Lesson I: The Child and Adolescent Learners
Lesson I: The Child and Adolescent Learners
LESSON I
1. Definition of childhood and adolescence
2. The rights of children
THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT LEARNERS
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. define childhood and adolescence; and
2.identify pertinent provisions on the rights of children and young
persons
3. appreciate the rights that children and young persons enjoy
The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines “child” as everyone under the
age of 18 unless, under applicable law, majority is attained earlier.
Childhood is defined as the state of being a child; especially the period from
infancy to puberty. It is the time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong
and confident with the love and encouragement of their family and an extended
community of caring adults. It is a precious time in which children should live free from
fear, safe from violence and protected from abuse and exploitation(www.unicef.org)
Childhood connotes a time of innocence, where one is free from responsibility
but vulnerable to forces in his environment. It suggests a period where one enjoys
closeness with parents and shared expectations.
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Definition of Adolescent/Adolescence
Adolescence is the period following the onset of puberty during which a young person
develops from a child into an adult (ages 13-19 years old). The term is derived from the
Latin word adolescere which means “to grow up”. It is the transitional age of physical
and psychological human development generally occurring from the period of puberty
to legal adulthood (age of majority). The period of adolescence is most closely
associated with the teenage years, through its physical, psychological and cultural
expressions can begin and end later. This period is divided into three main stages:
Early adolescence (9-13 years) – characterized by a spurt of growth and
development of secondary sexual characteristics.
Middle adolescence (14-15 years) – this stage is distinguished by the
development of a separate identity from parents, of new relationships
with peer groups and the opposite sex, and of experimentation.
Late adolescence (16-19 years) - at this stage, adolescents have fully
developed physical characteristics (similar to adults) and have formed a
distinct identity and have self-formed opinions and ideas.
Task/Activity: Interview
You are going to conduct an interview with a child. Your respondents can be your sister
or brother or a neighbour. The following will be your guide questions:
1. As a child, what are the things that you enjoy doing at home? In school?
2. Do you have a share of responsibility at home? If so, what are the tasks
assigned to you?
3. Do you have peer groups? What are the things you learn from them?
4. How about gadgets? Do you have your own cellphone/tablet/computer set?
5. How much time do you devote in playing online games?
6. Do you think this can help to develop you as a better person?
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Task/Activity: Interview
1. As an adolescent, I always
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2. I have experienced physiological changes such as
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3. Being with my “barkada” makes me
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4. My family
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5. Being an adolescent, my responsibilities are
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The Rights of Children and Young Persons are embodied under Presidential Decree
No. 603, under Article 3 (The Rights of a Child). “ All children shall be entitled to the
rights herein set forth without distinction as to legitimacy and illegitimacy, sex, social
status, religion, political antecedents and other factors.”
1. Every child is endowed with the dignity and worth of a human being from the
moment of his conception, as generally accepted in the medical parlance, and
has therefore the right to be born well.
2. Every child has the right to a wholesome family life that will provide him/her
with love, care and understanding, guidance and counseling, and moral and
material security.
3. Every child has the right to a well-rounded development of his personality to the
end that he may become a happy, useful, and active member of society
4. Every child has the right to a balanced diet, adequate clothing, sufficient shelter,
proper medical attention, and all the basic physical requirements of a healthy
and vigorous life.
5. Every child has the right to be brought up in an atmosphere of morality and
rectitude for the enrichment and the strengthening of his character.
6. Every child has the right to an education commensurate with his abilities and to
the development of his skills for the development of his skills for the
improvement of his capacity for service to himself and hi fellowmen.
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7. Every child has the right to full opportunities for safe and wholesome recreation
and activities, individual as well as social, for the wholesome use of his leisure
hours.
8. Every child has the right to protection against exploitation improper influences,
hazards, and other conditions or circumstances prejudicial to his physical,
mental, emotional, social and moral development.
9. Every child has the right to live in a community and a society that can offer him
an environment free from pernicious influences and conducive to the promotion
of his health and the cultivation of his desirable traits and attributes.
10. Every child has the right to the care, assistance and protection of the state,
particularly when his parents or guardians fail or unable to provide him with his
fundamental needs for growth, development and improvement.
11. Every child has the right to an efficient and honest government that will deepen
his faith in democracy and inspire him with the morality of the constitute
authorities both in their public and private lives.
12. Every child has the right to grow up as a free individual, in an atmosphere of
peace, understanding, tolerance, and universal brotherhood and with the
determination to contribute his share in the building of a better world.
Task/Activity: Collage
Make a collage of the different violations to the rights of children in the country such as
child labor, abuse and so on. After making the collage, on a separate sheet, make a
discussion of the collage you have done.
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LESSON II
THE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES
TOPICS
1. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
2. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
3. Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory
4. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
5. Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory
6. Bronfrenbrenner’s Ecological Theory
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. discuss the different developmental theories
2. apply the different theories in classroom situations and;
3. compare each development theory across the different stages of
childhood and adolescence
During the five psychosexual stages, which are the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and
genital stages, the erogenous zone associated with each stage serves as a source of
pleasure. The psychosexual energy, or libido, was described as the driving force behind
behavior.
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Each stage of development is marked by conflicts that can help build growth or
stifle development, depending upon how they are resolved. If these psychosexual stages
are completed successfully, a healthy personality is the result.
If certain issues are not resolved at the appropriate stage, fixations can occur. A fixation
is a persistent focus on an earlier psychosexual stage. Until this conflict is resolved, the
individual will remain "stuck" in this stage. A person who is fixated at the oral stage, for
example, may be over-dependent on others and may seek oral stimulation
through smoking, drinking, or eating.
During the oral stage, the infant's primary source of interaction occurs through
the mouth, so the rooting and sucking reflex is especially important. The mouth is
vital for eating, and the infant derives pleasure from oral stimulation through
gratifying activities such as tasting and sucking. Because the infant is entirely
dependent upon caretakers (who are responsible for feeding the child), the
child also develops a sense of trust and comfort through this oral stimulation.
The primary conflict at this stage is the weaning process--the child must become
less dependent upon caretakers. If fixation occurs at this stage, Freud believed the
individual would have issues with dependency or aggression. Oral fixation can result
in problems with drinking, eating, smoking, or nail-biting.
During the anal stage, Freud believed that the primary focus of the libido was on
controlling bladder and bowel movements. The major conflict at this stage is toilet
training—the child has to learn to control their bodily needs. Developing this control
leads to a sense of accomplishment and independence.
According to Freud, success at this stage is dependent upon the way in which parents
approach toilet training. Parents who utilize praise and rewards for using the toilet at
the appropriate time encourage positive outcomes and help children feel capable and
productive. Freud believed that positive experiences during the toilet training stage
serve as the basis for people to become competent, productive, and creative adults.
However, not all parents provide the support and encouragement that children need
during this stage. Some parents punish, ridicule, or shame a child for accidents.
According to Freud, inappropriate parental responses can result in negative outcomes. If
parents take an approach that is too lenient, Freud suggested that an anal-expulsive
personality could develop in which the individual has a messy, wasteful, or destructive
personality.
If parents are too strict or begin toilet training too early, Freud believed that an anal-
retentive personality develops in which the individual is stringent, orderly, rigid, and
obsessive.
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Freud suggested that during the phallic stage, the primary focus of the libido is on the
genitals. At this age, children also begin to discover the differences between males and
females.
Freud also believed that boys begin to view their fathers as a rival for the mother’s
affections. The Oedipus complex describes these feelings of wanting to possess the
mother and the desire to replace the father. However, the child also fears that he will be
punished by the father for these feelings, a fear Freud termed castration anxiety.
The term Electra complex has been used to describe a similar set of feelings experienced
by young girls. Freud, however, believed that girls instead experience penis envy.
Eventually, the child begins to identify with the same-sex parent as a means of
vicariously possessing the other parent. For girls, however, Freud believed that penis
envy was never fully resolved and that all women remain somewhat fixated on this
stage.
Psychologists such as Karen Horney disputed this theory, calling it both inaccurate and
demeaning to women. Instead, Horney proposed that men experience feelings of
inferiority because they cannot give birth to children, a concept she referred to
as womb envy.
During this stage, the superego continues to develop while the id's energies are
suppressed. Children develop social skills, values and relationships with peers and adults
outside of the family.
The latent period is a time of exploration in which the sexual energy repressed or
dormant. This energy is still present, but it is sublimated into other areas such as
intellectual pursuits and social interactions. This stage is important in the development
of social and communication skills and self-confidence.
As with the other psychosexual stages, Freud believed that it was possible for children
to become fixated or "stuck" in this phase. Fixation at this stage can result in immaturity
and an inability to form fulfilling relationships as an adult.
The onset of puberty causes the libido to become active once again. During the final
stage of psychosexual development, the individual develops a strong sexual interest in
the opposite sex. This stage begins during puberty but last throughout the rest of a
person's life. Where in earlier stages the focus was solely on individual needs, interest
in the welfare of others grows during this stage. The goal of this stage is to establish a
balance between the various life areas. If the other stages have been completed
successfully, the individual should now be well-balanced, warm, and caring. Unlike the
many of the earlier stages of development, Freud believed that the ego and superego
were fully formed and functioning at this point. Younger children are ruled by the id,
which demands immediate satisfaction of the most basic needs and wants. Teens in the
genital stage of development are able to balance their most basic urges against the
need to conform to the demands of reality and social norms.
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Task/Activity: An Exercise on Decision-Making
Recall a recent activity in your life when you had to make a decision. Narrate the
situation below.
1. What was the situation?
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2. What were your decisions?
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3. What are the factors that made you arrive at these decisions?
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Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through
four different stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on
understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature
of intelligence.1 Piaget's stages are:
Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting much
like little scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about
the world. As kids interact with the world around them, they continually add new
knowledge, and build upon existing knowledge.
Up until this point in history, children were largely treated simply as smaller versions of
adults.Piaget was one of the first to identify that the way that children think is different
from the way adults think. Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that grows
and develops through a series of stages. Older children do not just think more quickly
than younger children, he suggested. Instead, there are both qualitative and
quantitative differences between the thinking of young children versus older children.
Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than
adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so simple
only a genius could have thought of it." Piaget's stage theory describes the cognitive
development of children. Cognitive development involves changes in cognitive process
and abilities. In Piaget's view, early cognitive development involves processes based
upon actions and later progresses to changes in mental operations.
The Stages
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The Sensorimotor Stage
The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations
Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping,
looking, and listening
Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen
(object permanence)
They are separate beings from the people and objects around them
They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around
them
During this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire
knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects. A child's entire
experience at the earliest period of this stage occurs through basic reflexes, senses, and
motor responses.
It is during the sensorimotor stage that children go through a period of dramatic growth
and learning. As kids interact with their environment, they are continually making new
discoveries about how the world works.
The cognitive development that occurs during this period takes place over a relatively
short period of time and involves a great deal of growth. Children not only learn how to
perform physical actions such as crawling and walking; they also learn a great deal about
language from the people with whom they interact. Piaget also broke this stage down
into a number of different substages. It is during the final part of the sensorimotor stage
that early representational thought emerges. Piaget believed that developing object
permanence or object constancy, the understanding that objects continue to exist even
when they cannot be seen, was an important element at this point of development.
By learning that objects are separate and distinct entities and that they have an
existence of their own outside of individual perception, children are then able to begin
to attach names and words to objects.
Ages: 2 to 7 Years
Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to
represent objects.
Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the
perspective of others.
While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think
about things in very concrete terms.
The foundations of language development may have been laid during the previous
stage, but it is the emergence of language that is one of the major hallmarks of the
preoperational stage of development.3
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Children become much more skilled at pretend play during this stage of development,
yet continue to think very concretely about the world around them. At this stage, kids
learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of
other people. They also often struggle with understanding the idea of constancy. For
example, a researcher might take a lump of clay, divide it into two equal pieces, and
then give a child the choice between two pieces of clay to play with. One piece of clay is
rolled into a compact ball while the other is smashed into a flat pancake shape. Since
the flat shape looks larger, the preoperational child will likely choose that piece even
though the two pieces are exactly the same size.
Ages: 7 to 11 Years
During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events
They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid
in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example
Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete
Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a
general principle
While children are still very concrete and literal in their thinking at this point in
development, they become much more adept at using logic. 2 The egocentrism of the
previous stage begins to disappear as kids become better at thinking about how other
people might view a situation.
While thinking becomes much more logical during the concrete operational state, it can
also be very rigid. Kids at this point in development tend to struggle with abstract and
hypothetical concepts.
During this stage, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how
other people might think and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to
understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else
necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
Ages: 12 and Up
At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason
about hypothetical problems
Abstract thought emerges
Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and
political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning
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Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific
information
The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use
deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas. 3 At this point, people
become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more
scientifically about the world around them. The ability to thinking about abstract ideas
and situations is the key hallmark of the formal operational stage of cognitive
development. The ability to systematically plan for the future and reason about
hypothetical situations are also critical abilities that emerge during this stage.
It is important to note that Piaget did not view children's intellectual development as a
quantitative process; that is, kids do not just add more information and knowledge to
their existing knowledge as they get older. Instead, Piaget suggested that there is
a qualitative change in how children think as they gradually process through these four
stages.4 A child at age 7 doesn't just have more information about the world than he did
at age 2; there is a fundamental change in how he thinks about the world.
Important Concepts
To better understand some of the things that happen during cognitive development, it is
important first to examine a few of the important ideas and concepts introduced by
Piaget.
The following are some of the factors that influence how children learn and grow:
Schemas
A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and
knowing. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand
the world.
In Piaget's view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of
obtaining that knowledge.3 As experiences happen, this new information is used to
modify, add to, or change previously existing schemas.
For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the
child's sole experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are
small, furry, and have four legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous
dog. The child will take in this new information, modifying the previously existing
schema to include these new observations.
Assimilation
The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as
assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective because we tend to modify
experiences and information slightly to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. In the example
above, seeing a dog and labeling it "dog" is a case of assimilating the animal into the
child's dog schema.
Accommodation
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Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of
new information, a process known as accommodation. Accommodation involves
modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new
experiences.5 New schemas may also be developed during this process.
Equilibration
Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and
accommodation, which is achieved through a mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As
children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to
maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing
behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration helps explain
how children can move from one stage of thought to the next.
Recall a movie about a family which you have watched lately. Relate the characters
using the matrix below according to Piaget’s stages:
1. The title of the Story _________________________________________________
2. Brief Summary
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3. Describe the Characters
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TOPIC 3: ERIKSON’S PSYCHO-SOCIAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT
Erik Erikson (1902–1994) was a stage theorist who took Freud’s controversial
theory of psychosexual development and modified it as a psychosocial theory. Erikson
emphasized that the ego makes positive contributions to development by
mastering attitudes, ideas, and skills at each stage of development. This mastery helps
children grow into successful, contributing members of society. During each of Erikson’s
eight stages, there is a psychological conflict that must be successfully overcome in
order for a child to develop into a healthy, well-adjusted adult.
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development are based on (and expand upon) Freud’s
psychosexual theory. Erikson proposed that we are motivated by the need to achieve
competence in certain areas of our lives. According to psychosocial theory, we
experience eight stages of development over our lifespan, from infancy through late
adulthood. At each stage there is a crisis or task that we need to resolve. Successful
completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a
healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy.
From birth to 12 months of age, infants must learn that adults can be trusted. This
occurs when adults meet a child’s basic needs for survival. Infants are dependent upon
their caregivers, so caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their infant’s needs
help their baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will see the world as a safe,
predictable place. Unresponsive caregivers who do not meet their baby’s needs can
engender feelings of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; their baby may see the world as
unpredictable. If infants are treated cruelly or their needs are not met appropriately,
they will likely grow up with a sense of mistrust for people in the world.
As toddlers (ages 1–3 years) begin to explore their world, they learn that they can
control their actions and act on their environment to get results. They begin to show
clear preferences for certain elements of the environment, such as food, toys, and
clothing. A toddler’s main task is to resolve the issue of autonomy vs. shame and
doubt by working to establish independence. This is the “me do it” stage. For example,
we might observe a budding sense of autonomy in a 2-year-old child who wants to
choose her clothes and dress herself. Although her outfits might not be appropriate for
the situation, her input in such basic decisions has an effect on her sense of
independence. If denied the opportunity to act on her environment, she may begin to
doubt her abilities, which could lead to low self-esteem and feelings of shame.
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Initiative vs. Guilt
Once children reach the preschool stage (ages 3–6 years), they are capable of initiating
activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play.
According to Erikson, preschool children must resolve the task of initiative vs. guilt.By
learning to plan and achieve goals while interacting with others, preschool children can
master this task. Initiative, a sense of ambition and responsibility, occurs when parents
allow a child to explore within limits and then support the child’s choice. These children
will develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who are unsuccessful at
this stage—with their initiative misfiring or stifled by over-controlling parents—may
develop feelings of guilt.
During the elementary school stage (ages 6–12), children face the task of industry vs.
inferiority. Children begin to compare themselves with their peers to see how they
measure up. They either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their
schoolwork, sports, social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate
because they feel that they don’t measure up. If children do not learn to get along with
others or have negative experiences at home or with peers, an inferiority complex might
develop into adolescence and adulthood.
In adolescence (ages 12–18), children face the task of identity vs. role
confusion. According to Erikson, an adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self.
Adolescents struggle with questions such as “Who am I?” and “What do I want to do
with my life?” Along the way, most adolescents try on many different selves to see
which ones fit; they explore various roles and ideas, set goals, and attempt to discover
their “adult” selves. Adolescents who are successful at this stage have a strong sense of
identity and are able to remain true to their beliefs and values in the face of problems
and other people’s perspectives. When adolescents are apathetic, do not make a
conscious search for identity, or are pressured to conform to their parents’ ideas for the
future, they may develop a weak sense of self and experience role confusion. They will
be unsure of their identity and confused about the future. Teenagers who struggle to
adopt a positive role will likely struggle to “find” themselves as adults.
People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are concerned with intimacy vs.
isolation. After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, we are ready to share
our life with others. However, if other stages have not been successfully resolved, young
adults may have trouble developing and maintaining successful relationships with
others. Erikson said that we must have a strong sense of self before we can develop
successful intimate relationships. Adults who do not develop a positive self-concept in
adolescence may experience feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation.
When people reach their 40s, they enter the time known as middle adulthood, which
extends to the mid-60s. The social task of middle adulthood is generativity vs.
stagnation. Generativity involves finding your life’s work and contributing to the
development of others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raising
children. During this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next
generation, often through childbirth and caring for others; they also engage in
meaningful and productive work which contributes positively to society. Those who do
not master this task may experience stagnation and feel as though they are not leaving a
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mark on the world in a meaningful way; they may have little connection with others and
little interest in productivity and self-improvement.
Task/Activity: An Exercise on Self-assessment
From the mid-60s to the end of life, we are in the period of development known as late
adulthood. Erikson’s task at this stage is called integrity vs. despair. He said that people
in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of
failure. People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and
they can look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not
successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what
“would have,” “should have,” and “could have” been. They face the end of their lives
with feelings of bitterness, depression, and despair.
Below are statements which will assess your personality according to Erikson’s
psychosocial stages. Rate yourself as honestly as possible.
Indicate how often each of these statements apply to you by using the following scale:
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17. I get a great deal of pleasure from working.
18. I feel too incompetent to do what I would really like to do in life.
19. I avoid doing something difficult because I feel I would fail.
20. I feel competent.
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HANDOUT 4–12 (continued )
The response to item 1 should be reversed (0 = 3, 1 = 2, 2 =1, 3 = 0) and then added to the
numbers given in response to items 2, 3, 4, and 5 to obtain a trust score. Responses to items 7,
8, and 9 should be reversed and added to items 6 and 10 to assess autonomy. Answers to 12
and 15 should be reversed and added to items 11, 13, and 14 to measure initiative. Answers to
16, 18, and 19 should be reversed and then added to 17 and 20 to calculate industry. Responses
to 21 and 25 must be reversed and added to 22, 24, and 25 to obtain a measure of identity.
Answers to 26, 28, and 30 are reversed and added to 27 and 29 to give intimacy. Responses to
31 and 33 are reversed and added to 32, 34, and 35 to provide a generativity score. In both
sexes, the authors found that the scores on each dimension were related to an independent
measure of well-being.
Source: Ochse, R., & Plug, C. (1986). Cross-cultural investigation of the validity of Erikson’s theory of
personality development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1240–1252. (Scale items
appear on pages 1251–1252.) Copyright © 1986 by the American Psychology Association. Reprinted with
permission.
Lawrence Kohlberg expanded on the earlier work of cognitive theorist Jean Piaget to
explain the moral development of children. Kohlberg believed that moral development,
like cognitive development, follows a series of stages. He used the idea of moral
dilemmas—stories that present conflicting ideas about two moral values—to teach 10
to 16 year-old boys about morality and values. The best known moral dilemma created
by Kohlberg is the “Heinz” dilemma, which discusses the idea of obeying the law versus
saving a life. Kohlberg emphasized that it is the way an individual reasons about a
dilemma that determines positive moral development.
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After presenting people with various moral dilemmas, Kohlberg reviewed people’s
responses and placed them in different stages of moral reasoning. According to
Kohlberg, an individual progresses from the capacity for pre-conventional morality
(before age 9) to the capacity for conventional morality (early adolescence), and toward
attaining post-conventional morality (once Piaget’s idea of formal operational thought is
attained), which only a few fully achieve. Each level of morality contains two stages,
which provide the basis for moral development in various contexts.
Level 1: Preconventional
Stage 1: Obedience-and-Punishment Orientation
Stage 1 focuses on the child’s desire to obey rules and avoid being punished. For
example, an action is perceived as morally wrong because the perpetrator is punished;
the worse the punishment for the act is, the more “bad” the act is perceived to be.
Stage 2 expresses the “what’s in it for me?” position, in which right behavior is defined
by whatever the individual believes to be in their best interest. Stage two reasoning
shows a limited interest in the needs of others, only to the point where it might further
the individual’s own interests. As a result, concern for others is not based on loyalty
or intrinsic respect, but rather a “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours” mentality.
An example would be when a child is asked by his parents to do a chore. The child asks
“what’s in it for me?” and the parents offer the child an incentive by giving him an
allowance.
Level 2: Conventional
Throughout the conventional level, a child’s sense of morality is tied to personal and
societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this
is now due to their belief that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and
societal order. Adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid during these
stages, and a rule’s appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.
In stage 3, children want the approval of others and act in ways to avoid disapproval.
Emphasis is placed on good behavior and people being “nice” to others.
In stage 4, the child blindly accepts rules and convention because of their importance in
maintaining a functioning society. Rules are seen as being the same for everyone, and
18
obeying rules by doing what one is “supposed” to do is seen as valuable and important.
Moral reasoning in stage four is beyond the need for individual approval exhibited in
stage three. If one person violates a law, perhaps everyone would—thus there is an
obligation and a duty to uphold laws and rules. Most active members of society remain
at stage four, where morality is still predominantly dictated by an outside force.
Level 3: Postconventional
In stage 5, the world is viewed as holding different opinions, rights, and values. Such
perspectives should be mutually respected as unique to each person or community.
Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid edicts. Those that do not
promote the general welfare should be changed when necessary to meet the greatest
good for the greatest number of people. This is achieved through majority decision and
inevitable compromise. Democratic government is theoretically based on stage five
reasoning.
Below are moral dilemma situations which need careful evaluation before arriving at a
decision. Read each case thoroughly. If you were faced with the similar situation, what
are you going to do? Write your answers on the space provided after each case.
1. A pregnant woman leading a group of people out of a cave on a coast is stuck in the
mouth of that cave. In a short time high tide will be upon them, and unless she is
unstuck, they will all be drowned except the woman, whose head is out of the cave.
19
Fortunately, (or unfortunately,) someone has with him a stick of dynamite. There seems
no way to get the pregnant woman loose without using the dynamite which will
inevitably kill her; but if they do not use it everyone will drown. What should they do?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Tony, a data analyst for a major casino, is working after normal business hours to finish
an important project. He realizes that he is missing data that had been sent to his
coworker Robert.Tony had inadvertently observed Robert typing his password several
days ago and decides to log into Robert's computer and resend the data to himself.
Upon doing so, Tony sees an open email regarding gambling bets Robert placed over the
last several days with a local sports book. All employees of the casino are forbidden to
engage in gambling activities to avoid any hint of conflict of interest. Tony knows he
should report this but would have to admit to violating the company's information
technology regulations by logging into Robert's computer. If he warns Robert to stop his
betting, he would also have to reveal the source of his information. What does Tony do
in this situation?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Jelo is a fourteen-year-old boy who wanted to go to camp very much. His father
promised him he could go if he saved up the money for it himself. So Joe worked hard at
his paper route and saved up the forty dollars it cost to go to camp, and a little more
besides. But just before camp was going to start, his father changed his mind. Some of
his friends decided to go on a special fishing trip, and Jelo's father was short of the
money it would cost. So he told Jelo to give him the money he had saved from the paper
route. Jelo didn't want to give up going to camp, so he thinks of refusing to give his
father the money.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the
doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same
town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was
charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid Php 10,000.00 for the
radium and charged Php100,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's
husband, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means,
but he could only get together about Php50,000.00, which is half of what it cost. He told
the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later.
But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from if."
So, having tried every legal means, the husband gets desperate and considers breaking
into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Nicole was a fifteen-year-old girl. Her mother promised her that she could go to a
special rock concert coming to their town if she saved up from baby-sitting and lunch
money to buy a ticket to the concert. She managed to save up the five hundred the
ticket cost plus another two hundred pesos. But then her mother changed her mind and
told Nicole that she had to spend the money on new clothes for school. Nicole was
disappointed and decided to go to the concert anyway. She bought a ticket and told her
mother that she had only been able to save one hundred pesos. That Saturday she went
to the performance and told her mother that she was spending the day with a friend. A
week passed without her mother finding out. Nicole then told her older sister, Trisha,
20
that she had gone to the performance and had lied to her mother about it. Trisha
wonders whether to tell their mother what Nicole did.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of much research and
theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what has become
known as Social Development Theory.
Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development
of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the
process of "making meaning."
Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must necessarily precede their
learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of
developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In
other words, social learning tends to precede (i.e., come before) development.
Vygotsky has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He
developed his theories at around the same time as Jean Piaget was starting to develop his ideas
(1920's and 30's), but he died at the age of 38, and so his theories are incomplete - although
some of his writings are still being translated from Russian.
No single principle (such as Piaget's equilibration) can account for development.
Individual development cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural
context within which it is embedded. Higher mental processes in the individual have their origin
in social processes.
Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget in a number of important ways:
1: Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting cognitive development.
This contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages and content of development (Vygotsky does
not refer to stages in the way that Piaget does). Hence Vygotsky assumes cognitive
development varies across cultures, whereas Piaget states cognitive development is mostly
universal across cultures.
2: Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive
development.
(i) Vygotsky states cognitive development stems from social interactions from guided learning
within the zone of proximal development as children and their partner's co-construct
knowledge. In contrast, Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from
independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own.
(ii) For Vygotsky, the environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and
what they think about.
3: Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive
development.
According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e., thought comes
before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the
beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech).
For Vygotsky, cognitive development results from an internalization of language.
4: According to Vygotsky adults are an important source of cognitive development.
21
Adults transmit their culture's tools of intellectual adaptation that children internalize. In
contrast, Piaget emphasizes the importance of peers as peer interaction promotes social
perspective taking.
22
More Knowledgeable Other
The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who
has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular
task, process, or concept.
Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the
case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more
knowledge or experience.
For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest teenage music groups, how to
win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest dance craze -
a child or their parents?
In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. Some companies, to support employees in their
learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems.
Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students
through the learning process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with)
more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.
The concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is integrally related to the second important
principle of Vygotsky's work, the Zone of Proximal Development. This is an important concept
that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child
can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.
For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example above) by itself
and would have taken a long time to do so (if at all), but was able to solve it following
interaction with the father, and has developed competence at this skill that will be applied to
future jigsaws.
Vygotsky (1978) sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the most sensitive
instruction or guidance should be given - allowing the child to develop skills they will then use
on their own - developing higher mental functions.
Vygotsky also views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and
strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent
children develop with help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development
23
Task/Activity: An Exercise on Scaffolding
24
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model organizes contexts of development into five
levels of external influence. These levels are categorized from the most intimate level to
the broadest.
Microsystem
The Bronfenbrenner theory suggests that the microsystem is the smallest and
most immediate environment in which children live. As such, the microsystem
comprises the daily home, school or daycare, peer group and community environment
of the children.
Interactions within the microsystem typically involve personal relationships with family
members, classmates, teachers and caregivers. How these groups or individuals interact
with the children will affect how they grow.
Similarly, how children react to people in their microsystem will also influence
how they treat the children in return. More nurturing and more supportive interactions
and relationships will understandably foster they children’s improved development.
One of the most significant findings that Urie Bronfenbrenner unearthed in his study of
ecological systems is that it is possible for siblings who find themselves in the same
ecological system to experience very different environments.
Therefore, given two siblings experiencing the same microsystem, it is not impossible
for the development of them to progress in different manners. Each child’s particular
personality traits, such as temperament, which is influenced by unique genetic and
biological factors, ultimately have a hand in how he/she is treated by others.
Mesosystem
Exosystem
The exosystem pertains to the linkages that may exist between two or more
settings, one of which may not contain the developing children but affect them
indirectly nonetheless.
Based on the findings of Bronfenbrenner, people and places that children may
not directly interact with may still have an impact on their lives. Such places and people
may include the parents’ workplaces, extended family members, and the neighborhood
the children live in. For example, a father who is continually passed up for promotion by
an indifferent boss at the workplace may take it out on his children and mistreat them at
home.
Macrosystem
The macrosystem is the largest and most distant collection of people and places
to the children that still have significant influences on them. This ecological system is
25
composed of the children’s cultural patterns and values, specifically their dominant
beliefs and ideas, as well as political and economic systems.
For example, children in war-torn areas will experience a different kind of development
than children in peaceful environments.
Chronosystem
The Bronfenbrenner theory suggests that the chronosystem adds the useful
dimension of time, which demonstrates the influence of both change and constancy in
the children’s environments. The chronosystem may include a change in family
structure, address, parents’ employment status, as well as immense society changes
such as economic cycles and wars.
For example, a child who frequently bullies smaller children at school may
portray the role of a terrified victim at home. Due to these variations, adults who are
concerned with the care of a particular child should pay close attention to his/her
behavior in different settings, as well as to the quality and type of connections that exist
between these settings.
You are asked to recall your experiences during your childhood years. You may need
other people like your parents and elder brother/sister for other information you may not
be able to retrieve by yourself. Complete the following sentences:
26
ASSESSMENT: CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE DIFFERENT THEORIES
A. Make a critical evaluation of the different theories using the following matrix:
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
2. Piaget’s Stages of 1. 1.
Cognitive Development
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
3.Erikson’s Psycho-Social 1. 1.
Theory
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
4. Kohlberg’s Stages of 1. 1.
Moral Development
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
5. Vygotsky’s 1. 1.
Sociocultural Theory
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
27
6. Bronfenbrenner’s 1. 1.
Ecological Theory
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
B. Give at least five (5) application of the theories in the classroom situation.
1. Psychoanalytic Theory
a. _________________________________________________________________
b.__________________________________________________________________
c.__________________________________________________________________
d.__________________________________________________________________
e.__________________________________________________________________
3. Psycho-Social Theory
a.__________________________________________________________________
b.__________________________________________________________________
c.__________________________________________________________________
d.__________________________________________________________________
e.__________________________________________________________________
5. Socio-Cultural Theory
a.__________________________________________________________________
b.__________________________________________________________________
c.__________________________________________________________________
d.__________________________________________________________________
e.__________________________________________________________________
6.Ecological Theory
a.__________________________________________________________________
b.__________________________________________________________________
c.__________________________________________________________________
d.__________________________________________________________________
e.__________________________________________________________________
28
LESSON III
PHYSICAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AND
ADOLESCENTS
TOPICS
1. Physical and Motor Development During Childhood
2. Physical Development During Adolescence
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
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.
Motor development involves skills such as coordination, balance, speed and agility.
Coordination is a series of movements organized and timed to occur in a particular way to bring
about a particular result (Strickland, 2000). The more complex the movement is, the greater the
coordination required. Children develop eye-hand coordination and eye-foot coordination
29
when they play games and sports. Balance is the child’s ability to maintain the equilibrium or
stability of his/her body n different positions. Balance is a skill needed in this stage, when
children are very active. Static balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium in a fixed position,
like balancing on one foot (Owens, 2006). Speed is the ability to cover a 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 sports.
Here are some motor milestones of primary school-age children (Bergin and Bergin,
Child and Adolescent Development in Your Classroom, Third Edition:2018, Boston, USA)
30
Uppercase letters are somewhat
mastered, but lowered letters games
continue to be challenging through Skate, ski, bike and other specialized
3rd grade, especially letters with skills with training
slants and curves.
Parents, teachers, and caregivers must stimulate toddlers and infants and encourage the
development of gross- and fine-motor skills. For example, you may stimulate physical
development by holding a toddler upright while moving each leg to imitate walking. Eventually,
the child will become accustomed to the balance and muscle movements that are required to
walk and be able to do it on his own. Infants and toddlers depend on their caregivers to meet
their needs for safety and security. When infants and toddlers receive consistent, responsive
care and attention from nurturing adults, they are able to establish a sense of trust in the world.
This sense of being loved and feeling safe is essential to stimulate areas of development,
including physical development. When they feel safe and secure, infants and toddlers use their
brains, muscles, and senses to explore the world around them.
31
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
b. How do the movements of the bigger children differ from the smaller ones?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
c. What physical characteristics were developed to the children?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Puberty is the period of several years in which rapid physical growth and psychological
changes occur, culminating in sexual maturity. The onset of puberty typically occurs at age 10 or
11 for females and at age 11 or 12 for males; females usually complete puberty by ages 15 to 17,
while males usually finish around ages 16 to 17. Females tend to attain reproductive maturity
about four years after the first physical changes of puberty appear. Males, however, accelerate
more slowly but continue to grow for about six years after the first visible pubertal changes.
While the sequence of physical changes in puberty is predictable, the onset and pace of puberty
vary widely. Every person’s individual timetable for puberty is different and is primarily
influenced by heredity; however environmental factors—such as diet and exercise—also exert
some influence.
Hormonal Changes
These changes are largely influenced by hormonal activity. Hormones play an organizational
role (priming the body to behave in a certain way once puberty begins) and an activational
role (triggering certain behavioral and physical changes). During puberty, the adolescent’s
hormonal balance shifts strongly towards an adult state; the process is triggered by the pituitary
gland, which secretes a surge of hormonal agents into the blood stream and initiates a chain
reaction.
Sexual Maturation
It is this stage in life in which a child develops secondary sex characteristics. Primary sex
characteristics are organs specifically needed for reproduction, like the uterus and ovaries in
females and the testes in males. Secondary sex characteristics, on the other hand, are physical
signs of sexual maturation that do not directly involve sex organs. In females, this includes
development of breasts and widening of hips, while in males it includes development of facial
32
hair and deepening of the voice. Both sexes experience development of pubic and underarm
hair, as well as increased development of sweat glands.
The male and female gonads are activated by the surge of hormones, which puts them into a
state of rapid growth and development. The testes primarily release testosterone, and the
ovaries release estrogen; the production of these hormones increases gradually until sexual
maturation is met. Girls experience menarche, the beginning of menstrual periods, usually
around 12–13 years old, and boys experience spermarche, the first ejaculation, around 13–14
years old. Facial hair in males typically appears around age 14.
Physical Growth
The adolescent growth spurt is a rapid increase in an individual’s height and weight during
puberty resulting from the simultaneous release of growth hormones, thyroid hormones, and
androgens. Males experience their growth spurt about two years later than females. The
accelerated growth in different body parts happens at different times, but for all adolescents it
has a fairly regular sequence. The first places to grow are the extremities (head, hands, and
feet), followed by the arms and legs, and later the torso and shoulders. This non-uniform growth
is one reason why an adolescent body may seem out of proportion. During puberty, bones
become harder and more brittle.
Before puberty, there are nearly no differences between males and females in the distribution
of fat and muscle. During puberty, males grow muscle much faster than females, and females
experience a higher increase in body fat. The ratio between muscle and fat in post-pubertal
males is around 1:3, while for males it is about 5:4. An adolescent’s heart and lungs increase in
both size and capacity during puberty; these changes contribute to increased strength and
tolerance for exercise.
Because rates of physical development vary so widely among teenagers, puberty can be a
source of pride or embarrassment. Early maturing boys tend to be physically stronger, taller,
and more athletic than their later maturing peers; this can contribute to differences in
popularity among peers, which can in turn influence the teenager’s confidence. Some studies
show that boys who mature earlier tend to be more popular and independent but are also at a
greater risk for substance abuse and early sexual activity (Flannery, Rowe, & Gulley, 1993;
Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Rissanen, & Rantanen, 2001). Early maturing girls may face increased
teasing and sexual harassment related to their developing bodies, which can contribute to self-
consciousness and place them at a higher risk for anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and
eating disorders (Ge, Conger, & Elder, 2001; Graber, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Brooks-Gunn, 1997;
Striegel-Moore & Cachelin, 1999). Girls and boys who develop more slowly than their peers may
feel self-conscious about their lack of physical development; some research has found that
negative feelings are particularly a problem for late maturing boys, who are at a higher risk for
depression and conflict with parents (Graber et al., 1997) and more likely to be bullied (Pollack
& Shuster, 2000).
Task/Activity: Self-Reflection
Make a reflection of yourself (journal type) with the following guide questions:
33
ASSESSMENT: REACTION PAPER
34
LESSON IV
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
TOPICS
1. Cognitive Development of Children and Adolescents
2. Individual Differences
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
Specifically, children can tell left from their right. Their ability to speak and express
themselves develops rapidly. During play, their practice using new words they learn in
school. They start to understand basic concept such as time and space. They enjoy
rhymes, riddles and jokes. Their attention span is longer. They love to hear stories. At
the age of six, they can already read words and phrases.
35
Task/Activity: Recalling and Describing
You had been in elementary for six years. As far as you can recall, describe the following
areas of cognitive development in the elementary classroom setting:
b. Reasoning
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
c . Creativity
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Jean Piaget describes adolescence as the stage of life in which the individual’s
thoughts start taking more of an abstract form and egocentric thoughts decrease.
This allows the adolescent to think and reason with a wider perspective.
The constructivist perspective, based on the work of Piaget, takes a quantitative,
state-theory approach, hypothesizing that adolescents’ cognitive improvement is
relatively sudden and drastic.
The information-processing perspective derives from the study of artificial
intelligence and attempts to explain cognitive development in terms of the growth
of specific components of the thinking process.
Improvements in basic thinking abilities generally occur in five areas during
adolescence: attention, memory, processing speed, organization, and
metacognition.
Metacognition is relevant in social cognition, resulting in increased introspection,
self-consciousness, and intellectualization. Adolescents are more likely to
question others’ assertions and less likely to accept facts as absolute truths.
Wisdom, or the capacity for insight and judgment that is developed through
experience, increases between the ages of 14 and 25; however, the tendency
toward risk-taking also increases during adolescence.
36
Adolescence is a time for rapid cognitive development. Cognitive theorist Jean
Piaget describes adolescence as the stage of life in which the individual’s thoughts start
taking more of an abstract form and egocentric thoughts decrease. This allows an
individual to think and reason with a wider perspective. This stage of cognitive
development, termed by Piaget as the formal operational stage, marks a movement
from an ability to think and reason from concrete visible events to an ability to think
hypothetically and entertain what-if possibilities about the world. An individual can
solve problems through abstract concepts and utilize hypothetical and deductive
reasoning. Adolescents use trial and error to solve problems, and the ability to
systematically solve a problem in a logical and methodical way emerges.
Biological changes in brain structure and connectivity in the brain interact with
increased experience, knowledge, and changing social demands to produce rapid
cognitive growth. These changes generally begin at puberty or shortly thereafter, and
some skills continue to develop as an adolescent ages. Development of executive
functions, or cognitive skills that enable the control and coordination of thoughts and
behavior, are generally associated with the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. The
thoughts, ideas, and concepts developed at this period of life greatly influence one’s
future life and play a major role in character and personality formation.
Improvements in basic thinking abilities generally occur in five areas during adolescence:
37
Organization. Adolescents are more aware of their own thought processes and
can use mnemonic devices and other strategies to think more efficiently.
Metacognition. Adolescents can think about thinking itself. This often involves
monitoring one’s own cognitive activity during the thinking process.
Metacognition provides the ability to plan ahead, see the future consequences of
an action, and provide alternative explanations of events.
Task/Activity: Research
Research on the cognitive competence of great people such as the following:
1. Plato
2. Albert Einstein
3. Dr. Jose Rizal
4. Pres. Ferdinand Marcos
5. Bill Gates
Guide questions:
In general, there are three different approaches for dealing with individual differences
among students. First, you can develop events of instruction that take them into
account as part of the instructional process. This is the approach used by Bernice
McCarthy, developer of the 4MAT system. The second approach is to provide some sort
of grouping, either between classes or within the classroom itself, in order to reduce or
accommodate for the variability with respect to student background, achievement,
ability or some other characteristic. Leveling or tracking, classroom grouping,
cooperative learning, and individualized instruction are examples of this approach.
Third, you can modify the conditions within which instruction is taking place. This is the
approach used in mastery learning.
One strategy for dealing with individual differences is to develop or modify the events of
instruction so that they specifically address individual differences. This is exemplified by
the 4MAT system developed by Bernice McCarthy. The 4MAT system is a direct
instruction approach to teaching that utilizes research on brain lateralization dominance
and learning style to identify specific instructional events that will be attractive to a
specific type of student. The 4MAT system seems to have considerable face validity,
although there is not the a widespread research base to support it.
38
Grouping
The major problem with between-class ability grouping may lie more with the method
of grouping than with the concept itself. For the most part, ability groups are
determined by a composite score on a standardized test of basic skills or on the subtest
scores for reading/language arts and mathematics. However, student knowledge and
aptitude may not be uniform across all areas of the content being studied. Perhaps
multiple regroupings based on specific prerequisite skills might provide a different
picture of the viability for between-class grouping.
Another problem that research has found with between-class grouping is that teacher
expectations and the quality of instruction are often lower for lower-track groups.
Researchers have observed the same teachers in both lower- and upper-level groups
and have observed a measurable difference in the performance in these classes.
Teachers are generally not as well organized and they use different strategies for
questioning when they have entire classrooms composed of lower-ability students.
A final problem with between-class grouping is that students may begin to lower their
own expectations when they are placed in a lower-level class. This in turn impacts there
achievement which in turn impacts their self-concepts with respect to academic
achievement (particularly in that specific class) which consequently negatively impacts
the teacher's expectations and so on. It is this cyclical nature of the impact of ability-
grouping that may be most detrimental.
39
Mastery Learning. A third strategy for dealing with individual differences among
students is to change the system within which instruction is provided. This is the
strategy used by mastery learning. In mastery learning, the teaching environment is
structured so that students develop mastery of prerequisite skills before they begin a
new lesson. In practice, mastery learning has not demonstrated any superiority over
traditional instruction when it is implemented on an individual classroom basis.
However, it has been shown to dramatically improve student achievement when it is
successfully implemented on a school- or district-wide basis.
If you are assigned to a class of 40 diverse learners what strategies should you be using
in order to address diversity in the classroom? Fill out the table below:
ASSESSMENT: QUIZ
1. Discuss the milestones in the cognitive development of both the childhood and
adolescence stages.
2. If you have fifty students in the class, you are dealing with 50 different
personalities. Discuss the implication of this in your role as a future teacher.
40
REFERENCES
Acero, Victorina D. et al. (2016). Child and Adolescent Development. Manila, Philippines:
Rex Bookstore, Inc.
Bergin, C. and Bergin, D.(2018) Child and Adolescent Development in your Classroom
(3rd ed.) USA: Cengage Learning
Corpuz, Brenda B. et al.2018. The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles.
Lorimar Publishing, Inc.: Manila, Philippines
Marion, Marian (2007). Guidance of Young Children, USA: Pearson Merrill-Prentice Hall.
Santrock, John W. (2002). Life Span Development, 8 th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill
Companies
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