Growth and Development
Human beings are not static entities, they keep on changing. Let's understand this change in terms of growth and development.
Growth
• Growth is change in quantitative aspects of our body
• Changes that can be measured such as height, weight,size and shape of the body.
• Growth is not a lifelong process. It goes on till maturity.
Development
- Development refers to systematic changes which lead an individual from dependency to self-reliance throughout his lifetime i.e going from womb to tomb.
- It means development begins before birth i.e from the prenatal period or from the time of conception and continues till an individual dies i.e his tomb.
- In this time period an individual grows in many ways such as physically, mentally, emotionally etc.
- The development includes progressive and relatively permanent changes and these changes can not be reversed; changes which occur due to some illness or tiredness do not get count in development.
- Development is a continuous process that includes growth, maturation and learning in itself.
Growth: Physical or quantitative changes which can be measured in measuring units such as changes in height, weight, shape and size.
Maturation: maturity is the ability to respond to the environment in an appropriate manner and is highly related to heredity ( e.g. a child 2 years of age cannot perform tasks for whom he is not mature physically.)
Learning: comes from efforts and practice or we can say a relatively desired permanent change in behavior.
Differences between Growth and Development:
|
Growth |
Development |
|
Growth is quantitative |
Development is both quantitative and qualitative in nature |
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Growth is restricted to physical aspects only |
Development includes all aspects such as physical, cognitive,
emotional, social etc. |
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Growth stops at a certain period of life. |
Development continues till death. |
|
Growth can be measured. |
Development can only be assessed |
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Includes structural changes. |
Includes both structural and functional changes |
- . Physical Development:
· Physical development refers to the development of body structure including muscles, bones and organs.
· It includes motor development also which means to gain better control over our bones, muscles and other parts of our body which help us to manipulate the environment.
- Motor development is of two types:
- · Gross motor development: which involves the development of the large muscles in the child's body. These muscles help us to sit, stand, walk and run, etc.
- Fine motor development: which involves the small muscles of the body, especially in the hand. These muscles helps us in activities like writing, drawing, throwing, grasping etc.
- Cognitive or Intellectual Development: It includes the development of our intellectual abilities such as thinking, reasoning, imagination, memory, problem-solving etc.
- Language Development: It is one of the important aspects of cognitive development. In language development, we acquire the ability to learn, use, comprehend and manipulate skills of language.
- Emotional Development: Emotional development refers to the ability to recognize, express, and control our emotions. It comes under social development too.
- Social Development: It is the ability to accommodate oneself according to the needs, values and norms of the society, such as cooperation, and leading healthy relations with people in our surroundings.
- Moral Development: Moral development is a part of social development which means the development of one's ability to take decision about right and wrong.
Stages of Development:
A child's development is generally classified in five stages:
1. Prenatal Period: 9 Months before Birth.
2. Infancy ( birth to 2 Years) - Senses are teachers.
3. Early Childhood (2-6 Years) - Pre-school Age.
4. Later Childhood (7-11 Years)- Gang Age.
5. Adolescence ( 12-19 Years) - Identity Crisis.
1. Infancy (birth to 2 Years):
- The development of language starts from this stage.
- During this stage, the child transitions from a dependent toddler to an active child.
- He or she is now able to crawl and walk.
- In terms of physical development, the stage of infancy records the most growth.
2. Early Childhood (2-6 Years):
• In this stage children spend a lot of time playing with toys.
• At this stage children do not attend the traditional system of education but they start going to pre-school or playschool.
• Children are self-centric(egocentric) at this stage.
• It is a sensitive period for language development.
3. Later Childhood (7-11 years):
• Here, a child joins the traditional system of education that is why this stage is known as elementary school age.
• This stage is also known as troublesome age.
• Children devote more time with their peer group.
• Development of children's creative potential begins.
• Experiences of this period influence the child throughout his life.
4. Adolescence or Puberty (13-19 Years):
"Adolescence is the stage of stress and storm" - Stanley Hall.
• This is the most critical stage of a person's life.
• Also known as the stage of an Identity crisis.
At this stage, adolescents face much social, biological, and personal change.
• This is the transitional stage; where a person transits from a child to an adult.
• Adolescents face adjustment problems.
• They become aggressive at times. In this stage, thought becomes more abstract and logical.
Principles of the development of children:
The process of development is wide and complex; thus some principles need to be followed to understand it in a better way:
1. Principle of Continuity/Change:
Change is the law of nature.
• Development follows continuity. It goes from womb to tomb and never stops.
• An individual starts his life from a cell grows into a full fledged human being because of the constant change which goes from womb to tomb.
• The major changes include changes in size and proportions, acquisition of new mental, motor, and behavioral skills.
2. Principle of Proceeding from General to Specific:
• Individual exhibits general response at first and learn to show specific and goal directed responses later.
• For e.g when a newborn cries, he uses his whole body.
3. Principle of
Individual Differences:
• Interaction between heredity and environment leads to individual differences in the developmental pattern.
• These differences are caused by the genes one inherits and the environmental conditions like food, medical facilities, psychological conditions and learning opportunities.
• Even twin-children have differences.
4. Principle of Uniform Pattern/Sequence:
• The process of development has differences and few individual uniformity
• Uniformity shows up in aspects like development of body and language in children.
• The development starts from head. so the milk teeth fall first. Hence the development of particular species have a definite uniform pattern.
• At embryo stage, firstly head develops, then lower portion of the body. Similarly firstly spinal cord develops, then heart, chest etc.
5. Principle of Direction:
• The rate of development may vary in different children. However, the development of all human beings follows a similar pattern, similar sequence or direction.
Sequential pattern of development can be seen in two
directions:
Cephalo-caudal sequence: Means that development spreads over the body from head to toe i.e. individual begins to grow from head region and then goes down wards.
Proxi-modistal sequence: Development proceeds from central part of the body towards peripheries. In this sequence, the spinal cord of the individual develops first and then outward control is gained. e.g. babies cut their front teeth before they cut their side ones.
6. Principle of Integration:
• We know that development proceeds from general to specific or from whole to parts, it is also seen that specific responses are combined in the later process of development.
• It is the integration of whole and its parts as well as of the specific and general responses that makes a child develop properly in the different dimensions.
7. Principle of interrelation:
• The growth and development in various dimensions like physical, mental, social etc. are interrelated and interdependent.
• Each area of development is dependent on the other and thus influences other domains also.
8. Principle of Maturation and Learning:
- In the process of Growth and development maturation and 'ear plays an important role.
- For instance if a child is keen to learn something and lacks maturity then he will not be able to learn it.
- We have discussed that maturation is unwinding of characteristics already present in the individual. For example, creeping, crawling, walking comes with maturation. These characteristics are highly influenced by heredity.
9. Principle of Heredity and Environment:
- Child's growth and development is the joint product of heredity and environment.
- Various examples have proved this fact. The effect of both of these cannot be separated.
- Heredity is the foundation of the personality of a child. Which sets the limit in the development.
10. Principle of Spiral vs. Linear Development:
- •The child doesn't proceed on a straight line that means development goes back and forth.
- He makes advancement, during a particular period but takes rest in the next period to consolidate his development.
- Therefore, he turns back and makes forward again like a spiral.
11. Principle of
Significance of Early Development:
- Early childhood experiences have more impact on the development of a child.
- Examples include nutritional, emotional, social and cultural experiences.
- So it is important to provide better quality care to a child in his/her initial years of life.
Influence of Heredity & Environment
Heredity:
- Heredity provides the basis for the development of human personality. Heredity is what a person is born with.
- All the qualities that a child has inherited from the parents is called heredity.
- At the time of Conception, the union of male and female germ cells causes fertilization of the ovum. The fertilized egg is known as a zygote.
- Zygote has 46 chromosomes; i.e 23 pairs of chromosomes are there in a zygote.
Environment:
- The environment includes all the aspects of our surroundings except one's genes.
- These factors influence the development of an individual.
- The environment consists of various types of forces like physical, moral, cultural emotional etc.
- Teachers should try to provide the best environment so that a child can flourish.
Identical and Fraternal Twins:
- Identical Twins: Identical twins develop from one ovum. Identical, twins resemble each other and are always of the same sex while having. almost same interests.
- Fraternal twins: Fraternal twins germinate from two separate ova. The fraternal twins are mostly of the same sex just brothers but they can be of different sex.
SIGNIFICANCE OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT
- Heredity (nature) is defined as the totality of biologically acquired factors and is n important factor in the life of an individual.
- Environment (nurture) is the totality of conditions that play an important role in bringing the modification of our behavior.
- According to Woodworth, both are equally essential in the growth and development of the child.
- Individual is the result of multiplication (product) between heredity and environment.
Development = Heredity x Environment
Educational Implication
- The knowledge of both the factors will help the teacher in finding out the individual differences among his students in learning different subjects
- Hence teachers must provide a congenial atmosphere for the students and treat them equally.
- The children should be taught to adapt to the environment.
- Heredity--------Nature
- Environment--------Nature
- Father of Heredity ---- Johann Gregor Mendel.
- He Experimant in Pea Plants.
- He wrote a famous book named --Heredity Genious
- Mcq