Teaching by Sharleen L Kato Chapter 3 Understanding

“Teaching” by Sharleen L. Kato Chapter 3 Understanding Human Development 1

Key Terms / Vocabulary 2

1. Growth: refers to physical changes in size, such as gains in height and weight. 2. Development: the gradual increase in skills and abilities that occurs over a lifetime. 3. Physical Development: advances in physical abilities. 3

4. Gross Motor Skills: physical skills involving larger muscles of the body, such as the legs, hips, back, and arms. 5. Fine Motor Skills: physical skills involving smaller muscles in the body, such as the hands and wrists. 6. Cognition: all of the actions or processes involving thought and knowledge. 4

7. Cognitive Development: the way people change and improve in their ability to think and learn throughout life. 8. Social-Emotional Development: development that includes the areas of relationships and feelings. 9. Sequence: a consistent step-by-step pattern that consistently follows one after another, as in development. 5

10. Developmental Theories: comprehensive explanations, based on research, about why people act and behave the way they do and how they change over time. 11. Behaviorism: a theory based on the belief that individuals’ behavior is determined by forces in the environment that are beyond their control. 6

12. Classical Conditional: theory that behaviors can be associated with responses. 13. Operant Conditioning: theory that states that people tend to repeat behaviors that have a positive result or are reinforced. 7

Areas of Development 8

• 14. The four main types of development: physical, cognitive, social, emotional. • 15. Physical development involves: advances in physical abilities, often referred to as motor skills. • 16. Cognitive development involves: knowing, sensing, memorizing, organizing, which are cognition; development of connections between nerve cells in the brain. • 17. Social-emotional development involves: the areas of relationships and feelings; developing new skills to deal with increasing independence of childhood, the more complex social situations of adolescence, establishing an identity, adult relationships, parenting, careers, retirement, and other challenges of life. 9

Principles of Human Development 10

18. The basic principles of human development state that development: • is relatively orderly; • is a gradual, • continuous process; • is interrelated; • varies among individuals 19. Development is relatively orderly mean: Development occurs in a predictable and organized manner—a sequence of steps that consistently follow one another 11

20. Development is a gradual, continuous process means: Most developmental changes happen slowly and are apparent over time. 21. Development is interrelated means: Most development is not solely physical, cognitive, social, or emotional. Acquiring new skills typically requires gains in several of these areas. 22. Development varies amount individuals means: Each individual’s progress is unique because so many factors affect development. 12

Theories of Development 13

23. As a future teachers, you should learn about developmental theories because: They can help you better understand what students are capable of doing and why. Instead of relying only on your own limited personal experiences and observations, understanding developmental theories will give you a broader picture. 24. The heredity vs. environment theory involves: answering the question about whether development results from nature (heredity) or nurture (environment) since heredity and environment interact in complex ways. 14

25. Environmental influences on development include: family, peers, community, media, health, nutrition, and physical activity. 26. Behaviorist theorists involve: a theory based on the belief that individuals’ behavior is determined by forces in the environment that are beyond their control; how people behave (their thoughts, feelings, and actions) depends on what they have learned through experience rather than genetics or free will: A. theory that behaviors can be associated with responses B. theory that states that people tend to repeat behaviors that have a positive result or are reinforced 15

27. Bandura’s social cognitive theory involves: knowledge that people of all ages observe and imitate the behaviors of others, regardless of rewards and punishments involved; People are affected by rewards and punishments, but their reactions to them are filtered by their own perceptions, thoughts, and motivations. 28. Piagetg’s cognitive theory involves: identifying four stages of cognitive development. His studies showed that at any stage of life, thinking skills of individuals are similar. At each new stage, individuals incorporate new experiences into what they know based on skills they have developed earlier in previous stages. The stages are sensorimotor (infancy), preoperational (toddler), concrete operational (early childhood), and formal operational (adolescence and adulthood). 16

29. Vgotsky’s sociocultural theory involves: the belief that children are social beings and develop their minds through interactions with parents, teachers, and other students. He believed social interaction is critical to cognitive development. 17

30. Erikson’s psychosocial theory involves: the belief that personality development occurs during eight stages of life. At each stage, people face and must successfully resolve a psychological or social conflict. If they do not, their unsuccessful resolution will affect future stages of their development. 1. infancy—trust versus mistrust 2. toddler—autonomy versus shame and doubt 3. early childhood—initiative versus guilt 4. middle childhood—industry versus inferiority 5. adolescence—identity versus role confusion 6. young adulthood—intimacy versus isolation 7. middle adulthood— generativity versus self-absorption 8. older adulthood—integrity versus despair 18

31. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development involves: identifying three levels of moral development. Preconventional morality— decisions about right and wrong depend on whether you will be punished or rewarded for your behavior. Conventional morality— decisions are motivated by society’s laws and rules and how a person who disobeys might be perceived. Postconventional morality— based on principles such as justice and individual conscience. 19

32. An understanding of several approaches to development can help teachers to: understand the way humans learn so they can develop more effective teaching strategies. 20