Day 1 Notes: Concept of Development
Syllabus Focus: Child Development (Elementary School Child) – Concept of development and its relationship with learning.
1. Defining Development
Development, in a general psychological sense, refers to certain changes that occur in human beings between conception and death. These changes are generally orderly and are relatively permanent in nature. Development is characterized by a person changing and evolving from dependency to autonomy.
Important Note: Temporary changes, such as those caused by tiredness or illness, are generally not considered developmental changes.
2. Development vs. Growth
Development and growth have marked differences:
| Aspect | Growth | Development |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Quantitative change (e.g., change in physical aspects like height and weight). | Qualitative process (e.g., changes leading to maturity). |
| Scope | Defined as one part of development. | Associated with overall change in a person's growth. |
| Measurement | Can be measured (e.g., height, weight). | Can only be assessed. |
| Relationship | Growth will bring about development. | Can occur without growth. |
3. Types and Domains of Development
Development occurs in various forms associated with different aspects of life, and these aspects collectively contribute to the formation of a full personality.
- Physical Development: Associated with changes in physical aspects, such as height and weight, which are quantitative changes. This development typically follows cephalocaudal sequences, meaning development proceeds from head to body.
- Personal Development: Explores how an individual's personality changes, acknowledging that all individuals are unique.
- Cognitive Development: The development of the ability to think, reason, and analyse (cognition).
- Social Development: Concerns how children develop the social aspects of their personality within their social context, including the family, school, and community. Emotional development can also be understood in relation to social life.
- Moral Development: Focuses on how individuals resolve conflicts in everyday life and justify their actions and decisions regarding morality. This involves studying the justification of actions (moral reasoning).
4. Key Developmental Stages (Overview)
While every child's development is unique, there are common characteristics across different phases of life. Three stages—Early Childhood, Later Childhood, and Adolescence—are considered critical for a child's overall development and education.
| Stage of Development | Approximate Age Range (as per source table) |
|---|---|
| Prenatal Period | Until birth |
| Infancy | Birth to 2 weeks |
| Babyhood | 2 weeks to 2 years |
| Childhood | 2 years to 10–12 years (includes Early and Later Childhood) |
| Early childhood | 2 years to 6 years |
| Later childhood | 6 years to 12 years |
| Adolescence | 13 years to 17 years |
Early Childhood Stage (2–6 years): Children exhibit curiosity and love to experiment. They become self-centric, finding it difficult to understand others' perspectives, and often show aggression, disobedience, and antagonistic behaviour.
5. Development and Learning
Understanding developmental patterns helps teachers implement suitable practices and develop curriculum for a particular grade level.
- Developmental domains (cognitive, affective/self, and psychomotor/skills) are interlinked; a change in one domain affects the others, influencing the learning process.
- Learning and development complement each other.
- Early development is very crucial for subsequent development and learning. Both good and bad childhood experiences profoundly influence later life, affecting both learning and development.
- Children learn actively by making sense of their surroundings, and they contribute to their own development through observation and interaction.
- Development and learning are the result of the interaction between biological maturation and the environment.
6. Principles of Development (Introduction)
Development follows predictable principles:
- Principle of Change: The nature and scope of development changes over time.
- Principle of Significance of Early Development: Early development is considered more important and critical than later development.
- Principle of Predictability: Developmental patterns are predictable, allowing us to know the approximate age when children will acquire certain skills, like walking or speaking. However, the rate of development is not the same for all children due to their unique personalities and socio-cultural contexts.
- Principle of Individual Differences: This is a crucial principle, as there is no fixed rate of development, and differences may be attributed to hereditary and environmental factors.
- Principle of Continuation: Development is a continuous process throughout life.
- Principle of Interaction between Heredity and Environment: Development is influenced by the interaction of heredity and environment.
- Principle of Expectations: Specific expectations are associated with different stages of development, such as learning to control physical actions during infancy or developing social context during school years.
- Principle of Association of Maturation and Learning: Maturation (biological growth and change in the nervous system) provides new abilities to a child, enabling the transition from simple learning (concrete objects) to complex learning (abstract thinking).