A.

Basic Concepts

Principle a fundamental law or uniformity of nature

Theory a public pronouncement that indicates what a scientist believes to
be true about his/her specific area of investigation.
Heredity (Nature) the totality of characteristics, transmitted from the
parents to the offspring.
Environment (Nurture)- the totality of any aspect of physical and social
phenomena which surround or affect an individual or organism.
Growth- the physical and physiological changes that occur throughout life.
Development- the progressive and continuous change in the organism from
birth to death.
Maturation developmental changes in the body or behavior that result from
the aging process.
Life Span the life of an individual organism from birth to death.

B. Principles of Human Growth and Development

Development is influenced by both heredity and environment.

Developmental patterns show wide individual differences.
Growth is sequential.
Growth is continuous.
Development proceeds from general to specific.
Each phase of development has characteristic traits.
There is unity in growth patterns.
Growth is patterned.
Developmental rates vary.
The body tends to maintain a state of equilibrium called homeostasis.

Theories of Human Development

There are 5 major theoretical perspectives on human development:

Psychoanalytic Theorists focus on social and emotional development. They

make us aware that early experiences and unconscious emotional conflicts
can have a dramatic effect in developing personality.
Learning Theorists are concerned mainly with the process of development
itself. They have helped us to understand how children are influenced by
their environment and how interactions between person and environment
lead to the development of stable habits, traits, talents and peculiarities.
Cognitive Theorists concentrate on the intellectual aspects of human
development.
Ethologists agree, in part, with each of these arguments, but they would
also emphasize that human beings are biological creatures, who inherit
various mannerisms, behaviors and motives that help to steer them along
particular developmental paths.
Moral Development Theorists the moral development view point as
originated by Piaget and expanded by Kohlberg is composed of 3 levels and 2
stages under each.

1. The Psychoanalytic Theory

originated from the work of Sigmund Freud
at birth, the childs personality consists only of these instinctual forces (id),
which gradually diverted into a system of rational thought (ego), and an
irrational but ethical component of personality (superego).

The child is thought to pass through 5 psychosexual stages.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Oral Stage (birth to one year)

Anal Stage (one to three years)
Phallic Stage (three to six years)
Latency (six to twelve years)
Genital Stage (12 years onward)

2. The Psychosocial Theory

Erik Erikson extended Freuds theory by concentrating less on the sex instinct
and more on important sociocultural determinants of human development.
People progress through a series of eight psychosocial stages.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.

Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to one year)

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1-3 yrs.)
Initiative vs. Guilt (3-6 yrs.)
Industry vs. Inferiority (6-12 yrs.)
Identity vs. Role Confusion (12-40 yrs.)
Intimacy vs. Isolation (20-40 yrs.)
Genrativity vs. Stagnation (40-65 yrs.)
Ego Integrity vs. Despair (old age-death)

3. The Cognitive Development Theory

Major contributor is Jean Piaget
Children are neither driven by undesirable instincts nor molded by
environmental influences.
They view children as constructivists
Piaget divided intellectual development into 4 major periods:
a. Sensorimotor (birth-2 yrs)
b. Preoperational (2-7 yrs.)
c. Concrete Operations (7-11 yrs.)
d. Formal Operations (11-beyond)
4. The Sociohistoric Theory
Originated from Lev Semanovich Vygotsky, who highly stressed the
importance of the social environment to development.
Social interaction is the way in which children develop increasingly more
complex thinking.
The child acquires new skills and information within the zone of proximal
development (ZPD), the level at which a child finds a task too difficult to
complete alone, but which he can accomplish with the assistance or support
of an adult or older peer.
5. The Learning Theory/Viewpoint (Behaviorism)
Proponent: John B. Watson, who proclaimed that he could take a dozen
healthy infants and train them to be whatever he chose.
Basic premise of Watsons Behaviorism:

The mind of an infant is a tabula rasa and that learned associations between
stimuli and responses are the building blocks of human development.
Development does not proceed through a series of stages.
It is a continuous process marked by the gradual acquisition of new and more
sophisticated behavioral patterns, or
He believed that only the simplest of human reflexes are inborn and that
important behavioral tendencies, including traits, talents, values and
aspirations are learned.

6. The Ethological Theory

Ethology is the study of the biological bases of behavior, including its
evolution, causation and development.
This theoretical approach arose from the efforts of several European
zoologists who argued that other theorists had overlooked or ignored
important biological contributions to human and animal behavior.
One interesting ethological idea is that infants are sociable creatures who are
quite capable of promoting and maintaining social encounters from the day
they are born.
7. The Moral Development Theory
Lawrence Kohlberg expanded on Piagets studies of moral development by
making moral dilemmas that could be appropriate for older children.
He developed the description of the 3 levels and 6 stages of moral reasoning.
a. Level One Preconventional Morality (0-9 y)
o Stage 1- Punishment-Obedience
Orientation (toddler-4 yrs)
o Stage 2 Instrumental Relativist
Orientation (pre-school to school age or 5-9 yrs)
b. Level Two Conventional Morality (9-20 yrs)
o Stage 3 Good Boy-Nice Girl
Orientation
o Stage 4 Law and Order Orientation
c. Level Three Postconventional Morality (after age 20)
o Stage 5 Social Contract Orientation
o Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle
Orientation

C. Learning

A change in behavior resulting from the interaction of the organism

with its environment.
Involves relatively permanent change which is the result of experience
or practice.
Different Principles of Learning and their Application in Classroom
Situation
Learning by doing is more effective than by just sitting and listening.
Learning should be goal-directed and focused.
The amount of reinforcement necessary for learning is relative to the
students needs and abilities.
The principle of readiness is related to the learners stage of
development and their previous learning.
The students self-concept and beliefs about their abilities are
extremely important.
Teachers should provide opportunities for meaningful and appropriate
practice
(rehearsal).
Positive feedback, realistic praise, and encouragement are motivating
in the
teaching-learning process.
Learning under the control of reward is preferable to punishment.
Meaningful materials are readily learned than nonsense materials.
Effort is put forth when tasks are challenging.
Concepts should be presented in varied and specified situation.
Learning is aided by formulating and asking questions.

The Behavioral Learning Theorists

a) Pavlovs Classical Conditioning
The term classical means in the established manner
In this process, a new stimuluspreviously a neutral one is substituted
for the stimulus which originally elicited the response.
Features of classical conditioning:
Stimulus Generalization
Discrimination
Extinction
b) Thorndikes Connectionism
Formulated the three major Laws of Learning:
Law of Readiness
Law of Exercise
Law of Effect
c) Skinners Reinforcement and Operant Conditioning
developed an explanation of learning that stressed the consequence of
behavior
behavior is a casual chain of three links:
An operation preformed upon the organism from without
Some inner condition
A kind of behavior
d) Banduras Social Cognitive Learning
Observational learning or Social Learning Theory, learning takes place
when one person observes and then imitates the behavior of others.
Process in observational learning:
Attention
Retention
Motor Reproduction Processes
Motivational Processes
The Cognitive Learning Theorists

Lewin : Field Theory

Kohler: Problem Solving by Insight
Ausubel: Meaningful Learning

Two dimensions of learning processes are fundamental in this theory:

The first dimension relates to the two ways by which knowledge to be learned
is made available to the learner.
Meaningful Reception Learning new, logically organized material is
presented in final form and the learner relates it to his existing knowledge.
Rote Reception Learning material of any kind is presented in final form
and is memorized.
The second dimension relates to the two ways by which the learner may
incorporate new information into his existing cognitive structure.
Meaning Discovery Learning
Rote Discovery Learning
Bruners Theory of Instruction
Focused on the problem of what people do with information to achieve
generalized insights or understanding.

Learning is seen as a cognitive process that involves 3 simultaneous

processes:
Acquisition
Transformation
Evaluation

Gagnes Cumulative Learning

Learning skills are hierarchically arranged, where there is a progression
from developing simple stimulus-response associations to concepts and
principles and problem-solving.
He enumerated 8 levels of learning:
1. Signal Learning
2. Stimulus-Response Learning
3. Chaining
4. Verbal Association
5. Discrimination Learning
6. Concept Learning
7. Principle Learning
8. Problem Solving