Concept of Development and its Relation with Learning

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TET Syllabus - Concept of Development and its Relation with Learning Study Material

Human life starts from a single fertilized cell. The constant interaction with the environment results in the growth and development of the innate capacities, abilities and potentialities of the child.

  • Meaning of Growth: In general, growth means the growth of different parts of human body and the ability of those parts to work The physical growth affects our Behavior and vice versa. Thus growth means - shape and growth in weight. This includes growth of muscles also. Herbert Sovenson has called physical growth as “big and heavy’.
  • Meaning of Development: The word ‘Development’ indicates towards changes related to Growth and moves towards maturity. Due to Qualitative and Quantitative changes, man's form and creation changes. Thus development is a process of maturity. Physical growth depends mostly on physical development. Due to the fundamental relation between Development and Growth they are used for each other.
  • According to Jersild, Telford and Sawrey, “Development refers to the complex set of process involved in the emergence of a mature functioning organism from fertilized ovum.” E. Hurlock said, “Development is not limited to growing layer. Instead it consists of progressive series of changes Towards the goal of maturity.”E. Hurlock also said, due to development new abilities grows in a man.
  • Growth and Development : The terms growth and development are often used interchangeably. But in fact they are conceptually different. Growth refers to quantitative changes in size which include physical changes in height, weight, size, internal organs etc. We observe that as an individual develops old features of his, like his body fat, hair and teeth etc disappear. In their place come various new features like facial hair etc. When maturity comes, the second set of teeth and primary and secondary sex characteristics, etc. appear. Similar changes occur in all the aspects of the personality.

Growth and Development can be understood as under

  • Growth: During infancy and childhood, the body of a person steadily becomes larger, taller and heavier. It is growth. Thus, it is evident that growth involves changes in body proportions as well as in overall stature and weight. The term growth thus, indicates an increase in bodily dimensions.
  • Development: Development refers to the various qualitative changes taking place simultaneously with quantitative changes of growth. Thus, development may be defined as a progressive series of orderly and coherent changes. To understand development these terms are to be explained:
  • Progressive: The term progressive denotes that changes are directional. They lead forward that changes are directional. They lead forward rather than backward.
  • Orderly and Coherent: These terms suggest that there is a definite relationship between the changes taking place and those that precede or will follow them. Thus, development represents changes in an organism from its origin to its death. It is the series of overall changes in an individual due to the emergence of modified structures and functions that are the outcome of the interactions and exchanges between the organism and its environment.

Pictorial Representation of Growth and Development

Development Tasks (Learning) of the Various Stages of Development
The Development period as we know in the human

  • Difference Between Growth and Development
The term growth in used in purely physical sense. It generally refers to an increase in size, length, height and weight. Changes in the quantitative aspects come into the domain of growth. Development implies overall changes in shape, form or structure resulting in improved working or functioning. It indicates the changes in the quality or character rather than in quantitative aspects.
The changes produced by growth are the subject of measurement. They may be quantified and are observable in nature. Development, as said earlier, implies improvement in functioning and bebaviour and hence brings qualitative changes, which are difficult to be measured directly. They are assessed through keen observation in behavioural situations.
Growth may or not bring development. A child may grow (in terms of weight) by becoming fat but this growth may not bring any functional improvement (qualitative change) or development. Development is also possible without growth as we have seen in the cases of some children that they do not gain in terms of height, weight or size but they do experience functional improvement or development in physical, social, emotional or intellectual aspects.
Growth is one of the parts of development process. It strict sense, development in its quantitative aspect is termed as growth. Development is a wider and comprehensive term. It refers to overall changes in individual. Growth in one of its parts.
Growth may be referred to describe the changes, which take place in particular aspects of the body and behaviour of an organism Development describes the changes in the organism as a whole and does not list the changes in parts.
Growth does not continue throughout life. It stops when maturity has been attained. Development is a continuous process. It goes from womb to tomb. It does not end with the attainment of maturity. The changes, however, small they may be, continue throughout the life span of an individual.

Stage of Growth and Development

Name of Stages Period and Approximate age
Pre-natal (pre-birth) stage From conception of Birth
Stage of infancy From birth to two years
Childhood stage
a) Early Childhood
b) Later Childhood
From 3rd to 12 years or in strict sense up to the onset of puberty
From 3rd to 5 years
From 6 to 12 years
Adolescent stage From the onset of puberty to the age of maturity (generally from 12 to 19 years)
Adulthood From 20 years and beyond or in strict from the age of attaining maturity till death

Being ranges from birth to the attainment of maturity i.e. expiry of the adolescence period. The significant stages of development during this period may be named as stage of infancy, stage of childhood and stage of adolescence. Let us try to know about something about the nature of development tasks needed to be performed by the youngsters during the above mentioned three development stages of our life.

Development Tasks of Infancy (upto 2 years)

Learning to crawl, stand, walk, run, climb, jump, throw etc.
Learning to drink and to take solid food.
Learning to talk.
Learning to acquire physiological stability.
Learning to control elimination of bodily wastes.
Learning to explore the physical environment surrounding him.
Learning to play with toys.
Learning to accomplish the skill of tricycling.
Learning to pay attention towards the things, persons and events.
Learning to recognize and identify the things and persons.
Forming simple concepts of social and physical reality.
Learning to recite the poems and stories.
Learning to imitate the behavior and actions of others.
Learning to acquire almost all the positive and negative emotions in his behavioural expression.
Learning to shift his attention from the play material to his playing mates.
Learning to take interest in the company of his age mates and other growing children.
Learning to relate oneself emotionally to parents, sibling and others.

Development Tasks of Early Childhood (from 3 to 5 years)

Learning to acquire competencies in the motor skills like walking, jumping, climbing, sliding, tricycling, hopping, galloping, skipping, throwing, bouncing and catching.
Learning to acquire simple basics in language skills like, speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Learning to sex differences and sex modesty.
Learning to distinguish right and wrong and developing a conscience.
Learning to develop right concepts related to social and physical reality.
Learning to remain away from the parental fold and enjoy the companionship of other children.
Learning to give up his ‘I’ feeling and develop the ‘we’ feeling.
Learning to acquire the ability to sense similarities and dissimilarities and compare and contrast the things.
Learning to control over expression of emotions.

Development Tasks of Later Childhood (from 6 to 12 years)

Learning to motor and physical skills necessary for playing different indoor and outdoor games.
Learning to get along with age-mates.
Learning to appropriate sex roles.
Building wholesome aptitudes towards oneself as a growing organism
Development of necessary skills in language and communication, computation, sketching and drawing etc.
Development of various interest, attitudes, linking and dislinkings towards the things, persons and ideas.
Development of concrete and abstract concepts regarding things, persons, ideas and processes.
Development of conscience, morality and scale of values.
Development of the capacity to reason, think and problem solving.
Development of the loyalty towards the group.

Development of Tasks of Adolescene (from 13 to 18 years)

Development of abilities, motor and physical skills for playing difficult complex and hard indoor and outdoor games.
Development of abilities, motor and physical capacities for performing mental tasks and physical labour.
Development of mental and cognitive abilities to perform difficult mental tasks and operation.
Learning to accept one’s physique and satisfaction with one’s appearance.
Learning to play masculine or feminine role.
Learning to develop new relations with age mates of both sexes.
Learning to acquire maturity in sex behaviour.
Development of a sense of one’s own identity.
Learning to acquire maturity in sex behaviour.
Development of a sense of one’s identity.
Learning to gain the means and ways for economic independence.
Development of sentiments towards things, persons, places and values.
Learning to acquire civic sense, social responsibilities and ways of democratic living.
Learning to build a sense of belongingness to one’s group, culture, community and nation.
Learning to adjust with a sense of self-sacrifice and martyrs like feelings for the cause of society, religion, nation and humanity.
Gaining vocational awareness and get ready for entering into higher academic or professional courses of study.
Gaining competencies and skills for meeting the needs of specific interests and aptitudes.
Striving to gain desired height on the mental, emotional and social maturity scales.
Preparing for playing the roles of a matured adult in future life.

At the end we can say

Development is a gradual process and studies shows that there are great individual variation between and within individuals, in the expressions of behaviour. With development, behaviour peaks out in different individuals at different age levels. Nevertheless, we can make some rough predictions of the crisis stages in development. From around eighteen months through three years of age we have the stage of negativism, a stage o resistance. Approximately at the age of six the child again shows his negative side; he is impulsive, compulsive, bossy and full of indecision. Experiences seem to come prematurely.

Please comment on Concept of Development and its Relation with Learning

9 Comments

  1. Syed mubeen

    Good information for growth and development I request some easy way examples added in information thanks

    Reply
  2. Darshan

    Gud

    Reply
  3. Anjali Bandral

    Nice and easy info

    Reply
  4. Anjali Bandral

    Very easy and very informative material

    Reply
  5. Anjali Bandral

    Very easy and very informative material.

    Reply
  6. manpreet

    its was satisfacotry but different ways of growth should be added for example head to toe etc.

    Reply
  7. Ashwin

    This is wonderful material

    Reply
  8. Dhiresh Kumar Sharma

    Very informative

    Reply
  9. neelam sharma

    Good information.sentence structure need improvement.more theories can be added

    Reply

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