MODULE 1

Human Development; Meaning Concepts, and Approaches

Prepared by Ms. Sheryl M. Atajar

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.

Some Major Principles of Human Development

1. Development is relatively orderly.

a. Proximodistal pattern
--the muscular control of the trunk and the arms come earlier compared to the hands
and fingers

b. Cephalocaudal pattern
--During infancy, the greatest growth always occurs at the top – the head – with physical
growth in size, weight and future differentiation gradually working its way down from top
to bottom (for example, neck, shoulders, middle trunk and so on).

2. While the pattern of development is likely to be similar, the outcomes of developmental processes
and the rate of development are likely to vary among individuals.

3. Development takes place gradually.

4. Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological, cognitive and

socioemotional processes.

a. Biological processes
-involve changes in the individual’s physical nature

b. Cognitive processes
-involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.

c. Socioemotional processes
-include changes in the individual’s relationships with other people, changes in
emotions, and changes in personality.

Two Approaches to Human Development

1. Traditional Approach—emphasizes extensive change from birth to adolescence, little or no change

in adulthood and decline in late old age

2. Life-span Approach – emphasizes developmental change takes place as it does during childhood

Characteristics of the Life-span Perspective

1. Development is lifelong.
-It does not end in adulthood. No developmental stage dominates development.

2. Development is multidimensional.
-Development consists of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions.

3. Development is plastic.
-Development is possible throughout the life-span.

4. Development is contextual.
-Individuals are changing beings in a changing world.

5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regularization.

Principles of child development and learning that inform practice

1. All the domains of development and learning-physical, social and emotional, and cognitive-are
important, and they are closely interrelated. Children’s development and learning in one domain
influence and are influenced by what takes place in other domains.

2. Many aspects of children’s learning and development follow well documented sequences, with later
abilities, skills, and knowledge building on those already acquired.

3. Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at uneven rates
across different areas of a child’s individual functioning.

4. Development and learning result from a dynamic and continuous interaction of biological
maturation and experience.

5. Early experiences have profound effects, both cumulative and delayed, on a child’s development
and learning; and optimal periods exist for certain types of development and learning occur.

6. Development proceeds toward greater complexity, self-regulation, and symbolic or representational

capacities.

7. Children develop best when they have secure, consistent relationships with responsive adults and
opportunities for positive relationships with peers.

8. Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts.

9. Always mentally active in seeking to understand the world around them, children learn in a variety
of ways; a wide range of teaching strategies and interactions are effective in supporting all these
kinds of learning.

10. Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as for promoting language,
cognition, and social competence.

11. Development and learning advance when children are challenged to achieve at a level just
beyond their current mastery, and also when they have many opportunities to practice newly acquired
skills.

12. Children’s experience shape their motivation and approaches to learning, such as persistence,
initiative, and flexibility; in turn, these dispositions and behaviours affect their learning and
development.
 MODULE 2
The Stages of Development and Developmental Tasks

Concept of Developmental Task

Robert Havighurst defines developmental task as one that “arises” at a certain period in our
life, the successful achievement of which leads to happiness and success with later tasks while failure
leads to unhappiness, social disapproval, and difficulty with later tasks.

6 Developmental Stages (Havighurst)

1. Infancy and Early Childhood (0-5 years)

2. Middle Childhood (6-12 years)
3. Adolescence (13-18 years)
4. Early Adulthood (19-29 years)
5. Middle Adulthood (30-60 years)
6. Later Maturity (60+)

Developmental Stages and Tasks (Santrock)

1. Prenatal period (from conception to birth)

-It involves tremendous growth- from a single cell to an organism complete with brain and
behavioural capabilities.

2. Infancy (from birth to 18-24 months)

-A time of extreme dependence on adults. Many psychological activities are just beginning –
language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor coordination and social learning.

3. Early Childhood (end of infancy to 5-6 years (Grade I)

-These are the preschool years. Young children learn to become more self-sufficient and to
care for themselves, develop school readiness skills and spend many hours in play with peers.

4. Middle and Late Childhood (6-11 years of age, the elementary school years)
-The fundamental skills of reading, writing and arithmetic are mastered. The child is formally
exposed to the larger world and its culture. Achievement becomes a more central theme of the child’s
world and self-control increases.

5. Adolescence (10-12 years of age ending up to 18-22 years of age)

-Begins with rapid physical changes – dramatic gains in height and weight, changes in body
contour, and the development of sexual characteristics such as enlargement of the breast,
development of pubic and facial hair, and deepening of the voice. Pursuit of independence and
identity are prominent. Thought is more logical, abstract and idealistic. More time is spent outside of
the family.

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

7. Middle Adulthood (40 to 60 years of age)

-It is a time of expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility; of assisting the
next generation in becoming competent and mature individuals; and of reaching and maintaining
satisfaction in a career.

8. Late Adulthood (60s and above)

-It is a time for adjustment to decreasing strength and health, life review, retirement, and
adjustment to new social roles.
 MODULE 3
Issues on Human Development

3 Issues in Development

1. Nature vs. Nurture

2. Continuity vs. Discontinuity
3. Stability vs. Change
 MODULE 4
Research in Child and Adolescent Development

Teachers as Consumers/End Users of Research

Research enables teachers to come up with informed decision on what to teach and how to
teach. This involves decisions related to educational policies, curriculum, effective teaching-learning
process, and even those involving research, too.

Teachers as Researchers
The conduct of research does not only belong to thesis and dissertation writers. It is for
students and teachers too.

The Scientific Method

One important principle in research is adherence to the scientific method, since research is a
systematic and a logical process.

5 Steps of Scientific Method

1. identify and define the problem
2. determine the hypothesis
3. collect and analyze data
4. formulate conclusions
5. apply conclusions to the original hypothesis

Research Designs

Research
Design Description Strengths Weaknesses

1. Case Study An in-depth look at an It provides information about Need to exercise caution when
individual an individual’s fears hopes, generalizing from the
fantasises, traumatic information; the subject of a
experiences, upbringing, case study is unique, with a
family relations, health, and genetic make-up and
anything that helps a experiences no one else
psychologist understand that shares; involves judgements of
person’s development unknown reliability, in that
usually no check is made to
see if other psychologists agree
with other observations.
2. Correlational A research design that Useful because the more Because correlational research
Study determines associations strongly two events are does not involve the
correlated, the more we can manipulation of factors, it is not
predict one from the other a dependable way to isolate
cause
3. Experimental A research design that The only true reliable method Experimental research is
determines cause-and-effect of establishing cause and limited to what is observable,
relationships. The effect. testable and manipulable.
experimental method
involves manipulating one Failure to achieve
variable to determine if randomisation may limit the
changes on one variable extent to which the study
cause changes in another sample is representative of the
variable. This method relies parent population and, with it,
on controlled methods, generalizability of the findings
random assignment and the of the study.
manipulation of variables t
test a hypothesis. Experimentation with humans is
subject to a number of external
influences that may dilute the
study results.

4. Naturalistic A research design that One of the advantages of this The disadvantages of
Observation focuses on children’s type of research is that it naturalistic observation include
experiences in natural allows the researcher to the fact that it can be difficult to
settings. directly observe the subject in determine the exact cause of a
a natural setting. behaviour and the experimenter
cannot control outside
variables.
 5. Longitudinal This research design studies Allows them to record and They are expensive and time-
and follows through a group monitor developmental trends. consuming.
over a period of time. The
same individuals are studied The longer the study lasts, the
over a period of time, usually more subjects drop out – they
several years or more. move, get sick, lose interest,
etc. Subjects can be bias the
outcome of a study, because
those who remain may be
dissimilar to those who drop
out.
6. Cross-sectional A research strategy in which Allows them to record and It gives information about how
individuals of different ages monitor developmental trends. individuals change or about the
are compared at one time. The researcher does not have stability of their characteristics.
to wait for the individuals to
grow up or become older.

7. Sequential This is the combined cross- Allows them to record and It is complex, expensive, and
sectional and longitudinal monitor developmental trends. time-consuming.
approaches to learn about It provides information that is
life-span development. impossible to obtain from
cross-sectional or longitudinal
approaches alone.
8. Action Research Action research is a Appropriate in a particular Typically takes place in one
reflective process of setting when the purpose of organization only at a particular
progressive problem-solving study is “to create changes time and could not be
led by individuals working and gain information on interpreted within different
with others in teams or as processes and outcome of the organizations in the same way.
part of a “community of strategies used” Therefore, research findings
practice” to improve the way are hard (impossible) to
they address issues and Uses different methods, can generalize.
solve problems. get the best out of the different
methods employed, if done If research participants do not
In the context of teaching, well. feel they understand and own
action researches of the research project, this could
teachers stem from their Stakeholders are included lead to a potential conflict of
own questions about and throughout and so researchers interest between the researcher
reflections on their everyday are more likely to make a and those participating in the
classroom practice. difference. organization, but also between
the researcher with some
participants, on the one hand
and other members of the
organization, on the other.

Data-Gathering Techniques

Data-Gathering
Definition/Description
Technique
1. Observation Observations can be made in either laboratories or materialistic settings. In naturalistic
observation, behaviour is observed in the real world like classrooms, home in
neighbourhood.
2. Physiological Certain indicators of children’s development such as, among others, heart rate,
Measures hormonal levels, bone growth, body weight, and brain activity are measured.

3. Standardized These are prepared tests that assess individuals’ performance in different domains.
Tests These tests are administered in a consistent manner.

4. Interviews and Involve asking the participants to provide information about themselves based on the
Questionnaires interview or questionnaire given by the researcher.

Gathering of data may be conducted through a printed questionnaire, over the

telephone, by mail, in person, or on-line.

Information is obtained by utilizing standardized procedures so that every participant is

asked the same questions in the same manner. It entails asking participants for
information in some structured format.

5. Life-History These are records of information about a lifetime chronology of events and activities.
Records They often involve a combination of data records on education, work, family, and
residence. These include public records or historical documents or interviews with
respondent.
Ethical Principles

Ethical principles provide a generalized framework within which particular ethical dilemmas may be
analyzed.

Details of these ethical principles are found in documents:

1. Ethical standards of the American Educational Research Association
2. Ethical Standards for Research with Children – Society for Research in Child Development
3. Standards of the American Psychological Association Concerning Research

The following consideration for researchers conducted with young children and other
vulnerable population – National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

Some key points are:

1. Research procedures must never harm children, physically or psychologically.
2. Children and their families have the right to full information about the research in which they
may participate, including possible risks and benefits. Their decision to participate must be
based on what is called “informed consent.” There must be informed consent procedures
with research participants.
3. Children’s questions about the research should be answered in a truthful manner and in
ways that children can understand. Researchers must be honest and clear in their
communication.
4. There should be respect for privacy. Information obtained through research with children
should remain confidential. Researchers should not disclose personal information or the
identity of participants in written or oral reports and discussions.

Impact of Teachers’ Research Involvement on Teachers

1. Teachers who have been involved in research may become more reflective, more critical and
analytical in their teaching, and more open and committed to professional development.
2. Participating in teacher research also helps teachers become more deliberate in their decision-
making and actions in the classroom.
3. Teacher research develops the professional dispositions of lifelong learning, reflective and mindful
teaching, and self-transformation
4. Engaging in teacher research at any level may lead to rethinking and reconstructing what it means
to be a teacher or teacher educator and, consequently, the way teachers relate to children and
students.
5. Teacher research has the potential to demonstrate to teachers and prospective teachers that
learning to teach is inherently connected to learning to inquire.