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0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in Prof. Ed. 102 Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles Module No. 12

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. 12

DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEARNERS AT VARIOUS STAGES:

UNIT 3: EARLY CHILDHOOD (THE PRESCHOOLER)
MODULE OVERVIEW

The preschool years is commonly known as "the year before formal schooling begins." It roughly
covers 3-5 years of g Although it is known as the years before formal school, it is by no way less
important than the grade school years. The preschool years is very important as it lays foundation to
later development. At this stage, preschoolers achieve many developmental milestones. such, pre-
service teachers who might be interested to teach and cat for preschoolers need to be
knowledgeable about them to be truly intentional and effective teacher.

This Module on the physical development of preschooler focuses on the acquisition of gross and
fine motor skills, artist expression, proper nutrition and sleep, and what teachers and caregivers
should do to maximize the preschoolers' development.

Furthermore, the cognitive development and socio-emotional development will be discussed.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, challenge yourself to:

 Describe preschool children’s physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development.

 Identify the different gross and fine motor skills.
 Apply concepts on preschoolers’ cognitive development in preschool teaching and in child
care.
 Draw implications of these concepts on physical development on teaching preschoolers.
 Take an informed stand/position on current preschool teaching practices.
 Explain Erikson’s “crisis” of early childhood, initiative versus guilt.
 Explain the development of the preschoolers’ sense of self and self-esteem.
 Discuss how children develop gender identity.
 Describe the stages of play and how it impacts socio-emotional development.
 Discuss the different caregiving styles and their effect on preschoolers.
 Describe how significant relationships with parents, siblings, and peers affect the
preschooler.

LEARNING CONTENTS : PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Big Ideas about the Physical Development of Preschoolers

1. There are significant changes in physical growth of preschoolers.

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Study Guide in Prof. Ed. 102 Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles Module No. 12

2. The preschoolers physical development is marked by the acquisition of gross and fine motor
skills.

3. Preschoolers can express themselves artistically at a very early age.

4. Proper nutrition and the right amount of sleep are very important.

5. Caregivers and teachers can do a lot in maximizing the growth for the preschoolers and
development of preschoolers.

6. Preschoolers with special needs in inclusive classrooms can thrive well with the appropriate
adaptations made in the classroom materials and activities.

Significant Changes in Physical Growth

Physical growth increases in the preschool years, although it is much slower in pace than in infancy
and toddlerhood. At around 3 years of age, preschoolers move, from the remaining baby-like
features of the toddler, toward a more slender appearance of a child. The trunk, arms and legs
become longer. The center of gravity refers to the point at which body-weight is evenly distributed.
Toddlers have their center of gravity at a high level, about the chest level. This is why they have
difficulty doing sudden movements without falling down. Preschoolers on the other hand, have their
center of gravity at a lower level, right about near the belly button. This gives them more ability to be
stable and balanced than the toddler. The preschooler moves from the unsteady stance of
toddlerhood to a more steady bearing. They no longer "toddle," that wobbly way that toddlers walk.
This also allows the preschooler to move more "successfully" than the toddler. Some say that the
later part of the preschool years at around 5 or 6 is the best time to begin learning skills that require
balance like riding a bike or skating. By the time the child reaches three years old, all primary or
deciduous, or what are also called "baby or milk" teeth are already in place, The permanent teeth
which will begin to come out by age six are Pn developing. The preschool years are therefore a time
to instill habits of good dental hygiene.

Gross and Fine Motor Development

Gross motor development refers to acquiring skills that involve the large muscles. These gross
motor skills are categorized into three locomotor, non-locomotor and manipulative skills. Locomotor
skills are those that involve going from one place to another, like walking, running, climbing,
skipping, hopping, creeping, galloping, and dodging. Non-locomotor ones are those where the child
stays in place, like bending, stretching, turning and swaying. Manipulative skills are those that
involve projecting and receiving objects, like throwing, striking, bouncing, catching and dribbling,
Preschoolers are generally physically active. Level of activity is highest around three and becomes
a little less as the preschooler gets older. Preschoolers should be provided with a variety of
appropriate activities which will allow them to use their large muscles. Regular physical activity
helps preschoolers build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints, control weight and build
lean muscles, prevent or delay hypertension, reduce feelings of depression and anxiety and
increase capacity for learning.

Fine motor development refers to acquiring the ability to use the smaller muscles in the arm,
hands and fingers purposefully. Some of the skills included here are picking, squeezing, pounding,
and opening things, holding and using a writing implement. It also involves self-help skills like using
the spoon and fork when eating, buttoning, zipping, combing and brushing.

Different environments provide different experiences with fine motor skills. For example, the
availability of information and communications technology in largely urban areas makes younger

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and younger children proficient in keyboarding and manipulation of the mouse and the use of smart
phones and tablets. While other children use their fine motor skills in digging in soil, making toys out
of sticks, cans and bottle caps. Still others, enjoy clay, play dough, and finger paint.

Preschoolers’ Artistic Development

At the heart of the preschooler years is their interest to draw and make other forms of artistic
expressions. This form of fine motor activity is relevant to preschoolers. Viktor Lowenfeld studied
this and came up with the stages of drawing in early childhood.

Stage 1: Scribbling Stage

Stage 2: Preschematic Stage
Stage 3. Schematic Stage

Read more on:

https://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/the-stages-of-artistic-development
https://www.virtuallabschool.org/fcc/physical-development/lesson-3
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/preschoolers.html#:~:text=Skills
%20such%20as%20naming%20colors,%2C%20walking%2C%20or%20jumping).

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1

 Research on the recommended food guide for preschoolers or young children. Interview a
mother about what her preschooler eats in a week. Write down the types of food and
compare it with the recommended food guide.

LEARNING CONTENTS : COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL SKILLS IN PRESCHOOLERS

Cognitive development pertains to skills regarding learning and thinking. It is not remembering facts
and trivia. Cognitive skills include:

 asking questions
 developing an increased attention span
 problem solving
 visual discrimination, matching, comparing, sorting, and organizing
 understanding fact and fiction (or the difference between a truth and a lie)
 understanding cause and effect
 simple reasoning

Preschoolers are full of questions. They love to collect things. Preschoolers also like to practice the
same thing again and again, and love hearing the same story told multiple times. They love taking
risks and trying new things.

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Study Guide in Prof. Ed. 102 Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles Module No. 12

These are efforts in developing their cognitive abilities. Whether in formal schooling or playing at
home, these characteristics should be embraced and encouraged

Read more on:

https://stayathomeeducator.com/developmental-skills-for-preschoolers/#cognitive

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2

Describe behaviors to illustrate the preschooler’s:

1. animism

2. egocentrism

3. centration

4. lack of conservation

5. irreversibility

6. transductive reasoning

LEARNING CONTENTS : SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

SOCIAL / EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT SKILLS FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Social and emotional development for preschoolers covers a wide range of skills, such as:

 Regulating one’s own behavior and emotions

 Developing friendships with other children and healthy relationships with adults
 Creating a positive personal identity (liking oneself and building confidence, for example)
 Developing a working memory, curiosity for the world, and persistence
 Participating and engaging in learning
Children are naturally social and curious. They are also packed full of big emotions and need help
navigating their feelings and learning how to react and respond in social situations.
It’s an important part of growing up around other kids. It is also under this domain that children need
to feel safe, nurtured, respected, and loved.

Read more on:

https://stayathomeeducator.com/developmental-skills-for-preschoolers/#cognitive

PARTEN’S STAGES OF PLAY

1. Unoccupied
2. Onlooker

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Study Guide in Prof. Ed. 102 Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles Module No. 12

3. Solitary play
4. Parallel play
5. Associative Play
6. Cooperative

Read more on:

https://helpfulprofessor.com/stages-of-play/

BAUMRIND’S CAREGIVING STYLES

The permissive parent attempts to behave in a nonpunitive, acceptant and affirmative manner

towards the child's impulses, desires, and actions. She [the parent] consults with him [the child]
about policy decisions and gives explanations for family rules. She makes few demands for
household responsibility and orderly behavior. She presents herself to the child as a resource for
him to use as he wishes, not as an ideal for him to emulate, nor as an active agent responsible
for shaping or altering his ongoing or future behavior. She allows the child to regulate his own
activities as much as possible, avoids the exercise of control, and does not encourage him to
obey externally defined standards. She attempts to use reason and manipulation, but not overt
power to accomplish her ends (p. 889).

The authoritarian parent attempts to shape, control, and evaluate the behavior and attitudes of
the child in accordance with a set standard of conduct, usually an absolute standard, theologically
motivated and formulated by a higher authority. She [the parent] values obedience as a virtue
and favors punitive, forceful measures to curb self-will at points where the child's actions or
beliefs conflict with what she thinks is right conduct. She believes in keeping the child in his
place, , in restricting his autonomy, and in assigning household responsibilities in order to
inculcate respect for work. She regards the preservation of order and traditional structure as a
highly valued end in itself. She does not encourage verbal give and take, believing that the child
should accept her word for what is right (p. 890).

The authoritative parent attempts to direct the child's activities but in a rational, issue-oriented

manner. She [the parent] encourages verbal give and take, shares with the child the reasoning
behind her policy, and solicits his objections when he refuses to conform. Both autonomous self-
will and disciplined conformity are valued. [She values both expressive and instrumental
attributes, both autonomous self-will and disciplined conformity] ... Therefore she exerts firm
control at points of parent-child divergence, but does not hem the child in with restrictions. She
enforces her own perspective as an adult, but recognizes the child's individual interests and
special ways. The authoritative parent affirms the child's present qualities, but also sets standards
for future conduct. She uses reason, power, and shaping by regime and reinforcement to achieve
her objectives, and does not base her decisions on group consensus or the individual child's
desires. [... but also does not regard herself as infallible, or divinely inspired.]

Read more on:

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http://www.devpsy.org/teaching/parent/baumrind_styles.html

LEARNING ACTIVITY 3

REFLECTION:

From the lesson on the Socio-Emotional Development of Preschooler, I realized that…

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Explain why?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Big Ideas about the Physical Development of Preschoolers

1. There are significant changes in physical growth of preschoolers.
2. The preschoolers’ physical development is marked by the acquisition of gross and fine motor
skills.
3. Preschoolers can express themselves artistically at a very early age.
4. Proper nutrition and the right amount of sleep are very important.
5. Caregivers and teachers can do a lot in maximizing the growth for the preschoolers and
development of preschoolers.
6. Preschoolers with special needs in inclusive classrooms can thrive well with the appropriate
adaptations made in the classroom materials and activities.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Big Ideas about Preschoolers' Cognitive Development

1. Preschoolers engage in symbolic and intuitive thinking.

2. Brain connections are made when preschoolers interact with the environment.

3. Preschoolers' language development occurs in four areas: phonology, semantics, syntax,

and pragmatics.

4. Vygotsky believed that language and social interaction are very important to cognitive
development.

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Study Guide in Prof. Ed. 102 Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles Module No. 12

5. Preschoolers improve in their ability in process information.

6. Preschoolers' cognitive development is marked by the emergence of a theory of mind.

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Socio-emotional development is crucial in the preschool years. We hear a lot of parents and
teachers and preschool administrators say that attending preschool is more for "socialization" than
fot formal academic learning. There is wisdom in this. During the preschool years, children learn
about their ever widening environment. Preschoolers now discover their new roles outside their
home. They become interested to assert themselves as they relate with other people. A lot of very
important social skills they will learn during the preschool years will help them throughout life as
adults. These skills can even determine the individual's later social adjustment and consequent
quality relationships in adult life.

REFERENCES

Brenda B. Corpuz, Ph.D, et. al. (2018). The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles.
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Phil. Lorimar Publishing Inc.

https://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/the-stages-of-artistic-development

https://www.virtuallabschool.org/fcc/physical-development/lesson-3

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/preschoolers.html#:~:text=Skills
%20such%20as%20naming%20colors,%2C%20walking%2C%20or%20jumping).

https://stayathomeeducator.com/developmental-skills-for-preschoolers/#cognitive

https://helpfulprofessor.com/stages-of-play/

http://www.devpsy.org/teaching/parent/baumrind_styles.html

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