Unit 2
Unit 2
Unit 2
INTRODUCTION
Defining the terminology and concepts in the study of child and adolescent development
is crucial to ensure theoretical understanding, clarity, consistency, and effective application.
This unit introduces research-based key terms and concepts that are relevant to
understanding child and adolescent development. This includes definitions of terms, periods of
development, developmental tasks during the lifespan, and domains and contexts of
development.
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS/DIAGNOSIS
Does a child enjoy physical play? Does a child show interest in group activities? Can a
child understand the concept of time, such as yesterday, today, and tomorrow?
Is an adolescent worried about her physical health, such as changes in weight and eating
habits? Does an adolescent feel comfortable during social interactions? Does he enjoy
exploring new interests and hobbies?
PREPARATION
Learning Activity #1
Making Inferences and Predictions
After reading the cases provided, explain your understanding of Emily and Jake’s
situation and what you believe might happen to them.
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What do you believe might happen to What do you believe might happen to
Emily? Jake?
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
PRESENTATION
Learning Activity #2
After listening to the inferences and predictions given, answer the following
questions:
1. Will 6-year-old Emily be able to do all that 15-year-old Jake can do? Why or why
not?
2. Will there be anything common in the development pattern of Emily and Jake? If
yes, what?
3. Will there be differences in their development, e.g. pace or rate of development?
If yes, what and why?
4. Will development happen quickly or gradually? Expound your answer.
5. Will development continue or stop once a person reaches adulthood?
Let us start by defining the terms to gain a clearer understanding of child and
adolescent development.
Adolescence, on the other hand, is a distinct stage that marks the transition between
childhood and adulthood (https://www.coursehero.com/file/118018847/DEFINITIONS-
OF-CHILD-AND-ADOLESCENTSdocx/).
disability, if they are rich or poor, and no matter who their parents or families are or what
their parents or families believe or do.
Adolescence is a defining time in the development of a child that is characterized
by rapid physical growth and neurological sculpting, the onset of puberty and sexual
maturity. It is a critical period for individual identity development when young people are
figuring out who they want to be in the world; an opportunity for growth, exploration and
creativity (https://www.coursehero.com/file/118018847/DEFINITIONS-OF-CHILD-AND-
ADOLESCENTSdocx/).
Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children against Child Abuse,
Exploitation, and Discrimination Act defines children as persons below eighteen (18)
years of age or those over but are unable to fully take care of themselves from abuse,
neglect, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or
condition (https://library.pcw.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Filipiniana-Special-
Protection-of-Children-Against-Child-Abuse-Exploitation-and-Discrimination-Act-RA-
7610-Implementing-Rules-and-Regulations-January-1997.pdf).
Childhood – refers to the time or state of being a child, the early stage in the existence
or development of something. From a historical perspective, childhood can be defined
as an evolving series of steps, usually constant, towards adulthood shaped by an array
of forces and ideas ranging from ethnicity to class, from region to religion and from
gender to politics.
Adolescence – (Latin adolescentia, from adolescere, “to grow up”) is the period of
psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood. In common usage
in English countries “adolescent” and “teenager” are synonymous. Adolescence is also
defined as the transitional stage of human development in which a juvenile matures into
an adult. The transition involves biological, social, and psychological changes. The onset
of adolescence sees children as having completed elementary school and are about to
enter secondary education. Between the early childhood and teenage years is preteen.
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Child development - includes the stages a child goes through from birth until he or she
becomes an adult. Children are first newborns, and they acquire the skills that allow them
to adapt and function during their growth
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK564386/). In other words, child development is
the sequential changes in the behavior, cognition, and physiology of children as they
grow from birth through adolescence (https://dictionary.apa.org/child-development).
(https://elearning.reb.rw/course/view.php?id=1276§ion=8)
• Automatic • Planned
(https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/learning/learning-theory/difference-between-
maturation-and learning-psychology/2497)
According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2006), the
principles of development include the following:
1. All areas of development and learning are important.
The different domains of child development are closely related to each other
where one domain influences the other whether it is physical, linguistic, aesthetic,
cognitive, emotional, or social. For instance, a child must learn how to ask for food when
he/she is hungry. This skill is as important as hugging a crying friend or standing on one
foot during a song exercise.
2. Learning and development follow sequences.
Development in the child occurs in a sequence with the acquired knowledge,
skills, and abilities added and incorporated into the old ones. Before an infant learns how
to walk, he/she needs to learn how to balance, turn on all fours, sit down, crawl, and
finally take that first step.
3. Development and learning proceed at varying rates.
Development varies from child to child and the rate at which they grow and
function. Although children go through typical milestones, there are still differences that
adults need to respect. Some four-year-olds, for instance, are adept at expressing
themselves in a clear manner, while others may find sentence construction somewhat a
bit challenging.
4. Development and learning result from an interaction of maturation and experience.
When the child can gain experiences continually and consistency, he/she is able
to develop, adapt, and learn from the experiences. An example of this is a child who may
come from a family of geniuses, but is not properly supported or is not provided proper
nutrition, that child may not be able to develop his/her full potential.
5. Early experiences have profound effects on development and learning.
The individual child’s development has both a cumulative and delayed effect from
the experiences earlier in life, resulting in a certain existing development and learning in
an optimal period. This is related to the second principle. This is common among children
who grew up in a poor family whose parents rely on irregular sources of income. The
children from the time of birth may not be fully given proper nutrition and, hence may
suffer stunted growth and delayed development.
6. Development proceeds toward greater complexity, self-regulation, and symbolic or
representational capacities.
Development in a child proceeds in a predictable manner directing to a greater
complexity, internationalization, and organization. This is somehow related to the second
principle. Children’s skills build up. Infants like grasping objects, and when they become
toddlers they can grasp a crayon and do scribbles. As the child masters holding the
crayon, he/she then can create simple drawings such as circles, which would then
eventually be a figure of a sun, a ball or a face.
7. Children develop best when they have secure relationships.
In the context of the community, children can function when they are able to learn
more and feel that they are safe, valued, and attended to. This is best explained by
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8. Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural
contexts.
Children’s development and learning result from the different interactions they
have with both the social and physical environment they live in. One cannot compare the
development of a child who grew up in an indigenous community with a child who grew
up in urban areas.
9. Children learn in a variety of ways.
Children are such active learners and can construct their own understanding of
the world around them through the experiences they gain from social interaction and
infer cultural knowledge from their environment. For instance, children learn when
parents spend time with them. They may also learn when they play with their friends, but
they may also learn when they are all alone and are given time to ponder and be creative.
10. Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation and promoting language,
cognition, and social competence.
For children, play is their form of learning. Through it, they are able to practice
their social, emotional, physical and cognitive development. Play is a child’s work. When
they engage in pretend play, for example with their peers, they learn to communicate
their thoughts, they learn to take other people’s perspectives, and they learn the value
of cooperation.
11. Development and learning advance when children are challenged.
When children are presented the opportunity to practice, improve, and increase
their mastery, they are able to acquire new skills. Children like to show off their skills.
Notice how children experiment on almost everything they see.
12. Children’s experiences shape their motivation and approaches to learning.
Children’s method of learning is not singular. They can learn and comprehend
through different modes of learning and present them in different ways. An example of
this is the toddlers’ experience on the first day of daycare. When their experience is a
good one, they are likely to be motivated to go to daycare in the following days, hence
maximizing the opportunities for learning.
Learning Principles
2. How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they
know.
Students naturally make connections between pieces of knowledge. When those
connections form knowledge structures that are accurately and meaningfully organized,
students are better able to retrieve and apply their knowledge effectively and efficiently.
In contrast, when knowledge is connected in inaccurate or random ways, students can
fail to retrieve or apply it appropriately.
3. Students’ motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.
As students enter college and gain greater autonomy over what, when, and how
they study and learn, motivation plays a critical role in guiding the direction, intensity,
persistence, and quality of the learning behaviors in which they engage. When students
find positive value in a learning goal or activity, expect to successfully achieve a desired
learning outcome, and perceive support from their environment, they are likely to be
strongly motivated to learn.
4. To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating
them, and know when to apply what they have learned.
Students must develop not only the component skills and knowledge necessary
to perform complex tasks, they must also practice combining and integrating them to
develop greater fluency and automaticity. Finally, students must learn when and how to
apply the skills and knowledge they learn. As instructors, it is important that we develop
conscious awareness of these elements of mastery so as to help our students learn more
effectively.
5. Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of
students’ learning.
Learning and performance are best fostered when students engage in practice
that focuses on a specific goal or criterion, targets an appropriate level of challenge, and
is of sufficient quantity and frequency to meet the performance criteria. Practice must be
coupled with feedback that explicitly communicates about some aspect(s) of students’
performance relative to specific target criteria, provides information to help students
progress in meeting those criteria, and is given at a time and frequency that allows it to
be useful.
6. Students’ current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and
intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.
Students are not only intellectual but also social and emotional beings, and they
are still developing the full range of intellectual, social, and emotional skills. While we
cannot control the developmental process, we can shape the intellectual, social,
emotional, and physical aspects of classroom climate in developmentally appropriate
ways. Many studies have shown that the climate we create has implications for our
students. A negative climate may impede learning and performance, but a positive
climate can energize students’ learning.
7. To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their
approaches to learning.
Learners may engage in a variety of metacognitive processes to monitor and
control their learning—assessing the task at hand, evaluating their own strengths and
weaknesses, planning their approach, applying and monitoring various strategies, and
reflecting on the degree to which their current approach is working. Unfortunately,
students tend not to engage in these processes naturally. When students develop the
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skills to engage these processes, they gain intellectual habits that not only improve their
performance but also their effectiveness as learners.
in our life, the achievement of which leads to happiness and success with later tasks
while failure leads to unhappiness, social disapproval, and difficulty with later tasks”
(Corpuz et al., 2018).
Developmental stages
There are eight (8) developmental stages given by Santrock. The eight developmental
stages cited by Santrock are the same as Havighurst’s six (6) developmental stages only
that Havighurst did not include the prenatal period. Havighurst combined infancy and
early childhood while Santrock mentioned them as two (2) separate stages.
2. Infancy (from birth to 18-24 months) – a time of extreme dependence on adults. Many
psychological activities are just beginning – language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor
coordination and social learning.
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3. Early childhood (end of infancy to 5-6 years) – these are the preschool years. Young
children learn to become more self-sufficient and to care for themselves, develop school
readiness skills and spend many hours in play with peers.
4. Middle and late childhood (6-11 years of age, the elementary school years) – the
fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are mastered. The child is formally
exposed to the larger world and its culture. Achievement becomes a more central theme
of the child’s world and self-control increases.
5. Adolescence (10-12 years of age ending up to 18-22 years of age) – dramatic gains
in height and weight, changes in body contour, and the development of sexual
characteristics such as enlargement of the breasts, development of pubic and facial hair,
and deepening of the voice. The pursuit of independence and identity is prominent.
Thought is more logical, abstract and idealistic. More time is spent outside of the family.
6. Early adulthood (from late teens or early 20s lasting through the 30s) – it is a time of
establishing personal and economic independence, career development, selecting a
mate, learning to live with someone in an intimate way, starting a family and rearing
children.
8. Late adulthood (60s and above) – It is a time for adjustment to decreasing strength
and health, life review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles.
• Domains of Development
1. Physical Domain: Changes in body size, proportions, appearance, functioning of
body systems, perceptual and motor capacities, and physical health.
* Provide opportunities to support learners’ physical functioning such as acquisition of
new physical skills and performance of physical activities.
• Context of Development
Knowing the child’s context provides a more vivid picture in assessing the
circumstances the child is growing under. Also, the rights of and policies on children
affect them on the level of exposure to different factors that either endanger or protect
them.
1. Family context – is the primary context of the child at birth. The family context
encompasses the structure of the family, the resources available in the home, health and
well-being, and the relationship between the members.
2. Neighborhood context – it is where children can be found in their next immediate social
setting where they interact with other people outside the family. this can include the
school or any educational system, community and culture. This can include the school
or any educational system, community and culture.
3. Socio-demographic context – this refers to the income a family makes to meet the
needs of all the members. This also pertains to parents’ educational attainment, degree
of knowledge on child-rearing, family planning, discipline, health practices, and others.
REFERENCES
• Acero, V., Javier, E., and Castro, H. (2011). Child and Adolescent Development. Rex
Book Store Inc. Manila.
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• Corpuz, B., Lucas, MR, Borabo, HG., and Lucido, P. (2018). The child and adolescent
learners and learning principles. Lorimar Publishing Inc.
• Del Rosario, K., and Albor, RG. (2021). A Course Module for Child Development. Rex
Book Store Inc. Manila.
• Santrock, J.W. (2016). Essentials of Life-span Development, Fourth Edition. New
• York, NY;McGraw-Hill Education.
• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-lifespandevelopment2/chapter/periods-of-
development/
• https://dictionary.apa.org/child-development
• https://elearning.reb.rw/course/view.php?id=1276§ion=8
• https://open.maricopa.edu/devpsych/chapter/chapter-7-adolescence/
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/principles-of-learning-overview-examples.html
• https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/principles/learning.html
• https://www.coursehero.com/file/118018847/DEFINITIONS-OF-CHILD-AND-
ADOLESCENTSdocx/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK564386/
• https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/learning/learning-theory/difference-
between-maturation-and learning-psychology/2497