Running Head: DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

Developmentally Appropriate Instruction

Jennifer King
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2015

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

Introduction
Developmentally appropriate instruction stems from Jean Piagets, a Swiss researcher,
theory of cognitive development that suggested children developed knowledge through
interacting with it and then assimilating into their own construct of knowledge (Bergin & Bergin,
2012). Education is not about the transfer of facts, but about guiding students construction of
how the world works and their reasoning processes. In developmentally appropriate instruction,
the students are active learners. The teacher provides the student with structured opportunities to
interact with the subject matter; students are actively engaged in learning, not simply receivers of
knowledge.
Rationale
I chose two artifacts that demonstrate how I have implemented developmentally
appropriate instruction into my classroom. The first artifact (Artifact 1) is a picture of a clay
model two students made of the ocean floor features. Students made clay models of the ocean
floor and then labelled the features after a lesson introducing these features through videos, a
reading selection, and pictures. The students were actively engaged throughout the lesson. Near
the end of the lesson the students created clay models of the ocean floor in pairs. The students
had to work together to use the clay to create a model of the ocean floor features. This activity
required the students to transfer their mental construction of what the ocean floor features looked
like into a physical model. Working in pairs allowed the students to clear up some
misconceptions. One of the students did not understand that the continental shelf was horizontal,
but the other student politely challenged this notion and in the end they were able to construct a
good model and the first students misconception was addressed. This activity allowed the
students to interact with the features of the ocean floor in a meaningful way.

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

The second artifact (Artifact 2) is a picture of three students participating in a math lesson
on decimals. In this lesson I wanted the students to develop a more concrete understanding of
decimals so I used money, which they had learned in third grade, to help them grasp the
difference of value between the tenth and hundredth place. The students worked in groups of
three and used the money to represent decimals. This activity required them to work together use
familiar objects (money) to represent the foreign concepts of decimals. This activity allowed
students to connect with decimals in a new way as students of all backgrounds had experience
with money. One student in this lesson was having trouble grasping the concept. When I spoke
with him individually and helped him make the connection with money, he understood and
answered all the questions on the formative assessment correctly.
I chose these artifacts because both these activities allowed the students opportunities for
a hands-on experience with the concepts. In the science lesson the students had to transfer their
mental construction of the ocean floor into a clay model of the ocean floor. This showed me how
the students understood the content of the lesson while working in pairs allowed them the
opportunity to explain their understanding of the concept. In the math lesson, having the students
use money to represent decimals allowed them to connect the abstract concept of decimals into
everyday life. All of the students understood the concept of money and relating decimals to
money helped them understand the different in value of one tenth and one hundredth. In the
formative assessment at the end of the lesson, all but one student were able to compare the two
fractions 0.02 and 0.2.
Reflection
Both these artifacts reflect opportunities my students had to actively engage with the
content of the lesson. Developmentally appropriate instruction requires students to explore the

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

lesson and communicate with their peers and teachers during the lesson (North Central Regional
Education Laboratory, n.d.). Both artifacts demonstrate active student involvement that furthered
their understanding of the lesson through interacting with each other, myself and my cooperating
teacher and the content.
These artifacts also demonstrate active learning where the students are engaged and able
to construct meaning through interactions with each other, myself and my cooperating teacher,
and the material I presented. Instead of relying solely on my presentation of the material, I had
the students respond to my instruction with hands on activities that allowed them to experience
the different concepts. This made the lesson more meaningful for them and helped them grasp
the concepts more easily and they were able to demonstrate a solid understanding of the features
of the ocean floor and the comparison of two decimals. These activities allowed all students of
all backgrounds the chance to experience these concepts. These students come from different
backgrounds, but through providing them with a common experience in the classroom, they were
able to relate to each other and develop a firm understanding of the concepts.
Developmentally appropriate instruction is important because students construct
understandings of the world based on their experiences (Bergin & Bergin, 2012). Once they hear
about a framework for understanding a concept, if they do not have the chance to explore it and
see how it works for themselves, they will struggle to understand not only its importance, but
also its importance to their lives.

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

References
Bergin, C. C. & Bergin, D. A. (2012). Child and adolescent development in your classroom.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
North Central Regional Education Laboratory (n.d.) Developmentally appropriate practices.
Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/instrctn/in5lk5.htm