SESSION 1 : Principles of Child Growth and

Development

MS. MARISSA PASCUAL - (TEACHER JING)

COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS FOUNDATION
PRINCIPLES OF
CHILD
DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVES:

1.EXAMINE PRINCIPLES OF CHILD

D E V E LO P M E N T A N D T H E I R A P P L I C AT I O N
TO E D U C AT I O N A L P RO G R A M S
2 . E X P L A I N H OW D O M A I N S O F C H I L D
D E V E LO P M E N T A R E I N T E R T W I N E D A N D
I N T U R N A F F E C T H OW C H I L D R E N G ROW,
D E V E LO P A N D L E A R N
DUGTUNGAN MO GAME
(5min)

LIST DOWN SONGS THAT CONTAINS CHILD, CHILDREN,

BATA
SING A SONG
LO LO LA LO
LO LA LO LA LO LA LI
LO LA LO LA LO LA LO LA LO LA LI
LO LO LA LO
LO LA LO LA LO LA LI
LO LA LO LA LO LA LI
Cross Lateral Movement – Communication on both side of the brain is needed.
Body operates in a cycle.
Recall a particular experience in your childhood when you had just learned
something new or when someone tried to teach you something. Consider your
answers to these questions and discuss them with the person besides you.
(5mins.)
1. Who was with you?
2. What was the person trying to teach you?
3. Did you learn the skill?
4. If you did , what helped you learned?
5. If you didn’t what do you think got in along the way why you did not learned?
6. How did you feel about learning something new or facing the new challenge?
7.How did this experience influence the way you teach now?
8. What insights about how children learn have you derived from that experience?
Questions:
1. What do our own experiences tell us about what
children need to learn?
How did children different from one another? What
accounts for the individual variations in the rate of their
development?
WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHILDREN?

1.Children are playful in nature.

2.They learn and remember more when they
play.
3.That is why we need to teach children
through play in order for them to learn
more.
 K W L
What I What I What I
Know Want to have
know Learned
The study of child
development helps teachers
in fundamental ways:
 Child development helps
teachers understand the
changes they see as children
grow and develop.
Knowing and understanding how
children learn at different ages
and stages of development can
guide teachers in many
curriculum decisions they need
to make.

COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS
Studying child development
helps teachers explain
individual variations in rate of
development of their students.
The study of child development
helps teachers understand how
children influence their
environment and in turn, how the
environment influences them.
 Child development is a process of
change in which the child learns
to handle more complex levels of
moving, thinking, feeling and
interacting with people and
objects in the environment.
Developmental changes
have three characteristics:

1. Orderly - They occur in a

sequence.
2. Directional - It is cumulative.
Each change in a sequence
builds on the results of the
preceding changes.
Children need to learn to hear sounds in
spoken words first before they can map
out these sounds on paper to spell words. If
they have difficulty hearing sounds in a
given word, they will only rely on visual
memory to recall its spelling. Visual
memory alone is not going to be sufficient
as a resource/tool for spelling words
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION:
• Teachers must be knowledgeable about
developmental characteristics as well as critical
periods of development to proceed. Absence
of intervention at these periods may result to
behavioral, emotional , social, physical and
cognitive delays.
• Early attention to child’s development results
less problem in the later development to
proceed.
• Later intervention must have to be intensive to
have a positive impact
3. Stable - Children’s behavior is
reasonable stable over time. It
implies that early behavior and
personal characteristics are
good predictors of later
development.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS:
• Teachers should understand how child development domains
are interrelated so they can use these interrelationships to
organize children’s learning experiences in ways that can help
children reach their full potentials and make meaningful
connections across domains. – Teachers must plan lessons in
such a way that students feel some connection to the
academic content. When new content is relevant to them ,
student will likely be more motivated to learn the material and
retain information in their brains more effectively. Lesson must
include reflection exercises or discussions on how the new
content can affect their everyday experiences.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS:
• Teachers must plan learning experiences that
provide for the development of all domains
and not just focus on cognition. For example ,
exercise must be integrated into the classroom
routine. Not only will this fuel the brain with
growth and learning are dependent.
Development is wholistic. It is
often divided into four
categories that makes it easier
to observe and understand
children’s behaviour.
All are interwoven in a child’s life and
develop simultaneously and synergistically.

Physical Dimension - the ability to move and coordinate

 Intellectual/Cognitive Dimension - the ability to think and
learn
Social Dimension - the ability to relate to others
 Emotional Dimension - the ability to develop a positive
concept of self and others
The Cephalocaudal principle – development
starts from the head down to the toes.
Ex. infant – face movements first, then learns to life
himself using their arms then learns how to crawl, walk
or stand.
The Proximodistal principle – involves the belief
that development starts from the center of the body
going outwards
The principle of maturation
Maturation – sequence of development involving
biological change

Highly influenced by the development in the

nervous system and primarily the brain

Developmental milestones cannot be attained until

the different parts of the body mature
Development in the brain occurs from simple to more complex tasks.

Physical development starts from the development of general skills

before specific skills.

Ex. child will simply start to grasp toys using his

hands. Later on, he will be able to pick toys using his
fingers.
Every child is a unique person
with a unique temperament,
learning style, family background,
and pattern and timing growth.
While sequence is the same, the RATE of development
may varies from child to child. Rate and quality of
development is influenced by: physiological maturity,
heredity, environmental factors; together these factors
account for the tremendous range of variation in
children’s development
Children’s development is cumulative in nature and not necessarily
progressive.
Early attention to child’s development =
less problems will be encountered in later development and learning
There are limits to what can be achieved if intervention comes later
Later intervention must have to be intensive to have a positive impact.
 A child’s development begins
in the womb but learning
begins at birth.
Development and learning
occur as a result of the child
interacting with people and
objects in his or her
environment.
Children live within a
context- family, community,
culture and their needs are
most effectively addressed in
relation to that context.
 THE EARLY YEARS
The first eight years of a child’s life form the foundation
for all later development; early attention to the
child’s needs is critical.

* In the early years, the child develops all the basic

brain and physiological structures upon which later
growth and learning are dependent.

* Early support  benefits of intervention are greater

The early years – from birth through age eight - are
critical because they are the formative years when
growth and development are the most rapid

* brain growth – unmatched by any other

developments that occur during the life

span; age 6 -70% of the adult brain weight

 TIMING OF EXPERIENCE
Timing of experience can be critical.

-periods in life when the brain is particularly

open to new experiences

-negative experiences or the absence of good

or appropriate stimulation are more likely to
have serious and sustained effects
 WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY
Window for Optimal window Next best Further
opportunity rewiring possible
EMOTIONAL 0-24 mos 2-5 years any age
INTELLIGENCE
MOTOR 0-24 mos 2-5 years Decreases with age
DEVELOPMENT
VISION 0-2 years 2-5 years
EARLY SOUNDS 4-8 mos. 8 mos-5 years any age
MUSIC 0-36 mos 3-10 years any age
THINKING SKILLS 0-48 mos 4-10 years any age

SECOND 5-10 years any age

LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
There are certain critical periods that are conducive to developing specific skills.
References:
• Wilson,Donna, “Flourishing in the First Five Years”
• Shiller,Pam, “Start Smart:BuildingBrain Power in the
Early Years
• Galinsky, Ellen, “ Mind in the Making”
• Healy, Jane, “ Your Child’s Growing Mind”
• Evans,Judith, “Early Childhood Counts”, (The
International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development)
• Brazelton, T.BerryM.D. and Greenspan, Stanley M.D,
“The Irreducible Needs of Children: What Every Child
Must Have to Grow, Learn and Flourish”