of Language Development

 The Behaviorist Approach: Children acquire language through the principles of

reinforcement; successful utterings are reinforced and strengthened, incorrect
ones that do not gain approval are forgotten.
 The Nativist Approach: Noam Chomsky proposed that humans are biologically
predisposed to learn a language.
 Language acquisition device (LAD): a hypothetical brain mechanism proposed
to explain human acquisition of the syntactic structure of language
 The Interactionist Approach: Sometimes called cognitive functional linguistics,
this approach argues that language development is both biological and social.
Children are motivated to learn language by their desire to communicate with
others.
Acquiring Language

 Newborn infants are able to discriminate and categorize a variety of

characteristics of the human voice and patterns of speech.
 Cooing: At about 2 months, they produce one-syllable vowel sounds.
 Babbling: By 6 months, consonants are added and repetitive syllables mimicking
human speech are produced.
The Role of Experience in Language

 At birth, infants exhibit a universal capacity to detect phonetic differences in the

world’s languages; experience alters this capacity, so that by 1 year of age, the
infant is no longer universally prepared for all languages.
Social Interactions and Language

 Social interaction is essential for learning language; therefore, the people in an

infant’s life are critical in helping facilitate the infant’s language development.
 Infant-directed speech: a special way of speaking that caretakers use to address
infants; characterized by careful pronunciation, slow pacing, exaggerated
intonation, and short sentences featuring much repetition.
Raising a Bilingual Child

 Bilingual children tend to have a smaller vocabulary in each language than those
who speak only one, but they tend to perform better on a range of intelligence
tests and school achievement.
 Evidence indicates that exposing infants and toddlers to more than one language
may be a positive practice.

What Infants and Toddlers Can Do Cognitively?

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LANGUAGE (RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE)

Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or

performed by a child on the specified age?

0-6 months
 Watches primary caregiver intently as she speaks to him/her

7-12 months
 Understands "No"
 Points to family member when asked to do so

13 -18 months
 Points to 5 body parts on him/herself when asked to do so
 Follows one-step instructions without need for gestures

19-24 months
 Points to 5 named pictured objects when asked to do so

LANGUAGE (EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE)

Standards 1: The child is able to use words and gestures to express his thoughts
and feelings.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
performed by a child on the specified age?

0-6 months
 Makes gurgling, cooing, babbling or other vocal sounds
 Uses gestures (e.g, stretching his/her arms, pointing) to indicate what
he /she wants
7-12 months
 Repeats sounds produced by others
 Says meaningful words like papa, mama, to refer to specific persons
 Uses animal sounds to identify animals (e.g., meow-meow for cat)
 Uses environmental sounds to identify objects/events n the environment (e.g.,
boom for thunder)

13-18 months
 Speaks in single words
 Says "yes" and "no" appropriatelyW
 Uses words accompanied by gestures to indicate what he/she wants
 Responds to simple questions with single words

19-24 months
 Uses pronouns
 Uses possessive pronouns
 Says what he/she wants without accompanying this with gestures
 Attempts to converse even if he cannot be clearly understood

PRE-READING AND PRE-MATH (MATCHING)

20
 Standards 1.1: The child is able to match identical objects, colors, shapes,
symbols.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
performed by a child on the specified age?

7 12 months
 Able to match 2 identical objects (e.g, 2 spoons, 2 balls)

19-24 months
 Matches identical objects
 Matches identical pictures

PRE-READING AND PRE-MATH (ROTE SEQUENCING)

Standards 1.2 The child is able to recite the alphabet and numbers in sequence
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on andlor
performed by a child on the specified age?

19-24 months
 Counts from 1 to 5 with errors, gaps or prompts

Domain: Cognitive Development

ATTENTION AND ACTIVITY LEVEL
Standards 1: The child is able to sustain attention and modulate his activity at
age-
expected levels.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
performed by a child on the specified age?

0-6 months
 Looks steadily at novel stimuli (eg., rattle, dangling toy)

7-12 months
 Examines properties of toys for several minutes by handling these (e.g.. pulling
apart)
 Looks with interest at picture books
 Able to sit through an entire meal without fussing

13-18 months
 May be distracted but responds when made to re-focus
 Resists interruption while engaged in play

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (CONCEPT FORMATION)

Standards 1: The child develops basic concepts pertaining to object constancy,
space, time, quantity, seriation, etc. and uses these as the basis for understanding how
materials are categorized in his/ her environment.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
performed by a child on the specified age?

0-6 months

21
  Experiments with new objects or toys by banging or putting them in his moutn
 Looks in the direction of a fallen object

7-12 months
 Looks for partially hidden objects
 Looks for completely hidden objects

13-18 months
 Can tell whether something is hot or cold
 Hands over 1 object when asked

19-24 months
 Can tell which is shorter of 2 items
 Can tell which is taller/longer of 2 items
 Can tell which is bigger of 2 items
 Can tell which is nearer of 2 items

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES

(CAUSE- EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS)
Standards 1: The child is able to understand the cause -effect relationships.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
performed by a child on the specified age?

0-6 months
 Acts on an object to achieve an objective (eg., shakes rattle)

7-12 months
 Uses an object to get something he/she wants (e.g, spoon to reach an object)

19-24 months
 Asks "Why?" questions
 Understands reasons behind daily practices (eg, washing hands belfore meals)
 Understands reasons behind safety rules & practices at home (e.g, why one
must not
 play matches)
 Knows where to return most of his/her things

MEMORY (MEMORY FOR EXPERIENCES: EPISODIC MEMORY)

Standards 1: The child is able.to recall people he has met, events, and places he
has been to.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
performed of a child on the specified age?

0-6 months
 Child reacts, ike smiling, in recognition of someone he/she has met several times
but who does not live in his/her home

13-18 months
 Child reacts, like smiling, in recogninon of a tamiliar place besides his/her hoe

22
19-24 months
 Child is brought somewhere and correcty recalls having been there before

MEMORY (MEMORY FOR CONCEPT-BASED KNOWLEDGE: SEMANTIC MEMORY)

Standards 1: The child is able to store verbal information in short and long andlor
-tem mer performed.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
define by a child on the specified age?

19 -24 months
 Hums a recognizable tune
 Memorizes some gestures of action songs

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (LOGICAL REASONING)

Standards 1: The child is able to follow the logic of events (i.e., reasons why
these happen) and draw accurate conclusion by evaluating the facts presented to him.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or per
formed by a child on the specified age?
19-24 months

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (PLANNING AND ORGANIZING)

Standards 1: The child is able to plan and organize a simple, familiar activity.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on and/or
performed by a child on the specified age?
19 -24 months

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (CREATIVE THOUGHT)

Standards 1: The child is able to generate new ideas or concepts, or new
associations between existing ideas or concepts.
Based on your experience, are these indicators generally observed on andlor
performed by a child on the specified age?
19-24 months
 Enjoys constructing objects or structures out of manipulative toys (e.g., blocks,
clay, sand, paper
 Uses toys or objects as symbols in play (e.g., pretends empty milk can is a drum)
 Can use the same toy or object in more than one way (e.g., big empty box as
house?

What infants and toddlers can do Cognitively?

Domain: Cognitive Development
ATTENTION AND ACTIVITY LEVEL
Standards 1: The child is able to sustain attention and modulate his activity at
age-expected levels.

0-6 months
 Looks steadily at novel stimuli (e.g., rattle, dangling toy)

7-12 months

23
  Examines properties of toys for several minutes by handling these (eg, puling
apart)
 Looks with interest at picture books
 Able to sit through an entire meal without fussing

13-18 months
 May be distracted but responds when made to re-focus
 Resists interruption while engaged in play

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (CONCEPT FORMATION)

Standards 1: The child develops basic concepts pertaining to object constancy,
space, time, quantity, seriation, etc. and uses these as the basis for understanding how
materials are categorized in his/ her environment.

0-6 months
 Experiments with new objects or toys by banging or putting them in his mouthn
 Looks in the direction of a fallen object

7-12 months
 Looks for partially hidden objects
 Looks for completely hidden objects

13 18 months
 Can tell whether something is hot or cold
 Hands over 1 object when asked

19-24 months
 Can tell which is shorter of 2 items
 Can tell which is taller/longer of 2 items
 Can tell which is bigger of 2 items
 Can tell which is nearer of 2 items

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (CAUSE- EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS)

Standards 1: The child is able to understand the cause -effect relationships.

0-6 months
 Acts on an object to achieve an objective (e.g, shakes rattle)

7-12 months
 Uses an object to get something he/she wants (e.g., spoon to reach an object)

19 -24 months
 Asks "Why" questions
 Understands reasons behind daily practices (e.g, washing hands before meals)
 Understands reasons behind safety rules & practices at home (e.g., why one
must not play matches)
 Knows where to return most of his/her things

MEMORY (MEMORY FOR EXPERIENCES: EPISODIC MEMORY)

24
 Standards 1 The child is able to recal people he has met, events, and places he
has to performed.

0-6 months
 Child reacts, like smiling, in recognition of someone he/she has met several
times but who does not live in his/her home

13 18 months
 Child reacts, like smiling, in recognition of a tamiliar place besides his/her home

19-24 months
 Child is brought somewhere and correctly recalls having been there before

MEMORY (MEMORY FOR CONCEPT-BASED KNOWLEDGE: SEMANTIC MEMORY)

Standards1: The child is able to store verbal information in short and long -term
memory

19-24 months
 Hums a recognizable tune
 Memorizes some gestures of action songs

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (LOGICAL REASONING)

Standards1: The child is able to follow the logic of events (i.e., reasons why
these
happen) and draw accurate conclusion by evaluating the facts presented to him.
19 -24 months

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (PLANNING AND ORGANIZING)

Standards1: The child is able to plan and organize a simple, familiar activity.
19-24 months

HIGHER-ORDERED MENTAL ABILITIES (CREATIVE THOUGHT)

Standards 1: The child is able to generate new ideas or concepts, or new
associations between existing ideas or concepts.

19-24 months
 Enjoys constructing objects or structures out of manipulative toys (e.g, blocks,
clay
sand, paper)
 Uses toys or objects as symbols in play (e.g., pretends empty milk can is a drum)
 Can use the same toy or object in more than one way (e.g., big empty box as
house)

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Simply put, socio-motional development has something to do with the development
of a person’s ability to master one’s emotion and the ability to relate to others. It
necessarily includes temperament, attachments and social skills.
Much has been said about the importance of the first three years in human
development. They are so-called the formative years that is why, parents and other

25
caregivers at this stage of human development play a significant role in the
development of infants and toddlers.
As the poem "Children Learn What They Live" expresses, the kind of home and
school environment that parents and teachers produce determines to a very great
extent the quality of the development of children.
Let us discuss those elements that have something to do with the wholesome
socio-emotional development of children.

ATTACHMENT
 For healthy socio-emotional development, the infant needs to establish an
enduring emotional bond characterized by a tendency to seek and maintain
closeness to a specific figure, particularly during stressful situation. This is the
social phenomenon of attachment.
 According to Dr. John Bowly, the father of attachment theory, the beginnings of
attachment occur within the first 6 months of a baby's life with a variety of built-in
signals that baby uses to keep her caregiver engaged. The baby cries, gazes into
her mother's eyes, smiles, etc. In the next few months, the baby develops in her
degree of attachment to her parents. She smiles more freely at them than at any
stranger whom she seldom sees. This is what Bob Greene must have
experienced.
 The key to a good start in the social development of the baby is a lot of
responsive interaction with the baby (K.Pasek and R.Golinkofi, 2003). Babies
thrive on social
 interaction when it is in response to their social bids. Babies seem to let us know
when they want to interact or not. The timing of the caregiver's response to the
baby is important.
 Other relevant and interesting research findings cited by K.Pasek and R.
Golinkoff,, (2003) in their book "Einstein Never Used Classcards" are given
below:
 What is absolutely central to babies' emotional well-being is not so
much feeding but the consistent involvement of caregivers. Being
fed by your mother is not what attached you to her. It is consistent,
close nurturing that matters in early relationships.
 Children who have good attachment relationships as infants make
better adjustments in a number of areas in future life. But re-
member, having a good attachment in infancy gives you a great
start but can't carry you through life. You have to be treated
sensitively and responsibly as you grow up if you are to develop
favorably.
 Infants attach to more than one caregiver and they are developing
emotional relationships with multiple caregivers at once.
 Even when children are in child care for more than 30 hours and
cognitive well-being than does the child care arrangement. Parents
matter and children are attached to parents even when children are
in child care.
 Parents and caregivers help children regulate their emotions by
working with them and by serving as their models.

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TEMPERAMENT
 Another factor related to the infant's socio-emotional development is
temperament. Temperament is a word that "captures the ways that people differ,
even at birth, in such things as their emotional reactions, activity level, attention
span, persistence, and ability to regulate their emotions" (K. Pasek and R.
Golinkoff, 2003). Every baby expresses personality traits we call temperament.
How a child responds emotionally to objects, events, and people is a reflection of
his individual temperament.
 Researchers Thomas, Chess, and Birch described nine different temperament
categories (Honig, 2010, Secure Relationships: Nurturing Infant-toddler
Attachments in Early Care Settings.)

These include:
 Activity level
 Mood
 Threshold for distress
 Rhythmicity
 Intensity of response
 Approach-Withdrawal
 Distractibility
 Adaptability
 Persistence

To determine a child's temperament, make the following observations:

Activity level. Some babies are placid or inactive. Other babies thrash about a
lot and, as toddlers, are always on the move. At this stage, they must be watched
carefully.

The mood. Some babies are very smiley and cheerful. Although securely
attached emotionally to their teachers, others have a low-key mood and look more
solemn or unhappy.

Child's threshold for distress. Some babies are very sensitive. They become
upset very easily when stressed. Other babies can more comfortably wait when they
need a feeding or some attention.

The rhythmicity of children. Some babies get hungry or sleepy on a fairly

regular and predictable basis. Other babies sleep at varying times, urinate or
have bowel
movements at unpredictable times, and get hungry at different times. They are
hard to put on a “schedule.”
The intensity of response in each baby. When a baby's threshold for distress
has been reached, some babies act restless. Others act cranky or fret just a little.
Still others cry with terrific intensity or howl with despair when they are stressed.
They shriek with delight and respond with high energy when reacting to happy or
challenging situations.
Approach to new situations. Some infants are very cautious. They are wary
and fearful of new teachers, being placed in a different crib, or being taken to visit
a new setting. Other infants approach new persons, new activities, or new play
possibilities with zest and enjoyment.

27
 Distraction. Some children can concentrate on a toy regardless of surrounding
bustle or noise in a room. Others are easily distracted.
Adaptability of each child. Some children react to strange or difficult situations
with distress, but recover fairly rapidly. Others adjust to new situations with
difficulty or after a very long period.
Child's attention span. Some children have a long attention span. They
continue with an activity for a fairly long time. Others flit from one activity to
another.
 Based on these temperament traits, psychiatrists Alexander Thomas
and Stella Chess studied babies' temperament and clustered
temperaments into 3 basic types: 1) the easy child; 2) the difficult child;
and 3) the slow-to-warm -up child and those that did not fall under any
of the 3 basic types. The easy child" easily readily establishes regular
routines, is generally cheerful, and adapts readily to new experiences.
The "difficult child" is irregular in daily routines, is slow to accept new
experiences and tends to react negatively and intensely to new things
while the "slow-to warm-up-child" shows mild, low-key reactions to
environmental changes, is negative in mood, and adjusts slowly to new
experiences.

The Emergence of the Moral Self

 A sense of morality presupposes awareness of the existence of moral standards

and the ability to evaluate oneself against standards. Once children can
recognize themselves as entities, they become capable of self-evaluation and
self-description against a set of standards. In the research conducted by
Professor Deborah Stipek and her colleagues at the University of California, Los
Angeles, (Pasek, K and R. Golinkoff) about 50% of the 19- to- 24 month olds and
80 % of the 25-to-29-months old and almost all 30-to-40-month-olds are capable
of self-evaluation. These age groups of babies therefore
 Children who aren't capable of self-evaluation and self-description don’t have the
capacity to experience a sense of shame and remorse. Moral behavior cannot
occur when children do not recognize themselves as social beings whose
behavior can be evaluated against some standard." (Pasek, K and R. Golinkoff
2003)
 It is not then surprising why some babies show their parents they have done
something wrong sometimes even with laughter or at other times with no
particular emotion. It is not because they are bad babies. It is simply because
they are not yet able to hold a standard in mind and evaluate situations in terms
of these standards.

The Development of Emotions

Here are the milestones of the baby and the toddler's emotional development
and social development:

Early infancy (birth-six months)

 It is not clear whether infants actually experience emotions, or if adults, using
adult facial expressions as the standard, simply superimpose their own
understanding of the meaning of infant facial expressions.

28
  Between six and ten weeks, a social smile emerges, usually accompanied by
other pleasure-indicative actions and sounds, including cooing and mouthing.
This social smile occurs in response to adult smiles and interactions.
As infants become more aware of their environment, smiling occurs in response
to a wider variety of contexts. They may smile when they, see a toy they have
previously enjoyed. Laughter, which begins at around three or four months,
requires a level of cognitive development because it demonstrates that the child
can recognize incongruity. That is, laughter is usually elicited by actions that
deviate from the norm, such as being kissed on the abdomen or a caregiver
playing peek-a-boo. Because it fosters reciprocal inter actions with others,
laughter promotes social development.

Later infancy months (7-12)

 During the last half of the first year, infants begin expressing fear, disgust, and
anger because of the maturation of cognitive abilities. Anger, often expressed by
crying, is a frequent emotion expressed by infants. Although some infants
respond to distressing events with sadness, anger is more common.
 Fear also emerges during this stage as children become able to compare an
unfamiliar event with what they know. Unfamiliar situations, or objects often elicit
fear responses in infants. One of the most common is the presence of an adult
stranger, a fear that begins to appear at about seven months. A second fear of
this stage is called separation anxiety. Infants seven to twelve months old may
cry in fear if the mother or caregiver leaves them in an unfamiliar place.

Socialization of emotion begins in infancy. It is thought that this process is

significant in the infant's acquisition of cultural and social codes for emotional display,
teaching them how to express their emotions, and the degree of acceptability
associated with different
types of emotional behaviors.
Another process that emerges during this stage is social referencing. Infants
begin to recognize the emotions of others, and use this information when reacting to
novel situations and people. As infants explore their world, they generally rely on the
emotional
expressions of their mothers or caregivers to determine the safety appropriateness of a
particular endeavor.

Toddlerhood years (1-2)

During the second year, infants express emotions of shame or embarrassment,
and pride. These emotions mature in all children and adults contribute to their
development.

Emotional understanding
During this stage of development, toddlers acquire language and are learning to
verbally express their feelings. This ability, rudimentary as it is during early toddlerhood,
is the first step in the development of emotional self-regulation skills.
In infancy, children largely rely on adults to help them regulate their emotional
states. If they are uncomfortable they may be able to communicate this state by crying,
but have little hope of alleviating the discomfort on their own.

29
 In toddlerhood, however, children begin to develop skills to regulate their
emotions with the emergence of language providing an important tool to assist in this
process. Being able to articulate an emotional state in itself has a regulatory effect in
that it enables children to communicate their feelings to a person capable of helping
them manage their
emotional state. Speech also enables children to self-regulate, using soothing language
to talk themselves through difficult situations.
 Empathy, a complex emotional response to a situation, also appears in
toddlerhood, usually by age two. The development of empathy requires that
children read others’ emotional cues, understand that other people are entities
distinct from themselves, and take the perspective of another person (put
themselves in the position of another). (Source: http://psychology/jrank.org).

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

The first two stages (of the 8 stages of a person's psychosocial development)
apply at the periods of infancy and toddlerhood, that is why they are discussed below:

Hope: Trust vs. Mistrust (Infants, 0 to 1 year)

 Psychosocial Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust
 Virtue: Hope
The first stage of Erik Erikson's centers around the infant's basic needs being met by
the parents. The infant depends on the parents, especially the mother, for food,
sustenance, and comfort. The child’s relative understanding of world and society come
from the parents and their interaction with the child. If the parents expose the child to
warmth, regularity, and dependable affection, the infant's view of the world will be one of
trust. Should the parents fail to provide a secure environment and to meet the child's
basic need a sense of mistrust will result. According to Erik Erikson, the major
developmental task in infancy is to learn whether or not other people, especially primary
caregivers, regularly satisfy basic needs. If caregivers are consistent sources of food
comfort, and affection, an infant learns trust- that others are dependable and reliable. If
they are neglectful, or perhaps even abusive, the infant instead learns mistrust- that the
world is in an undependable, unpredictable, and possibly dangerous place.

Will: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (Toddlers, 2 to 3 years)

 Psychosocial Crisis: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt
 Main Question: "Can do things myself or must I always rely on others?"
 Virtue: Will
As the child gains control over eliminative functions and motor abilities, they
begin to explore their surroundings. The parents still provide strong base of security
from which the child can venture out to assert their will. The parents' patience help
foster autonomy in the child. Highly restrictive parents, however, are more likely to instill
the child with a sense of doubt and reluctance to attempt new challenges.
As they gain increased muscular coordination and mobility, toddlers become
capable of satisfying some of their own needs. They begin to feed themselves, wash
and dress themselves, and use the bathroom. If caregivers encourage self-sufficient
behavior, toddlers develop a sense of autonomy- a sense of being able to handle many
problems on their own. But if caregivers demand too much too soon, refuse to let

30
children perform tasks of which they are capable, or ridicule early attempts at self-
sufficiency, children may instead develop shame and doubt about their ability to handle
problems (en.wikipedia.org.wiki.Erikson's- stages-of-psychosocial-development)

After you have read and analyze the module. It is time for you to apply your
knowledge to these activities. Good luck!

ACTIVITY 1- Collage Making

Create a collage to describe the physical, cognitive and socio-emotional changes
and development of infants and toddlers. You can use pictures from newspapers,
magazines or from internet. Be creative. Take a picture as a documentation of your
work as well as your final output.

ACTIVITY 2- Essay
What characteristics a parent should possess to nurture the physical, cognitive
and socio-emotional development of infants and toddlers?

ACTIVITY 3- TABLE COMPLETION

Use this table to list the important milestones in the development of infants and
toddlers. I will give one example and you will do the rest. You can expand the table if
necessary.

AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT MILESTONES

Physical Example: Reflexes are observed in babies

Cognitive Example: Developed basic concept of

things around him/her

Socio-emotional Example: Separation anxiety might happen

Note: Answers should be sent in our google classroom. You can write your answers
legibly or it could be encoded.

Congratulations you have successfully completed Module 11!

31
MODULE 12
PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, SOCIO- EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT OF PRE- SCHOOLERS
(EARLY CHILDHOOD)

Learning outcomes:

At the end of this module you should be able to:

 summarize the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development of

preschoolers;
 describe the changes happening in preschooler’s physical, cognitive, and socio-
emotional development;
 draw implications of these principles in teaching preschoolers.

The preschooler years is commonly known as "the years before formal schooling
begins." It roughly covers 3-5 years of age. Although it is known as the years before
formal school, it is by no way less important than the grade school years. The preschool
years is very important as it lays foundation to later development. At this stage,
preschoolers achieve many developmental milestones. As such, pre-service teachers
who might be interested to teach and care for preschoolers need to be knowledgeable
about them to be truly an intentional and effective teacher.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Big Ideas about the Physical Development of Preschoolers

 There are significant changes in physical growth of preschoolers.
 The preschoolers' physical development is marked by the acquisition of gross
and fine motor skills.
 Preschoolers can express themselves artistically at a very early age.
 Proper nutrition and the right amount of sleep are very important for the
preschoolers.
 Caregivers and teachers can do a lot in maximizing the growth and development
of preschoolers.
 Preschoolers with special needs in inclusive classrooms can thrive well with the
appropriate adaptations made in the classroom, materials and activities.

Significant Changes in Physical Growth

 Physical growth increases in the preschool years, although it is much slower in
pace than in infancy and toddlerhood. At around years of age, preschoolers
move, from the remaining baby-like features of the toddler, toward a slenderer
appearance of a child. The trunk, arms and legs become longer.

32
  The center of gravity refers to the point at which body-weight is evenly
distributed. Toddlers have their center of gravity at a high level about the chest
level. This is why they have difficulty doing sudden movements without falling
down. Preschoolers on the other hand, have their center of gravity at a lower
level, right about near the belly button. This gives them more ability to be stable
and balanced than the toddler. The preschooler moves from the unsteady stance
of toddlerhood to more steady bearing. They no longer "toddle'"', that wobbly way
that toddlers walk.
 By the time the child reaches three years old, all primary or "baby or milk" teeth
are already in place. The permanent teeth which will begin to come out by age
SIX are also developing. The preschooler years are therefore a time to instill
habits of good dental hygiene.

Gross and Fine Motor Development

Gross motor development refers to acquiring skills that involve the large muscles.
These gross motor skills are categorized into three: locomotor, non-locomotor and
manipulative skills.
Locomotor skills are those that involve going from one place to another, like
walking, running, climbing, skipping, hopping, creeping. galloping, and dodging.
Non-locomotor ones are those where the child stays in place, like bending,
stretching, turning and swaying.
Fine motor development refers to acquiring the ability to use the smaller muscles
in the arm, hands and fingers purposefully. Some of the skills included here are picking,
squeezing, pounding, and opening things, holding and using a writing implement. It also
involves self-help skills like using the spoon and fork when eating, buttoning, zipping,
combing and brushing
By the end of the preschool years most children manage to hold a pencil with
their thumb and fingers, draw pictures, write letters, use scissors, do stringing and
threading activities. They can also do self-help skills like eating and dressing up
independently. Significant progress in fine motor skills can be expected of preschoolers
especially if they are aptly supported and appropriate activities are provided for them.
Handedness, or the preference of the use of one hand over the other, is usually
established around 4 years of age. Earlier than this, preschoolers can be observed to
do tasks using their hands interchangeably. We can observe a preschooler shifting the
crayon from left to right and back again while working on a coloring activity.

Preschoolers' Artistic Development

At the heart of the preschooler years is their interest to draw and make other
forms of artistic expressions. This form of fine motor activity is relevant to preschoolers.
Viktor Lowenfeld studied this and came up with the stages of drawing in early childhood:

Stage 1. Scribbling stage. This stage begins with large zig-zag lines which later
become circular markings. Soon, discrete shapes are drawn. The child may start to
name his/her drawing towards the end of this stage.
Stage 2. Preschematic stage. May already include early representations (This also
becomes very significant when we discuss about cognitive development). At this point
adults may be able to recognize the drawings. Children at this stage tend to give the

33
same names to their drawings several times. Drawings usually comprise of a prominent
head
with basic elements. Later, arms, legs, hands and even facial features are included.
Stage 3. Schematic stage. More elaborate scenes are depicted. Children usually draw
from experience and exposure. Drawings may include houses, trees, the sun and sky
and people. Initially, they may appear floating in air but eventually drawings appear to
follow a ground line. Important to remember is that the preschoolers representations or
drawings does not only involve fine motor skills, but also cognitive skills. Children's
drawings allow us to have a glimpse of how they understand themselves and the world
around them.

Preschoolers Nutrition and Sleep

The kind of nutrition a preschooler gets has far-reaching effect on his physical
growth and development. The preschooler's nutritional status is the result of what
nutrients he or she actually takes in checked against the nutritional requirement for
his/her age. Obviously, having too much or too little both have their negative effects.
It is important for preschoolers to get sufficient amount of rest and sleep.
Preschoolers benefit from about 10-12 hours of sleep each day. It is when they are
asleep that vital biological processes that affect physical and cognitive development
take place. During sleep, especially in the dream state (rapid eye movement stage),
growth hormones are released. Blood supply to the muscles are likewise increased
helping preschoolers regain energy. At this state while dreaming, increased brain
activity is also attained.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Preschoolers' Symbolic and Intuitive Thinking

There are two substages of Piaget's preoperational thought, namely, symbolic
substage and intuitive substage. In the symbolic stage, preschool children show
progress in their cognitive abilities by being able to draw objects that are not present, by
their dramatic increase in their language and make-believe play. In the intuitive
substage, preschool children begin to use primitive reasoning and ask a litany of
questions. The development in their language ability facilitates their endless asking of
questions. While preschool children exhibit considerable cognitive development, their
improved cognitive processes still show some aspects of immaturity or limitations.

Brain Connections in the Preschool Years

Because of fascinating developments in neuroscience, brain development of

young children have been of great interest to of early childhood. Brain research findings
point us to more effective ways to care for and teach preschoolers. From science
lessons you had in high school or even in elementary, you will remember that our brain
is composed of numerous cells called neurons that connect to each other to function.
Cell connections are what we call synapses, sometimes also referred to as synaptic
connections. Did you know that:
 the human brain contains some 50 billion neurons at birth?!
 by age 2, children have developed half of the brain cell connections that will be
made during one's lifetime?

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  around 6 years of age the brain develops for more sophisticated thinking
patterns?
As future teachers, always be aware of your defining role in providing a quality
environment that will lead to optimum brain development for preschoolers.

Language Development
Young children's understanding sometimes gets ahead of their speech.
As children go through early childhood, their grasp of the rules of language
increases (morphology, semantics. pragmatics).
Symbolic thinking involves language, literacy and dramatic play. Children rapidly
conclude that sounds link together to make words and words represent ideas, people,
and things. Throughout the preschool years, children's language development becomes
increasingly complex in the four main areas:
 phonology (speech sounds
 semantics (word meaning)
 syntax (sentence construction)
 and pragmatics (conversation or social uses of language)
As they advance in age and as they continuously interact with people, preschool
children expand rapidly in their vocabulary through fast mapping, a process by which
children absorb the meaning of a new word after hearing it once or twice in
conversation. Preschool children combine syllables into words and words into
sentences in an increasingly sophisticated manner.
From an expanded vocabulary and improved grammar, preschool children learn
to use language successfully in social contexts (pragmatics). With an expanded
vocabulary and improved grammar, grammar, preschool children become skilled
conversationalists and often initiate conversation.

Language and Social Interaction

Vygotsky believed that young children use language both to communicate
socially
regulatory fashion called inner speech or private speech (Santrock, 2002).
For Piaget, private speech is egocentric and immature, but for Vygotsky it is an
important tool of thought during early childhood. Full cognitive development requires
social interaction and language. Children must use language to communicate with
others before they can focus on their own thoughts (Santrock, 2002). This implies the
importance or
interaction of preschoolers with caregivers for language development.

Information Processing Theory-Attention and Memory

The Information Processing model is another way of examining and
understanding how children develop cognitively. This model conceptualizes children's
mental processes through the metaphor of a computer processing, encoding, storing,
and decoding data. The preschoolers' attention span lasts longer than that of toddlers.
The child's ability to pay attention changes significantly during the preschool years.

The Young Children's Theory of Mind

Theory ot mind refers to individuals’ thoughts about how mental processes work
(Santrock, 2002).

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  By the age of 2 or 3, children become aware that the mind exists. They
refer to needs, emotions, and mental states. When a preschool child says,
“I forgot my doll", "I want my ice cream"- these imply that he/she is aware
that a mind exists. Cognitive terms such as know, remember, and think
usually appear after perceptual and emotional terms, but are used by age
3 (Santrock, 2002).
 As their representation of the world and ability to remember and solve
problems improve, children start to reflect on their own thought processes.
They begin to construct a theory of mind or a set of ideas about mental
activities (Preschoolers Cognitive Development, 2007).This develops
markedly between the ages of three and five. It includes awareness of
one's own thought processes, social cognition, understanding that people
can hold false beliefs, ability to deceive, ability to distinguish appearance
from fantasy from reality (Preschoolers Cognitive Development, 2007).
 How do children manage to develop a theory of mind at such a young
age? Various speculations and research findings suggest that social
experience is very important. Social experience includes 1) early forms of
communication, 2) imitation, 3) make-believe play, 4) language, 5) social
interaction. (Preschoolers Cognitive Development, 2007)

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Socio-emotional development is crucial in the preschool years. We hear a lot of
parents and teachers and preschool administrators say that attending preschool is more
for "socialization" than for formal academic learning. There is wisdom in this. During the
preschool years, children learn about their ever widening environment (Remember
Bronfenbrenner?) Preschoolers now discover their new roles outside their home. They
become interested to assert themselves as they relate with other people. A lot of very
important social skills they will learn during the preschool years will help them
throughout life as adults. These skills can even determine the individual's later social
adjustment and
consequent quality of relationships in adult life.

Big Ideas on Preschoolers' Socio-emotional Development

1. The development of initiative is crucial to the preschooler.
2. A healthy self-concept is needed for preschoolers to interact with others.
3. Environmental factors influence gender identity in young children.
4 Preschoolers' social development is shown through the stages of play
5. The care-giving styles of parents and teachers affect the preschoolers socio
emotional development.
6. Preschoolers are interested in building friendships.

Preschoolers' Initiative
Erikson's view of initiative aptly portrays the emotional and social changes that
happen during the preschool years. Preschoolers deal with the psychological conflict of
initiative versus guilt. Erikson believed that healthy preschoolers develop initiative, the
tendency of preschoolers to want to take action and assert themselves. They will learn
to create, invent, pretend, take risks and engage in lively and imaginative activities with
peers. When parents, teachers and other adults support these attempts and provide a
stimulating environment, the preschooler's sense of initiative will grow. On the other

36
hand, if the adults show overprotection, extreme restriction and criticisms, the
preschooler will develop guilt.
As preschoolers go through the conflict of initiative vs. guilt, they show so much
energy in doing imaginative play activities. Every place becomes a playground to
explore, every single thing an interesting piece to tinker with. Adults sometimes get
exasperated over this behavior and begin to see the preschooler as "naughty or
"makulit".
Some parents and teachers then become overly restrictive, resorting to threats,
intimidation and other scary tactics that disrespect the preschooler just to establish
"control". Consequently, the child may develop excessive guilt. Although a good amount
of guilt helps in making children take responsibility for their behavior, excessive guilt
hampers emotional growth.
The key thing to remember is to apply judicious permissiveness.This involves
setting realistic boundaries that keep preschoolers safe and respectful of self and
others, while allowing them greater opportunity to explore, take risks and to engage in
creative processes. Preschoolers will develop a healthy sense of initiative in an
affirming
encouraging and stimulating environment.

Self-Concept and the Preschooler

By the end of toddlerhood, preschoolers come out with a clear sense that they
are a separate and distinct person. With their ability to make representations, they can
now think and reflect about themselves. Self-concept refers to the way one sees
himself, a general view about one's abilities, strengths and weaknesses. The
preschooler's self-concept mainly emotions and attitudes. One will hear a preschooler
say, "Kaya ko na” “Ako lang magsuot ng shoes ko." An important aspect of self-concept
is self-esteem, which specifically refers to one's judgments about one's worth.
Preschoolers are naturally positive. Usually they will tend to evaluate their skills high
and underestimate the tasks. They are confident to try again even if they don't succeed
with something. However, they may become negative because of repeated frustration
and disapproval. Preschoolers need a lot of patience and encouragement from adults.

Environmental Factors and Gender in the Preschoolers Socio-emotional

Development
As the preschooler's ability to create schemas develop, they become capable of
gender typing, the process of forming gender roles, gender-based preferences and
behaviors accepted by society. They come to form gender stereotypes. Preschoolers
begin to associate certain things like toys, tools, games, clothes, jobs, colors or even
the view of oneself actions or behaviors as being only for boys" or "only for girls."
Consequently, they form their own gender identity, the view as being masculine or
feminine. Gender typing and gender identity are influenced by environmental factors
such as the family, teachers, peers and the mass media. This is where
Bronfenbrenner's model comes into play. Different spheres of influence determine the
preschooler's development of a gender schema. Differences in parental expectations
and behavior towards daughters and sons affect gender typing and gender identity.
More often, boys are expected to show more emotional control and be more competitive
while their gender schema. This includes their relatives, teachers, classmates girls are
expected to be warm and soft and demure. Parents also expect their children to play
with toys that are right" for their gender.

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 Mass media and ICT which include television, movies, the internet, computer
games also offer various images of what it means to be a boy
or girl.
Preschool teachers should think thoroughly on how to present notions of what
boys and girls can do especially in the discussion about occupations or community
helpers.

Parten's Stages of Play

Play is the main agenda of the preschool years. Play has a social dimension. As
the preschooler develops, social interaction with playmates increases. Mildred Parten,
in the 1930's did a study on children's play behavior which led to Parten's Stages of
Play. The stages describe the play development of children and the gradual increase of
social interaction as they go through these stages. It begins with the very young child's
unoccupied stage, then solitary play, then parallel play, associative and cooperative
play. Play becomes an important venue for the child's development of social skills like
entering or joining a play situation, taking-turns, sharing, helping, saying sorry, and
working together. Play is indeed the child's major business!

PARTENS STAGES OF PLAY

1. Unoccupied

The child appears not to be playing but directs his attention on anything that
interests him.

2. Onlooker

The child spends time watching others play. He may talk to them but does not
enter into play with them.
3. Solitary Play

The child spends time watching others play. He may talk to them but does not
enter into play with them.

4. Parallel Play

The child plays with toys similar to those near him, but only plays beside and not
with them.

5. Associative Play

The child plays with others. There is interaction among them, but no tasks
assignment, rules and regulation are agreed.

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 6. Cooperative

The child plays with others bound by some agreed upon rules and roles. The goal
is maybe to make something, play a game or act out something.

Friendships in Preschool
As they continue to grow, preschoolers become interested in having friends. This
should be encouraged in the preschool years as friendships benefit the preschoolers’
development by providing stimulation, assistance, companionship, social comparison
and affection (Kostelnik, 2010). Through friendships, preschoolers are able to practice
different social roles like being a leader, a follower, someone who takes risks and
someone who helps out and comforts. Friendships are very important because they
provide added sense of belongingness and security. In the preschool years, parents
and teachers must expose children experiences that help them learn skills in
establishing friendships, maintaining positive relationships and resolving conflicts.
Parents and teachers, when seeing preschoolers in a fight", should not just say "Tama
na..ano ba yan. isa pa ha. Tama na, friends na kayo.Say sorry na." Responses like
those do not foster social skills among preschoolers. Parents and teachers need to take
time and process with children how to resolve conflicts.

Caregiving Styles
Caregiving styles affect the socio-emotional development of the children.
Caregivers here refer to both parents and teachers and even other adults that care for
the child. Baumrind gave a model that describes the different types of caregiving styles.
This was based on a longitudinal study that looked into the adult authority and the
development of children that Baumrind conducted which began in the 1960's. Decades
later she identified varying degrees of demandingness and responsiveness as
determinants of four styles of caregiving. Marion (2007) expounded on these
determining factors. responsiveness refers to caregiver behaviors that pertain to
expression of affection and communication. It refers to how warm, caring and respectful
the adult is to the child. It involves openness in communication and the willingness to
explain things in ways that the child will understand. Demandingness refers to the level
of control and
expectations. This involves discipline and confrontation strategies.

BAUMRIND CAREGIVING STYLES

Authoritative Permissive
high demandingness/ low demandingness/
high responsiveness high responsiveness

Authoritarian Negligent 39
high demandingness/ low demandingness/ low
low responsiveness responsiveness
 Baumrind Caregiving Styles and their Effects on Children

Caregiving Style Description Effects on the

Preschooler

Authoritative  Expect behavior  Makes the preschooler

appropriate for the child feel safe and secure
(high demandingness, high  Maintain reasonable  Teaches the child to
responsiveness) and fair limits take responsibility for
 Closely monitor the his/her actions
activities of the child  Develops good self-
 Warm and nurturing control
 Have realistic  Develops a realistic
expectations of the child view of oneself
 Communicate  Builds the child capacity
messages in a kind firm for empathy
and consistent manner
 Discipline approach
focuses more on
teaching and punishing
Authoritarian  Set subjective or  Lead to aggressive
unreasonable limits behavior of the child
(high demandingness, low  Communicate  Brings about poor self-
responsiveness) messages control
 Strive to have strong  Results in poor self-
psychological control esteeem
over the child
 Do not supervise
children’s activities very
well and get upset if
they make a mistake
 Use corporal
punishment, sarcasm,
withdrawal of love,
threats
 Not able to teach
children a better way to
behave

Permissive  Permit the preschoolers  Has difficulty in
to regulate their own controlling his/her
behavior and make their impulses
own decisions even  Tends to be dependent
(low demandingness, high when a preschoolers  Tends to be demanding
responsiveness) are not ready to do so of their caregivers
 Do not set rules or very  Tends not to persist or
few if any easily gives up on a
 Do not demand good tasks
behavior or task  Does not easily follow

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 accomplishment  Maybe rebellious
 May lack confidence in  \Does not handle
their ability to influence frustration well
the child  Has inadequate
 Maybe disorganized in emotional control
managing the family  Difficult in school
household/class performance
Shows undemanding,
indifferent and rejecting
actions towards the When parents behavior
child is to be extreme or if the
 Has little commitment to child may have:
their roles as parents/
caregivers  Attachment problems
 Maybe depressed and  Delayed cognitive
over burdened by many development
concerns like poverty,  Poor social and
marital problems, or emotional skills
absence of support from  Delinquent behavior
others later in adolescence

After you have read and analyze the module. It is time for you to apply your
knowledge to these activities. Good luck!

ACTIVITY 1
Create a concept map/graphic organizer/ table to summarize the physical, cognitive,
and socio-emotional development of the preschoolers.

ACTIVITY 2
List 10 qualities that a preschool teacher should have:

ACTIVITY 3
Write a poem to describe the cognitive, physical and socio-emotional developmental
process of preschoolers.

Note: Answers should be sent in our google classroom. You can write your answers
legibly or it could be encoded.

Congratulations you have successfully completed Module 10!

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MODULE 13
PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, SOCIO- EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOLERS
(MIDDLE CHILDHOOD)
Learning outcomes:

At the end of this module you will be able to:

 identify the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional changes occur in primary

schooler;
 give the different milestones in physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional state of
primary schooler.

Middle childhood is the stage when children undergo so many different changes
physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively. This is the stage between 6 to 12 years
old. Children in this stage receive less attention than children in infancy or early
childhood. The support of the family and friends of the child is very important during this
phase of development.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Physical growth during the primary school years is slow but steady. During this stage,
physical development involves: (1) having good muscle control and coordination, (2)
developing eye-hand coordination, (3) having good personal hygiene and (4) being
aware of good safety habits.

Height and Weight

In this development stage, children will have started their elementary grades,
specifically their primary years Grades I to 3. This period of gradual and steady growth
will give children time to get used to the changes in their bodies. An average increase in
height of a little over two inches a year in both boys and girls will introduce them to
many different activities that they can now do with greater accuracy.
Most children will weight gain averages about 6.5 pounds a year, have slimmer
appearance compared to their preschool years because of the shifts in accumulation
and location of their body fats. A child's legs are longer and more proportioned to the
body than they were before.
A number of factors could indicate how much a child grows, or how much
changes in the body will take place:
 exercise
 genes
 foods
 medical conditions
 climate

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  diseases illnesses

Bones and Muscles

Childhood years are the peak bone-producing years. This is thebest time to
teach children of good dietary and exercise habits to help them have strong, healthy
bones throughout their lives. Many lifestyle factors, like nutrition and physical activity,
can substantially influence the increase of bone mass during childhood.
Because children's bones have proportionately more water and protein-like
materials and fewer minerals than adults, ensuring adequate calcium intake will greatly
help them in strengthening bones and muscles.

Motor Development
Young school-aged children are gaining control over the major muscles of their
bodies. Most children have a good sense of balance. They like testing their muscle
strength and skills. They enjoy doing real-life tasks and activities. They pretend and
fantasize less often because they are more attuned with everything that is happening
around them.
Children in this stage love to move a lot - they run, skip, hop, jump, tumble, roll
and dance. Because their gross motor skills are already developed, they can now
perform activities like catching a ball with one hand, tying their shoelaces, they can
manage zippers and buttons.
Performing unimanual (require the use one hand) and bimanual (require the
use of two hands) activities becomes easier. Children's graphic activities, such as
writing and drawing, are now more controlled but are still developing. They can print
their names and copy simple designs, letters and shapes. They hold pencils, crayons,
utensils correctly with supervision.
Motor development skills include coordination, balance, speed, agility and power
Let us look into the definitions of the different motor skills. Coordination is a
series of movements organized and timed to occur a particular way to bring about a
particular result (Strickland, 2000). The more complex the movement is; the greater
coordination is required. Children develop eye-hand and eye-foot coordination when
they play games and sports. Balance is the child's ability to maintain the equilibrium or
stability of his/her body in different positions. Balance is a basic skill needed especially
in this stage, when children are very active. During this time, children have improved
balancing skills. Static balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium in a fixed position,
like balancing on one foot. Dynamic balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium while
moving (Owens, 2006). Speed is the ability to cover a great distance in the shortest
possible time while agility is one's ability to quickly change or shift the direction of the
body. These skills are extremely important in most sports. Power is the ability to perform
a maximum effort in the shortest possible period.
All these motor skills are vital in performing different activities, games and sports.
Development of these skills may spell the difference between success and failure in
future endeavors of the child.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

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 Jean Piaget is the foremost theorist when it comes to cognitive development.
According to him, intelligence is the basic mechanism of ensuring balance in the
relations between the person and the environment. Everything that a person
experiences is a continuous process of assimilations and accommodations. Piaget
described four main periods in cognitive development. For Piaget, intellectual ability is
not the same at different ages.

Jean Piaget's Concrete Operational Stage

Concrete operation is the third stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development.
It spans from ages 7 to approximately 11 years. In this developmental stage, children
have better understanding of their thinking skills. Children begin to think logically about
concrete events, particularly their own experiences, but have difficulty understanding
abstract or hypothetical concepts, thus most of them still have a hard time at problem-
solving.

 Logic
Concrete operational thinkers, according to Piaget, can already make use of
inductive logic. Inductive logic involves thinking from a specific experience to a general
principle. But at this stage, children have great difficulty in using deductive logic or using
a general principle to determine the outcome of a specific event.

 Reversibility
One of the most important developments in this stage is an understanding of
reversibility, or awareness that actions can be reversed. An example of this is being
able to reverse the order of relationships between mental categories. (For example in
arithmetic, 3 + 4 =7 and 7- 4 =3).

Cognitive Milestones
Elementary-aged children encounter developmental milestones. They develop
certain skills within a particular time frame. The skills they learn are in a sequential
manner, meaning they need to understand numbers before they can perform a
mathematical equation. Each milestone that develops is dependent upon the previous
milestone they achieved. Up until age 8, a child learns new skills at a rapid pace. Once
they reach the age of 8, the skills they learn start to level off and it usually is a steady
increase of new skills.
Specifically, young primary school-aged children can tell left from right. They are
able to speak and express themselves develops rapidly. In school, they share about
themselves and their families. During play, they practice using the words and language
they learn in school. They start to understand time and days of the week. They enjoy
rhymes, riddles, and jokes. Their attention span is longer. They can follow more
involved stories. They are learning letters and words. By six, most can read words or
combinations of words.

Information-Processing Skills
Several theorists argue that like the computer, the human mind is a system that
can process information through the application of logical rules and strategies. They

44
also believe that the mind receives information, performs operations to change its form
and content, stores and locates it and generates responses from it.
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The developmental theorist, Erik Erikson, formulated eight stages of man's
psychosocial development. Each stage is regarded as a "psycho-social crisis" which
arises and demands resolution before the next stage can be achieved.
Preschool children belong to the fourth stage of Erikson's psychosocial stage.
Here, children have to resolve the issue on Industry VS. Inferiority.

Erik Erikson's Fourth Stage of Psychosocial Development

Industry vs. inferiority is the psychosocial crisis that children will have to resolve
in this stage. Industry refers to a child’s involvement in situations where long, patient
work is demanded of them, while inferiority is the feeling created when a child gets a
feeling of failure when they cannot finish or master their school work.
In this stage, children, will most likely, have begun going to school. School
experiences become the priority, with children so busy doing school work. The
encouragement of parents and caring educators helps to build a child's sense of self-
esteem, strengthening their confidence and ability to interact positively in the world.

Understanding the Self

One's self-concept is the knowledge about the self, such as beliefs regarding
personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals and roles. What does
the comic strip depict? It also involves a sense of belonging and' acceptance, a sense
of good and a sense of being capable of doing good.
Having a healthy self-concept does not mean that a child thinks he is better than
others. It means that he likes himself, feels accepted by his family and friends and
believes that he can do well.
Primary school children's self-concept is influenced not only by their parents, but
also by the growing number of people they begin to interact with, including teachers and
classmates. Children have a growing understanding of their place in the world. They
already know that they can please their parents and teachers. They are comfortable and
show confidence in doing things they are good at, but also show frustration in things
that they find difficult.

School Years
In the transition from pre-elementary to primary school, children tend to become
increasingly self-confident and able to cope well with social interactions. They are not
focused on themselves anymore but are also aware of the needs and desires of others.
The issues of fairness and equality become important to them as they learn to care for
people who are not part of their families. Characteristics like loyalty and dependability
are being considered as well as responsibility and kindness.

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Building Friendships
"What is a FRIEND? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."-Aristotle
Making friends is a crucial but very important part of children's social and
emotional growth. As soon as they are able to walk and talk, they will tend to show
natural inclination to be around other children.
Children, during this stage, most likely belong to a peer group. Peer groups are
characterized by children who belong approximately to the same age group and same
social economic status. It is found along the stages of childhood through adolescence.
But for children, until the age of seven or eight, they think of themselves more than that
others. They may play well with groups but may need some time to play alone.
Primary school children prefer to belong to peer groups of the same gender.
Many children will use their surroundings to observe and mingle with other children.
Some will see this as an opportunity to make friends while others remain a bit of a loner.

Antisocial Behavior
Some adult may perceive that some children's behavior towards other children as
antisocial. When children poke, pull, hit or kick other children when they are first
introduced, it is fairly normal. Remember that children at this stage are still forming their
own world views and other children may seem like a curiosity that they need to explore.
Parents and teachers can help children make friends. You can consider the following:
 Expose the children to kid-rich environments (e.g. playgrounds, park).
 Create a play group in your class and let the children mingle with their
classmates.
 When your children hit other children, remind them that their behavior hurts
others.
 Coordinate with the parents and other teachers so that the children will have
greater opportunity to interact with other children.

Self-control
Once children reach school age, they begin to take pride in their ability to do
things and their capacity to exert effort. They like receiving positive feedback from their
parents and teachers. This becomes a great opportunity for parents and teachers to
encourage positive emotional responses from children by acknowledging their mature,
compassionate behaviors.

After you have read and analyze the module. It is time for you to apply your
knowledge to these activities. Good luck!

46
ACTIVITY 1
List down 5 milestones occur in each developmental areas of primary schooler.

COGNITIVE PHYSICAL SOCIO-EMOTIONAL

ACTIVITY 2
Fill this web diagram with informations that will explain the development happens
in physical, cognitive, psycho-social of primary schoolers.

Socio-
Cognitive emotional
Develoment Develoment

Physical
Develoment

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48