Theories that attempt to explain psychological and physical developments of children are divided into two categories; continuous and discontinuous development. Continuous development theorists and theories argue that development is a continuous process where one stage of development builds a base for development of the next stage. The discontinuous theories of development, on the other hand, argue that development is a discontinuous process that happens in stages. Each stage has its own characteristics such as the way of thinking and emotions which start and end at a particular point. Children’s progress may be viewed from both dimensions. Factors that affect children’s learning: Familiar resources: providing resources that are familiar,
In addition to parental ideals, the authors also discuss what factors influence the learning capacity of our children. By using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study
References Levine, L.E., & Munsch, J. (2010). Child Development:
Some view development as a discontinuous process. They believe development involves distinct and separate stages with different kinds of behavior occurring in each stage. This suggests that the development of certain abilities in each stage, such as specific emotions or ways of thinking, have a definite starting and ending point. However, there is no exact time at which ability suddenly appears or disappears. Although some types of thinking, feeling or behaving may seem to appear suddenly, it is more than likely that this has been developing gradually for some
Several themes are demonstrated in the course of lifespan development. Although each child develops individually, common themes can be seen throughout the development. The following are explanations of four universal themes of human development, including the continuity-discontinuity issue, nature versus nurture, the active-passive issue, and the development across domains issue, and how my personal experiences relate to the understanding of each theme. Early Development is Related to Later Development but Not Perfectly Shaffer and Kipp (2010) describe a pervasive theme in lifespan development, in which our early development during infancy and childhood correlates to how we later develop as adults, known as the continuity-discontinuity issue.
Thus when we talk of development we need to understand the patterns of biological, cognitive and socioemotional changes that a child goes through from birth to lifespan which is why it is important to introduce a child to age appropriate education else a child may not be able to pick up for eg if we introduce a child to writing at an early age he may not be able to do so as he is still developing his fine motor skills. When we talk of biological development it’s the changes in physical growth of the child and is genetically inherited and will also include the brain and motor skill, cognitive will emphasise the child’s ability to think, language development and problem solving skills and the socioemotional development will look at the child’s relationship with other people and changes in ones emotions and personality. There are various stages of development like infancy from birth to about 24 months where the child is completely dependent on the adult where many activities like language development, sensory and motor coordination , social interaction and
It starts with infancy and continues to adulthood. By gaining knowledge about child development, a synopsis of what children can do at various ages can be formed. Following are the three theoretical perspectives of child development: i. Maturationist’s View of Child Development : Maturationism is a premature childhood educational philosophy emphasizing the child as a growing individual in which knowledge exists. Based on Arnold Gessell’s work, maturationists suggest that “genetic factors play a bigger role in development than environmental ones” [8].
Development is a gradual and continuous process. The development of children is greatly influenced through interactions with the family, friends and culture. Children learn from seeing how they are treated, overhearing the interactions of the people around them and observing the things we do all throughout the day. Fully understanding how children grown and change over the course of childhood requires us to look into various child development theories such as psychosocial, cognitive, behaviourist and ecological theories, to name a few.
Child development is an area of significant interest to professionals who deal with children on a daily basis. It is through child development theorists and their theories that we begin to form an understanding of how children develop emotionally and socially to become fully grown adults in society with a moral and emotional compass/. Teachers need to study child development in order to provide developmentally appropriate educational experiences for children. Health professionals also need to understand this area to support children in their physical, social, emotional and cognitive journey to becoming functioning adults in society. Childhood is a concept that is affected by social context and also by history. Here in the West childhood was not always considered to be a fundamental developmental phase in life with children in Victorian times working from as early as the age of four.
Intro Many theories exist with the intent of advancing the understanding of human development but by and large, many fall short in doing so. Numerous theories have been discredited in a variety of ways, due to illogically far fetched ideas and insinuations, while others have been praised for their largely applicable assets. For example, the Looking Glass Self Theory, though not commonly studied, is a respectable theory that seeks to explain psychosocial human behavior. Overview of Theory & Stage of Development
In the contemporary times, great importance is given to the significance of early years of a child’s life. It is widely acknowledged now-a-days that the early childhood years are a predominantly receptive phase in the developmental process. This stage is responsible to lay a foundation in early days and later years for cognitive functioning, learning process, physical wellbeing, and self-regulatory capacities in both personal and social lives. In simple words, “the period from birth to age 5 is one of opportunity and vulnerability for healthy physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development” (Karoly, Kilburn & Cannon, 2005). However, it is also a fact that many children go through several stressors during their developmental years due to which their healthy development may be impaired.
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Situation Analysis For every stage of development there are critical periods which affect the development of the individual (Papalia & Olds, 2009). Specifically, childhood is one of these stages. Childhood years, from ages of nine-12 years old, are very crucial and fragile in the development of an individual for it is in this stage when they begin to be aware of negative feelings. These are the times when children experience fears, phobias, anxiety, problems and issues that would affect their future development.
Many theorists discuss ways in which children are developing. Physically, emotionally, socially and language progressions. Within the early childhood sector, the study of children's development is vividly important as teachers learn to observe the children's individual learning patterns and habits. The practical knowledge of how to develop a child further will assist in utilising the children's skills and holistic development to their fullest potential, however, knowing how to practically aid children in the separate developmental domains is also key as individual kids need more help in some areas than others.
Introduction It is very important to study about the development of the human. Because it provides framework to think about human growth, their mental development, and the most important one, ‘their learning’. As a teacher it is very important to study about these theories. Because it have a close relationship with the development of the students and their learning behavior (Michael, 2012) .
Throughout this course of four weeks, my perspective of child development has changed drastically in this short amount of time. This was my first class that was related to child development and there was a lot of material that was important to learn and understand. I came to this class with not much knowledge, but I am definitely leaving this class with an abundance of information that I will be able to use in my career or just in general. Discontinuous Within the process of child development, my view is based upon that is children are constantly growing through stages which is a discontinuous process.
Part One – Introducing Child Development has been useful as it defines what child development consists of and provides a history of how the study of child development has progressed. The requirements of the assignment involve identifying issues in cognitive and physical development in early childhood and tying in historical and theoretical perspectives, therefore the information provided has proven to be a sound starting point for further research. The section relating to the effects of tetragons on a developing fetus were useful when arguing how outside influence can effect internal biological processes. Additionally, the text provides a breakdown of the main theorists and theories in the field, as well as covering the effects of genetics and heredity on development, all information that has proven useful when researching the assignment. Limitations of the text are that it is purely an introduction to the subject matter and does not go into any great detail.