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Principles of Education
and Training
Chapter 3:
Understanding Human
Development
Understanding Human Development
Objectives:
 Distinguish between growth and development
 Identify the main types of human development
 Develop examples that illustrate principles of
development
 Define a developmental theory
 Apply developmental theories to real-life situations
 Analyze how developmental theories impact
teaching
Understanding Human Development
What is human development ?
 Life is a process of growth and development
 Growth refers to physical changes in size, such as
height and weight
 Development is the gradual increase in skills and
abilities that occurs over a lifetime
 Each person progresses in an individual way
 However, the stages of development are similar for
almost everybody
Areas of Development
There are four types of development:
• Physical
• Cognitive (or intellectual)
• Social
• Emotional
• Social and emotional development are
intertwined, and often referred to together as
social-emotional development.
During each stage of life a person’s
physical, cognitive and social-emotional
development can be identified.
Physical Development
Period of rapid growth during the first year of life.
 Physical development is advances in physical
abilities
 Example: a newborn cannot change positions, but a
two-year-old can run.
 Many aspects of development are happening at the
same time. Often referred to as motor skills.
 Motor skills include:
 Gross-motor skills --the development of large muscles
such arms, legs, back, and shoulders (walking and throwing)
 Fine-motor skills--the development of small
muscles such as hands and wrist (eating with a spoon)
Cognitive Development
Process involving thought and knowledge are called cognition
 Memorization, organization, knowing are all
examples of cognition
 Cognitive Development—(aka intellectual
development) is the way people change and improve
their ability to think and learn throughout life.
 Consider math skills as a first grader, eighth grader and
now.
 The development of connections between nerve
cells in the brain is a key component to cognitive
development at all stages of life.
 Brain connections grow and strengthen with
new experiences and repetition of familiar
ones.
Social-Emotional Development
Includes Areas of Relationships and Feelings
Individuals must learn social skills and how to care about others.
 Social- Emotional
 Must develop both self-confidence and self-esteem
 Social-emotional challenges increase at each stage
development
 New skills must be developed to deal with increasing
independence of childhood, adolescence, and adult
relationships
 How well one meets these challenges depends on skills
they develop earlier in life and how they adapt to new
situations
Principles of Human Development
 Basic Principles of what is already known:
 Development is relatively orderly
-a sequence of steps that consistently follow one another
 Development is a gradual, continuous process
-changes happen gradually and are apparent over time
 Development is interrelated
-most development is not solely physical, cognitive,
social, or emotional
 Development varies among individuals
-each individual’s progress is unique
Theories of Development
Researchers analyze behavior and development to better
understand how and why behavior occurs.
 Developmental Theories
 Why should you as a future teacher learn about
developmental theories?
 They are useful because they help you understand what
students are capable of doing and why
 This knowledge can make you a better teacher
 While these are theories, not proven facts, they
can be useful
 The theories mentioned in this book have had a
real influence on teachers and teaching
 Think about their potential impact in the classroom.
Theories of Development
Heredity Versus Environment
 Nature (Heredity) vs. Nurture (Environment)
 Are a person’s personality traits, abilities, skills,
and tastes a result of
genetics?
OR
their environment?
 Most researchers would answer “both”
 A challenge for researchers is that heredity and
environment interact in complex ways
Genes carry a person’s biological
inheritance and impact intellectual
potential and much more
Theories of Development
Heredity Versus Environment—Continued
 Heredity - Genes
 No single gene determines a particular behavior.
 Behaviors, like all complex traits, involve multiple gene’s that
are affected by a variety of environmental factors.
 Genes do influence human development .
 Just because a person has a genetic make to have a trait does
not mean it will develop.
 Environment
 Persons are shaped by his or her individual experiences
 All developmental traits can be affected by the environment
 The term applies to many aspects of life:
 Family
 Media
 Peers
 Health
 Community
 Nutrition and physical activity
Theories of Development
Behaviorist Theories
 Behaviorism—a theory based on the belief that individuals’
behavior is determined by forces in the environment that are
beyond their control.
 One of the earliest theories in development
 Heredity vs. Environment
 Behaviorists think environment wins
 “Blank Screens” (aka “Tabula Rasa” or “blank slates”)
 Behaviorists think infants come into the world this way
and all of their behaviors are direct results of their life’s
experiences
 Ex: If a child bullies another child on the playground, it
is assumed he or she learned this behavior
Theories of Development
Behaviorist Theories
Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning
 Pavlov was a Russian researcher
 Theory: behaviors can be associated
with responses
 One of the earliest behavioral
experiments
Pavlov noticed that a dog naturally
salivated at the sight of food.
He began ringing a bell at feeding time.
Eventually, if the bell was rung, the dog
salivated, even if no food
was given to the dog!
Theories of Development
Behaviorist Theories
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
 B.F. Skinner, researcher, well known
for identifying the basic principle that
if you have a pleasant experience,
such as receiving a compliment, that
you internalize the experience as
positive
 Theory: People tend to repeat
behaviors that have a positive result or
are reinforced
 He found that to make these behaviors permanent,
they need to be removed gradually, in unpredictable
patterns
 This also works to reduce unwanted behaviors as
well when used with negative reinforcement, or
punishments
Theories of Development
Behaviorist Theories
 Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
 Albert Bandura argued that people are very different
from Pavlov’s dog
 Theory: People of all ages observe and imitate the
behaviors of others, regardless of rewards and
punishments involved.
 Piaget’s Cognitive Theory
 Jean Piaget, a Swiss researcher, looked for a theory that
would better explain differences in how people think
throughout the stages of life
 Four stages of cognitive development
1) The Period of
Sensori-Motor Intelligence
(0-2 years)
3) The Period of
Concrete Operations
(8-10 years)
2) The Period of
Preoperational Thought
(2-7 years)
4) The Period of
Formal Operations
(11-15 years)
Theories of Development
Behaviorist Theories
 Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
 Lev Vygotsky, a Russian theorist, challenged Piaget’s
theory, especially his beliefs that humans learn primarily
through experimentation with objects
 Theory: Children are social beings and develop their
minds through interactions with parents, teachers, and
other students.
 Social interaction is critical to cognitive development
 Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
 Focus was on development of personality
 Personality development occurs during eight stages of life
Infancy – trust versus mistrust
Birth to 1 year
Adolescence – Identity versus role confusion
13 to 18 years
Toddler – Autonomy versus shame and doubt
1 to 3 years
Young adulthood – Intimacy versus isolation
18 to 40 years
Early childhood – Initiative versus guilt
3 to 6 years
Middle Adulthood – Generativity versus selfabsorption
40 to 65 years
Middle childhood – Industry versus inferiority
6 to 12 years
Older adulthood – Integrity versus despair
65 and older
Theories of Development
Behaviorist Theories
 Kholberg’s Theory of Moral Development
 Three levels of moral development
 Preconventional morality—decisions about what is right
or wrong depend on whether you will be punished or
rewarded
 Convectional morality —understanding that society
depends on people to observe basic rules of behavior
 Postconventional morality—belief that there are universal
moral laws related to human rights that are most important
to follow
 Children and teens should be moved to the next level
of moral development with the help of adults
 Only men and boys were observed , the findings did
not include the way women and girls make moral
decisions
Theories of Development
Behaviorist Theories
 Many different, often conflicting, theories to
explain human development
 As a teacher, you can benefit from understanding
several approaches to development and applying
them in your classroom
 As knowledge of human development grows, more
theories will emerge
 Gaining a greater understanding of the ways in
which humans learn will help teachers develop
more effective teaching strategies
End of Chapter Three
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