Learning environment refers to the physical environment, context, culture, and climate in which students

learn. When we talk about physical environment, it is a learning environment with constant practices on
keeping the school safe, clean, orderly, and free from distraction and hazards. It also maintains facilities
that provide challenging learning activities and address the physical, social, and psychological needs of the
students.

The term also includes the culture of a school or class—its presiding ethos and characteristics, including
how individuals interact with and treat one another— as well as the ways in which teachers may organize
an educational setting to facilitate learning.

Bulletin or display boards can be powerful in communicating information about the learning environment.
They help in building and establishing the school culture. These can be tools for vision-mission, goals and
school uphold values be known to walk in clienteles. Further, bulletin boards, aside from being the school’s
visual environment, they have four general purposes:

They are decorative when they offer visual stimulation and appeal to aesthetics. They set the social and
psychological atmosphere of the school.
When they encourage students to perform better and develop greater confidence, they serve as
motivational. One example is the display of student’s output. Do you have other examples in mind?
They are informational when they are used as the strategy of the school in disseminating information.
Finally, bulletin boards are instructional when they move students to act or to respond and participate
through the displays.

NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) for principles of child development and
learning that inform developmentally appropriate practice:

Domains of children’s development--physical, social, emotional, and cognitive-- are closely related.
Development occurs in a relatively orderly sequence, with later abilities, skills, and knowledge building on
those already acquired.

Development proceeds at varying rates from child to child as well as unevenly within different areas of each
child’s functioning.

Early experiences have both cumulative and delayed effects on individual children’s development; optimal
periods exist for certain types of development and learning.

Development proceeds in predictable directions toward greater complexity, organization, and

internalization.

Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts.

Children are active learners, drawing on direct physical and social experience as well as culturally
transmitted knowledge to construct their own understandings of the world around them.

Development and learning result from interaction of biological maturation and the environment, which
includes both the physical and social worlds that children live in.

Play is an important vehicle for children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as a
reflection of their development.

Development advances when children have opportunities to practice newly acquired skills as well as when
they experience a challenge just beyond the level of their present mastery.

Children demonstrate different modes of knowing and learning and different ways of representing what they
know.

Children develop and learn best in the context of a community where they are safe and valued, their
physical needs are met, and they feel psychologically secure.
Principle 1: Domains of children’s development--physical, social, emotional, and cognitive--are closely
related. The three domains listed earlier demonstrate just one method of dividing up the phases of human
growth. Domains can also be separated into other categories, just as the stages of childhood can be
broken up in many ways. For example, we could use as many six categories if we looked separately at fine
motor, large motor, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development. The categories themselves are
less important than the relationship between them.

Domain development is always interrelated. The younger the child, the more evident this usually is. For
example, infants learning to crawl use all domains together. Motor development allows the baby to use his
limbs and eyes to see, while the desire and thought involved with locomotion involves both the cognitive
and social/emotional domains.

The connectedness of domains is also evident in how development in one area can either facilitate or limit
development in another area. For instance, no matter how cognitively ready a child is to write, she will be
unable if she is not physically ready.

Principle 2: Development occurs in a relatively orderly sequence, with later abilities, skills, and knowledge
building on those already acquired.

The sequence in which children learn is more important than exactly when they reach milestones. “The
critical consideration is the order in which children acquire these developmental skills, not their age in
month and years,” according to the authors of “Developmental Profiles” (Allen & Marotz, 2003). For
example, babies need to first roll over before they can sit or crawl, and crawling is an important
developmental step to walking. Sometimes there are lags, or even steps backward, as development is not
always smooth and steady. I remember that there was a definite (and exasperating) lag between when one
of my babies could pull to a stand and when he figured out how to get down without falling. Earlier is not
necessarily better.

Principle 3: Development proceeds at varying rates from child to child as well as unevenly within different
areas of each child’s functioning.

Development varies because children are all individuals with their own styles, strengths, interests,
environments, and patterns of development. Some learn best visually while others need auditory or tactile
approaches. Recent theories have expanded our understanding of learning modes to include various
multiple “intelligences” (Gardner, 1983) and “100 languages” (Malaguzzi, 1993) to describe how children
understand and represent their experiences. Understanding the needs and abilities common to children of
a certain age is not enough. Recognition of individual differences, ways of learning, and expression of
development are essential for practices to be individually appropriate.

Children may also vary in how each domain develops. For example, a child who is not very physical might
develop much faster in the cognitive/language domain than in others. Often these lags and spurts will even
out over time. For example, I was concerned about a preschooler’s large motor development even though
she was advanced in her fine motor skills. Once she had accomplished what she needed to in that area of
her development, her focus shifted and her large motor skills quickly caught up. Other times a child will
have a stronger or weaker domain (like my son, whose development was advanced in all areas except fine
motor). It is important that teachers recognize individual patterns and learning modes so they can help
children reach their potential in all domains by building on their strengths.

Principle 4: Early experiences have both cumulative and delayed effects on individual children’s
development; optimal periods exist for certain types of development and learning. Recent research has
shown that the brain’s neurological development is formed in large part by children’s early experiences,
positive and negative. We now know that the brain actually grows itself to fit the environment in which a
child lives (Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, 1996). This means that the care babies receive in their first
years can have a lasting impact, which may be immediate and/or delayed. Experiences that only happen
occasionally do not have the same cumulative (or “snowballing”) effect as those that happen regularly
(Wieder & Greenspan, 1993).
Principle 5: Development proceeds in predictable directions toward greater complexity, organization, and
internalization. Research shows that development generally processes in a predictable, orderly way.
Children move from the simple to the complex, general to specific, global to differentiated, concrete to
symbolic, and large to small (Bruner 1983; Gallahue 1993; Case & Okamoto, 1996). For example, children
first make random sounds and by the end of their first year may be saying recognizable words. Soon they
are fluent enough to play with language or use it inappropriately (such as potty talk).

Expected development occurs in all domains, but cultural context may cause these changes to be
evidenced and/or valued in different ways. For example, most Western families encourage and reward
reaching certain developmental milestones as soon as possible, while other cultures might do the very
opposite (such as trying to delay children walking early so they can stay safely strapped to the parent while
he or she works).

Principle 6: Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts.
“Rules of development are the same for all children, but social contexts shape children’s development into
different configurations” (Bowman, 1994). Culture can be defined as “the customary beliefs and patterns of
and for behavior, both explicit and implicit, which are passed on to future generations by the society they
live in and/or by a social, religious, or ethnic group” (NAEYC position statement, p.7).

Twentieth-century theorists such as Vygotsky and Bronfenbrenner showed that the sociocultural context
profoundly impacts development. Without understanding the cultural influences on learning and
development, caregivers cannot truly meet the individual needs of children. For example, when I taught
young toddlers, I liked to ruffle their hair as a sign of affection. While this may have felt loving to many
children, an increased understanding of South Asian culture helped me realize that it may have felt
disrespectful to children of that ethnic group.

Principle 7: Children are active learners, drawing on direct physical and social experience as well as
culturally transmitted knowledge to construct their own understandings of the world around them.

Principle 8: Development and learning result from interaction of biological maturation and the environment,
which includes both the physical and social worlds that children live in. Most current research supports the
notion that it is the interplay between genetics and environment that is responsible for human development.
Neither nature nor nurture alone is responsible for the variance in development, but rather the interaction of
the two together (Scarr & McCartney, 1983; Plomin, 1994). For example, a child may be born with the
genetic capacity for high intelligence but will not reach this biological potential if raised in a deficient
environment.

Principle 9: Play is an important vehicle for children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, as
well as a reflection of their development. Learning and development is constructivist, meaning that children
need to interact with their environments in order to make sense of their worlds. Play is essential to the
process of this construction of knowledge. Play supports development in all the domains, physical,
cognitive, and social/emotional (Herron & Sutton-Smith, 1971). Young children need environments and
opportunities to practice and process their experiences. Their learning and development are limited if
children are expected to be merely passive recipients of knowledge. “Play gives children opportunities to
understand the world, interact with others in social ways, express and control emotions, and develop their
symbolic capabilities. Children’s play gives adults insights into children’s development and opportunities to
support the development of new strategies” (NAEYC position statement, p. 8).

Principle 10: Development advances when children have opportunities to practice newly acquired skills as
well as when they experience a challenge just beyond the level of their present mastery. Children who are
frustrated by tasks that are too difficult can easily become discouraged and lose motivation (Brophy, 1992).
They also can lose interest when activities are too easy and boring. It is crucial, therefore, for adults to
provide opportunities for children to both gain competence through practicing new skills and push
themselves to the next level. A balance will enable children to gain confidence through repetition and work
on their “growing edge” with adult support, or scaffolding (Berk & Winsler, 1995; Bodrova & Leong, 1996).

Principle 11: Children demonstrate different modes of knowing and learning and different ways of
representing what they know. Although development happens in a predictable and orderly way, there is
tremendous individual variation in precisely when and how development occurs. Most children still fall
within the typical range of development, but some may differ enough that the child is identified as having
special needs, or atypical development. Specific disabilities will be addressed in upcoming chapters.

Principle 12: Children develop and learn best in the context of a community where they are safe and
valued, their physical needs are met, and they feel psychologically secure. This principle follows Maslow’s
model of a hierarchy of needs, in which physical and psychological needs for safety and security must be
met before learning can occur. One of children’s essential needs is for emotional attachment. Young
children must have at least one positive and consistent primary relationship to develop optimally (Bowlby,
1969; Stern, 1985).

I. Principles of Development
A. Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at uneven rates
across different areas of the child’s functioning (NYAEC, 2019).
B. Development and learning are maximized when learners are challenged to achieve at a level just
above their current level of mastery, and when they have many opportunities to practice newly
acquired skills.
C. Differentiated instruction is a student-centered approach that aims to match the learning content,
activities and assessment to the different characteristics, abilities, interests, and needs of
learners.
II. The Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) Domain 3 enumerated the following
factors that give emphasis about the diversity of learners.
A. Differences in learners’ gender, needs, strengths, interests, and experiences
B. Learners’ linguistic, cultural, socio-economic, and religious backgrounds
C. Learners with disabilities, giftedness, and talents
D. Learners under challenging circumstances which include geographic isolation, chronic illness,
displacement due to armed conflict, urban resettlement or disasters, child abuse, and child labor.

III. Focus on Indigenous People

To learn more about IPs, read the following:

 Republic Act 8371 –The Indigenous People’s Rights Act
 DepEd Order No 32, s 2015- Adopting the Indigenous People’s Education (IPED) Curriculum
Framework particularly the 5 Key Elements of an Indigenous Peoples Education Curriculum.
These are the Curriculum Design, Competencies and Content; Teaching Methodologies and
Strategies; Learning Space and Environment; Learning Resources; and Classroom Assessment.
 The Ecological Systems Theory is formulated by an American psychologist, Urie
Bronfenbrenner. This theory explains how social environments affect children’s development. It
also emphasizes the importance of studying children in multiple environments, known as
ecological systems, in the attempt of understanding their development.

The Microsystem

The theory suggests that the microsystem is the smallest and most immediate environment in which
children live. As such, the microsystem comprises the home, school or daycare, peer group and
community environment of the children. Within the microsystem, the interactions involve personal
relationships with family members, classmates, teachers, and caregivers. The interactions they have
with people around them will affect how they develop. A nurturing and supportive interactions and
relationships will eventually foster a better environment for one’s development. The proponent of the
theory proposed that most of the interactions are bi-directional: first, how children react to people in
their microsystem will also affect how these people treat the children in return. For example, a little
boy playing alone in a room. This little boy suddenly bursts out crying for no apparent reason. His
mother, who is making lunch in the kitchen, hears the boy crying. She comes into the room, picks
the little boy up, and carries him to the living room. In the example, the little boy initiated the
interaction (crying), and his mother responded. In a way, the little boy influenced his mother’s
behavior. It is possible for siblings who find themselves in the same ecological system to experience
very different environments. Therefore, given two siblings experiencing the same microsystem, it is
not impossible for the development of them to progress in different manners. Each child’s particular
personality traits, such as temperament, which is influenced by unique genetic and biological
factors, ultimately have a hand in how he/she is treated by others.

The Mesosystem
This encompasses the interaction of the different microsystems which children find themselves in. It
is a system of microsystems that involves linkages between home and school, between peer group
and family, and between family and community. According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, if
a child’s parents are actively involved in the friendships of their child, for example, they invite their
child’s friends over to their house from time to time and spend time with them, then the child’s
development is affected positively through harmony and like-mindedness. However, if the child’s
parents dislike their child’s peers and openly criticize them, the child will experience disequilibrium
and conflicting emotions, which will likely lead to negative development.

The Exosystem
In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, exosystem pertains to the linkages that may exist between
two or more settings, one of which may not contain the developing children but affect them indirectly,
nonetheless. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s findings, people, and places that children may not directly
interact with may still have an impact on their lives. Such places and people may include the
parents’ workplaces, extended family members, and the neighborhood the children live in. For
example, a father who is continually passed up for promotion by an indifferent boss at the workplace
may take it out on his children and mistreat them at home. This will have a negative impact on the
child’s development.

The Macrosystem
The macrosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model is the largest and most distant collection of
people and places to the children that still have significant influences on them. This ecological
system is composed of the children’s cultural patterns and values, specifically their dominant beliefs
and ideas, as well as political and economic systems. For example, children in war-torn areas will
experience a different kind of development than children in a peaceful environment.

The Chronosystem
The chronosystem adds the useful dimension of time to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory.
It demonstrates the influence of both change and constancy in the children’s environments. The
chronosystem may include a change in family structure, address, parents’ employment status, as
well as immense society changes such as economic cycles and wars.

Bronfenbrenner's theory shows the interconnected influences on child development through

ecological systems. Context awareness can help the teachers see how children act in different
situations. For example, a bully at school may play the victim at home. Due to these variances,
adults entrusted with a child's care should closely monitor his/her behavior in various contexts, as
well as the quality and type of links between them.

Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

The parenting style used to rear a child will likely impact that child’s future success in romantic, peer
and parenting relationships. Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist, coined the
following parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive/indulgent, Later, Maccoby and
Martin added the uninvolved/neglectful style.

Authoritative Parenting
In general, children tend to develop greater competence and self-confidence when parents
have high-but reasonable and consistent- expectations for children’s behavior, communicate well
with them, are warm and responsive, and use reasoning rather than coercion to guide children’s
behaviors. This kind of parenting style has been described as authoritative. Parents who use this
style are supportive and show interest in their kids’ activities but are not overbearing and allow
children to make constructive mistakes. This “tender teacher” approach deemed the most optimal
parenting style to use in western cultures. Children whose parents use the authoritative style are
generally happy, capable, and successful.

Authoritarian Parenting
Parents using the authoritarian (“rigid ruler”) approach are low in support and high in
demandingness. These parents expect and demand obedience because they are “in charge” and
they do not provide any explanations for their orders. Parents also provide well-ordered and
structured environments with clearly stated rules. Many would conclude that this is the parenting
style used by Harry Potter’s harsh aunt and uncle, and Cinderella’s vindictive stepmother. Children
reared in environments using the authoritarian approach are more likely to be obedient and
proficient, but score lower in happiness, social competence, and self-esteem.
Permissive Parenting
Parents who are high in support and low in demandingness are likely using the permissive-
also called the indulgent-style. Their children tend to rank low in happiness and self-regulation and
are more likely to have problems with authority. Parents using this approach are lenient, do not
expect their children to adhere to boundaries or rules, and avoid confrontation.

Uninvolved Parenting

Children reared by parents who are low in both support and demandingness tend to rank
lowest across all life domains, lack self-control, have low self-esteem, and are less competent than
their peers. Parents using the uninvolved (or sometimes referred to as indifferent or neglectful)
approach are neglectful or rejecting of their children and do not provide most, if any, necessary
parenting responsibilities.

Parenting Styles and Outcomes for Children

Parenting style has been found to predict child well-being in the domains of social
competence, academic performance, psychosocial development, and problem behavior. Research
in the United States, based on parent interviews, child reports, and parent observations consistently
finds:

 Children and adolescents whose parents use the authoritative style typically rate themselves
and are rated by objective measures as more socially and instrumentally competent than
those whose parents do not use the authoritative style.
 Children and adolescents whose parents are uninvolved typically perform most poorly in all
domains.

In general, parental responsiveness tends to predict social competence and psychosocial

functioning, while parental demandingness is typically associated with instrumental competence and
behavioral control (e.g., academic performance and deviance). These findings indicate:
 Children and adolescents reared in households using the authoritarian style (high in
demandingness, but low in responsiveness) tend to perform moderately well in school and
be uninvolved in problem behavior, but tend to have poorer social skills, lower self-esteem,
and higher levels of depression when compared to their peers who are reared in households
using the authoritative approach.
 Children and adolescents reared in homes using the indulgent style (high in responsiveness,
low in demandingness) tend to be more involved in problem behavior and perform less well
in school, but they have been shown to have higher self-esteem, better social skills, and
lower levels of depression when compared to their peers who are not reared using the
indulgent style.

An inclusive classroom climate refers to an environment where all students feel supported intellectually
and academically and are extended a sense of belonging in the classroom regardless of identity,
learning preferences, or education. Such environments are sustained when instructors and students
work together for thoughtfulness, respect, and academic excellence, and are key to encouraging the
academic success of all students. Research indicates that many students may be more likely to
prosper academically in settings with more collaborative modes of learning that acknowledge students’
personal experiences (Kaplan and Miller 2007).

Student learning can be enhanced by establishing a classroom tone that is friendly, caring, and
supportive, and that lets students explore the relationships among course material, personal, and
social experiences. Instructors can consider a variety of areas to promote inclusivity, including the
syllabus, choices in assigned reading, discussion expectations, and personal style.

To maintain an inclusive classroom

climate, the instructor can:

 Structure classroom
conversations to encourage
Top Strategies for Inclusive
respectful and equitable
participation Teaching
 Anticipate sensitive issues and
 Establish guidelines for
acknowledge racial, class or
cultural differences in the interaction.
Routines are the backbone of daily classroom life. They facilitate teaching and learning. Routines don’t
just make the life of the teacher easier. They have valuable classroom time. Efficient routines make it
easier for students to learn and achieve more.
Establishing routines early in the school year:
o Enables the teacher to run the daily activities smoothly
o Ensures the teacher to manage time effectively
o Helps the teacher maintain order in the classroom

o Makes the teacher more focused in teaching because of spending less time in giving
directions/instructions
o Enables the teacher to explain to the learners what are expected to them.
 Two

Aspects of Effective Classroom Management

1. Personal Classroom Management consists of managing yourself to ensure order and

discipline in your class. It includes:
 Voice
 Personal grooming
 Attendance
 Punctuality
 Personal graciousness
Note: Managing yourself as a teacher contributes to the order and well-being of your class
 2. Physical Classroom Management consists of managing the learning environment. Attending
to these physical elements of the learning environment ensures safety, security, and order in
class. It includes:
 Ventilation
 Lighting
 Acoustics
 Seating arrangement
 Structure/design of the classroom
 Physical space/learning stations

Formal education begins in school. The schools have recommended curriculum. This
recommended curriculum was translated into written curriculum like books, course packs or
modules, learning plans, teacher’s guides which eventually becomes the basis of taught curriculum.
As a teacher who implements the curricula needs support materials which are known as support
curriculum to enhance teaching and learning so that the written and the taught curricula can be
assessed (assessed curriculum) to determine if learning is experienced by learners (learned
curriculum). However, those things that happened in school but not planned are what we called as
hidden curriculum.

The teacher implements, plans and evaluates school learning activities by preparing a miniscule
curriculum called a lesson plan or learning plan. The teacher then puts life to a lesson plan by using
it as a guide in the teaching learning process where different strategies were employed. There are
many ways to write lesson plan, but the necessary elements are the following: Learning Outcomes,
Subject Matter, Teaching learning Strategies, and Evaluation or Assessment. These elements
should be aligned so that at the teaching-learning episode, learning will be achieved with the
classroom teacher as a guide.
From a broad perspective, curriculum is defined as the total learning process and outcomes as in
lifelong learning. Basic education in the Philippines is under the Department of Education and the
recommended curriculum is the K-12 or the Enhanced Basic Education Curricula of 2013.
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