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St. Vincent de Ferrer College of Camarin, Inc.
SVFC Compound, San Vicente Ferrer St., Area D, Brgy. 178, Camarin, Caloocan City
Tel. No.: 6682575; Email address: st.vincentdeferrercollegeofccc@yahoo.com Website: stvfc.com
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Name: JOAN JECIL M. PAREJA Subject Title: The Child and Adolescent Learners
Course / Yr. & Sec. BEED 1ST YR. SEC.2 Subject Code: Educ. 101
AY: 1st Sem., 2020-2021 Professor: Dr. Peter G. Young Jr.
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Module 1: Human Development: Meaning, Concepts and
Approaches 1
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Human Development as a process, is the developmental tasks that come along with each developmental
stage (physical, cognitive, and psychological) and relevant issues that are raised about human beings.
Two Approaches to Human Development
Traditional Approach – emphasizes extensive change from birth to adolescence, little or no change
in adulthood, and decline in late old age.
Life-span Approach – provides an overarching framework from conception to death.
Characteristics of Life-Span Development
1. Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood.
2. Development is plastic. Plasticity refers to the potential for change.
3. Development is multidimensional. Development consists of biological, cognitive, and socio-
emotional dimensions.
*Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological, cognitive and
socio-emotional processes.
*Development is relatively orderly.
1. Proximo-distal pattern. The muscular control of the trunk and the arms comes earlier
as compared to the hands and fingers.
2. Cephalo-caudal pattern. During infancy, the greatest growth always occurs at the top –
the head – with physical growth in size, weight and future differentiation gradually
working its way down from top to bottom.
*Development takes place gradually
4. Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a changing world. Individuals respond
to and act on contexts.
5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. Growth, maintenance, and regulation are
three (3) goals of human development.
Guide Questions:
1. State five characteristics of human development from a life-span perspective and their implications to
child care, education and parenting.
Ans. A. Lifelong development means that development is not completed in infancy or childhood or
at any specific age; it encompasses the entire lifespan, from conception to death.
This implies that teachers and parents should not demand of pupils or children what is beyond their
stage.Childhood and adolescence are considered to be the critical age periods for acquisition of all
the necessary abilities and skills, while adulthood is viewed as a time of diminishing learning
capacity so as a teacher and a parent we need to guide them while they are developing.
B. Development is plastic, meaning that characteristics are malleable or changeable. As a teacher
and a parent we have to guide them as they grow because the are lot of things we learned in our
environment.
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C. Development is multidimensional means persons development is not only base on one aspect of
being. It is divided into three which is biological, cognitive, and socioemotional. As a teacher and a
parent we have to watch our children while they are undergone in their changes like changes in an
individual’s physical nature, changes in individual’s thinking, intelligence, and language, and
changes in an individual’s relationship with other people, emotions, and personality.
D. Development is contextual.It means that we are influenced by when and where we live. Our
actions, beliefs, and values are a response to the circumstances surrounding us. As a teacher and a
parent we need to inculcate to our children good manners and right conduct.
E. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. As a teacher and parent we need
to have consistency in setting the rules and regulations as well as in teaching set up we need to
check the outcome of what we did.
2. “Growth is an evidence of life” or “development is an evidence of life”. What does this mean? What
does this imply to a person’s development?
Ans. As my point of view, growth or progress; when a person have this. Then it means, that person
value his life and makes his life better out of it. Because the growth happenings in one's life is the
evidence or proof of it. For example, when you are improving your skills, then that means that you
care for your life, for your future.Organisms grow because they are alive. Conversely, organisms are
alive because they grow - they grow, adapt, and change to survive in their environment.
3. If your approach to human development is traditional, are the characteristics of human development
from a life-span perspective acceptable? Explain your answer.
Ans. Yes, because we change over our entire lives and not just during certain periods. The life-span
perspective views people as having a certain degree of plasticity, or the ability to change over time.
Human development happens in many ways and is multidimensional. That is, humans change in
physical, cognitive, and emotional ways—not just in one way. Humans change in ways that have
many dimensions. For example, we may go through a period, such as adolescence, that involves gain
such as in knowledge but also loss of our childhood freedoms, etc.
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