EDUP 3023 CHILD

DEVELOPMENT
REVISION
D E VA D A S O N R O B E RT P E T E R , P H D
 INTRODUCTION (2015, 2016, 2017)

• What is the difference between growth and

development?
• What are the basic principles of child
development ? Can you provide examples for
each?
• What are the factors affecting child development?
(nature & nurture) . Can you provide examples
for each?
 STAGE THEORIES (GENERAL)

• Development is sequential (name of each stage, what age

is it expected, what is the child able to do or cannot do)
• Cannot bypass steps in the sequence
• Attention given to development at one stage affect the
development of next stage and so on
• Implication for teaching and learning –
• u need to identify what stage students are in
• U may want to find out if your child is at a stage that is expected of
that age
• Provide activities that students can do at that stage
• U may need to do corrective action on previous stage
• U may want to occasionally stimulate your students to operate at
the next higher level
 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

• What do you mean by motor development?

• Can you provide examples of fine motor skills?
Gross motor skills?
• Examples of motor skills – hold, suck, manipulate
objects, sit, crawl, walk, run
• Can you provide examples of the progression from
gross motor skills to fine motor skills development?
• What is the role of play, whether in the classroom
or out of the classroom on the development of
children? (can be more than physical development,
like social, cognitive and so on)
 JEAN PIAGET (2017)

• Can you explain how children learn using an example – use schema,
assimilation, accommodation, cognitive dissonance?
• Can you explain with examples the 4 stages of cognitive
development by Piaget?
• Year 6 pupils are expected to be in the 4th stage of development.
How would you help a child in Year 6 who is actually in the 3 rd stage
of development? (what do you mean by provide activities at 3 rd
stage, what do you mean by stimulate the child to operate at 4 th
stage?)
• Note that critical thinking and creative thinking are examples of
thinking at abstract level
• What is the implication of Piaget’s theory for cognitive development
in the classroom? (hint: how can the teacher help in schema
formation, provide cognitive dissonance, how to learn new things)
(2016)
 LEV VYGOTSKY (2015, 2016)

• Can you explain social constructivism as

explained by Vygotsky in terms of ZPD and
scaffolding?
• What is the implication of Vygotsky’s theory on
cognitive development of children in the
classroom? – What should you do to promote
children’s learning?
 PIAGET VERSUS VYGOTSKY

• In what ways were they similar in they view of

cognitive development ?
• In what ways were they different? (elaborate on
the nature nurture influence with examples to
illustrate what you mean)
 NOAM CHOMSKY (2017)

• Can you explain Chomsky’s theory of language

acquisition? Can you explain using concrete
examples?
• How would you improve language development in
your class? – give concrete example
 LAWRENCE KOHLBERG (2017)

• Can you state and explain the six stages of moral

development of a child. Can you provide
examples for each stage?
• How can you inculcate positive moral
development in your child? (How do you help a
child operate from stage 2 to stage 3 in moral
thinking?)
 ERIK ERIKSON (2015, 2016)

• Explain the 8 stages that a healthy individual

should pass through from birth to death
• What are the needs at each stage with particular
emphasis until adolescence? How does it affect
the individual if the needs are not met?
• How can the teacher help in the socio-emotional
development of the child?
 SIGMUND FREUD (2016)

• Can you describe with examples the 3 divisions of

the mind and its working?
• Can you explain with examples defence
mechanisms to distort reality?
• Can you describe the 5 psychosexual stages by
Freud?
• Can you explain why children have low self-
concepts using psycho analytic theory and what
can you do about it focussing on improving self-
concept? (2016)
 PERSONALITY

• How can you help an introvert (2015)?

• How did Carl Jung contribute to the development
of personality theory?
• How did Gordon Allport contribute to the
development of personality theory?
 SELF-CONCEPT (2015, 2017)

• What do you mean by having a low self-concept?

• Can you provide examples of characteristics and
behaviours of such person?
• Who normally are expected to have low self-
concept?
• Why do you think they have low self-concept?
• As a teacher, what can you do to help such a
child?
 CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

• Dyslexia (2016), ADHD (2016), Autism (2015,

2017), Slow learners (2015), hearing-impaired,
visually-impaired, speech disorder
• Can you explain the characteristics of each of the
above children?
• How would you improve the social development
of each of the above child?
• How can you help them learn better in the
classroom?