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PROFESSIONAL
EDUCATION 101 Child and Adolescent
Learners and
Learning Principles

In this module, we will learn about “The Child and Adolescent

Learners and Learning Principles”, the first among your

Professional Education series of courses.

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UNIT 1: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: DEFINITION, CONCEPTS AND ISSUES

Introduction
This unit is the first topic for the course The Child and Adolescent Learner and
Learning Principles. Since this is an introductory course meant for you to learn all about
child and adolescent development, this unit will give you information about the basic
definition, different concepts, and important issues involved in human development.
You will also get to have an idea of how experts explained development.
Given also are activities throughout and at the end of this unit meant to test
how well you are learning as we go along. Some are questions that will require your
own insights/ perspectives so do not worry about giving the wrong answers. Hopefully,
at the end of this course, you will have a clearer understanding of all things related to
human development and why we play an important part in keeping its progression
and success.

Human Development: Definition, Principles and Approaches

By definition, human development means the pattern of movement or change

that begins at conception and continues through our life span (Corpuz, 2018). When we
say conception this means from the moment the sperm cell fertilized the egg cell. That
said life already exists from that moment.

Who is the Child and Adolescent Learner?

• The More future educators learn about children’s development, the more they can
understand at what level it is appropriate to teach them.

Growth and Development

Growth essentially is the quantitative changes in individuals as they progress in

chronological age.
Growth as a form of development is easy enough to understand. The progression and the
changes that occurs from your elementary years up to your senior high school years are very
good examples of your growth. However, that will not be always the case. Look at your father,
mother, or your grandparents. What do you notice about them compared to your younger siblings
or yourself? That is right. An example of decline as a form of development is when humans reach
middle age and then on to old age. You may notice how sometimes your grandparents and/
or parents easily forget things, experience health difficulties and decrease in their energy. That is
why our development, just like any other thing in this world, follows a bell- shaped curve

Human development therefore can be positive or negative (Santrock, 2002). Can you
give an example of when development can be positive? How about an example of a
negative development?
Development refers to the change over time which begins from conception and
continues of an orderly and coherent throughout the life span. It is a progressive series of
changes of an orderly and coherent type leading toward maturation.
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Major Principles in Human Development

Now, let’s talk about some major principles governing and guiding human
development. If you want proof, you can ask from your mother about them as they,
themselves can give you concrete stories about these principles. Please always bear in mind
that every human being is unique. We must not compare one baby and their speed of growth
to another since all babies follow their own schedule. It will also be wrong for us to conclude
immediately that something is wrong with our babies just because their development is slow
or is not as fast as their peers are. I would like to emphasize that diagnoses about the health
of our babies must only be done by pediatricians and health professionals.

1. Development is relatively orderly.

How do you understand orderly? It is easy to understand then
that our development will always follow the same pattern of
growth and decline. All human beings must first learn to sit,
crawl on their knees, walk with support, walk on their own and
then run. In that order. Have you ever seen a baby who
learned to walk first before crawling on the floor using their
knees? None, right? We all go through the same pattern of
growth and development. That said, primary caregivers will
not be wondering what development will occur first among
their babies.
There are two patterns guiding this orderly
development (see Figure a). The first one is the
cephalocaudal pattern, which refers to how development move down the body from head
to toe For example, you might have noticed how newborn babies cannot support yet their
heads since their necks are not that fully developed. That is why you must take extra care if
you want to cuddle or carry them in your arms. This means that development is still going on
with their heads. Then, the development of their necks so it could support their heads will follow
going down to their shoulders, middle trunk and so on until the toes allowing babies to be able
to stand on their own.
The second pattern guiding orderly development among humans is the proximodistal
pattern. This is referring to how the muscular control of the trunks and the arms come earlier as
compared to the hands and fingers. Whereas, the previous one is from top to bottom, the second
pattern is the orderly development of our bodies from the center going outwards. Thus, our organs
will develop first (center of our bodies) before going outwards to the hands and fingers. A good
example of this would be how babies are able to move their whole arms and legs but are not yet
able to manipulate their fingers and toe.
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2. While the pattern of development is likely to be similar, the outcomes of developmental

processes and the rate of development are likely to vary among individuals.
I want you to think about your own development from elementary to high school. Now,
compare it with the development that happened in your younger or older sibling. Are they
similar? You might answer yes and this is indeed true. Now, are the development that
happened in you, your older or younger sibling at the same rate or at the same approximate
ages/ period in your life? You may also ask your parents if you want to get a clearer picture.
However, the answer here might be no. The speed by which you have learned to walk and
run might not be the same speed of your younger or older sibling. The ages in which they
occur might not also be the same.
Then again, your answer here might be yes. Moreover, this can be true, considering
that, you are siblings and are sharing the same genes.
Let us have another example. Can you see the possible differences if we compare the
rate of development between a child of a wealthy politician and a child of a construction
worker? There would be many glaring differences in their development, indeed. This is the
whole point of the second principle in human development.
Many factors can affect and dictate the rate or speed as well as the results of
developmental processes in every individual. Foremost among them is our heredity and
environment. A child who is born to a loving family in a peaceful community will have better
advantages in terms of development than a child who is born among gambler parents in a
poor and harsh environment. However, I would also like to emphasize that these advances in
development brought about by our heredity and environment are NOT predictors of future
success or failure. Again, we go back to individual differences and the uniqueness of every
single being.

3. Development takes place gradually.

Human development does not happen overnight and in just a matter of moments.
Development takes time among individuals, as is the way of nature.
Let me give the flower rose as an example. How does a beautiful red rose came to
be?Does it just bloom overnight? No, right? It has to start from a bud, which
will gradually open its petals to become a beautiful flower. What do you think will
happen if I cut that flower bud open so it will bloom ahead of time? Can I do that, in the first
place? The answers to these questions are NO, of course. This is the whole point of the third
principle. We cannot force development to happen according to our will or our desired time.
Our growth, development and maturation will follow its own time to ensure that the
developmental process would occur as best as it can possibly be. The same way that there will
be no red roses if we try to force the young buds to open its petals. While there may be changes
that can occur rapidly, a beautiful individual will always take time to develop and will emerge as
results of the different changes that happen to them .
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Let us clarify these terms: growth, and maturation. Can you tell the difference? Let us
start with growth. This term refers to all measurable physical changes and genetically
influenced. Indicators of growth include our height and weight among others. On the other
hand, our genes/heredity can also influence maturation. However, it also includes intellectual
and emotional process of development in addition to the physical growth. Maturation is not
necessarily measurable (What is Development –Growth, Maturation, and Learning, 2014).
Let us cite some examples to make things clearer. You noticed that you have gained
weight during those months when community quarantine was enforced in your community.
This is growth. Your sudden recognition and appreciation of how your parents were able to
provide for you and your siblings despite and because of the imposed community quarantine
can be attributed as a socioemotional maturation. Now, try to come up with your own
examples of growth and maturation.

4. Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological,

cognitive, and socioemotional processes (Santrock, 2002).
Can you think of examples of the changes due to biological processes that occur in
our life span? Cognitive processes? Socioemotional processes?
If we talk about biological processes, they involve changes in our physical nature. For
example, the changes in our height, weight, and even the physical development of our brain.
They also include the hormonal changes and decline of vital organs that we experience as
we grow, mature, and decline.
Cognitive changes, on the other hand, involve changes in our thoughts, intelligence,
and language. Can you still recall how you were able to acquire your mother tongue? Your
answer here would be “no” since some, if not all, of these changes can occur subliminally or
unconsciously and gradually.
Lastly, socioemotional processes include changes in our relationships and the way we
deal with people. This also includes changes in our emotions and personality as we gain
experiences and mature, in the process. Ask your mother or father about your temperament
or nature as an infant or a toddler. Is it still the same with how you are today? Do you think you
would still be the same person (physically, cognitively, and emotionally) 5 – 10 years from now?
These changes are all because of the socioemotional processes that occurred, are occurring,
and will still occur in us.

The last principle of human development thus, tells us that all development and its
corresponding results will always be an interaction of the biological, cognitive, and
socioemotional processes common to all human beings (see Figure c). They are inextricably
intertwined (Corpuz, 2018) although they may be studied separately. The effects of negative
development in one among our family members and will cause emotional stress over our family
not to mention the stress caused by the pandemic itself. The loss of my father’s job might also lead
us to stop our education since our parents will not be able to provide us with the necessary school
supplies. See how a negative socioemotional factor can also negatively impact the biological
and cognitive aspect of a human being.
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Two Approaches to Human Development

Now that you have learned some of the principles governing human development, let
me proceed to the basic approaches to human development. Before we start, let me ask
you which statement below you agree with:
a) Extensive changes are present from birth to adolescence, little or no change in
adulthood and decline in late adulthood or old age; or
b) Extensive changes are present in all the developmental stages of a human being.
In the statements above, both are true and not necessarily wrong. Those statements
are measures as to what approach you think pertains to human development. Let us take
them one by one.
1) Traditional approach
This approach believes that extensive changes are present from birth to adolescence,
little or no change in adulthood and decline in late adulthood or old age. This means that the
extensive changes that happen to us are relatively permanent.
For example, the traditional approach will tell you that the changes in our height rapidly
occurs from childhood to adolescence. It would start to slow down during our early 20s and
that there would be no more changes or even decline when we reach old age due to bad
posture.

2) Life- span approach

On the other hand, the second statement advocating that extensive changes are
present in all the developmental stages of a human being is from the life-span approach. Paul
Baltes (Santrock, 2002), an expert in life-span development, gave the following characteristics
of this perspective.
i. Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. No developmental
stages dominates development. There will always be changes in every stage of
our life.
ii. Development is multi- dimensional. Development consists of biological,
cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions.
iii. Development is plastic. Development is possible throughout our life- span.

iv. Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a changing

world depending on your environment or context.
v. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. Growth,
maintenance and regulation are three (3) goals of human development. As we
grow more mature, our goals also vary. As we go through our life stages, there is
also a shift in our priority regarding these three (3). For example, our concern,
when we were still young is on growth and less on maintenance and regulation.
However, when we reach middle age and on to adulthood, regulation and
maintenance take priority and less for growth.

Issues on Human Development

Three (3) main issues hound human development. You might have even hear
about them during your senior high school years. At the end of this section, I hope that
you would be able to take an informed stand or position on these issues. So, let us start
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1. Nature vs. Nurture

What do you think has a more substantial influence on our development: our genes or our
environment?
This question is the main driving force behind this issue. Many debates have raged on
whether it is our heredity or our environment that will give more influence on our development.
Nature refers to our biological inheritance while nurture refers to our environmental
experiences and contexts. Those who support the stance that nature/ heredity dictates our
development contend that our genes serve as the blueprint of our physical, cognitive, and
emotional dimensions. One can observe similarities among family members most especially
among twins.
On the other hand, those on the side of nurture/ environment claim that the things
people teach us, the things we observed, and because of the different situations we are in
can strongly influence how we become as unique individuals. Furthermore, they emphasized
that our behavior is a result of our interaction within a particular context or setting.
However, recent years and breakthrough of researches conducted have lead many
experts in the field to conclude that our development is an interaction of both nature and
nurture. It is not a matter of OR but rather a matter of AND. Experts have recognized how these
two go hand in hand and play an equally important role in the determination of our
development and behavior.
Let me cite aggressive behavior as an example. This can be a product of our heredity
(nature). We have often heard how other people say, “like father, like son.” However, every
time that we see our father exhibit aggressive behavior will also lead to our tendency to
display the same behavior (nurture). Do you get my point?

2. Continuity vs. Discontinuity

Let me start once again my explanation with a question: which among the diagrams below
best describes our development?

This is the main concern of this issue. Whether our development involve gradual, cumulative
change and is therefore continuous (diagram A) or whether our development is all
about distinct changes in every life stages as we go through our life span or discontinuous
(diagram B).
Think about this: is our development like that of a seedling that gradually grows into a big, strong
narra tree? Or is it more like of a caterpillar becoming a beautiful, colorful butterfly?

3. Stability vs. Change

Finally, the last issue has something to do with whether the personality traits present during our
infancy will endure throughout the lifespan or it will change as we grow, develop, and mature.
Will we develop into someone different from who we were during our childhood due to our
experiences or will we remain unaffected by these events and continue to be who we were since
birth?

These issues are all relevant if we truly want to understand human development. According to
Santrock (Corpuz, 2018), these issues raised questions that have sparked animated debates due
also to the complex nature of humankind. Are females less likely to do well in Math because of
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their “feminine” nature or because the society in general sees Math as a “masculine” domain?
Can we train the older generation or our elders to maintain an efficient recall or is this inevitable
since our memory typically decline as we age? For those who experienced poverty and hunger,
abuse and neglect, and lack of education, can enriched experiences and environment in the
latter years of their lives be enough to compensate for these “deficits”?
Again, just as I have mentioned previously, the key to development is interaction. It is a matter of
BOTH - AND, not EITHER - OR.

4. Passivity vs Activity

Passivity
• Holds the idea that a child is a passive organism that is simply shaped by the genetic
composition or by environmental influence.
Activity
• Holds the beliefs that children are active agent who shape, control, and direct their own
development.

5. Early Experience vs Late Experience

This opposite perspective shows the belief that early experience contributes a lot in the
development of the child. Psychoanalytic theorists give focus on what developed and
established during the early childhood period. According to Freud, much of a child’s personality
is completely established by the age of five. Improvements have been observed to those
individuals who have not so good experiences during their childhood. They have developed and
become normally adjusted individuals later in their lives.

So, there you have the definition, governing principles, and some approaches and issues to
understanding human development, growth and maturation. This is the introductory unit for our
course, Prof Ed 1. Mainly we will be concerned only with child and adolescent development as
they will be your clientele in basic education. Hopefully, all that you will learn in this course will be
a good foundation as you embark in your academic quest for leadership, excellence, discipline,
and service as a future educator.