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Introduction
This Module seeks to facilitate the learning in defining/describing the
intermediate schoolers along physical, cognitive and socio-emotional
development. There are also activities provided for you in order to deepen
and strengthen your knowledge about the topic. You need to answer them
with sincerity and great focus so that you will be equipped with things that
relate to the development of the adolescent learners.
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As you journey on this lesson, you are expected to:

Describe the characteristics of healthy and

unhealthy intermediate learners under the three
development changes using a Venn diagram
presentation

1. Explain ways and practices which will

aid children in successfully
developing physically.
2. Expound important factors that
affect the cognitive development of
intermediate school children.
3. Determine the qualities of family life
that affect older children’s
development including changes in
family interaction
4.

Are you ready for today’s lesson? This time, you are tasked to read
the texts below and be able to comprehend it well.
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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLERS

The steady and gradual changes happening in children at this stage, especially
with their increasing familiarity with school work and other possible activities provide
them with a greater opportunity to develop their motor skill functioning.
Children in their late childhood stage always seem to be in hurry. They get so busy with
their school work, interacting with their friends, exploring other possible activities, but
this period of physical development seems to take on a leisurely pace.

On the average, girls are generally as much as two (2) years ahead of boys in
terms of physical maturity. Puberty may begin early. Budding breasts for girls - which is
the initial sign of puberty. Some girls may also start with their menstrual period as early
as 8 and some as late 13.

Many of the bodily structures like the liver, muscles, skeletons, kidneys and face
follow a normal curve of development for both girls and boys. Other structures like brain,
intestines and other organs and bodily systems mature at their own time, thus, affecting
growth patterns.

Children gain an average of 7 pounds in weight, and average of 2 ½ inches in

height and an average of an inch in head circumference each year. Children at this
stage have growth spurts – sudden boost in height and weight, which are usually
accompanied by increase in appetite and food intake. Increase in body fats also occurs
in preparation for the growth that occurs during adolescence. The body fat increase
occurs earlier in girls and is greater in quantity.

Girls appear to be “chubby” while boys tend to have more lean body mass per
inch of height than girls. These are all normal part of development. These differences
in body composition become very significant during adolescence.

At this stage, children may become very concerned about their physical
appearance. Girls, especially, may become concerned about their weight and decide to
eatless. Boys may become aware of their stature and muscle size and strength.

Since this stage can bring about insecurities, parents and teacher must be very
conscious about their dealing with these children. Appropriate activities must be
designed so that children will be guided into the right direction. Children must be given
opportunities to engage themselves in worthwhile activities that:

●promote healthy growth

●give them a feeling of accomplishment
●reduce the risk of certain diseases
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COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLERS

Since children in this stage are already in their late childhood, rapid
development of mental skills is evident. According to Jean Piaget, concrete
operational thinkers can now organize thoughts effectively, although, they can only
logically perceive the immediate situation. They can apply what they have learned to
situation and events that they can manipulate.
Thus their reasoning and logical thinking are still very limited. But with proper
guidance and nurturance from parents, teachers and the rest of the community, these
children can easily succeed in their intellectual endeavors.

Initial Cognitive Characteristics

Intermediate school children greatly enjoy the cognitive abilities that they can
now utilize. Their thinking skills have become more effective as compared during their
primary years. Their school work is now more complicated. Reading texts have become
longer; problem-solving has become an everyday part of their lives.
Their ability to use logic and reasoning give them chances of thinking about what
they want and how to get it. They now become very interested talking about in
collections, hobbies and sport. They are even capable of understanding concepts
without having direct hands-on experiences.

Reading Development
Children in this stage, is marked by a wide application of word attack. Because
of the presence of previous knowledge, they now have a wide vocabulary which enables
them to understand the meaning of unknown words through context clues (This is the
“Reading to Learn” Stage in reading development.) they are no longer into the fairy tales
and magical type of stories but are more interested in longer and more complex reading
materials, e:g. fiction books and series books.

Attention
Older children have longer and more flexible attention span compared to
younger children, their span of attention is dependent on how much is required by the
given task. In terms of school work, older children can concentrate and focus more for
longer period of hours especially if they are highly interested in what they are doing.
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✓ Children will increase anti-social and aggressive behavior

Creativity
✓ Children may become less sensitive to violence and those who
Children
suffer from at this stage are open to explore new things. Creativity is
violence.
✓ Children
innate in children,may they
viewjust
theneed
worlda as
little guidance
violent and support
and mean, frommore
becoming parents,
teachers and people around them. They
fearful of being a victim of violence. are usually at their best when the work
✓ Children
is done is small will
pieces.
desire to see more violence in entertainment and real
life.
Creativity in children in encouraged when the activities:
✓ Children will view violence as an acceptable way to settle conflicts.
✓ encourage different responses from each child.
The✓school
celebrate
and uniqueness
the home provide children with unlimited access to
media, not only✓ break stereotypes
televisions and computers, but also videos, movie, comics
book and music ✓ value
lyrics.process over product.
The responsibility now lies with the parents, teacher and
✓ reduceItstress
the whole community. shouldandbe anxiety in children
a collective effort among the factors working
✓ support
together to support to share
children ideas,
in every aspectnot of
only with the teacher/parent but
development.
also with other children
✓
Havingminimize competition
a role model and external
is extremely importantrewards.
foe children at this stage
of transition (from childhood to adolescence). It gives children an adult to
admire and emulate. Role models also provide them with motivation to
succeed.
The Impact One
ofofMedia
the most important roles of teacher is to become a very good
role model to children.
The dream of having a television unit in every classroom started in the
1950’s.
Teacher…was considered as one of the first technological advancements in
It
schools. The impact of the use of television and other media like the computer
✓ need to be an eager participant in children’s growth and
has gained popularity because students are given more opportunity to:
development.
✓ must understand
communicate how use
effectively in the children’s
speech and innatural
writing curiosity to help make
✓ the appropriate
work development leaps in their skills and abilities.
collaboratively
✓ must create an
use technological atmosphere
tools where risks can be taken and discoveries
✓ made while
analyze childrenset
problems, remain safe.
goals, and formulate strategies for achieving
those goals
✓ seek out information skills on their own, as needed, to meet their goals
This stage is also characterized by advanced development of their fine
and gross motor skills. Muscle strength and stamina increase as they are
offeredand
Media different physical activities.
Aggression
Children
Violence may become
and more are
aggression interested in physical
often dubbed activities
as one of thewhere they
results of
can interact with friends and family. Activities which they can share with
media. According to the Public Health Summit in 2020, the following are some parents
(e.g.
of thebiking, running,
negative resultsplaying basketball) show children that exercising can be
of media:
fun.
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SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLERS

At this period of socio-emotional development, children are spending less

time in the home. The bulk of their time is spent outside the home, either alone
or with other children, rather than with adults. Older children have already
familiarized themselves with other children. They are already used to interacting
with different ages and gender. For many of them,these social networks are not
only sources of social support but also different forms of learning.

Understanding Self-Competence, Self-Identity and Self-Concept

One of the most widely recognized characteristic of this period of

development is the acquisition of feeling of self-competence. This is what Eric
Erikson referred to when he described the development task of middle childhood
– the social crisis industry versus inferiority Industry refers to the drive to acquire
new skills and do meaningful “work”.

The child should have a growing sense of competence. The child’s definitions of
self and accomplishment vary greatly according to interpretation in the
surrounding environment. Varied opportunities must be provided in order for
children to develop sense of perseverance. They should be offered chances to
both fail and succeed, along with sincere feedback and support.

During late childhood, children can now describe themselves with internal
psychological characteristic and traits. They most , likely employ more social
comparison – distinguishing themselves from others. In dealing with other
children, they show increase in perspective – taking. This ability increases with
age. Perspective taking enables the child to: (a) judge others intentions, purpose
and action, (b) give importance to social attitudes and behaviors and to (c)
increase skepticism of others claims.

Emotional Development

Similar to the other areas of development, children in this stage, show

improved emotional understanding, increased understanding that more that one
emotion can be experienced in a single experience. They may also show greater
ability to show or conceal emotional, utilize ways to redirect feelings and a
capacity for genuine empathy.

Another milestone in this stage in the development of the children’s

emotional intelligence (EQ), which involves the ability to monitor feelings of
oneself and others and use this to guide and motivate behavior.
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Emotional Intelligence has four main areas:

✓ Developing emotional self-awareness
✓ Managing emotions (self- control)
✓ Reading emotions (perspective taking)
✓ Handing emotions (resolve problem)

Building Friendships
As children go through their late childhood, the time they spend in peer
interaction increases. For them, good per relationships are very important. The
approval and belonginess they receive contribute to the stability and security of
their emotional development. Peer size also increases and less supervision by
adults is required. At this stage children prefer to elong to same-sex peer groups.

There are five types of Peer Status.

o Popular – frequently nominated as the bestfriend and one who is
rarely disliked by peers
o Average – receives an average number of positive and negative
nominations from peers
o Neglected – very seldom nominated as bestfriend but is not really
disliked
o Rejected – infrequently nominated as a bestfriend but one who is
also disliked by peers
o Controversial – frequently nominated as a best friend but at the
same time is disliked by peers

Popular children which peers find very positive have the following skills
and as a result they become the most favored in the group:
1. They give out reinforcement.
2. They act naturally.
3. They listed carefully and keep open communication.
4.They are happy and are in control of their negative emotions.
5. They show enthusiasm and concern for others.

On the other hand, here are the characteristics of why the group or
majority of the peers develop negative feelings toward rejected children:
1. They participate less in the school
2. They have negative attitudes on school tardiness and attendance.
3. They are more often reported as being lonely.
4. Aggressive

In boys:
-They become impulsive, have problems in being attentive and
discruptive.
-They are emotionally reactive and slow to calm down.
-They have fewer social skills to make and maintain friends.
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Family
Family support is crucial at this stage which characterized by success and
failure. If children do not find a supportive family when they find their interest
(e.g. in hobbies like riding a bike or playing a musical instrument) they can easily
get frustrated. If families are seen as a primary support system, faikures and
setbacks become temporary and surmountable rather than something that is
attributed to personal flaws or deficits. This time is a critical time for children to
develop a sense of competence. A high-quality adult relationship, specifically,
family relationship enables them to successfully go through this stage of
development.

This Module stresses that:

✓ During late childhood, a wide variety of biological, psychological

and social changes take place across the development domains.

✓ As children progress through late childhood, the family

environment remains extremely important, while the community
environment – including the school – also becomes a significant
factor in shaping the child’s development.

✓ During late childhood, peers have an increasingly strong impact on

development; peer acceptance becomes very important to well-
being.
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1. Corpuz, B.B., Lucas, MR. D., Borabo, HD. L. & Lucido, P. I. (2018). The Child
and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles, Lorimar Publishing Inc.,
Quezon City, Philippines.

2. Corpuz, B.B., Lucas, MR. D., Borabo, HD. L. & Lucido, P. I. (2010). The Child
and Adolescent Development: Looking at Learners at Different Life
Stages, Lorimar Publishing Inc., Quezon City, Philippines.

Compiled by:

Jun P. Dalisay, LPT, RGC, Ph.D.-Psy

Maria Charmaine R. Gaa, LPT, MA-SPED
Jacquelyn Rose A. Fajilagutan, LPT, MAEd-GC
Charry F. Mayuga, LPT, MA-Psy
Professors/Instructors