The Child and Adolescent Learners and

Learning Principles

Chapter 1

Basic Concepts in Child and

Adolescent Development
Chapter 1

Basic Concepts in Child and Adolescent Development

Introduction
Just as the caterpillar turns into a butterfly or a seed turns into a tree, a baby born to
his/her mother later turns into a mature human being. Everyone is in the process of development
throughout the lifespan. From the moment of conception to the time of death, the individual
undergoes changes. The person’s life is continuously being shaped and reshaped, from day to
day in one form or another.
The question is whether we all progress at the same rate or if others are more delayed or
more advanced in their development. At what age do individuals stop growing and learning? As
future educators, it is important to have a foundational knowledge about the various concepts and
approaches to human development. This will enable you to understand better your learners and
to provide more culturally and developmentally appropriate activities to them. Similarly, this will
allow you to interact and work more effectively with colleagues and parents who share the best
interest in the academic community.
This chapter will acquaint you with the basic concepts in child and adolescent
development, the issues in human development, stages of development and developmental tasks,
domains of human development, and educational implications of child and adolescent research.

Specific Objectives
At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:
- explain the basic concepts related to child and adolescent development; and
- explain how current research and theories on child and adolescent development
contribute to teaching and learning within and across different areas.

Duration
Chapter 1: Basic Concepts in Child and Adolescent Development = 5 hours
(4 hours
discussion;
1 hour assessment)
Lesson Proper

Lesson 1. THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT LEARNERS

Definition of Terms
How can one differentiate a child from an adolescent? The United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child defines child as any person under the age of 18 years. This definition has
been adopted by international agencies such as the United Nations International Children’s
Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO). The UNICEF, which advocates for the protection of children’s rights,
further states that every child has the right to be heard, the right to protection, and the right to
dream.
This definition of child somehow overlaps with the definition of adolescent by the World
Health Organization (WHO). The WHO defines adolescents as those individuals with ages 10
to 19 years old. Adolescence is a distinct stage that marks the transition between childhood and
adulthood (UNESCO, n.d.). It has been described as the period in life when an individual is no
longer a child but not yet an adult. It is recognized as more of a phase rather than a fixed time in
an individual’s life (WHO, n.d.). There are about 1.2 billion adolescents in the world today,
making up 16 per cent of the world’s population. As children up to the age of 18, most
adolescents are protected under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNICEF, n.d.).

The Child and Adolescent Learners

Children and teenagers learn by observing, listening, exploring, experimenting, and
asking questions. Being interested, motivated, and engaged in learning is important for children
once they start school. It can also help if they understand why they are learning something. As
children get older, they will enjoy taking more responsibility for learning and getting more
involved in making decisions about learning and organizing activities.
Children learn in different ways – some learn by seeing, some by hearing, some by
reading, some by doing. At this stage, children still learn through play. Plenty of unstructured
free play helps balance formal lessons at school. It also gives them a chance to unwind after the
routines and rules of school. Children also learn by using objects in lots of different ways. When
they are experimenting, exploring, and creating with a range of materials, they learn about
problem-solving in situations where there are no set or ‘right’ answers.
Children are not born with social skills – they must learn them, just like they have to
learn to read and write. Giving your child chances to play with other children is a great way for
them to develop the skills they need to get on with others. Community connections can offer
valuable learning experiences too. For example, visiting the local shops, parks, playgrounds, and
libraries or walking around your neighborhood helps children understand how communities
work. If your family speaks a language other than English at home, this can be a great way for
your child to grow up as a bilingual learner. Learning two or more languages does not harm or
hold back children’s development. In fact, being a bilingual child can have a lot of advantages –
for example, better reading and writing skills.
Children will become more independent as they get older. It might seem that they want
you to have less input into their learning, but they still need your involvement and
encouragement, just in different ways. Even if your child is sharing less information with you,
you can let your child know that you are interested in what he/she is learning by actively
listening when he/she wants to talk. This sends the message that their learning is important to
you, and that you are available to help. And when you talk with them about what they are
learning, try to focus on how they are learning about the topic, rather than on how much they
know.
During adolescence, the individual’s cognitive abilities become fully mature. According
to Piaget, the transition from late childhood to adolescence is marked by the attainment of formal
operational thought, the hallmark of which is abstract reasoning. Advances in the field of
neuroscience have shown that the frontal cortex changes dramatically during adolescence. It is
this part of the brain that controls higher-level cognitive processes such as planning,
metacognition, and multitasking. Adolescent learners thrive in school environments that
acknowledge and support their growing desire for autonomy, peer interaction, and abstract
cognitive thinking, as well as the increasing salience of identity-related issues and romantic
relationships.
UNICEF’s Report on Children and Adolescents Education
On any given school day, over 1 billion children around the world head to class. More
children and adolescents today are enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary education
than ever before. Yet, for many of them, schooling does not lead to learning – and this was
before Covid-19 shuttered schools and disrupted learning across the globe, creating an urgent
need to reimagine education.
A lack of trained teachers, inadequate learning materials, makeshift classes and poor
sanitation facilities make learning difficult for many children. Others come to school too hungry,
sick, or exhausted from work or household tasks to benefit from their lessons. The consequences
are grave: An estimated 617 million children and adolescents around the world are unable to
reach minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics, even though two thirds of them
are in school. This learning crisis is the greatest global challenge to preparing children and
adolescents for life, work, and active citizenship.
What is more is that 11 per cent of primary-school-aged children and 20 per cent of
lower-secondary-aged children are not in school at all. Children and adolescents are excluded
from education for many reasons. Poverty remains one of the most obstinate barriers, with
children from the poorest households almost five times more likely to be out of primary school
than those from the richest. Children with disabilities and from ethnic minorities are also more
likely to be left behind. For girls in some parts of the world, education opportunities can be
especially limited. Only 49 per cent of countries have achieved gender parity in primary
education. Harmful gender norms can have severe effects for boys, too. Location also keeps
children from school. Children from rural areas are more than twice as likely to be out of primary
school than their urban peers. In conflict zones, 27 million children are out of school.
Without skills for lifelong learning, children face greater barriers to earning potential and
employment later in life. They are more likely to suffer adverse health outcomes and less likely
to participate in the decisions that affect them – threatening their ability to build a better future
for themselves and their communities.

Barriers to education
UNICEF’s Work in Education
All children have the right to go to school and learn regardless of who they are, where
they live, or how much money their family has. Quality learning requires a safe, friendly
environment, qualified and motivated teachers, and instruction in languages students can
understand. It also requires that learning outcomes be monitored and feed back into instruction.
 As Covid-19 continues to disrupt education systems worldwide, digital learning should
become an essential service. This means connecting every child and young person—some 3.5
billion by 2030—to world-class digital solutions that offer personalized learning to leapfrog to a
brighter future. In 147 countries around the world, UNICEF works to provide learning
opportunities that prepare children and adolescents with the knowledge and skills they need to
thrive. Key areas of UNICEF’s work in education include access, learning and skills, and
emergencies and fragile contexts.
The lesson of the learning crisis is clear: Business as usual is not improving learning
outcomes. A new, more radical approach that focuses on enhancing learning is long overdue and
forms the basis of UNICEF’s global education strategy. To build a world in which every child
learns, UNICEF will increasingly promote equity and inclusion. This includes making targeted
efforts for children who are excluded based on gender, disability, poverty, ethnicity, and
language, as well as those who are displaced or affected by emergencies.

Lesson 2. GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Definition of growth and development
Hurlock (1982) differentiates growth and development in this manner: Growth refers to
quantitative changes such as the increase in size and structure. An individual grows physically as
well as mentally. Development refers to qualitative changes. It may be defined as a progressive
series of orderly, coherent changes. It is progressive because the changes usually lead forward
rather than backward, and orderly and coherent because a definite relationship exists between a
given stage and the stages which precede or follow it. Human development is the pattern of
movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the life span. Development
includes growth and decline. This means that development can be positive or negative (Santrock,
2002).
When a mature egg is fertilized by the sperm, it starts to undergo continuous
development. The fertilized egg multiplies into millions of cells which later form into different
body organs and body systems of the developing fetus. After birth, the infant continues to grow
and becomes a toddler, then a child, an adolescent, and a mature adult. Thus, a person keeps on
developing until he/she dies. However, it appears that some of the knowledge, skills, abilities,
and traits, among others, that we learned to possess as we grow, and encounter things may also
fade during the process. The body disintegrates and the mind forgets for instance. This explains
the positive and negative faces of development.

Some Major Principles of Human Development

The following principles characterize the pattern and process of human development:
1. Development is relatively orderly. Most psychologists agree that development is
sequential or orderly. Every species, whether animal or human, follows a pattern of
development peculiar to it. This pattern in general is the same for all individuals. Both the
boy and the girl in our activity crawled before they creeped, stood before they walked,
and babbled before they talked.
Infants develop control of the head and face movements within the first two
months after birth. In the next few months, they can lift themselves up by using their
arms. By 6 to 12 months of age, infants start to gain leg control and may be able to crawl,
stand, or walk. This pattern of development that proceeds from the head downward is
called cephalocaudal pattern. According to this principle, the child gains control of the
 head first, then the arms, and then the legs. On the other hand, proximodistal
development proceeds from the center of the body outward. This means that the spinal
cord develops before outer parts of the body. The child’s arms develop before the hands
and the hands and feet develop before the fingers and toes. Finger and toe muscles (used
in fine motor dexterity) are the last to develop in physical development (Ruffin, 2019).
By understanding how characteristics develop, we can make relatively accurate
and useful predictions about learners and design effective instructional strategies based
on our knowledge of development (Santrock, 2002).

A. cephalocaudal pattern; B. Proximodistal pattern

2. While the pattern of development is likely to be similar, the outcomes of developmental

processes and the rate of development are likely to vary among individuals. The
development of each individual involves many “ifs”. Meaning if they come from a good
home with loving and caring parents, they may develop into warm and responsible
children, adolescents, and adults. If they come from a deprived environment, they may
develop into carefree and irresponsible adolescents and adults. Both heredity and
environment play a big role in the development of individuals. Since heredity and
environment are different for different people, individuals will encounter factors that
make them different from other individuals. As a result, we can expect individual
differences in developmental characteristics and variation in the ages when people will
experience events that will influence their development.
Understanding this fact of individual differences in rates of development should
cause us to be careful about using and relying on age and stage characteristics to describe
or label children. There is a range of ages for any developmental task to take place. This
dismisses the notion of the “average child”. Some children will walk at ten months while
others walk a few months older at eighteen months of age. Some children are more active
while others are more passive. This does not mean that the passive child will be less
intelligent as an adult. There is no validity to comparing one child’s progress with or
against another child. Rates of development also are not uniform within an individual
child. For example, a child’s intellectual development may progress faster than his
emotional or social development (Ruffin, 2019).
3. Development takes place gradually. Not a single individual became a teenager overnight
because it takes years to become one. As it takes some time for the bud to blossom and
the seed to germinate, so does the human person to mature. It often takes weeks, months,
or years for a person to undergo changes that result in the display of developmental
characteristics.

4. Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological, cognitive,

and socioemotional processes (Santrock, 2002). Biological processes involve changes in
the individual’s physical nature. The brains of the boy and the girl develop. They will
gain height and weight. They will experience hormonal changes when they reach the
period of puberty, and cardiovascular decline as they approach late adulthood. All these
show the biological processes in development.
Cognitive processes involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence, and
language. Individuals develop from mere sounds to a word becoming two words, the two
words becoming a sentence. They would move on to memorizing their first prayer,
singing Bayang Magiliw in every flag ceremony, to imagining what it would be like to be
a teacher or a pilot, paying chess and solving a complex math problem. All these reflect
the role of cognitive processes in development.
Socioemotional processes include changes in the individual’s relationships with
other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality. As babies, we responded
with a sweet smile when affectionately touched and frowned when displeased and even
showed temper tantrum when we could not get or do what we wanted. From being
aggressive children, we have developed into fine ladies and gentlemen or otherwise,
depending on a myriad of factors. We may fall in love and get inspired for life or may
end up betrayed, deserted, and desperate afterwards. All these reflect the role of
socioemotional processes in development.

Biological Cognitive
processes processes

Socioemotional
processes

The interaction of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes

These biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes are inextricably
intertwined. While these processes are studied separately, the effect of one process or
factor on a person’s development is not isolated from other processes. If the boy and the
girl were undernourished and troubled by the thought of mother and father about to
separate, they could not concentrate on their studies and consequently would fail and
repeat. As a consequence, they may lose face and drop out of school, revert to illiteracy,
 become unskilled, unemployed and so on. See how a biological process, affects the
cognitive process which in turn, affects the socioemotional process.

Two Approaches in Human Development

If you believe that individuals will show extensive change from birth to adolescence,
little or no change in adulthood and decline in late old age, your approach to development is
traditional. In contrast, if you believe that even in adulthood developmental change takes place
as it does during childhood, your approach is termed as life-span approach.
Lifespan development involves the exploration of biological, cognitive, and psychosocial
changes and constancies that occur throughout the entire course of life. Developed by German
psychologist Paul Baltes, a leading expert on lifespan development and aging, this approach is
based on several key principles:
1. Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. No developmental stage dominates
development. 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. The study of development traditionally focused almost exclusively on the changes
occurring from conception to adolescence and the gradual decline in old age; it was
believed that the five or six decades after adolescence yielded little to no developmental
change at all. The current view reflects the possibility that specific changes in
development can occur later in life, without having been established at birth. The early
events of one’s childhood can be transformed by later events in one’s life. This belief
clearly emphasizes that all stages of the lifespan contribute to the regulation of the nature
of human development.
Many diverse patterns of change, such as direction, timing, and order, can vary
among individuals and affect the ways in which they develop. For example, the
developmental timing of events can affect individuals in different ways because of their
current level of maturity and understanding. As individuals move through life, they are
faced with many challenges, opportunities, and situations that impact their
development. Remembering that development is a lifelong process helps us gain a wider
perspective on the meaning and impact of each event.

Life-span approach to development

2. Development is multidimensional. By multidimensionality, Baltes is referring to the fact

that a complex interplay of factors influence development across the lifespan, including
 biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes. Baltes argues that a dynamic
interaction of these factors is what influences an individual’s development.
For example, in adolescence, puberty consists of physiological and physical
changes with changes in hormone levels, the development of primary and secondary sex
characteristics, alterations in height and weight, and several other bodily changes.
But these are not the only types of changes taking place; there are also cognitive changes,
including the development of advanced cognitive faculties such as the ability to think
abstractly. There are also emotional and social changes involving regulating emotions,
interacting with peers, and possibly dating.

3. Development is plastic. Plasticity denotes intrapersonal variability and focuses heavily on

the potentials and limits of the nature of human development. The notion of plasticity
emphasizes that there are many possible developmental outcomes, and that the nature of
human development is much more open and pluralistic than originally implied by
traditional views; there is no single pathway that must be taken in an individual’s
development across the lifespan. Plasticity is imperative to current research because the
potential for intervention is derived from the notion of plasticity in development.
Undesired development or behaviors could potentially be prevented or changed.
As an example, recently researchers have been analyzing how other senses
compensate for the loss of vision in blind individuals. Without visual input, blind humans
have demonstrated that tactile and auditory functions still fully develop, and they can use
tactile and auditory cues to perceive the world around them. One experiment designed by
Röder and colleagues (1999) compared the auditory localization skills of people who are
blind with people who are sighted by having participants locate sounds presented either
centrally or peripherally (lateral) to them. Both congenitally blind adults and sighted
adults could locate a sound presented in front of them with precision but people who are
blind were clearly superior in locating sounds presented laterally. Currently, brain-
imaging studies have revealed that the sensory cortices in the brain are reorganized after
visual deprivation. These findings suggest that when vision is absent in development, the
auditory cortices in the brain recruit areas that are normally devoted to vision, thus
becoming further refined.

4. Development is contextual. In Baltes’ theory, the paradigm of contextualism refers to the

idea that three systems of biological and environmental influences work together to
influence development. Development occurs in context and varies from person to person,
depending on factors such as a person’s biology, family, school, church, profession,
nationality, and ethnicity. Baltes identified three types of influences that operate
throughout the life course: normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded
influences, and non-normative influences. Baltes wrote that these three influences operate
throughout the life course, their effects accumulate with time, and, as a dynamic package,
they are responsible for how lives develop.

5. Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation. Growth, maintenance, and

regulation are three (3) goals of human development. The goals of individuals vary
among developmental stages. For instance, as individuals reach middle and late
 adulthood, concern with growth gets into the backstage while maintenance and regulation
take the center stage.

Principles of Child Development and Learning That Inform Practice

Below are the principles of child development and learning which are the bases of
developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) in early childhood program for children from birth
through age 8, which were stated in the position paper of the National Association for the
Education of Young Children (2009). They affirm the principles of human development and
characteristics of life-span development approach previously discussed. Find out which one is a
re-statement of the principles of human development.
 All the domains of development and learning- physical, social, and cognitive- are
important, and they are closely interrelated. Children’s development and learning in one
domain influence and are influenced by what takes place in other domains.
 Many aspects of children’s learning and development follow well documented sequences,
with later abilities, skills, and knowledge building on those already acquired.
 Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as to
uneven rates across different areas of a child’s individual functioning.
 Development and learning result from a dynamic and continuous interaction of biological
maturation and experience.
 Early experiences have profound effects, both cumulative and delayed, on a child’s
development and learning; and optimal periods exist for certain types of development and
learning to occur.
 Development proceeds toward greater complexity, self-regulation, and symbolic or
representational capacities.
 Children develop best when they have secure, consistent relationships with responsive
adults and opportunities for positive relationships with peers.
 Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural
contexts.
 Always be mentally active when seeking to understand the world around them, children
learn in a variety of ways; a wide range of teaching strategies and interactions are
effective in supporting all these kinds of learning.
 Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as promoting
language, cognition, and social competence.
 Development and learning advance when children are challenged to achieve at a level
just beyond their current mastery, and when they have many opportunities to practice
newly acquired skills.
 Children’s experiences shape their motivation and approaches to learning, such as
persistence, initiative, and flexibility; in turn, these dispositions and behaviors affect their
learning and development.

Issues on Human Development

Developmental theorists have provided various conceptual framework for understanding
ourselves and others. Through their research, they take a stand on the different issues of human
development. The debate continues about the controversies of nature versus nurture, continuity
versus discontinuity, and stability versus change.
 1. Nature versus Nurture. The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest
philosophical issues within psychology. Nature refers to all of the genes and hereditary
factors that influence who we are—from our physical appearance to our personality
characteristics while nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who
we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social
relationships, and our surrounding culture. Do genetic or environmental factors have a
greater influence on your behavior? Do inherited traits or life experiences play a greater
role in shaping your personality? The debate centers on the relative contributions
of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development.

2. Continuity versus Discontinuity. Think about how children become adults. Is there a
predictable pattern they follow regarding thought and language and social development?
Do children go through gradual changes or are they abrupt changes? Normative
development is typically viewed as a continual and cumulative process. The continuity
view says that change is gradual. Children become more skillful in thinking, talking, or
acting much the same way as they get taller. The discontinuity view sees development as
more abrupt-a succession of changes that produce different behaviors in different age-
specific life periods called stages. Biological changes provide the potential for these
changes.

3. Stability versus Change. Stability implies personality traits present during infancy endure
throughout the lifespan. In contrast, change theorists argue that personalities are
modified by interactions with family, experiences at school, and acculturation. This
capacity for change is called plasticity. For example, Rutter (1981) discovered than
somber babies living in understaffed orphanages often become cheerful and affectionate
when placed in socially stimulating adoptive homes.

Nature vs. Nurture Continuity vs. Discontinuity Stability vs. Change

The issues presented can be translated into questions that have sparked animated debate
among developmentalists. Are girls less likely to do well in math because of their’ feminine’
nature or because of society’s ‘masculine bias? How extensively can the elderly be trained in the
old age? Can techniques be used to prevent or reduce the decline? For children who experienced
a world of poverty, neglect by parents, and poor schooling in childhood, can enriched
experiences in adolescence remove the ‘deficits’ that they encountered earlier in their
development (Santrock, 2002)?
Up to this time, the debate continues. Researches are on-going. However, most life-span
developmentalists recognize that extreme positions on these issues are unwise. Development is
not all nature or all nurture, not all continuity or discontinuity, and not all stability or all change
(Lerner, 1998 as quoted by Santrock, 2002). Both nature and nurture, continuity and
discontinuity, and stability and change characterize our life-span development. The key to
development is the interaction of nature and nurture rather than either factor alone (Rutter, 2001
as quoted by Santrock, 2002). In other words, it is a matter of “both-and” and not “either-or”.
To summarize, both genes and environment are necessary for a person to exist. Without
genes, there is no person; without environment, there is no person (Scar & Weinberg, 1980 as
quoted by Santrock, 2002). Heredity and environment operate together –or cooperate and interact
—to produce a person’s intelligence, temperament, height, weight, ability to read, and so on.

Lesson 3: Stages of Development and Developmental Tasks

In each stage of development, a certain task or tasks are expected of every individual.
Robert Havighurst defines developmental task as one that “arises at a certain period in our life,
the successful achievement of which leads to happiness and success with later tasks while failure
leads to unhappiness, social disapproval, and difficulty with later tasks” (Havighurst, 1972). As
an example, a boy who learned how to read at about the same pace as his peers can easily catch
up with reading activities and avoid embarrassment from his classmates. Learning alongside
others may give him a sense of competence and pride in school. An opposite example is when a
teenage girl’s body matures later than her peers. She may be exposed to teasing and ridicules in
school which could lead her to develop feelings of insecurity and low self-esteem levels. Can
you think of other examples?

Developmental Stages
Havighurst and Santrock both provided their own model of developmental stages and
their corresponding developmental tasks. Study each model and try to compare against another.

A. Robert Havighurst emphasized that learning is basic and that it continues throughout
life span. He asserts that growth and development occur in six stages.

1. Infancy and Early 2. Middle Childhood (6-12) 3. Adolescence (13-18)

Childhood (0-5) a. Learning physical skills a. Achieving new and more
a. Learning to walk. necessary for ordinary mature relations with age-
b. Learning to take solid games. mates of both sexes.
foods. b. Building wholesome b. Achieving a masculine or
c. Learning to talk. attitudes toward oneself feminine social role.
d. Learning to control the as a growing organism. c. Accepting one's physique
elimination of body c. Learning to get along and using the body
wastes. with age-mates. effectively.
e. Learning sex d. Learning an appropriate d. Achieving emotional
differences and sexual masculine or feminine independence of parents
modesty. social role. and other adults.
f. Forming concepts and e. Developing e. Preparing for marriage
learning language to fundamental skills in and family life.
describe social and reading, writing, and f. Preparing for an economic
physical reality. calculating. career.
g. Getting ready to read. f. Developing concepts g. Acquiring a set of values
necessary for everyday and an ethical system as a
living. guide to behavior;
g. Developing conscience, developing an ideology.
morality, and a scale of h. Desiring and achieving
 values. socially responsible
h. Achieving personal behavior
independence.
i. Developing attitudes
toward social groups
and institutions.

4. Early Adulthood (19-29) 5. Early Adulthood (19-29) 6. Later Maturity (61 and
a. Selecting a mate. a. Selecting a mate. over)
b. Achieving a masculine b. Achieving a masculine a. Adjusting to decreasing
or feminine social role. or feminine social role. physical strength and
c. Learning to live with a c. Learning to live with a health.
marriage partner. marriage partner. b. Adjusting to retirement
d. Starting a family. d. Starting a family. and reduced income.
e. Rearing children. e. Rearing children. c. Adjusting to death of a
f. Managing a home. f. Managing a home. spouse.
g. Getting started in an g. Getting started in an d. Establishing an explicit
occupation. occupation. affiliation with one’s age
h. Taking on civic h. Taking on civic group.
responsibility. responsibility. e. Meeting social and civil
i. Finding a congenial i. Finding a congenial obligations.
social group social group f. Establishing satisfactory
physical living
arrangement
(http://faculty.mdc.edu).

B. Santrock proposed his own model of development. Try to compare them to those listed
by Havighurst himself.
1. Prenatal period (from conception to birth). It involves tremendous growth—from
a single cell to an organism to complete with brain and behavioral capabilities.
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.
3. Early childhood (end of infancy to 5-6 years, Grade 1). 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 to 12 years of age ending up to 18 to 22 years of age). Begins
with rapid physical changes—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.
Pursuit of independence and identity are 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.
7. Middle adulthood (40 to 60 years of age). It is a time of expanding personal and
social involvement and responsibility; of assisting the next generation in
becoming competent and mature individuals; and of reaching and maintaining
satisfaction in a career.
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 status.

Lesson 4: Research in Child and Adolescent Development

Aside from compassion and enthusiasm, teachers should also arm themselves with
evidence-based methodologies and strategies in their practice. Research informs practice and as a
pre-service teacher, it is important to have a positive regard for research. Research is a very
reliable means for teachers to learn about child and adolescent development. When conducted in
an appropriate or accurate manner, it becomes a strong basis for making decision about the
things you will do as an effective teacher. .

Teachers as Consumers/End Users of Research

The conduct of research does not only belong to thesis and dissertation writers. It is for
students and teachers too. It is important for educators to be informed consumers of research.
Advocates for school reform have emphasized the need for educators to employ evidence-based
best practices. To do so, educators need to have at least a rudimentary understanding of how
research evidence is gathered. Let us learn how to conduct research by finding out the different
research principles and the research methods and designs with focus on child and adolescent
development.

The Scientific Method

One important principle in research is adherence to the scientific method since research is
a systematic and a logical process. As such, researchers basically follow the scientific method.
Dewey gave us five steps of the scientific method. They are as follows:

Identify and define the problem

Determine the hypothesis

Collect and analyze the data

Formulate conclusions

Apply conclusions to the original hypothesis

 Simply explained, identifying the research problem is the first step. This is followed by
stating a tentative answer to the research problem call the hypothesis. The hypothesis is also
referred to as an “educated guess.” If your research problem is concerned with determining the
cause of an effect or a phenomenon you have to father and analyze data derived from an
experiment. This is true with experimental research. However, if your research problem is
concerned with describing data and characteristics about the subjects or phenomenon you are
studying, you do not need to perform an experiment. This is descriptive research. After analyzing
the data, you formulate your conclusions.
Compare your conclusions to your original hypothesis to find out if your original
hypothesis is correct or not. If your original hypothesis jibes with your findings and conclusion,
affirm your hypothesis. If your original hypothesis does not jibe with your finding and
conclusions, reject your original hypothesis.

Research Designs
Researchers that are done with high level of quality and integrity provide us with
valuable information about child and adolescent development. To be able to conduct quality
research, it is important that you know various research designs and different data gathering
techniques used by developmental researchers. Some are given and summarized below:

1. Case Study
 Description: in-depth look at an individual
 Strengths: Provides information about an individual’s fears, hopes, fantasies,
traumatic experiences, upbringing, family relationships, health, and anything that
helps a psychologist understand that person’s development (Santrock, 2002).
 Weaknesses: Generalization, the subject of a case study is unique, unknown
reliability (Santrock, 2002)
2. Correlational Study
 Description: determines associations
 Strengths: Useful because the more strongly two events are correlated, the more we
can predict one from the other.
 Weaknesses: Because correlational research does not involve the manipulation of
factors, it is not a dependable way to isolate cause (Kantowitz et al., 2001, cited by
Santrock, 2002)
3. Experimental
 Description: determines cause-and-effect; involves manipulation; relies on controlled
methods, random assignment and manipulation of variables to test hypothesis
 Strengths: only true reliable method of establishing cause and effect
 Weaknesses: limited to what is observable, testable and manipulable; randomization
issues; experimentation w/humans subject to external influences; Hawthorne effect
4. Naturalistic Observation
 Description: focuses on children’s experiences in natural setting; does not involve
intervention or manipulation; conducted due to lab research limitations
 Strengths: direct observation of the subject in natural setting
 Weaknesses: difficulty determining exact cause of behavior; lack of control of outside
variables
5. Longitudinal
  Description: studies and follows through a single group over a period of time
 Strengths: record and monitor developmental trends
 Weaknesses: expensive and time-consuming
6. Cross-Sectional
 Description: individuals of different ages are compared at one time
 Strengths: record and monitor developmental trends
 Weaknesses: It gives no information about how individuals change or about the
stability of their characteristics (Santrock, 2002).
7. Sequential
 Description: combined cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches to learn about
life-span development (Schaie, 1993, cited by Santrock, 2002)
 Strengths: record and monitor developmental trends; provides information that is
impossible to obtain from cross-sectional or longitudinal approaches alone (Santrock,
2002)
 Weaknesses: complex, expensive, and time-consuming
8. Action Research
 Description: reflective process of progressive problem-solving; in teaching, it stems
from teacher’s own questions and reflections on classroom practice
 Strengths: appropriate “to create changes and information on processes and outcome
of strategies used” (Hunt, 1987); uses different methods; stakeholders are included
 Weaknesses: generalization issues; potential conflict of interest

Data Gathering Techniques

1. Observation. Observations can be made in either laboratories or materialistic settings. In
naturalistic observation, behavior is observed in the real world like classrooms, home,
and in neighborhood.
2. Physiological measures. Certain indicators of children’s development such as, among
others, heart rate, hormonal levels, bone growth, body weight, and brain activity are
measured.
3. Standardized tests. These are prepared tests that assess individuals’ performance in
different domains. These tests are administered in consistent manner.
4. Interviews and questionnaires. Involve asking participants to provide information about
themselves based on the interview or questionnaire given by the researcher. Gathering of
data may be conducted through a printed questionnaire, over the telephone, by mail, in
person, or online. Information is obtained by utilizing standardized procedures so that
every participant is asked the same questions in the same manner. It entails asking
participants for information in some structured format.
5. Life-History Records. These are records of information about a lifetime chronology of
events and activities. They often involve a combination of data records on education,
work, family, and residence. These include public records or historical documents or
interviews with respondent.

Ethical Principles in Research

To serve the genuine purposes of research, teacher researchers are subject to ethical
principles. Just as we have the Code of Ethics that governs the behavior of teachers, there also
exist ethical standards that guide the conduct of research. These ethical standards serve as
reminders that as researchers, we should strive to protect the subjects of our study and to
maintain the integrity of our research. The National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) cited the following considerations when conducting research with young
children and other vulnerable population:
1. Research procedures must never harm children, physically or psychologically.
2. Children and their families have the right to full information about the research in which
they may participate, including possible risks and benefits. Their decision to participate
must be based on what is called “informed consent.” There must be informed consent
procedures with research participants.
3. Children’s questions about the research should be answered in a truthful manner and in
ways that children can understand. Researchers must be honest and clear in their
communication.
4. There should be respect for privacy. Information obtained through research with children
should remain confidential. Researchers should not disclose personal information or the
identity of participants in written or oral reports and discussions.

Impact of Teachers’ Research Involvement on Teachers

Research itself has proven that teachers have everything to gain and nothing to lose when
they get involved in the research process. Evidence suggests that:
1. teachers who have been involved in research may become more reflective, more critical
and analytical in their teaching, and more open and committed to professional
development (Oja & Pine, 1989; Henson, 1996; Keyes, 2000; Rust, 2007).
2. participating in teacher research also helps teachers become more deliberate in their
decision-making and actions in the classroom.
3. teacher research develops the professional dispositions of lifelong learning, reflective and
mindful teaching, and self-transformation (Mills, 2000; Stringer, 2007).
4. engaging in teacher research at any level may lead to rethinking and reconstructing what
it means to be a teacher or teacher educator and, consequently, the way teachers relate to
children and students.
5. teacher research has the potential to demonstrate to teachers and prospective teachers that
learning to teach is inherently connected to learning to inquire (Borko et al., 2007).

This chapter is focused on the development of the child and the adolescent, who are your
clientele in basic education. Necessarily, you will be occupied only with the child and
adolescent. So then, of what significance is your understanding of life-span development, a
development that includes the entire human life cycle from conception to adulthood? You can
apply what you will learn about life-span development as you relate to yourself, to your fellow
teachers, to parents of your students, to other colleagues in the teaching profession, and to other
education stakeholders. It is inspiring to note that development is a continuous process.

References/Additional Resources/Readings
Corpuz, B., Lucas, M., Borabo, H., & Lucido, P. (2015). Child and Adolescent Development.

Feldman, R. (2010). Understanding psychology. University of Massachusetts.

Ruffin, N. J. (2019). Human growth and development-A matter of principles.

Sanchez, C. A., Abad, P. F., & Jao, L. V. (2002). General psychology. Rex Book Store.

https://www.unicef.org/sudan/stories/universal-definition-what-it-means-be-child

http://uis.unesco.org/en/glossary-term/child

https://apps.who.int/adolescent/second-decade/section2/page1/recognizing-adolescence.html

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/glossary-curriculum-terminology/a/adolescent-learners

https://www.unicef.org/education

https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/school-learning/learning-ideas/learning-school-years

https://data.unicef.org/topic/adolescents/overview/

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/glossary-curriculum-terminology/a/adolescent-learners

https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/educational-psychology/principles-of-human-growth-
and-development/1813

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/the-lifespan-
perspective/

https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/
position-statements/PSDAP.pdf

https://www.simplypsychology.org/developmental-psychology.html#:~:text=Stability
%20implies%20personality%20traits%20present,experiences%20at%20school%2C%20and
%20acculturation.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/developmental-psychology.html#:~:text=The%20continuity
%20view%20says%20that,specific%20life%20periods%20called%20stages.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-nature-versus-nurture-2795392

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3nPqzc5ws

https://www.peoi.org/Courses/Coursesen/nursepractice/ch/ch6a.html

https://cdn.ymaws.com/wera.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/a_general/aera.pdf

https://www.srcd.org/about-us/ethical-standards-research-children#:~:text=Principle
%201.,stressful%20research%20procedure%20whenever%20possible.
https://www.apa.org/research/responsible