what are the domains of child development essay

Developmental Domains and Learning of Children Essay

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Introduction

Aesthetic domain, affective domain, physical domain, social domain.

The development of children during the early school years requires attention to not only their mental abilities but also some other aspects that affect the overall process of growth and socialization. As the key tools for assessing and analyzing the child’s aptitudes and abilities, the four key domains are taken into account – aesthetic, affective, physical, and social developmental domains. Each of these factors determines special properties that children acquire at the stage of growing up and in the process of gaining new experience. This work is aimed at describing the possibilities provided by the knowledge of the four domains’ features in the context of teaching primary school students and their training in the core content areas.

This domain characterizes children’s ability to convey feelings and sensations through various means of artistic expression – painting, music, literature, and other forms of art. If a child can express certain emotions with the help of aids, it indicates the normal development of his or her cognitive functions and perception of the environment (Tomlinson, 2014). I could use this domain in the process of teaching children as one of the elements for assessing pupils’ creative perception of the material they study and their ability to reflect internal motives and experiences in other forms.

The affective domain is an essential component of children’s cognitive development since the analysis of those emotions and values ​​that develop during the early school years may make it possible to identify any disorders timely and take appropriate corrective measures. According to Christian et al. (2015), the correct interpretation of students’ feelings allows teachers to plan the learning process based on the emotional perception of pupils. This domain is useful for me because when planning my teaching plan, I should understand children’s reactions and take into account their attitude to specific disciplines.

Although the physical domain is not directly related to learning basic sciences, this component is an essential aspect of development. As Tomlinson (2014) argues, “American children are increasingly at risk because of the growing and historic prevalence of childhood obesity” (p. 11). Weak physical activities and insufficient attention to growth parameters indicate an incorrect approach to controlling the child’s behavioral habits, which may affect his or her academic performance. Therefore, I would prefer not to ignore this domain when planning the educational process to avoid further student health problems.

Socialization is one of the four key domains is a significant aspect of child development. Adaptation to the educational environment allows students to establish contact with both peers and teachers, thereby ensuring normal interaction. According to Christian et al. (2015), if this aspect is ignored, it can create significant obstacles to the development of other important functions. In my teaching plan, I would pay considerable attention to how my pupils interact with one another, what behavioral patterns they use, and how they learn to solve difficulties.

Teaching primary school students should be accompanied by analyzing four key development domains to help children develop all crucial skills. Each of the aspects considered has unique properties that allow pupils to gain valuable experience and adapt to an unfamiliar environment. When planning the curriculum, I would prefer to adhere to the provisions of these domains to have a clear idea of my students’ developmental characteristics.

Christian, H., Zubrick, S. R., Foster, S., Giles-Corti, B., Bull, F., Wood, L.,… Boruff, B. (2015). The influence of the neighborhood physical environment on early child health and development: A review and call for research. Health & Place , 33 , 25-36. Web.

Tomlinson, H. B. (2014). An overview of development in the primary grades. In C. Copple, S. Bredekamp, D. G. Koralek, & K. Charner (Eds.), Developmentally appropriate practice (3rd ed.) (pp. 9-38). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

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Major Domains in Child Development

There are four major developmental domains: physical, cognitive, language, and social-emotional. As children grow, they develop skills in all areas.

What Are Developmental Domains?

Physical developmental domain.

• Cognitive Developmental Domain
• Social and Emotional Developmental Domain
• Language Developmental Domain

Developmental Domain Delays

When to talk to a health care provider.

A child's development is a multi-faceted process comprised of growth, regression, and change in different domains. These domains include physical , cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development.

Acquiring and mastering skills in certain domains may appear more prominent during specific stages of life. Yet kids virtually always experience some degree of change in all domains as they grow.

Learn more about developmental domains, what to expect in the major areas of development, and when to contact a health care provider.

Phil Boorman / Getty Images

When discussing human development, the word "domain" refers to specific aspects of growth and change. The major domains of development are physical ( fine motor and gross motor skills ), cognitive, language, and social-emotional.

Children often experience a significant and obvious change in one domain at a time. For example, if a baby is focusing on learning to walk , which is in the physical domain, you may not notice as much language development or new words until they have mastered walking.

It might seem like a particular domain is the only one experiencing developmental change during different periods of a child's life. But change typically occurs in the other domains as well—just more gradually and less prominently.

The physical domain covers the development of physical changes, which includes the following:

• Growing in size and strength

Gross motor skills

Fine motor skills.

• Development of the senses

When young, children are learning how to perform different activities with their fingers in coordination with their eyes such as  grasping , releasing, reaching, pinching, and turning their wrists. Because these small muscle movements take time to develop, they may not come easily at first.

What Are Fine Motor Skills?

These fine motor skills help kids perform tasks for daily living, like buttoning buttons, picking up finger foods , using a fork, pouring milk, going to the restroom, and washing their hands.

From an early age, give kids opportunities to use their hands and fingers. Give your baby rattles, plush balls, and other toys to grasp.

Later, toys that allow them to pick things up and fit them into slots are good for developing beginning skills. As they get older, teach them how to button buttons, use scissors, hold a pencil, and do other tasks with their fingers and hands.

In addition to these fine motor skills, kids also learn to use their larger muscles, like those in their arms, legs, back, and stomach. Walking, running, throwing, lifting, pulling, pushing, and kicking are all important skills that are related to body awareness, balance, and strength. These skills allow your child to control and move their body in different ways.

Parents can help their child's physical development by providing opportunities for age-appropriate activities . For instance, babies need regular tummy time  to build their neck and upper body strength.

Preschoolers and school-aged children need plenty of opportunities to run around and play. Even tweens and teens need regular opportunities for physical activity.

Overall Health Impacts Physical Development

Physical development can also be influenced by nutrition and illness. So, make sure your kids have a healthy diet, regular exercise, and annual wellness check-ups to promote proper child development.

Cognitive Developmental Domain

The cognitive domain includes intellectual development and creativity. As they develop cognitively, kids gain the ability to do the following:

• Process thoughts
• Pay attention
• Develop memories
• Understand their surroundings
• Express creativity
• Make, implement, and accomplish plans

The child psychologist Jean Piaget outlined four stages of cognitive development, known as the Paigentian Theory. These stages are outlined below.

Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2)

The sensorimotor stage involves learning about the environment through movements and sensations. Infants and toddlers use basic actions like sucking, grasping, looking, and listening to learn about the world around them.

Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7)

During the preoperational stage, children learn to think symbolically as well as use words or pictures to represent things. Kids in this stage enjoy pretend play, but still struggle with logic and understanding another person's perspective.

Concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11)

Once they enter the concrete operational stage, kids start to think more logically, but may still struggle with hypothetical situations and abstract thinking. Because they are beginning to see things from another person's perspective, now is a good time to start teaching empathy.

Formal operational stage (age 12 and up)

During the formal operational stage, a child develops an increase in logical thinking. They also develop an ability to use deductive reasoning and understand abstract ideas. As they become more adept at problem-solving, they also are able to think more scientifically about the world around them.

Even older kids and teens need play . You can help your child develop and hone their cognitive skills by giving them opportunities to play with blocks, puzzles, and board games.

You also should create an environment where your child feels comfortable asking questions about the world around them and has plenty of opportunities for free play.

Develop your child's desire to learn by helping them explore topics they are passionate about. Encourage thinking and reasoning skills by asking them open-ended questions and teaching them to expand on their thought processes. As they get older, teach them how to be critical consumers of media and where to find answers to things they don't know.

Social and Emotional Developmental Domain 

The social-emotional domain includes a child's growing understanding and control of their emotions. They also begin to identify what others are feeling, develop the ability to cooperate, show empathy, and use moral reasoning.

Friendships

This domain includes developing attachments to others and learning how to interact with them. For instance, young children learn how to share , take turns, and accept differences in others. They also develop many different types of relationships, from parents and siblings to peers, teachers, coaches, and others in the community.

Key Skills of the Social-Emotional Stage

Children develop self-knowledge during the social-emotional stage. They learn how they identify with different groups and their innate temperament will emerge in their relationships.

Tweens, especially, demonstrate significant developments in the social-emotional domain as their peers become more central to their lives and they learn how to carry out long-term friendships . Typically, parents will notice major increases in social skills during this time.

To help your child develop socially and emotionally, look for opportunities for them to interact with kids their age and form relationships with both children and adults. You can arrange playdates, explore playgroups, and look into extracurricular activities. Also, encourage them to talk to their grandparents, teachers, and coaches.

Sense of self

To encourage a sense of self, ask your child about their interests and passions and encourage them to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Teach them about recognizing and managing feelings. As they get older, talk to them about healthy friendships and how to handle peer pressure.

You also should not shy away from challenging talks like those covering sex and consent . All of these different social and emotional facets play into your child's overall development.

Language Developmental Domain 

Language development  is dependent on the other developmental domains. The ability to communicate with others grows from infancy, but children develop these abilities at different rates. Aspects of language include:

• Phonology : Creating the sounds of speech
• Pragmatics : Communicating verbally and non-verbally in social situations
• Semantics : Understanding the rules of what words mean
• Syntax :   Using   grammar and putting sentences together

Read to kids

One of the most important things you can do with your child throughout their early life is to  read to them —and not just at bedtime.

Make  reading and enjoying books  a central part of your day. Reading out loud to your kids from birth and beyond has a major impact on their emerging language and literacy skills.

Look for opportunities to read other things, too, like directions to a board game, letters from family members, holiday cards, online articles, and school newsletters. Hearing new words spoken expands a child's vocabulary and helps them identify unfamiliar words when used in context.

Talk to kids

In addition to reading, make sure you talk to your kids even before they can say their first word . Tell them about the things you are doing or what you're buying in the store. Point out different things and engage them in the world around them. Singing to your child is another excellent way to build your child's language skills.

As they get older, try holding regular conversations, answering questions, and asking for your child's ideas or opinions. All of these activities are an important part of their language development.

As children grow and learn, they will pass certain developmental milestones. While every child is different and progresses at a different rate, these milestones provide general guidelines that help parents and caregivers gauge whether or not a child is on track .

You can support your child's growth and development in each of these four areas by understanding these domains and supporting the work your child is doing. Watch the changes taking place in your child and supplement their learning with activities that support their efforts .

The exact time that a child reaches a particular milestone will vary significantly. However, missing one or two milestones can be a cause for concern.

Talk to a health care provider if you're ever worried your child is not meeting milestones in a particular area. If a delay is identified, they can evaluate your child and recommend different services.

Every state in the US offers an early intervention program to support children with developmental delays under the age of 3. Once they are over age 3, the community's local school district must provide programming.

So, don't delay determining whether your child needs assistance. There are resources out there to support them should they need it.

Principles of child development and learning and implications that inform practice . National Association for the Education of Young Children . n.d.

Toddlers (1-2 years old) . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 2021.

Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: a unifying foundation . Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council.  2015.

Piagetian theory . American Psychological Association . 2018.

Social development in preschoolers . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2021.

Talking with your teen: Tips for parents . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2021.

Language in brief . American Speech-Language-Hearing Association . n.d.

Helping your child learn to read . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2015.

Is your toddler communicating with you? . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2021.

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1 Chapter 1: Introduction to Child Development

Chapter objectives.

After this chapter, you should be able to:

• Describe the principles that underlie development.
• Differentiate periods of human development.
• Evaluate issues in development.
• Distinguish the different methods of research.
• Explain what a theory is.
• Compare and contrast different theories of child development.

Introduction

Welcome to Child Growth and Development. This text is a presentation of how and why children grow, develop, and learn.

We will look at how we change physically over time from conception through adolescence. We examine cognitive change, or how our ability to think and remember changes over the first 20 years or so of life. And we will look at how our emotions, psychological state, and social relationships change throughout childhood and adolescence. 1

Principles of Development

There are several underlying principles of development to keep in mind:

• Development is lifelong and change is apparent across the lifespan (although this text ends with adolescence). And early experiences affect later development.
• Development is multidirectional. We show gains in some areas of development, while showing loss in other areas.
• Development is multidimensional. We change across three general domains/dimensions; physical, cognitive, and social and emotional.
• The physical domain includes changes in height and weight, changes in gross and fine motor skills, sensory capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness.
• The cognitive domain encompasses the changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem-solving, memory, and language.
• The social and emotional domain (also referred to as psychosocial) focuses on changes in emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends.

All three domains influence each other. It is also important to note that a change in one domain may cascade and prompt changes in the other domains.

• Development is characterized by plasticity, which is our ability to change and that many of our characteristics are malleable. Early experiences are important, but children are remarkably resilient (able to overcome adversity).
• Development is multicontextual. 2 We are influenced by both nature (genetics) and nurture (the environment) – when and where we live and our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to circumstances surrounding us.  The key here is to understand that behaviors, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture. 3

Now let’s look at a framework for examining development.

Periods of Development

Think about what periods of development that you think a course on Child Development would address. How many stages are on your list? Perhaps you have three: infancy, childhood, and teenagers. Developmentalists (those that study development) break this part of the life span into these five stages as follows:

• Prenatal Development (conception through birth)
• Infancy and Toddlerhood (birth through two years)
• Early Childhood (3 to 5 years)
• Middle Childhood (6 to 11 years)
• Adolescence (12 years to adulthood)

This list reflects unique aspects of the various stages of childhood and adolescence that will be explored in this book. So while both an 8 month old and an 8 year old are considered children, they have very different motor abilities, social relationships, and cognitive skills. Their nutritional needs are different and their primary psychological concerns are also distinctive.

Prenatal Development

Conception occurs and development begins. All of the major structures of the body are forming and the health of the mother is of primary concern. Understanding nutrition, teratogens (or environmental factors that can lead to birth defects), and labor and delivery are primary concerns.

Figure 1.1 – A tiny embryo depicting some development of arms and legs, as well as facial features that are starting to show. 4

Infancy and Toddlerhood

The two years of life are ones of dramatic growth and change. A newborn, with a keen sense of hearing but very poor vision is transformed into a walking, talking toddler within a relatively short period of time. Caregivers are also transformed from someone who manages feeding and sleep schedules to a constantly moving guide and safety inspector for a mobile, energetic child.

Figure 1.2 – A swaddled newborn. 5

Early Childhood

Early childhood is also referred to as the preschool years and consists of the years which follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling. As a three to five-year-old, the child is busy learning language, is gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world. This knowledge does not come quickly, however, and preschoolers may initially have interesting conceptions of size, time, space and distance such as fearing that they may go down the drain if they sit at the front of the bathtub or by demonstrating how long something will take by holding out their two index fingers several inches apart. A toddler’s fierce determination to do something may give way to a four-year-old’s sense of guilt for action that brings the disapproval of others.

Figure 1.3 – Two young children playing in the Singapore Botanic Gardens 6

Middle Childhood

The ages of six through eleven comprise middle childhood and much of what children experience at this age is connected to their involvement in the early grades of school. Now the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic skills and by assessing one’s abilities and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and others. Schools compare students and make these comparisons public through team sports, test scores, and other forms of recognition. Growth rates slow down and children are able to refine their motor skills at this point in life. And children begin to learn about social relationships beyond the family through interaction with friends and fellow students.

Figure 1.4 – Two children running down the street in Carenage, Trinidad and Tobago 7

Adolescence

Adolescence is a period of dramatic physical change marked by an overall physical growth spurt and sexual maturation, known as puberty. It is also a time of cognitive change as the adolescent begins to think of new possibilities and to consider abstract concepts such as love, fear, and freedom. Ironically, adolescents have a sense of invincibility that puts them at greater risk of dying from accidents or contracting sexually transmitted infections that can have lifelong consequences. 8

Figure 1.5 – Two smiling teenage women. 9

There are some aspects of development that have been hotly debated. Let’s explore these.

Issues in Development

Nature and nurture.

Why are people the way they are? Are features such as height, weight, personality, being diabetic, etc. the result of heredity or environmental factors-or both? For decades, scholars have carried on the “nature/nurture” debate. For any particular feature, those on the side of Nature would argue that heredity plays the most important role in bringing about that feature. Those on the side of Nurture would argue that one’s environment is most significant in shaping the way we are. This debate continues in all aspects of human development, and most scholars agree that there is a constant interplay between the two forces. It is difficult to isolate the root of any single behavior as a result solely of nature or nurture.

Continuity versus Discontinuity

Is human development best characterized as a slow, gradual process, or is it best viewed as one of more abrupt change? The answer to that question often depends on which developmental theorist you ask and what topic is being studied. The theories of Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and Kohlberg are called stage theories. Stage theories or discontinuous development assume that developmental change often occurs in distinct stages that are qualitatively different from each other, and in a set, universal sequence. At each stage of development, children and adults have different qualities and characteristics. Thus, stage theorists assume development is more discontinuous. Others, such as the behaviorists, Vygotsky, and information processing theorists, assume development is a more slow and gradual process known as continuous development. For instance, they would see the adult as not possessing new skills, but more advanced skills that were already present in some form in the child. Brain development and environmental experiences contribute to the acquisition of more developed skills.

Figure 1.6 – The graph to the left shows three stages in the continuous growth of a tree. The graph to the right shows four distinct stages of development in the life cycle of a ladybug. 10

Active versus Passive

How much do you play a role in your own developmental path? Are you at the whim of your genetic inheritance or the environment that surrounds you? Some theorists see humans as playing a much more active role in their own development. Piaget, for instance believed that children actively explore their world and construct new ways of thinking to explain the things they experience. In contrast, many behaviorists view humans as being more passive in the developmental process. 11

How do we know so much about how we grow, develop, and learn? Let’s look at how that data is gathered through research

Research Methods

An important part of learning any science is having a basic knowledge of the techniques used in gathering information. The hallmark of scientific investigation is that of following a set of procedures designed to keep questioning or skepticism alive while describing, explaining, or testing any phenomenon. Some people are hesitant to trust academicians or researchers because they always seem to change their story. That, however, is exactly what science is all about; it involves continuously renewing our understanding of the subjects in question and an ongoing investigation of how and why events occur. Science is a vehicle for going on a never-ending journey. In the area of development, we have seen changes in recommendations for nutrition, in explanations of psychological states as people age, and in parenting advice. So think of learning about human development as a lifelong endeavor.

Take a moment to write down two things that you know about childhood. Now, how do you know? Chances are you know these things based on your own history (experiential reality) or based on what others have told you or cultural ideas (agreement reality) (Seccombe and Warner, 2004). There are several problems with personal inquiry. Read the following sentence aloud:

Paris in the

Are you sure that is what it said? Read it again:

If you read it differently the second time (adding the second “the”) you just experienced one of the problems with personal inquiry; that is, the tendency to see what we believe. Our assumptions very often guide our perceptions, consequently, when we believe something, we tend to see it even if it is not there. This problem may just be a result of cognitive ‘blinders’ or it may be part of a more conscious attempt to support our own views. Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for evidence that we are right and in so doing, we ignore contradictory evidence. Popper suggests that the distinction between that which is scientific and that which is unscientific is that science is falsifiable; scientific inquiry involves attempts to reject or refute a theory or set of assumptions (Thornton, 2005). Theory that cannot be falsified is not scientific. And much of what we do in personal inquiry involves drawing conclusions based on what we have personally experienced or validating our own experience by discussing what we think is true with others who share the same views.

Science offers a more systematic way to make comparisons guard against bias.

Scientific Methods

One method of scientific investigation involves the following steps:

• Determining a research question
• Reviewing previous studies addressing the topic in question (known as a literature review)
• Determining a method of gathering information
• Conducting the study
• Interpreting results
• Drawing conclusions; stating limitations of the study and suggestions for future research
• Making your findings available to others (both to share information and to have your work scrutinized by others)

Your findings can then be used by others as they explore the area of interest and through this process a literature or knowledge base is established. This model of scientific investigation presents research as a linear process guided by a specific research question. And it typically involves quantifying or using statistics to understand and report what has been studied. Many academic journals publish reports on studies conducted in this manner.

Another model of research referred to as qualitative research may involve steps such as these:

• Begin with a broad area of interest
• Gain entrance into a group to be researched
• Gather field notes about the setting, the people, the structure, the activities or other areas of interest
• Ask open ended, broad “grand tour” types of questions when interviewing subjects
• Modify research questions as study continues
• Note patterns or consistencies
• Explore new areas deemed important by the people being observed
• Report findings

In this type of research, theoretical ideas are “grounded” in the experiences of the participants. The researcher is the student and the people in the setting are the teachers as they inform the researcher of their world (Glazer & Strauss, 1967). Researchers are to be aware of their own biases and assumptions, acknowledge them and bracket them in efforts to keep them from limiting accuracy in reporting. Sometimes qualitative studies are used initially to explore a topic and more quantitative studies are used to test or explain what was first described.

Let’s look more closely at some techniques, or research methods, used to describe, explain, or evaluate. Each of these designs has strengths and weaknesses and is sometimes used in combination with other designs within a single study.

Observational Studies

Observational studies involve watching and recording the actions of participants. This may take place in the natural setting, such as observing children at play at a park, or behind a one-way glass while children are at play in a laboratory playroom. The researcher may follow a checklist and record the frequency and duration of events (perhaps how many conflicts occur among 2-year-olds) or may observe and record as much as possible about an event (such as observing children in a classroom and capturing the details about the room design and what the children and teachers are doing and saying). In general, observational studies have the strength of allowing the researcher to see how people behave rather than relying on self-report. What people do and what they say they do are often very different. A major weakness of observational studies is that they do not allow the researcher to explain causal relationships. Yet, observational studies are useful and widely used when studying children. Children tend to change their behavior when they know they are being watched (known as the Hawthorne effect) and may not survey well.

Experiments

Experiments are designed to test hypotheses (or specific statements about the relationship between variables) in a controlled setting in efforts to explain how certain factors or events produce outcomes. A variable is anything that changes in value. Concepts are operationalized or transformed into variables in research, which means that the researcher must specify exactly what is going to be measured in the study.

Three conditions must be met in order to establish cause and effect. Experimental designs are useful in meeting these conditions.

The independent and dependent variables must be related. In other words, when one is altered, the other changes in response. (The independent variable is something altered or introduced by the researcher. The dependent variable is the outcome or the factor affected by the introduction of the independent variable. For example, if we are looking at the impact of exercise on stress levels, the independent variable would be exercise; the dependent variable would be stress.)

The cause must come before the effect. Experiments involve measuring subjects on the dependent variable before exposing them to the independent variable (establishing a baseline). So we would measure the subjects’ level of stress before introducing exercise and then again after the exercise to see if there has been a change in stress levels. (Observational and survey research does not always allow us to look at the timing of these events, which makes understanding causality problematic with these designs.)

The cause must be isolated. The researcher must ensure that no outside, perhaps unknown variables are actually causing the effect we see. The experimental design helps make this possible. In an experiment, we would make sure that our subjects’ diets were held constant throughout the exercise program. Otherwise, diet might really be creating the change in stress level rather than exercise.

A basic experimental design involves beginning with a sample (or subset of a population) and randomly assigning subjects to one of two groups: the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group is the group that is going to be exposed to an independent variable or condition the researcher is introducing as a potential cause of an event. The control group is going to be used for comparison and is going to have the same experience as the experimental group but will not be exposed to the independent variable. After exposing the experimental group to the independent variable, the two groups are measured again to see if a change has occurred. If so, we are in a better position to suggest that the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable.

The major advantage of the experimental design is that of helping to establish cause and effect relationships. A disadvantage of this design is the difficulty of translating much of what happens in a laboratory setting into real life.

Case Studies

Case studies involve exploring a single case or situation in great detail. Information may be gathered with the use of observation, interviews, testing, or other methods to uncover as much as possible about a person or situation. Case studies are helpful when investigating unusual situations such as brain trauma or children reared in isolation. And they are often used by clinicians who conduct case studies as part of their normal practice when gathering information about a client or patient coming in for treatment. Case studies can be used to explore areas about which little is known and can provide rich detail about situations or conditions. However, the findings from case studies cannot be generalized or applied to larger populations; this is because cases are not randomly selected and no control group is used for comparison.

Figure 1.7 – Illustrated poster from a classroom describing a case study. 12

Surveys are familiar to most people because they are so widely used. Surveys enhance accessibility to subjects because they can be conducted in person, over the phone, through the mail, or online. A survey involves asking a standard set of questions to a group of subjects. In a highly structured survey, subjects are forced to choose from a response set such as “strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, strongly agree”; or “0, 1-5, 6-10, etc.” This is known as Likert Scale . Surveys are commonly used by sociologists, marketing researchers, political scientists, therapists, and others to gather information on many independent and dependent variables in a relatively short period of time. Surveys typically yield surface information on a wide variety of factors, but may not allow for in-depth understanding of human behavior.

Of course, surveys can be designed in a number of ways. They may include forced choice questions and semi-structured questions in which the researcher allows the respondent to describe or give details about certain events. One of the most difficult aspects of designing a good survey is wording questions in an unbiased way and asking the right questions so that respondents can give a clear response rather than choosing “undecided” each time. Knowing that 30% of respondents are undecided is of little use! So a lot of time and effort should be placed on the construction of survey items. One of the benefits of having forced choice items is that each response is coded so that the results can be quickly entered and analyzed using statistical software. Analysis takes much longer when respondents give lengthy responses that must be analyzed in a different way. Surveys are useful in examining stated values, attitudes, opinions, and reporting on practices. However, they are based on self-report or what people say they do rather than on observation and this can limit accuracy.

Developmental Designs

Developmental designs are techniques used in developmental research (and other areas as well). These techniques try to examine how age, cohort, gender, and social class impact development.

Longitudinal Research

Longitudinal research involves beginning with a group of people who may be of the same age and background, and measuring them repeatedly over a long period of time. One of the benefits of this type of research is that people can be followed through time and be compared with them when they were younger.

Figure 1.8 – A longitudinal research design. 13

A problem with this type of research is that it is very expensive and subjects may drop out over time. The Perry Preschool Project which began in 1962 is an example of a longitudinal study that continues to provide data on children’s development.

Cross-sectional Research

Cross-sectional research involves beginning with a sample that represents a cross-section of the population. Respondents who vary in age, gender, ethnicity, and social class might be asked to complete a survey about television program preferences or attitudes toward the use of the Internet. The attitudes of males and females could then be compared, as could attitudes based on age. In cross-sectional research, respondents are measured only once.

Figure 1.9 – A cross-sectional research design. 14

This method is much less expensive than longitudinal research but does not allow the researcher to distinguish between the impact of age and the cohort effect. Different attitudes about the use of technology, for example, might not be altered by a person’s biological age as much as their life experiences as members of a cohort.

Sequential Research

Sequential research involves combining aspects of the previous two techniques; beginning with a cross-sectional sample and measuring them through time.

Figure 1.10 – A sequential research design. 15

This is the perfect model for looking at age, gender, social class, and ethnicity. But the drawbacks of high costs and attrition are here as well. 16

Table 1 .1 – Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Research Designs 17

Consent and Ethics in Research

Research should, as much as possible, be based on participants’ freely volunteered informed consent. For minors, this also requires consent from their legal guardians. This implies a responsibility to explain fully and meaningfully to both the child and their guardians what the research is about and how it will be disseminated. Participants and their legal guardians should be aware of the research purpose and procedures, their right to refuse to participate; the extent to which confidentiality will be maintained; the potential uses to which the data might be put; the foreseeable risks and expected benefits; and that participants have the right to discontinue at any time.

But consent alone does not absolve the responsibility of researchers to anticipate and guard against potential harmful consequences for participants. 18 It is critical that researchers protect all rights of the participants including confidentiality.

Child development is a fascinating field of study – but care must be taken to ensure that researchers use appropriate methods to examine infant and child behavior, use the correct experimental design to answer their questions, and be aware of the special challenges that are part-and-parcel of developmental research. Hopefully, this information helped you develop an understanding of these various issues and to be ready to think more critically about research questions that interest you. There are so many interesting questions that remain to be examined by future generations of developmental scientists – maybe you will make one of the next big discoveries! 19

Another really important framework to use when trying to understand children’s development are theories of development. Let’s explore what theories are and introduce you to some major theories in child development.

Developmental Theories

What is a theory.

Students sometimes feel intimidated by theory; even the phrase, “Now we are going to look at some theories…” is met with blank stares and other indications that the audience is now lost. But theories are valuable tools for understanding human behavior; in fact they are proposed explanations for the “how” and “whys” of development. Have you ever wondered, “Why is my 3 year old so inquisitive?” or “Why are some fifth graders rejected by their classmates?” Theories can help explain these and other occurrences. Developmental theories offer explanations about how we develop, why we change over time and the kinds of influences that impact development.

A theory guides and helps us interpret research findings as well. It provides the researcher with a blueprint or model to be used to help piece together various studies. Think of theories as guidelines much like directions that come with an appliance or other object that requires assembly. The instructions can help one piece together smaller parts more easily than if trial and error are used.

Theories can be developed using induction in which a number of single cases are observed and after patterns or similarities are noted, the theorist develops ideas based on these examples. Established theories are then tested through research; however, not all theories are equally suited to scientific investigation.  Some theories are difficult to test but are still useful in stimulating debate or providing concepts that have practical application. Keep in mind that theories are not facts; they are guidelines for investigation and practice, and they gain credibility through research that fails to disprove them. 20

Let’s take a look at some key theories in Child Development.

Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

We begin with the often controversial figure, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud has been a very influential figure in the area of development; his view of development and psychopathology dominated the field of psychiatry until the growth of behaviorism in the 1950s. His assumptions that personality forms during the first few years of life and that the ways in which parents or other caregivers interact with children have a long-lasting impact on children’s emotional states have guided parents, educators, clinicians, and policy-makers for many years. We have only recently begun to recognize that early childhood experiences do not always result in certain personality traits or emotional states. There is a growing body of literature addressing resilience in children who come from harsh backgrounds and yet develop without damaging emotional scars (O’Grady and Metz, 1987). Freud has stimulated an enormous amount of research and generated many ideas. Agreeing with Freud’s theory in its entirety is hardly necessary for appreciating the contribution he has made to the field of development.

Figure 1.11 – Sigmund Freud. 21

Freud’s theory of self suggests that there are three parts of the self.

The id is the part of the self that is inborn. It responds to biological urges without pause and is guided by the principle of pleasure: if it feels good, it is the thing to do. A newborn is all id. The newborn cries when hungry, defecates when the urge strikes.

The ego develops through interaction with others and is guided by logic or the reality principle. It has the ability to delay gratification. It knows that urges have to be managed. It mediates between the id and superego using logic and reality to calm the other parts of the self.

The superego represents society’s demands for its members. It is guided by a sense of guilt. Values, morals, and the conscience are all part of the superego.

The personality is thought to develop in response to the child’s ability to learn to manage biological urges. Parenting is important here. If the parent is either overly punitive or lax, the child may not progress to the next stage. Here is a brief introduction to Freud’s stages.

Table 1. 2 – Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud’s Theory

Freud’s theory has been heavily criticized for several reasons. One is that it is very difficult to test scientifically. How can parenting in infancy be traced to personality in adulthood? Are there other variables that might better explain development? The theory is also considered to be sexist in suggesting that women who do not accept an inferior position in society are somehow psychologically flawed. Freud focuses on the darker side of human nature and suggests that much of what determines our actions is unknown to us. So why do we study Freud? As mentioned above, despite the criticisms, Freud’s assumptions about the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our psychological selves have found their way into child development, education, and parenting practices. Freud’s theory has heuristic value in providing a framework from which to elaborate and modify subsequent theories of development. Many later theories, particularly behaviorism and humanism, were challenges to Freud’s views. 22

Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Now, let’s turn to a less controversial theorist, Erik Erikson. Erikson (1902-1994) suggested that our relationships and society’s expectations motivate much of our behavior in his theory of psychosocial development. Erikson was a student of Freud’s but emphasized the importance of the ego, or conscious thought, in determining our actions. In other words, he believed that we are not driven by unconscious urges. We know what motivates us and we consciously think about how to achieve our goals. He is considered the father of developmental psychology because his model gives us a guideline for the entire life span and suggests certain primary psychological and social concerns throughout life.

Figure 1.12 – Erik Erikson. 23

Erikson expanded on his Freud’s by emphasizing the importance of culture in parenting practices and motivations and adding three stages of adult development (Erikson, 1950; 1968). He believed that we are aware of what motivates us throughout life and the ego has greater importance in guiding our actions than does the id. We make conscious choices in life and these choices focus on meeting certain social and cultural needs rather than purely biological ones. Humans are motivated, for instance, by the need to feel that the world is a trustworthy place, that we are capable individuals, that we can make a contribution to society, and that we have lived a meaningful life. These are all psychosocial problems.

Erikson divided the lifespan into eight stages. In each stage, we have a major psychosocial task to accomplish or crisis to overcome.  Erikson believed that our personality continues to take shape throughout our lifespan as we face these challenges in living. Here is a brief overview of the eight stages:

Table 1. 3 – Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

These eight stages form a foundation for discussions on emotional and social development during the life span. Keep in mind, however, that these stages or crises can occur more than once. For instance, a person may struggle with a lack of trust beyond infancy under certain circumstances. Erikson’s theory has been criticized for focusing so heavily on stages and assuming that the completion of one stage is prerequisite for the next crisis of development. His theory also focuses on the social expectations that are found in certain cultures, but not in all. For instance, the idea that adolescence is a time of searching for identity might translate well in the middle-class culture of the United States, but not as well in cultures where the transition into adulthood coincides with puberty through rites of passage and where adult roles offer fewer choices. 24

Behaviorism

While Freud and Erikson looked at what was going on in the mind, behaviorism rejected any reference to mind and viewed overt and observable behavior as the proper subject matter of psychology. Through the scientific study of behavior, it was hoped that laws of learning could be derived that would promote the prediction and control of behavior. 25

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov (1880-1937) was a Russian physiologist interested in studying digestion. As he recorded the amount of salivation his laboratory dogs produced as they ate, he noticed that they actually began to salivate before the food arrived as the researcher walked down the hall and toward the cage. “This,” he thought, “is not natural!” One would expect a dog to automatically salivate when food hit their palate, but BEFORE the food comes? Of course, what had happened was . . . you tell me. That’s right! The dogs knew that the food was coming because they had learned to associate the footsteps with the food. The key word here is “learned”. A learned response is called a “conditioned” response.

Figure 1.13 – Ivan Pavlov. 26

Pavlov began to experiment with this concept of classical conditioning . He began to ring a bell, for instance, prior to introducing the food. Sure enough, after making this connection several times, the dogs could be made to salivate to the sound of a bell. Once the bell had become an event to which the dogs had learned to salivate, it was called a conditioned stimulus . The act of salivating to a bell was a response that had also been learned, now termed in Pavlov’s jargon, a conditioned response. Notice that the response, salivation, is the same whether it is conditioned or unconditioned (unlearned or natural). What changed is the stimulus to which the dog salivates. One is natural (unconditioned) and one is learned (conditioned).

Let’s think about how classical conditioning is used on us. One of the most widespread applications of classical conditioning principles was brought to us by the psychologist, John B. Watson.

John B. Watson

John B. Watson (1878-1958) believed that most of our fears and other emotional responses are classically conditioned. He had gained a good deal of popularity in the 1920s with his expert advice on parenting offered to the public.

Figure 1.14 – John B. Watson. 27

He tried to demonstrate the power of classical conditioning with his famous experiment with an 18 month old boy named “Little Albert”. Watson sat Albert down and introduced a variety of seemingly scary objects to him: a burning piece of newspaper, a white rat, etc. But Albert remained curious and reached for all of these things. Watson knew that one of our only inborn fears is the fear of loud noises so he proceeded to make a loud noise each time he introduced one of Albert’s favorites, a white rat. After hearing the loud noise several times paired with the rat, Albert soon came to fear the rat and began to cry when it was introduced. Watson filmed this experiment for posterity and used it to demonstrate that he could help parents achieve any outcomes they desired, if they would only follow his advice. Watson wrote columns in newspapers and in magazines and gained a lot of popularity among parents eager to apply science to household order.

Operant conditioning, on the other hand, looks at the way the consequences of a behavior increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring again. So let’s look at this a bit more.

B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990), who brought us the principles of operant conditioning, suggested that reinforcement is a more effective means of encouraging a behavior than is criticism or punishment. By focusing on strengthening desirable behavior, we have a greater impact than if we emphasize what is undesirable. Reinforcement is anything that an organism desires and is motivated to obtain.

Figure 1.15 – B. F. Skinner. 28

A reinforcer is something that encourages or promotes a behavior. Some things are natural rewards. They are considered intrinsic or primary because their value is easily understood. Think of what kinds of things babies or animals such as puppies find rewarding.

Extrinsic or secondary reinforcers are things that have a value not immediately understood. Their value is indirect. They can be traded in for what is ultimately desired.

The use of positive reinforcement involves adding something to a situation in order to encourage a behavior. For example, if I give a child a cookie for cleaning a room, the addition of the cookie makes cleaning more likely in the future. Think of ways in which you positively reinforce others.

Negative reinforcement occurs when taking something unpleasant away from a situation encourages behavior. For example, I have an alarm clock that makes a very unpleasant, loud sound when it goes off in the morning. As a result, I get up and turn it off. By removing the noise, I am reinforced for getting up. How do you negatively reinforce others?

Punishment is an effort to stop a behavior. It means to follow an action with something unpleasant or painful. Punishment is often less effective than reinforcement for several reasons. It doesn’t indicate the desired behavior, it may result in suppressing rather than stopping a behavior, (in other words, the person may not do what is being punished when you’re around, but may do it often when you leave), and a focus on punishment can result in not noticing when the person does well.

Not all behaviors are learned through association or reinforcement. Many of the things we do are learned by watching others. This is addressed in social learning theory.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura (1925-) is a leading contributor to social learning theory. He calls our attention to the ways in which many of our actions are not learned through conditioning; rather, they are learned by watching others (1977). Young children frequently learn behaviors through imitation

Figure 1.16 – Albert Bandura. 29

Sometimes, particularly when we do not know what else to do, we learn by modeling or copying the behavior of others. A kindergartner on his or her first day of school might eagerly look at how others are acting and try to act the same way to fit in more quickly. Adolescents struggling with their identity rely heavily on their peers to act as role-models. Sometimes we do things because we’ve seen it pay off for someone else. They were operantly conditioned, but we engage in the behavior because we hope it will pay off for us as well. This is referred to as vicarious reinforcement (Bandura, Ross and Ross, 1963).

Bandura (1986) suggests that there is interplay between the environment and the individual. We are not just the product of our surroundings, rather we influence our surroundings. Parents not only influence their child’s environment, perhaps intentionally through the use of reinforcement, etc., but children influence parents as well. Parents may respond differently with their first child than with their fourth. Perhaps they try to be the perfect parents with their firstborn, but by the time their last child comes along they have very different expectations both of themselves and their child. Our environment creates us and we create our environment. 30

Theories also explore cognitive development and how mental processes change over time.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is one of the most influential cognitive theorists. Piaget was inspired to explore children’s ability to think and reason by watching his own children’s development. He was one of the first to recognize and map out the ways in which children’s thought differs from that of adults. His interest in this area began when he was asked to test the IQ of children and began to notice that there was a pattern in their wrong answers. He believed that children’s intellectual skills change over time through maturation. Children of differing ages interpret the world differently.

Figure 1.17 – Jean Piaget. 32

Piaget believed our desire to understand the world comes from a need for cognitive equilibrium . This is an agreement or balance between what we sense in the outside world and what we know in our minds. If we experience something that we cannot understand, we try to restore the balance by either changing our thoughts or by altering the experience to fit into what we do understand. Perhaps you meet someone who is very different from anyone you know. How do you make sense of this person? You might use them to establish a new category of people in your mind or you might think about how they are similar to someone else.

A schema or schemes are categories of knowledge. They are like mental boxes of concepts. A child has to learn many concepts. They may have a scheme for “under” and “soft” or “running” and “sour”. All of these are schema. Our efforts to understand the world around us lead us to develop new schema and to modify old ones.

One way to make sense of new experiences is to focus on how they are similar to what we already know. This is assimilation . So the person we meet who is very different may be understood as being “sort of like my brother” or “his voice sounds a lot like yours.” Or a new food may be assimilated when we determine that it tastes like chicken!

Another way to make sense of the world is to change our mind. We can make a cognitive accommodation to this new experience by adding new schema. This food is unlike anything I’ve tasted before. I now have a new category of foods that are bitter-sweet in flavor, for instance. This is  accommodation . Do you accommodate or assimilate more frequently? Children accommodate more frequently as they build new schema. Adults tend to look for similarity in their experience and assimilate. They may be less inclined to think “outside the box.”

Piaget suggested different ways of understanding that are associated with maturation. He divided this into four stages:

Table 1.4 – Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory

Piaget has been criticized for overemphasizing the role that physical maturation plays in cognitive development and in underestimating the role that culture and interaction (or experience) plays in cognitive development. Looking across cultures reveals considerable variation in what children are able to do at various ages. Piaget may have underestimated what children are capable of given the right circumstances. 33

Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist who wrote in the early 1900s but whose work was discovered in the United States in the 1960s but became more widely known in the 1980s. Vygotsky differed with Piaget in that he believed that a person not only has a set of abilities, but also a set of potential abilities that can be realized if given the proper guidance from others. His sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities. He believed that through guided participation known as scaffolding, with a teacher or capable peer, a child can learn cognitive skills within a certain range known as the zone of proximal development . 34 His belief was that development occurred first through children’s immediate social interactions, and then moved to the individual level as they began to internalize their learning. 35

Figure 1.18- Lev Vygotsky. 36

Have you ever taught a child to perform a task? Maybe it was brushing their teeth or preparing food. Chances are you spoke to them and described what you were doing while you demonstrated the skill and let them work along with you all through the process. You gave them assistance when they seemed to need it, but once they knew what to do-you stood back and let them go. This is scaffolding and can be seen demonstrated throughout the world. This approach to teaching has also been adopted by educators. Rather than assessing students on what they are doing, they should be understood in terms of what they are capable of doing with the proper guidance. You can see how Vygotsky would be very popular with modern day educators. 37

Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky

Vygotsky concentrated more on the child’s immediate social and cultural environment and his or her interactions with adults and peers. While Piaget saw the child as actively discovering the world through individual interactions with it, Vygotsky saw the child as more of an apprentice, learning through a social environment of others who had more experience and were sensitive to the child’s needs and abilities. 38

Like Vygotsky’s, Bronfenbrenner looked at the social influences on learning and development.

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) offers us one of the most comprehensive theories of human development. Bronfenbrenner studied Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and learning theorists and believed that all of those theories could be enhanced by adding the dimension of context. What is being taught and how society interprets situations depends on who is involved in the life of a child and on when and where a child lives.

Figure 1.19 – Urie Bronfenbrenner. 39

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model explains the direct and indirect influences on an individual’s development.

Table 1.5 – Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model

For example, in order to understand a student in math, we can’t simply look at that individual and what challenges they face directly with the subject. We have to look at the interactions that occur between teacher and child. Perhaps the teacher needs to make modifications as well. The teacher may be responding to regulations made by the school, such as new expectations for students in math or constraints on time that interfere with the teacher’s ability to instruct. These new demands may be a response to national efforts to promote math and science deemed important by political leaders in response to relations with other countries at a particular time in history.

Figure 1.20 – Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. 40

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model challenges us to go beyond the individual if we want to understand human development and promote improvements. 41

In this chapter we looked at:

underlying principles of development

the five periods of development

three issues in development

Various methods of research

important theories that help us understand development

Next, we are going to be examining where we all started with conception, heredity, and prenatal development.

Child Growth and Development Copyright © by Jean Zaar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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5.3: Developmental Domains

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• Angela Blums & Sally Nyblad Holloway

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While development is complex, four domains have been identified: physical, cognitive, social, and emotional. This section will introduce each of these developmental domains and explain some important features of each domain. keep in mind that developmental domains are interrelated, so consider as you read the next sections how one aspect of development could affect another.

Physical Development

Physical development includes all things related to the body. Sometimes this domain is called biological development because it also encompasses processes that occur inside the body at the biological level.

Brain Development

Brain development is an important part of physical development and was thoroughly covered in Chapter 4. As a reminder, infant brains begin to develop while still in utero. Because of this, it is important to support fetal brain development through proper nutrition and care of the mother. Once born, infant brains develop rapidly. Brain connections, called synapses, develop rapidly during the first few months to the first 3 years of life, making this period critical for healthy brain development. During infancy, babies require responsive interactions with trusted caregivers that include verbal, expressive, face-to-face engagement. Additionally, and above all, they require a safe and secure home environment for healthy brain development.

Motor Skills

Children’s bodies are designed to wiggle and move. Motor skills refer to a child’s ability to move and coordinate motion using their bodies. Motor skills are generally organized into two categories: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are related to the large muscle groups in the body: walking, running, climbing, balancing, and jumping are examples of gross motor skills. Fine motor skills are related to small muscle groups in the body. Grasping a spoon, holding a pencil, stringing beads, and stacking blocks are examples of fine motor skills.

In order for gross motor skills to develop successfully, infants and children must be given opportunities to move their bodies freely, safely and without restriction, starting from birth. This is why most pediatric physical therapists recommend against the use of so-called “baby containers” – chairs, bouncy seats, swings, and jumpers that place an infant in an upright position before their body is ready to do so on its own. These devices can hinder development. Instead, babies should play on a blanket or mat and have a few minutes of “tummy time” each day starting at birth. This helps to strengthen neck and shoulder muscles that will later be used in crawling. As children begin to crawl and walk, soft climbers can help to develop gross motor skills.

Once solid on their feet, children need opportunities to practice running, jumping, balancing, and climbing. This is why daily outdoor play is vital. Playgrounds can be great places for children to experiment with gross motor skills. Outdoor play in natural areas is also important. Consider the difference between climbing stairs or monkey bars on a playground vs climbing the branches of a strong, low, tree. Both offer opportunities for using arms and legs, but tree climbing allows children to use muscle groups in new positions and learn to balance in an irregular position. If no safe climbing trees are available, learning to walk or run on uneven ground in a field or meadow can also be beneficial. It is important for children to move their bodies in many different ways.

Playing outdoors on playgrounds and in nature provides children opportunities to take risks. When children climb, they not only build muscle and coordination, but also learn to overcome fears. This can lead to greater self-confidence that carries over into other areas as well. This is one way in which outdoor activity supports not only physical but also emotional development.

Fine motor skills begin to develop in infancy when the child first learns to grasp a toy such as a rattle or a cloth. Later, they learn to throw a ball, hold a crayon, and use scissors. Children can be given opportunities to use their hands in a variety of ways using age-appropriate materials. Young children love to practice fine motor skills using real-life items, such as bucking the clasp of a highchair strap or zipping a zipper. This has the added benefit of fostering independence which supports emotional development. Children can coordinate their finger movements while learning a zipper and they can also feel proud when they can zip their own jacket to go outside. Opportunities for fine motor development are everywhere and can be as simple as picking up a leaf and ripping it into tiny pieces. Teachers can foster fine motor skills by making sure to create challenging activities based on each child’s developmental level.

Cognitive Development

Cognitive development includes all things related to thinking and learning. In the early childhood stage, the focus is on problem solving, memory, and language acquisition.

Executive Function

One key area of cognitive development is called executive function . Executive function is the collection of processes that encompasses attention, working memory, and inhibition, and it develops between the ages of about 3 and 6 years. Attention is the ability of a child to focus on something, like carefully concentrating on a picture in a book. Working memory refers to the ability of a child to maintain several pieces of information in the mind for a short period of time. This could be recalling some items present in the picture in the book, like a tree, a bird, and a house. Inhibition is the ability to block out distractions, such as other background designs on the book or even the sounds of other children playing in the classroom. Development of executive function is key to building social relationships, acquiring, and maintaining learning, and eventual academic success. For example, if a child is going to learn how to add using blocks, she might have to first pay attention to the blocks in front of her, remember that she had three blocks on one side and one block on the other side, and inhibit the distraction of other toys on the table. All of these components come together with executive function. It is important to remember that because executive function is developing between the ages of about 3 and 5 years, young children do not have the ability to pay attention to things for long periods of time. Nor do they have the ability to remember multiple pieces of information or block out distractions. This is important when planning activities for young children. Setting the expectation that young children should sit at a table and focus on one activity will result in frustration of both children and teachers, as children will communicate their lack of executive function with a lot of wiggles and movement! This is healthy, and teachers should keep this in mind when planning activities that require concentration.

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) need extra support to develop executive function, as concentration and inhibition are particularly difficult. Children who are in chaotic environments or those who have experienced toxic stress and trauma may struggle with the development of healthy executive function. Strategies that have been successful in promoting executive function are games and activities that practice concentration and task-switching. Such games need to be fun, not tied to punishment or reward. Deep breathing and mediation have also been shown to aid in the development of executive function for children who are struggling.

Problem Solving

When children encounter a challenge, they learn to practice problem solving. Problem solving involves assessing the problem, devising a plan, carrying out the plan, and reflecting on the outcome. Children may do this without actively knowing that they are carrying out these four steps. For instance, if a child is building a block tower on a soft carpet, it might be unstable and fall down. The child might think of a solution: get a tray or a large book to set on the carpet to create a flat surface. The child then gets the tray, builds the block tower, and then checks to see if it is wobbly or stable. Problem solved! Children solve many such problems each day during play. It is helpful for teachers to facilitate problem solving by asking open-ended questions , or questions that do not have a yes or no answer. This type of question helps the child see the main features and problems in the situation, encourages thinking about solutions, and suggests solutions, all without giving the answer. An exchange might look like the following:

Teacher: “It looks like your block tower is falling down a lot. I wonder why?”

Child “Because the carpet is bumpy and soft”

Teacher: “How can you make a more stable base for your tower?”

Child: “I could put a tray underneath it!”

Teacher: “Want to try that and see what happens?”

This exchange of open-ended questions helps the child learn to problem solve on their own. The use of the phrase “see what happens” encourages the child to engage in the fourth step of problem solving, assessing the outcome. After all, a problem-solving strategy may not succeed, and the child might have to try something else. This is all part of the process of learning.

Theory of Mind

As young as 2 ½ healthy children start to figure out how other people are thinking and feeling. The study of this ability is referred to as theory of mind, a cognitive ability supporting social development. One of the hallmarks of theory of mind is ability to pick up cues and understand the mental states of others. For example, if a child sees a friend crying, he might infer that the friend is sad. It is difficult for a young child to get out of their own head. Children see things from their own perspective and have a difficult time understanding the perspectives of others. So, if a child is happily playing and sees another child crying, it takes some time before they can understand that what they are thinking and feeling is not the same as what others are thinking and feeling. It is clear to see the connection between this cognitive ability and building social relationships. Children with Autism have difficulty with theory of mind, and many children with Autism do not develop it at all. For this reason, Autism interventions include instruction on how to read the mental stats of others.

Self-reflection

Self-reflection is the ability to think about one’s own thoughts. This is sometimes referred to as metacognition , which develops between middle childhood and adolescence. However, during early childhood there are signs of self-reflection, or thinking back on one’s thoughts, Self-reflection is helpful in problem solving and emotional development. If a child has solved a problem such as mixing the colors just right for a painting, the teacher might ask “Why did you decide to do it this way?” or “Tell me about why you chose to mix those colors?”. This helps children to think through their process and helps them remember the strategy for next time. Self-reflection in early childhood is best facilitated by teachers using probing questions such as the examples above, but older children can engage in self-reflection through journaling or planned exchanges with peers.

Language development is a very broad and rich area of development that encompasses much more than the scope of this section. Nevertheless, this section will highlight the key points of language development in early childhood.

Children learn to understand language in infancy through responsive interactions with adults. Adults should speak with and listen to infants starting at birth, making eye contact and using a gentle tone. When infants begin to babble, adults can take turns talking and letting baby babble. This sets up the format for later turn taking in conversation. Throughout childhood, children will usually understand more words than they can speak. As children begin to understand language, they can answer simple questions with a yes or no response by shaking their heads or using simple sign language. It has become a common practice to teach hearing infants a few common signs to facilitate communication earlier than when they begin speaking. Infants with hearing impairments can be taught sign language as soon as challenges are detected.

Books should be read and stories told to children starting in infancy, as this helps develop new vocabulary and creates a connection to literature that will later be important for learning. It also helps strengthen the relationship of the child and adult. Joint attention is the action of a child and a caregiver focusing on the same object or concept at the same time. This shared experience helps to form new vocabulary. Children learn new words much more quickly and efficiently with joint attention than they ever could by viewing a video. In fact, there is evidence that suggests that television can actually hinder language development rather than help. Here is an example of joint attention in action.

Setting: Teacher Tanisha and 18-month-old Sofia are looking out the window. Teacher Tanisha sees some autumn leaves falling from the tree.

Teacher Tanisha: “Look Sofia, leaves are falling from the tree.”

[Sofia looks at the leaves]

[Teacher Tanisha and Sofia look at each other and make eye contact]

Sofia: Smiles and says “leaves!”

This action has three steps: adult and child focus on the same object, adult and child make eye contact, adult names the object. In this way, children add many new words to their vocabulary, the words are presented in a real-life context, and they strengthen social relationships with their caregivers.

Once children begin to speak, language use should be encouraged through open-ended questions and topics that interest the child. Songs, rhymes, and books are all effective and fun ways to encourage language, but everyday conversation is also helpful. Children like to be involved in the real-life daily activities of adults, so engaging a child while doing tasks around the classroom is a good way to support language. Mealtimes are another opportunity for language development, as eye contact is easy while sitting at a table.

When learning to speak, children will inevitably make errors with grammar and syntax. The best way to support language development is to model the correct grammar and word order rather than correcting the child. This avoids the embarrassment that might come with being called out on making a mistake, and language modeling is simply a better way for the brain to remember how to use grammar. An exchange might look something like this:

Child: “After breakfast, I goed outside.”

Teacher: “After breakfast you went outside? How fun! What did you do outside?”

Child: “I played with Weihua out there”

By using language modeling, the teacher provides an example of when and how to use the word in a certain situation, thus helping the child remember it for next time.

Social Development

Social development includes all things related to interacting with others. Parents, family, teachers, and peers all have special relationships with children, and those relationships are also related to one another. Teachers form relationships with parents, which benefits the child, and adults can facilitate communication between children. At the center of this is the child, who is driven to form relationships with adults and children alike.

Relationships with Caregivers

Infants begin to form relationships with caregivers at birth. Forming a strong relationship with a primary caregiver gives a baby a feeling of safety and security. The primary caregiver is typically the mother, but can also be the father, relative or other main person in the infant’s life. Eventually, infants form relationships with secondary caregivers like relatives and teachers. Healthy relationships are characterized by things like reciprocal interactions, sensitivity to emotions, a warm, calm, voice, and lots of positive language. These are good ways to interact with children of all ages but are particularly important with infants as toddlers. Children may form preferences to particular caregivers and be upset when one is not available. Similarly, children around from about 9 to 18 months of age may go through separation anxiety , or a fear of being separated from their primary caregiver. This is normal, and children’s emotions should be respected during this time. They do not understand that their mother will return later, which can be upsetting. Teachers can provide support by recognizing the child’s emotions and proving physical comfort (if the child wants it). Using phrases like “I see you are sad that mommy has left” “You are feeling upset right now” are helpful in supporting the child through the tough time.

Temperament

Temperament is a developmental characteristic that intersects social, emotional, and physical development, and because it has genetic underpinnings, it is thought to be “inborn”. When most people think of genetics, they think of physical traits such as eye color or hair texture. While these are genetically inherited characteristics, genetics are also involved in a child’s disposition, which can later become a key part of their personality. Temperament is an infant’s regular way of reacting with their environment, and is categorized as either easy, difficult, or slow to warm up. This is measured by several factors including: smiling and laughter; regularity in eating and sleep habits; approach or withdrawal; adaptability to new situations; intensity of responsiveness; general cheerfulness or unpleasantness; distractibility or persistence, and soothability. Parents of multiple children often report how their first child’s temperament differed from their second: “Jorge was so quiet and peaceful as a baby. He slept all day and never cried! Carlo on the other hand, fussed and cried all day. We thought he might never grow out of it!” It is important to know that babies of all temperaments can grow up to be happy, healthy, and balanced individuals.

Children’s temperament does indeed impact their behavior as an infant and this is a good example of how children’s genetic disposition can interact with their environment to help them develop. This is also an example of how different developmental domains can overlap. What is biological can also be social and emotional. The relationship between a child’s temperament and a caregiver’s personality is sometimes referred to goodness of fit . If an infant has a difficult temperament, she may have frequent periods of intense crying, be difficult to soothe, and may not fall asleep easily. If she has a primary caregiver who is ready for a challenge and sees this baby as an individual who needs love and understanding, then they have a good “goodness of fit”. On the other hand, if an infant has an easy temperament and a caregiver who does not share her sunny disposition, they may not have a “goodness of fit”.

That is why it is important for caregivers of multiple children to be adaptable to multiple infant temperaments. Each child is an individual, and no child is better or worse than another. Further, there is no perfect temperament. Children are who they are, and it is up to the important adults in their lives to respect that and treat all children with love and care.

Relationships with Peers

As children grow and mature, they begin to show interest in other children. At first, it may be just a 10-month-old watching other children playing on a playground. This may not seem like much but observing older children at play lays the groundwork for later social interactions. Later, children will play with toys alongside one another, but not yet interact. Adults may be eager for children to form friendships with others, but this time of play is important for children to experience before they move into play involving rules and negotiation.

A great deal of peer relationship building is in the context of play. Play is, after all, the work of childhood, and this is what children spend most of their waking time doing. During play, children learn the rules of games, how to read a peer’s emotions, and how to engage in social problem solving. If a group of 5-year-old children are playing a game of hide and seek, younger children who are new to the game will quickly learn the rules from the others. If two children are playing with crayons and one takes the crayon from the other, the ensuing frustration will be evident. In this way, children learn to read the emotions of peers.

Perhaps the most interesting development is social problem solving. When children encounter a conflict, it can disrupt their play, and if there is one thing, we know to be true about children, it is that they do not care for their play to be interrupted. This motivates both children to solve the conflict as quickly as possible in order to continue play. Take an example of two children playing in the kitchen dramatic play area. Both children want to cook, but there are only enough materials for one to stir the soup. A conflict arises, and in order to navigate this, the children decide that one will stir the soup and the other will chop the vegetables. This is an example of sophisticated negotiations and problem solving. Both children need to regulate their emotions, come up with alternative activities, and decide who will do which activity. If they give up at any time during the process, then the game is over. This type of problem-solving behavior in the context of play is highly complex and takes a lot of practice. Teachers can facilitate this by stepping in to help regulate emotions, brainstorm alternative activities, or help decide who will do which activity, but only if it seems that the children need help.

Emotional Development

Emotional development includes the development of emotions, emotion regulation, and a sense self. Emotional development is closely related to social development. They are so closely related, in fact, that some frameworks of child development refer to them as socioemotional development or social-emotional development. In this section we will discuss some main areas of development that lean more toward the emotional side of things.

The Development of Emotions

When babies are born, they experience basic emotions such as contentment, interest, and distress. After a few months they begin to experience fear, anger, happiness, and surprise. Later, when a sense of self develops, more emotions come along such as guilt, pride, and embarrassment. It is important for caregivers to allow children to express emotions freely and teach them to express them in socially appropriate ways. One good way to do this is through modeling. Teachers can express mild frustration and model strategies to overcome it. For example, a teacher may demonstrate frustration with difficulty opening a jar, and then take some deep breaths before asking another teacher for help. This is an effective way to teach children how to manage emotions. Another way is to read books that depict children overcoming difficult emotions so that children have a benchmark that they can relate to. Yet another approach is to encourage the expression of emotions through dance and art. Children may also act out emotions through pretend play. Providing children space and time to work through feelings in a pretend setting can be very helpful for the development of emotions.

Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation refers to a child’s ability to control or modify one’s own emotions. It is closely tied to brain development. The underpinnings for emotion regulation begin in infancy with the infant’s primary caregiver. When a baby cries for attention and is soothed by the caregiver, it sends signals to the brain which help it to calm down. With this repeated action of crying and receiving comfort from a caregiver, the baby’s brain slowly learns the process of how to regulate emotions. This process takes a very long time, and more sophisticated emotion regulation occurs alongside executive function. This means that between the ages of 3 and 5 years, children are able to shake off frustrations in a socially acceptable way.

Children with ADHD can have persistent difficulty with emotion regulation, making it hard to succeed in school environments designed for typically developing children. These children need special support and understanding in order to work toward developing emotion coping strategies.

What are some activities that you could create to support child development? On which developmental domains will your activities focus?

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Chapter Three: Domains in Development

The Four Domains of Development

As you just learned, there are many domains in which children develop from infancy through school age. For this chapter, we are going to discuss four overarching domains: physical, cognitive, social, and emotional. The physical domain has to do with growth and changes in the body; the cognitive domain includes the functions of the brain, intelligence, and language; the social domain looks at how children develop skills for managing interactions with others; and the emotional domain covers internal states, such as feelings and personality.

The Whole Child: Development in the Early Years Copyright © 2023 by Deirdre Budzyna and Doris Buckley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Principles of Child Development and Learning and Implications That Inform Practice

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NAEYC’s guidelines and recommendations for developmentally appropriate practice are based on the following nine principles and their implications for early childhood education professional practice. These principles reflect an extensive research base that is only partially referenced here. 13  Because these principles are interrelated, this linear list does not fully represent their overall complexity.

Development and learning are dynamic processes that reflect the complex interplay between a child’s biological characteristics and the environment, each shaping the other as well as future patterns of growth.

Advances in neuroscience over the last two decades have provided new insights regarding the processes of early brain development and their long-term implications for development and learning. The findings provide robust evidence supporting the importance of high-quality early learning experiences for young children for promoting children’s lifelong success.

Neural connections in the brain—which are the basis for all thought, communication, and learning—are established most rapidly in early childhood. 14  The processes of forming new neural connections and pruning the neural connections that are not used continue throughout a person’s lifespan but are most consequential in the first three years. 15  When adults are sensitive and respond to an infant’s babble, cry, or gesture, they directly support the development of neural connections that lay the foundation for children’s communication and social skills, including self-regulation. These “serve and return” interactions shape the brain’s architecture. 16  They also help educators and others “tune in” to the infant and better respond to the infant’s wants and needs.

The interplay of biology and environment, present at birth, continues through the preschool years and primary grades (kindergarten through grade 3). This has particular implications for children who experience adversity. In infancy, for example, a persistent lack of responsive care results in the infant experiencing chronic stress that may negatively impact brain development and may delay or impair the development of essential systems and abilities, including thinking, learning, and memory, as well as the immune system and the ability to cope with stress. 17  Living in persistent poverty can also generate chronic stress that negatively affects the development of brain areas associated with cognitive and self-regulatory functions. 18

No group is monolithic, and data specific to communities provides a deeper understanding of children’s experiences and outcomes. It is important to recognize that although children of all races and ethnicities experience poverty and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), Black and Latino/a children, as well as children in refugee and immigrant families, children in some Asian-American families, and children in Native American families, have been found to be more likely to experience ACEs than White non-Latino/a and other Asian-American populations of children, 19  reflecting a history of systemic inequities. 20  Moreover, racism itself must be recognized not only for its immediate and obvious impacts on children, but also for its long-term negative impacts, in which the repetitive trauma created by racism can predispose individuals to chronic disease. 21  It should be noted that these stressors and trauma affect adults as well as children, including family members and early childhood educators themselves, who, despite their skills and importance, often earn wages that place them into poverty.

Some children appear to be more susceptible than others to the effects of environmental influence—both positive and negative—reflecting individual differences at play. For children facing adverse circumstances, including trauma, the buffering effects of caring, consistent relationships—with family and other community members but also in high-quality early childhood programs—are also important to note. 22  This emerging science emphasizes the critical importance of early childhood educators in providing consistent, responsive, sensitive care and education to promote children’s development and learning across the full birth-through-8 age span. The negative impacts of chronic stress and other adverse experiences can be overcome. High-quality early childhood education contributes substantially to children’s resilience and healthy development.

All domains of child development—physical development, cognitive development, social and emotional development, and linguistic development (including bilingual or multilingual development), as well as approaches to learning—are important; each domain both supports and is supported by the others.

Early childhood educators are responsible for fostering children’s development and learning in all these domains as well as in general learning competencies and executive functioning, which include attention, working memory, self-regulation, reasoning, problem solving, and approaches to learning. There is considerable overlap and interaction across these domains and competencies. For example, sound nutrition, physical activity, and sufficient sleep all promote children’s abilities to engage in social interactions that, in turn, stimulate cognitive growth. Children who experience predictable, responsive relationships and responsive interactions with adults also tend to demonstrate improved general learning competencies and executive functioning. 23

Changes in one domain often impact other areas and highlight each area’s importance. For example, as children begin to crawl or walk, they gain new possibilities for exploring the world. This mobility in turn affects both their cognitive development and their ability to satisfy their curiosity, underscoring the importance of adaptations for children with disabilities that limit their mobility. Likewise, language development influences a child’s ability to participate in social interaction with adults and other children; such interactions, in turn, support further language development as well as further social, emotional, and cognitive development. Science is clear that children can learn multiple languages as easily as one, given adequate exposure and practice, and this process brings cognitive advantages. 24  In groups in which children speak different home languages, educators may not be able to speak each language, but they can value and support maintaining all languages. 25

A growing body of work demonstrates relationships between social, emotional, executive function, and cognitive competencies 26  as well as the importance of movement and physical activity. 27  These areas of learning are mutually reinforcing and all are critical in educating young children across birth through age 8. Intentional teaching strategies, including, and particularly, play (both self-directed and guided), address each domain. Kindergartens and grades 1-3 tend to be considered elementary or primary education, and, as such, may have increasingly prioritized cognitive learning at the expense of physical, social, emotional, and linguistic development. But integrating cognitive, emotional, social, interpersonal skills and self-regulatory competencies better prepares children for more challenging academic content and learning experiences. 28  In brief, the knowledge base documents the importance of a comprehensive curriculum and the interrelatedness of the developmental domains for all young children’s well-being and success.

Play promotes joyful learning that fosters self-regulation, language, cognitive and social competencies as well as content knowledge across disciplines. Play is essential for all children, birth through age 8.

Play (e.g., self-directed, guided, solitary, parallel, social, cooperative, onlooker, object, fantasy, physical, constructive, and games with rules) is the central teaching practice that facilitates young children’s development and learning. Play develops young children’s symbolic and imaginative thinking, peer relationships, language (English and/or additional languages), physical development, and problem-solving skills. All young children need daily, sustained opportunities for play, both indoors and outdoors. Play helps children develop large-motor and fine-motor physical competence, explore and make sense of their world, interact with others, express and control their emotions, develop symbolic and problem-solving abilities, and practice emerging skills. Consistently, studies find clear links between play and foundational capacities such as working memory, self-regulation, oral language abilities, social skills, and success in school. 29

Indeed, play embodies the characteristics of effective development and learning described in principles 4 and 5—active, meaningful engagement driven by children’s choices. Researchers studying the pedagogy of play have identified three key components: choice (the children’s decisions to engage in play, as well as decisions about its direction and its continuation), wonder (children’s continued engagement as they explore, gather information, test hypotheses, and make meaning), and delight (the joy and laughter associated with the pleasure of the activity, making discoveries, and achieving new things). 30  Play also typically involves social interaction with peers and/or adults.

Although adults can be play partners (for example, playing peekaboo with an infant) or play facilitators (by making a suggestion to extend the activity in a certain way), the more that the adult directs an activity or interaction, the less likely it will be perceived as play by the child. When planning learning environments and activities, educators may find it helpful to consider a continuum ranging from children’s self-directed play to direct instruction. 31  Neither end of the continuum is effective by itself in creating a high-quality early childhood program. Effective, developmentally-appropriate practice does not mean simply letting children play in the absence of a planned learning environment, nor does it mean predominantly offering direct instruction. In the middle of the continuum is guided play. Educators create learning environments that reflect children’s interests; they provide sustained time and opportunities for children to engage in self-directed play (individually and in small groups). Educators also strategically make comments and suggestions and ask questions to help move children toward a learning goal, even as children continue to lead the activity. 32

Guided play gives educators opportunities to use children’s interests and creations to introduce new vocabulary and concepts, model complex language, and provide children with multiple opportunities to use words in context in children’s home languages as well as in English. These meaningful and engaging experiences help children—including those in kindergarten and the primary grades—build knowledge and vocabulary across subject areas and in purposeful contexts (which is more effective than memorization of word lists). 33

Despite evidence that supports the value of play, not all children are afforded the opportunity to play, a reality which disproportionately affects Black and Latino/a children. 34  Play is often viewed as being at odds with the demands of formal schooling, especially for children growing up in under-resourced communities. 35  In fact, the highly didactic, highly controlling curriculum found in many kindergarten and primary grades, with its narrow focus on test-focused skill development, is unlikely to be engaging or meaningful for children; it is also unlikely to build the broad knowledge and vocabulary needed for reading comprehension in later grades. Instead, the lesson children are likely to learn is that they are not valued thinkers or successful learners in school. For example, studies suggest that students who are taught math primarily through memorization and rote learning are more than a year behind those who have been taught by relating math concepts to their existing knowledge and reflecting on their own understanding. 36

Even if not called play, cross-curricular and collaborative approaches such as project-based learning, inquiry learning, or making and tinkering share characteristics of playful learning. 37  Giving children autonomy and agency in how they approach problems, make hypotheses, and explore potential solutions with others promotes deeper learning and improves executive functioning. 38  In sum, self-directed play, guided play, and playful learning, skillfully supported by early childhood educators, build academic language, deepen conceptual development, and support reflective and intentional approaches to learning—all of which add up to effective strategies for long-term success.

Although general progressions of development and learning can be identified, variations due to cultural contexts, experiences, and individual differences must also be considered.

A pervasive characteristic of development is that children’s functioning, including their play, becomes increasingly complex—in language, cognition, social interaction, physical movement, problem solving, and virtually every other aspect. Increased organization and memory capacity of the developing brain make it possible for children to combine simple routines into more complex strategies with age. 39  Despite these predictable changes in all domains, the ways that these changes are demonstrated and the meanings attached to them will vary in different cultural and linguistic contexts. For example, in some cultures, children may be encouraged to satisfy their growing curiosity by moving independently to explore the environment; in other cultures, children may be socialized to seek answers to queries within structured activities created for them by adults. 40  In addition, all children learn language through their social interactions, but there are important distinctions in the process for monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual children. 41  Rather than assuming that the process typical of monolingual children is the norm against which others ought to be judged, it is important for educators to recognize the differences as variations in strengths (rather than deficits) and to support them appropriately. 42

Development and learning also occur at varying rates from child to child and at uneven rates across different areas for each child. Children’s demonstrated abilities and skills are often fluid and may vary from day to day based on individual or contextual factors. For example, because children are still developing the ability to direct their attention, a distraction in the environment may result in a child successfully completing a puzzle one day but not the next. In addition, some regression in observed skills is common before new developments are fully achieved. 43  For all of these reasons, the notion of “stages” of development has limited utility; a more helpful concept may be to think of waves of development that allow for considerable overlap without rigid boundaries. 44

Children are active learners from birth, constantly taking in and organizing information to create meaning through their relationships, their interactions with their environment, and their overall experiences.

Even as infants, children are capable of highly complex thinking. 45  Using information they gather through their interactions with people and things as well as their observations of the world around them, they quickly create sophisticated theories to build their conceptual understanding. They recognize patterns and make predictions that they then apply to new situations. Infants appear particularly attuned to adults as sources of information, underscoring the importance of consistent, responsive caregiving to support the formation of relationships. 46  Cultural variations can be seen in these interactions, with implications for later development and learning. For example, in some cultures, children are socialized to quietly observe members of the adult community and to learn by pitching in (often through mimicking the adults’ behaviors). 47  In other cultures, adults make a point of getting a child’s attention to encourage one-on-one interactions. Children socialized to learn through observing may quietly watch others without asking for help, while those socialized to expect direct interaction may find it difficult to maintain focus without frequent adult engagement.

Throughout the early childhood years, young children continue to construct knowledge and make meaning through their interactions with adults and peers, through active exploration and play, and through their observations of people and things in the world around them. Educators recognize the importance of their role in creating a rich, play-based learning environment that encourages the development of knowledge (including vocabulary) and skills across all domains. Educators understand that children’s current abilities are largely the result of the experiences—the opportunities to learn—that children have had. As such, children with disabilities (or with the potential for a disability) have capacity to learn; they need educators who do not label them or isolate them from their peers and who are prepared to work with them and their families to develop that potential.

In addition to learning language and concepts about the physical phenomena in the world around them, children learn powerful lessons about social dynamics as they observe the interactions that educators have with them and other children as well as peer interactions. Well before age 5, most young children have rudimentary definitions of their own and others’ social identities that can include awareness of and biases regarding gender and race. 48

Early childhood educators need to understand the importance of creating a learning environment that helps children develop social identities which do not privilege one group over another. They must also be aware of the potential for implicit bias that may prejudice their interactions with children of various social identities. 49  Educators must also recognize that their nonverbal signals may influence children’s attitudes toward their peers. For example, one recent study found that children will think a child who receives more positive nonverbal signals from a teacher is perceived as a “better” or “smarter” reader than a child who receives more negative nonverbal signals, regardless of that child’s actual reading performance. 50

Children’s motivation to learn is increased when their learning environment fosters their sense of belonging, purpose, and agency. Curricula and teaching methods build on each child’s assets by connecting their experiences in the school or learning environment to their home and community settings.

This principle is drawn from the influential report How People Learn II and is supported by a growing body of research that affirms principles espoused more than 100 years ago by John Dewey. 51  The sense of belonging requires both physical and psychological safety. Seeing connections with home and community can be a powerful signal for children’s establishing psychological safety; conversely, when there are few signs of connection for children, their psychological safety is jeopardized. It is important for children to see people who look like them across levels of authority, to hear and see their home language in the learning environment, and to have learning experiences that are both culturally and linguistically affirming and responsive. 52

Equally important is encouraging each child’s sense of agency. Opportunities for agency—that is, the ability to make and act upon choices about what activities one will engage in and how those activities will proceed—must be widely available for all children, not limited as a reward after completing other tasks or only offered to high-achieving students. Ultimately, motivation is a personal decision based on the learner’s determination of meaningfulness, interest, and engagement. 53  Educators can promote children’s agency and help them feel motivated by engaging them in challenging yet achievable tasks that build on their interests and that they recognize as meaningful and purposeful to their lives. Studies have found that some children are denied opportunities to exercise agency because they are mistakenly deemed unable to do so. 54  For educators, supporting a child’s agency can be especially challenging when they do not speak the same language as the child or are not able to understand a child’s attempts to express solutions or preferences. In these cases, nonverbal cues and/or technology-assistive tools may be helpful as the educator also works to address the communication barrier.

As noted earlier regarding brain development, children’s feelings of safety and security are essential for the development of higher-order thinking skills, so fostering that sense of belonging is essentially a brain-building activity. Beginning in infancy, educators who follow children’s lead in noticing their interests and responding with an appropriate action and conversation (including noting when interest wanes) are helping children develop self-confidence and an understanding that their actions make a difference. Educators can involve children in choosing or creating learning experiences that are meaningful to them, helping them establish and achieve challenging goals, and reflecting on their experiences and their learning. Educators can also intentionally build bridges between children’s interests and the subject matter knowledge that will serve as the foundation for learning in later grades.

Children learn in an integrated fashion that cuts across academic disciplines or subject areas. Because the foundations of subject area knowledge are established in early childhood, educators need subject-area knowledge, an understanding of the learning progressions within each subject area, and pedagogical knowledge about teaching each subject area’s content effectively.

Based on their knowledge of what is meaningful and engaging to each child, educators design the learning environment and its activities to promote subject area knowledge across all content areas as well as across all domains of development. Educators use their knowledge of learning progressions for different subjects, their understanding of common conceptions and misconceptions at different points on the progressions, and their pedagogical knowledge about each subject area to develop learning activities that offer challenging but achievable goals for children that are also meaningful and engaging. These activities will look very different for infants and toddlers than for second- and third-graders and from one community of learners to another, given variations in culture and context. Across all levels and settings, educators can help children observe and, over time, reflect about phenomena in the world around them, gain vocabulary, and build their conceptual understanding of the content of subjects across all disciplines.

Recognizing the value of the academic disciplines, an interdisciplinary approach that considers multiple areas together is typically more meaningful than teaching content areas separately. This requires going beyond superficial connections. It means “making rich connections among domain and subject areas, but allowing each to retain its core conceptual, procedural, and epistemological structures.” 55  It is, therefore, important that educators have a good understanding of the core structures (concepts and language) for all the academic subject areas so that they can communicate them in appropriate ways to children.

Educators shape children’s conceptual development through their use of language. For example, labeling objects helps young children form conceptual categories; statements conveyed as generic descriptions about a category are especially salient to young children and, once learned, can be resistant to change. 56  It is also important for educators to monitor their language for potential bias. For example, educators who frequently refer to “boys” and “girls” rather than “children” emphasize binary gender distinctions that exclude some children. Educators can also encourage children’s continued exploration and discovery through the words they use. For example, when given an object, children are more likely to engage in creative explorations of that object when they are provided with more open-ended guidance versus when they are given specific information about what the object was designed to do.

From infancy through age 8, proactively building children’s conceptual and factual knowledge, including academic vocabulary, is essential because knowledge is the primary driver of comprehension. The more children (and adults) know, the better their listening comprehension and, later, reading comprehension. By building knowledge of the world in early childhood, educators are laying the foundation that is critical for all future learning. 57  All subject matter can be taught in ways that are meaningful and engaging for each child. 58  The notion that young children are not ready for academic subject matter is a misunderstanding of developmentally appropriate practice.

Development and learning advance when children are challenged to achieve at a level just beyond their current mastery and when they have many opportunities to reflect on and practice newly acquired skills.

Human beings, especially young children, are motivated to understand or do what is just beyond their current understanding or mastery. Drawing upon the strengths and resources each child and family brings, early childhood educators create a rich learning environment that stimulates that motivation and helps to extend each child’s current skills, abilities, and interests. They make use of strategies to promote children’s undertaking and mastering of new and progressively more advanced challenges. They also recognize the potential for implicit bias to lead to lowered expectations, especially for children of color, 59  and actively work to avoid such bias.

Educators contribute significantly to the child’s development by providing the support or assistance that allows the child to succeed at a task that is just beyond their current level of skill or understanding. This includes emotional support as well as strategies such as pointing out salient details or providing other cues that can help children make connections to previous knowledge and experiences. 60  As children make this stretch to a new level in a supportive context, they can go on to use the skill independently and in a variety of contexts, laying the foundation for the next challenge. Provision of such support, or scaffolding, is a key feature of effective teaching. Pairing children can be an effective way to support peer learning in which children with different abilities can scaffold each other. 61

Children need to feel successful in new tasks a significant proportion of the time to promote their motivation and persistence. 62  Confronted by repeated failure, most children will simply stop trying. Repeated opportunities to practice and consolidate new skills and concepts are also essential for children to reach the threshold of mastery at which they can go on to use this knowledge or skill, applying it in new situations. Play (especially in intentionally designed environments with carefully selected materials) provides young children with opportunities to engage in this type of practice.

Educators foster learning for a group of children by setting challenging, achievable goals for each child, building on the combined funds of knowledge and cultural assets of the children in the group. Providing the right amount and type of scaffolding requires general knowledge of child development and learning, including familiarity with the paths and sequences that children are known to follow in specific skills, concepts, and abilities. Also essential is deep knowledge of each child, based on what the teacher has learned from close observation and from the family about the individual child’s interests, skills, and abilities and about practices of importance to the family. Both sets of knowledge are critical to matching curriculum and teaching experiences to each child’s emerging competencies in ways that are challenging but not frustrating.

Encouraging children to reflect on their experiences and learning and to revisit concepts over time is also an important strategy for educators. The curriculum should provide both breadth and depth with multiple opportunities to revisit concepts and experiences, rather than rapidly progressing through a wide but shallow set of experiences. Picture books and other learning materials that depict communities and situations relevant to children’s lives can be useful starting points for such reflection. Group projects with documentation, including photos, videos, child artwork and representations, child dictations, and/or children’s writing, are also important tools for encouraging reflection and for revisiting concepts over time. 63

Tiered intervention approaches can be helpful in identifying children who might benefit from additional instruction or support. 64  These approaches, often in collaboration with early childhood special educators and early interventionists, are most effective when they are implemented in a way that is continuous, flexible, dynamic, and focused on the range of critical skills and proficiencies children need to develop and to enable their full participation in the classroom/group community.

Used responsibly and intentionally, technology and interactive media can be valuable tools for supporting children’s development and learning.

Young children live in a digital era in which technology and interactive media are pervasive. Given rapid changes in the types and uses of new media, the knowledge base of their effects on children’s development and learning continues to grow and shift. Emerging evidence suggests a number of cautions, including concerns about negative associations between excessive screen time and childhood obesity as well as negative impacts on toddlers’ performance on measures of fine motor, communication, and social skills. 65  There is no evidence that development is enhanced when children younger than age 2 independently use devices with screen media. 66  Keeping these cautions in mind, technology and interactive media can help to support developmentally appropriate practice. For example, technology and interactive media can facilitate communication between families, children, and teachers. It can also support learning, comprehension, and communication across language differences and provide adaptations that support inclusion of children with disabilities. The use of digital media can facilitate reflection through documentation and formative assessment by children, educators, and families. The use of media can also provide isolated children (for example, children with health problems that prevent them from participating in group settings or those with less well-developed social skills) with opportunities to engage effectively with peers. 67

Effective uses of technology and media by children are active, hands-on, engaging, and empowering; give children control; provide adaptive scaffolds to help each child progress in skills development at their individual pace; and are used as one of many options to support children’s learning. Technology and interactive media should expand children’s access to new content and new skills; they should not replace opportunities for real, hands-on experiences. 68  When truly integrated, uses of technology and media become normal and transparent—the child or the educator is focused on the activity or exploration itself, not the technology. Readers are encouraged to review the NAEYC/Fred Rogers Center  position statement on the use of technology  for more information on this topic.

View the full list of endnotes.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) Position Statement

Child Growth and Development

(12 reviews)

Jennifer Paris

Antoinette Ricardo

Dawn Rymond

Alexa Johnson

Copyright Year: 2018

Last Update: 2019

Publisher: College of the Canyons

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Mistie Potts, Assistant Professor, Manchester University on 11/22/22

This text covers some topics with more detail than necessary (e.g., detailing infant urination) yet it lacks comprehensiveness in a few areas that may need revision. For example, the text discusses issues with vaccines and offers a 2018 vaccine... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text covers some topics with more detail than necessary (e.g., detailing infant urination) yet it lacks comprehensiveness in a few areas that may need revision. For example, the text discusses issues with vaccines and offers a 2018 vaccine schedule for infants. The text brushes over “commonly circulated concerns” regarding vaccines and dispels these with statements about the small number of antigens a body receives through vaccines versus the numerous antigens the body normally encounters. With changes in vaccines currently offered, shifting CDC viewpoints on recommendations, and changing requirements for vaccine regulations among vaccine producers, the authors will need to revisit this information to comprehensively address all recommended vaccines, potential risks, and side effects among other topics in the current zeitgeist of our world.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

At face level, the content shared within this book appears accurate. It would be a great task to individually check each in-text citation and determine relevance, credibility and accuracy. It is notable that many of the citations, although this text was updated in 2019, remain outdated. Authors could update many of the in-text citations for current references. For example, multiple in-text citations refer to the March of Dimes and many are dated from 2012 or 2015. To increase content accuracy, authors should consider revisiting their content and current citations to determine if these continue to be the most relevant sources or if revisions are necessary. Finally, readers could benefit from a reference list in this textbook. With multiple in-text citations throughout the book, it is surprising no reference list is provided.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This text would be ideal for an introduction to child development course and could possibly be used in a high school dual credit or beginning undergraduate course or certificate program such as a CDA. The outdated citations and formatting in APA 6th edition cry out for updating. Putting those aside, the content provides a solid base for learners interested in pursuing educational domains/careers relevant to child development. Certain issues (i.e., romantic relationships in adolescence, sexual orientation, and vaccination) may need to be revisited and updated, or instructors using this text will need to include supplemental information to provide students with current research findings and changes in these areas.

Clarity rating: 4

The text reads like an encyclopedia entry. It provides bold print headers and brief definitions with a few examples. Sprinkled throughout the text are helpful photographs with captions describing the images. The words chosen in the text are relatable to most high school or undergraduate level readers and do not burden the reader with expert level academic vocabulary. The layout of the text and images is simple and repetitive with photographs complementing the text entries. This allows the reader to focus their concentration on comprehension rather than deciphering a more confusing format. An index where readers could go back and search for certain terms within the textbook would be helpful. Additionally, a glossary of key terms would add clarity to this textbook.

Consistency rating: 5

Chapters appear in a similar layout throughout the textbook. The reader can anticipate the flow of the text and easily identify important terms. Authors utilized familiar headings in each chapter providing consistency to the reader.

Modularity rating: 4

Given the repetitive structure and the layout of the topics by developmental issues (physical, social emotional) the book could be divided into sections or modules. It would be easier if infancy and fetal development were more clearly distinct and stages of infant development more clearly defined, however the book could still be approached in sections or modules.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text is organized in a logical way when we consider our own developmental trajectories. For this reason, readers learning about these topics can easily relate to the flow of topics as they are presented throughout the book. However, when attempting to find certain topics, the reader must consider what part of development that topic may inhabit and then turn to the portion of the book aligned with that developmental issue. To ease the organization and improve readability as a reference book, authors could implement an index in the back of the book. With an index by topic, readers could quickly turn to pages covering specific topics of interest. Additionally, the text structure could be improved by providing some guiding questions or reflection prompts for readers. This would provide signals for readers to stop and think about their comprehension of the material and would also benefit instructors using this textbook in classroom settings.

Interface rating: 4

The online interface for this textbook did not hinder readability or comprehension of the text. All information including photographs, charts, and diagrams appeared to be clearly depicted within this interface. To ease reading this text online authors should create a live table of contents with bookmarks to the beginning of chapters. This book does not offer such links and therefore the reader must scroll through the pdf to find each chapter or topic.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors were found in reviewing this textbook.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Cultural diversity is represented throughout this text by way of the topics described and the images selected. The authors provide various perspectives that individuals or groups from multiple cultures may resonate with including parenting styles, developmental trajectories, sexuality, approaches to feeding infants, and the social emotional development of children. This text could expand in the realm of cultural diversity by addressing current issues regarding many of the hot topics in our society. Additionally, this textbook could include other types of cultural diversity aside from geographical location (e.g., religion-based or ability-based differences).

While this text lacks some of the features I would appreciate as an instructor (e.g., study guides, review questions, prompts for critical thinking/reflection) and it does not contain an index or glossary, it would be appropriate as an accessible resource for an introduction to child development. Students could easily access this text and find reliable and easily readable information to build basic content knowledge in this domain.

Reviewed by Caroline Taylor, Instructor, Virginia Tech on 12/30/21

Each chapter is comprehensively described and organized by the period of development. Although infancy and toddlerhood are grouped together, they are logically organized and discussed within each chapter. One helpful addition that would largely... read more

Each chapter is comprehensively described and organized by the period of development. Although infancy and toddlerhood are grouped together, they are logically organized and discussed within each chapter. One helpful addition that would largely contribute to the comprehensiveness is a glossary of terms at the end of the text.

From my reading, the content is accurate and unbiased. However, it is difficult to confidently respond due to a lack of references. It is sometimes clear where the information came from, but when I followed one link to a citation the link was to another textbook. There are many citations embedded within the text, but it would be beneficial (and helpful for further reading) to have a list of references at the end of each chapter. The references used within the text are also older, so implementing updated references would also enhance accuracy. If used for a course, instructors will need to supplement the textbook readings with other materials.

This text can be implemented for many semesters to come, though as previously discussed, further readings and updated materials can be used to supplement this text. It provides a good foundation for students to read prior to lectures.

Clarity rating: 5

This text is unique in its writing style for a textbook. It is written in a way that is easily accessible to students and is also engaging. The text doesn't overly use jargon or provide complex, long-winded examples. The examples used are clear and concise. Many key terms are in bold which is helpful to the reader.

For the terms that are in bold, it would be helpful to have a definition of the term listed separately on the page within the side margins, as well as include the definition in a glossary at the end.

Each period of development is consistently described by first addressing physical development, cognitive development, and then social-emotional development.

Modularity rating: 5

This text is easily divisible to assign to students. There were few (if any) large blocks of texts without subheadings, graphs, or images. This feature not only improves modularity but also promotes engagement with the reading.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of the text flows logically. I appreciate the order of the topics, which are clearly described in the first chapter by each period of development. Although infancy and toddlerhood are grouped into one period of development, development is appropriately described for both infants and toddlers. Key theories are discussed for infants and toddlers and clearly presented for the appropriate age.

Interface rating: 5

There were no significant interface issues. No images or charts were distorted.

It would be helpful to the reader if the table of contents included a navigation option, but this doesn't detract from the overall interface.

I did not see any grammatical errors.

This text includes some cultural examples across each area of development, such as differences in first words, parenting styles, personalities, and attachments styles (to list a few). The photos included throughout the text are inclusive of various family styles, races, and ethnicities. This text could implement more cultural components, but does include some cultural examples. Again, instructors can supplement more cultural examples to bolster the reading.

This text is a great introductory text for students. The text is written in a fun, approachable way for students. Though the text is not as interactive (e.g., further reading suggestions, list of references, discussion points at the end of each chapter, etc.), this is a great resource to cover development that is open access.

Reviewed by Charlotte Wilinsky, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Holyoke Community College on 6/29/21

This text is very thorough in its coverage of child and adolescent development. Important theories and frameworks in developmental psychology are discussed in appropriate depth. There is no glossary of terms at the end of the text, but I do not... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text is very thorough in its coverage of child and adolescent development. Important theories and frameworks in developmental psychology are discussed in appropriate depth. There is no glossary of terms at the end of the text, but I do not think this really hurts its comprehensiveness.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The citations throughout the textbook help to ensure its accuracy. However, the text could benefit from additional references to recent empirical studies in the developmental field.

It seems as if updates to this textbook will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement given how well organized the text is and its numerous sections and subsections. For example, a recent narrative review was published on the effects of corporal punishment (Heilmann et al., 2021). The addition of a reference to this review, and other more recent work on spanking and other forms of corporal punishment, could serve to update the text's section on spanking (pp. 223-224; p. 418).

The text is very clear and easily understandable.

Consistency rating: 4

There do not appear to be any inconsistencies in the text. The lack of a glossary at the end of the text may be a limitation in this area, however, since glossaries can help with consistent use of language or clarify when different terms are used.

This textbook does an excellent job of dividing up and organizing its chapters. For example, chapters start with bulleted objectives and end with a bulleted conclusion section. Within each chapter, there are many headings and subheadings, making it easy for the reader to methodically read through the chapter or quickly identify a section of interest. This would also assist in assigning reading on specific topics. Additionally, the text is broken up by relevant photos, charts, graphs, and diagrams, depending on the topic being discussed.

This textbook takes a chronological approach. The broad developmental stages covered include, in order, birth and the newborn, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. Starting with the infancy and toddlerhood stage, physical, cognitive, and social emotional development are covered.

There are no interface issues with this textbook. It is easily accessible as a PDF file. Images are clear and there is no distortion apparent.

I did not notice any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

This text does a good job of including content relevant to different cultures and backgrounds. One example of this is in the "Cultural Influences on Parenting Styles" subsection (p. 222). Here the authors discuss how socioeconomic status and cultural background can affect parenting styles. Including references to specific studies could further strengthen this section, and, more broadly, additional specific examples grounded in research could help to fortify similar sections focused on cultural differences.

Overall, I think this is a terrific resource for a child and adolescent development course. It is user-friendly and comprehensive.

Reviewed by Lois Pribble, Lecturer, University of Oregon on 6/14/21

This book provides a really thorough overview of the different stages of development, key theories of child development and in-depth information about developmental domains. read more

This book provides a really thorough overview of the different stages of development, key theories of child development and in-depth information about developmental domains.

The book provides accurate information, emphasizes using data based on scientific research, and is stated in a non-biased fashion.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book is relevant and provides up-to-date information. There are areas where updates will need to be made as research and practices change (e.g., autism information), but it is written in a way where updates should be easy to make as needed.

The book is clear and easy to read. It is well organized.

Good consistency in format and language.

It would be very easy to assign students certain chapters to read based on content such as theory, developmental stages, or developmental domains.

Very well organized.

Clear and easy to follow.

I did not find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

General content related to culture was infused throughout the book. The pictures used were of children and families from a variety of cultures.

This book provides a very thorough introduction to child development, emphasizing child development theories, stages of development, and developmental domains.

Reviewed by Nancy Pynchon, Adjunct Faculty, Middlesex Community College on 4/14/21

Overall this textbook is comprehensive of all aspects of children's development. It provided a brief introduction to the different relevant theorists of childhood development . read more

Overall this textbook is comprehensive of all aspects of children's development. It provided a brief introduction to the different relevant theorists of childhood development .

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Most of the information is accurately written, there is some outdated references, for example: Many adults can remember being spanked as a child. This method of discipline continues to be endorsed by the majority of parents (Smith, 2012). It seems as though there may be more current research on parent's methods of discipline as this information is 10 years old. (page 223).

The content was current with the terminology used.

Easy to follow the references made in the chapters.

Each chapter covers the different stages of development and includes the theories of each stage with guided information for each age group.

The formatting of the book makes it reader friendly and easy to follow the content.

Very consistent from chapter to chapter.

Provided a lot of charts and references within each chapter.

Formatted and written concisely.

Included several different references to diversity in the chapters.

There was no glossary at the end of the book and there were no vignettes or reflective thinking scenarios in the chapters. Overall it was a well written book on child development which covered infancy through adolescents.

Reviewed by Deborah Murphy, Full Time Instructor, Rogue Community College on 1/11/21

The text is excellent for its content and presentation. The only criticism is that neither an index nor a glossary are provided. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text is excellent for its content and presentation. The only criticism is that neither an index nor a glossary are provided.

The material seems very accurate and current. It is well written. It is very professionally done and is accessible to students.

This text addresses topics that will serve this field in positive ways that should be able to address the needs of students and instructors for the next several years.

Complex concepts are delivered accurately and are still accessible for students . Figures and tables complement the text . Terms are explained and are embedded in the text, not in a glossary. I do think indices and glossaries are helpful tools. Terminology is highlighted with bold fonts to accentuate definitions.

Yes the text is consistent in its format. As this is a text on Child Development it consistently addresses each developmental domain and then repeats the sequence for each age group in childhood. It is very logically presented.

Yes this text is definitely divisible. This text addresses development from conception to adolescents. For the community college course that my department wants to use it is very adaptable. Our course ends at middle school age development; our courses are offered on a quarter system. This text is adaptable for the content and our term time schedule.

This text book flows very clearly from Basic principles to Conception. It then divides each stage of development into Physical, Cognitive and Social Emotional development. Those concepts and information are then repeated for each stage of development. e.g. Infants and Toddler-hood, Early Childhood, and Middle Childhood. It is very clearly presented.

It is very professionally presented. It is quite attractive in its presentation .

I saw no errors

The text appears to be aware of being diverse and inclusive both in its content and its graphics. It discusses culture and represents a variety of family structures representing contemporary society.

It is wonderfully researched. It will serve our students well. It is comprehensive and constructed very well. I have enjoyed getting familiar with this text and am looking forward to using it with my students in this upcoming term. The authors have presented a valuable, well written book that will be an addition to our field. Their scholarly efforts are very apparent. All of this text earns high grades in my evaluation. My only criticism is, as mentioned above, is that there is not a glossary or index provided. All citations are embedded in the text.

Reviewed by Ida Weldon, Adjunct Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 6/30/20

The overall comprehensiveness was strong. However, I do think some sections should have been discussed with more depth read more

The overall comprehensiveness was strong. However, I do think some sections should have been discussed with more depth

Most of the information was accurate. However, I think more references should have been provided to support some claims made in the text.

The material appeared to be relevant. However, it did not provide guidance for teachers in addressing topics of social justice, equality that most children will ask as they try to make sense of their environment.

The information was presented (use of language) that added to its understand-ability. However, I think more discussions and examples would be helpful.

The text appeared to be consistent. The purpose and intent of the text was understandable throughout.

The text can easily be divided into smaller reading sections or restructured to meet the needs of the professor.

The organization of the text adds to its consistency. However, some sections can be included in others decreasing the length of the text.

Interface issues were not visible.

The text appears to be free of grammatical errors.

While cultural differences are mentioned, more time can be given to helping teachers understand and create a culturally and ethnically focused curriculum.

The textbook provides a comprehensive summary of curriculum planing for preschool age children. However, very few chapters address infant/toddlers.

Reviewed by Veronica Harris, Adjunct Faculty, Northern Essex Community College on 6/28/20

This text explores child development from genetics, prenatal development and birth through adolescence. The text does not contain a glossary. However, the Index is clear. The topics are sequential. The text addresses the domains of physical,... read more

This text explores child development from genetics, prenatal development and birth through adolescence. The text does not contain a glossary. However, the Index is clear. The topics are sequential. The text addresses the domains of physical, cognitive and social emotional development. It is thorough and easy to read. The theories of development are inclusive to give the reader a broader understanding on how the domains of development are intertwined. The content is comprehensive, well - researched and sequential. Each chapter begins with the learning outcomes for the upcoming material and closes with an outline of the topics covered. Furthermore, a look into the next chapter is discussed.

The content is accurate, well - researched and unbiased. An historical context is provided putting content into perspective for the student. It appears to be unbiased.

Updated and accurate research is evidenced in the text. The text is written and organized in such a way that updates can be easily implemented. The author provides theoretical approaches in the psychological domains with examples along with real - life scenarios providing meaningful references invoking understanding by the student.

The text is written with clarity and is easily understood. The topics are sequential, comprehensive and and inclusive to all students. This content is presented in a cohesive, engaging, scholarly manner. The terminology used is appropriate to students studying Developmental Psychology spanning from birth through adolescents.

The book's approach to the content is consistent and well organized. . Theoretical contexts are presented throughout the text.

The text contains subheadings chunking the reading sections which can be assigned at various points throughout the course. The content flows seamlessly from one idea to the next. Written chronologically and subdividing each age span into the domains of psychology provides clarity without overwhelming the reader.

The book begins with an overview of child development. Next, the text is divided logically into chapters which focus on each developmental age span. The domains of each age span are addressed separately in subsequent chapters. Each chapter outlines the chapter objectives and ends with an outline of the topics covered and share an idea of what is to follow.

Pages load clearly and consistently without distortion of text, charts and tables. Navigating through the pages is met with ease.

The text is written with no grammatical or spelling errors.

The text did not present with biases or insensitivity to cultural differences. Photos are inclusive of various cultures.

The thoroughness, clarity and comprehensiveness promote an approach to Developmental Psychology that stands alongside the best of texts in this area. I am confident that this text encompasses all the required elements in this area.

Reviewed by Kathryn Frazier, Assistant Professor, Worcester State University on 6/23/20

This is a highly comprehensive, chronological text that covers genetics and conception through adolescence. All major topics and developmental milestones in each age range are given adequate space and consideration. The authors take care to... read more

This is a highly comprehensive, chronological text that covers genetics and conception through adolescence. All major topics and developmental milestones in each age range are given adequate space and consideration. The authors take care to summarize debates and controversies, when relevant and include a large amount of applied / practical material. For example, beyond infant growth patterns and motor milestone, the infancy/toddler chapters spend several pages on the mechanics of car seat safety, best practices for introducing solid foods (and the rationale), and common concerns like diaper rash. In addition to being generally useful information for students who are parents, or who may go on to be parents, this text takes care to contextualize the psychological research in the lived experiences of children and their parents. This is an approach that I find highly valuable. While the text does not contain an index, the search & find capacity of OER to make an index a deal-breaker for me.

The text includes accurate information that is well-sourced. Relevant debates, controversies and historical context is also provided throughout which results in a rich, balanced text.

This text provides an excellent summary of classic and updated developmental work. While the majority of the text is skewed toward dated, classic work, some updated research is included. Instructors may wish to supplement this text with more recent work, particularly that which includes diverse samples and specifically addresses topics of class, race, gender and sexual orientation (see comment below regarding cultural aspects).

The text is written in highly accessible language, free of jargon. Of particular value are the many author-generated tables which clearly organize and display critical information. The authors have also included many excellent figures, which reinforce and visually organize the information presented.

This text is consistent in its use of terminology. Balanced discussion of multiple theoretical frameworks are included throughout, with adequate space provided to address controversies and debates.

The text is clearly organized and structured. Each chapter is self-contained. In places where the authors do refer to prior or future chapters (something that I find helps students contextualize their reading), a complete discussion of the topic is included. While this may result in repetition for students reading the text from cover to cover, the repetition of some content is not so egregious that it outweighs the benefit of a flexible, modular textbook.

Excellent, clear organization. This text closely follows the organization of published textbooks that I have used in the past for both lifespan and child development. As this text follows a chronological format, a discussion of theory and methods, and genetics and prenatal growth is followed by sections devoted to a specific age range: infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood (preschool), middle childhood and adolescence. Each age range is further split into three chapters that address each developmental domain: physical, cognitive and social emotional development.

All text appears clearly and all images, tables and figures are positioned correctly and free of distortion.

The text contains no spelling or grammatical errors.

While this text provides adequate discussion of gender and cross-cultural influences on development, it is not sufficient. This is not a problem unique to this text, and is indeed a critique I have of all developmental textbooks. In particular, in my view this text does not adequately address the role of race, class or sexual orientation on development.

All in all, this is a comprehensive and well-written textbook that very closely follows the format of standard chronologically-organized child development textbooks. This is a fantastic alternative for those standard texts, with the added benefit of language that is more accessible, and content that is skewed toward practical applications.

Reviewed by Tony Philcox, Professor, Valencia College on 6/4/20

The subject of this book is Child Growth and Development and as such covers all areas and ideas appropriate for this subject. This book has an appropriate index. The author starts out with a comprehensive overview of Child Development in the... read more

The subject of this book is Child Growth and Development and as such covers all areas and ideas appropriate for this subject. This book has an appropriate index. The author starts out with a comprehensive overview of Child Development in the Introduction. The principles of development were delineated and were thoroughly presented in a very understandable way. Nine theories were presented which gave the reader an understanding of the many authors who have contributed to Child Development. A good backdrop to start a conversation. This book discusses the early beginnings starting with Conception, Hereditary and Prenatal stages which provides a foundation for the future developmental stages such as infancy, toddler, early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence. The three domains of developmental psychology – physical, cognitive and social emotional are entertained with each stage of development. This book is thoroughly researched and is written in a way to not overwhelm. Language is concise and easily understood.

This book is a very comprehensive and detailed account of Child Growth and Development. The author leaves no stone unturned. It has the essential elements addressed in each of the developmental stages. Thoroughly researched and well thought out. The content covered was accurate, error-free and unbiased.

The content is very relevant to the subject of Child Growth and Development. It is comprehensive and thoroughly researched. The author has included a number of relevant subjects that highlight the three domains of developmental psychology, physical, cognitive and social emotional. Topics are included that help the student see the relevancy of the theories being discussed. Any necessary updates along the way will be very easy and straightforward to insert.

The text is easily understood. From the very beginning of this book, the author has given the reader a very clear message that does not overwhelm but pulls the reader in for more information. The very first chapter sets a tone for what is to come and entices the reader to learn more. Well organized and jargon appropriate for students in a Developmental Psychology class.

This book has all the ingredients necessary to address Child Growth and Development. Even at the very beginning of the book the backdrop is set for future discussions on the stages of development. Theorists are mentioned and embellished throughout the book. A very consistent and organized approach.

This book has all the features you would want. There are textbooks that try to cover too much in one chapter. In this book the sections are clearly identified and divided into smaller and digestible parts so the reader can easily comprehend the topic under discussion. This book easily flows from one subject to the next. Blocks of information are being built, one brick on top of another as you move through the domains of development and the stages of development.

This book starts out with a comprehensive overview in the introduction to child development. From that point forward it is organized into the various stages of development and flows well. As mentioned previously the information is organized into building blocks as you move from one stage to the next.

The text does not contain any significant interface issued. There are no navigation problems. There is nothing that was detected that would distract or confuse the reader.

There are no grammatical errors that were identified.

This book was not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.

This book is clearly a very comprehensive approach to Child Growth and Development. It contains all the essential ingredients that you would expect in a discussion on this subject. At the very outset this book went into detail on the principles of development and included all relevant theories. I was never left with wondering why certain topics were left out. This is undoubtedly a well written, organized and systematic approach to the subject.

Reviewed by Eleni Makris, Associate Professor, Northeastern Illinois University on 5/6/20

This book is organized by developmental stages (infancy, toddler, early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence). The book begins with an overview of conception and prenatal human development. An entire chapter is devoted to birth and... read more

This book is organized by developmental stages (infancy, toddler, early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence). The book begins with an overview of conception and prenatal human development. An entire chapter is devoted to birth and expectations of newborns. In addition, there is a consistency to each developmental stage. For infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence, the textbook covers physical development, cognitive development, and social emotional development for each stage. While some textbooks devote entire chapters to themes such as physical development, cognitive development, and social emotional development and write about how children change developmentally in each stage this book focuses on human stages of development. The book is written in clear language and is easy to understand.

There is so much information in this book that it is a very good overview of child development. The content is error-free and unbiased. In some spots it briefly introduces multicultural traditions, beliefs, and attitudes. It is accurate for the citations that have been provided. However, it could benefit from updating to research that has been done recently. I believe that if the instructor supplements this text with current peer-reviewed research and organizations that are implementing what the book explains, this book will serve as a strong source of information.

While the book covers a very broad range of topics, many times the citations have not been updated and are often times dated. The content and information that is provided is correct and accurate, but this text can certainly benefit from having the latest research added. It does, however, include a great many topics that serve to inform students well.

The text is very easy to understand. It is written in a way that first and second year college students will find easy to understand. It also introduces students to current child and adolescent behavior that is important to be understood on an academic level. It does this in a comprehensive and clear manner.

This book is very consistent. The chapters are arranged by developmental stage. Even within each chapter there is a consistency of theorists. For example, each chapter begins with Piaget, then moves to Vygotsky, etc. This allows for great consistency among chapters. If I as the instructor decide to have students write about Piaget and his development theories throughout the life span, students will easily know that they can find this information in the first few pages of each chapter.

Certainly instructors will find the modularity of this book easy. Within each chapter the topics are self-contained and extensive. As I read the textbook, I envisioned myself perhaps not assigning entire chapters but assigning specific topics/modules and pages that students can read. I believe the modules can be used as a strong foundational reading to introduce students to concepts and then have students read supplemental information from primary sources or journals to reinforce what they have read in the chapter.

The organization of the book is clear and flows nicely. From the table of context students understand how the book is organized. The textbook would be even stronger if there was a more detailed table of context which highlights what topics are covered within each of the chapter. There is so much information contained within each chapter that it would be very beneficial to both students and instructor to quickly see what content and topics are covered in each chapter.

The interface is fine and works well.

The text is free from grammatical errors.

While the textbook does introduce some multicultural differences and similarities, it does not delve deeply into multiracial and multiethnic issues within America. It also offers very little comment on differences that occur among urban, rural, and suburban experiences. In addition, while it does talk about maturation and sexuality, LGBTQ issues could be more prominent.

Overall I enjoyed this text and will strongly consider using it in my course. The focus is clearly on human development and has very little emphasis on education. However, I intend to supplement this text with additional readings and videos that will show concrete examples of the concepts which are introduced in the text. It is a strong and worthy alternative to high-priced textbooks.

Reviewed by Mohsin Ahmed Shaikh, Assistant Professor, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania on 9/5/19

The content extensively discusses various aspects of emotional, cognitive, physical and social development. Examples and case studies are really informative. Some of the areas that can be elaborated more are speech-language and hearing... read more

The content extensively discusses various aspects of emotional, cognitive, physical and social development. Examples and case studies are really informative. Some of the areas that can be elaborated more are speech-language and hearing development. Because these components contribute significantly in development of communication abilities and self-image.

Content covered is pretty accurate. I think the details impressive.

The content is relevant and is based on the established knowledge of the field.

Easy to read and follow.

The terminology used is consistent and appropriate.

I think of using various sections of this book in some of undergraduate and graduate classes.

The flow of the book is logical and easy to follow.

There are no interface issues. Images, charts and diagram are clear and easy to understand.

Well written

The text appropriate and do not use any culturally insensitive language.

I really like that this is a book with really good information which is available in open text book library.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction to Child Development
• Chapter 2: Conception, Heredity, & Prenatal Development
• Chapter 3: Birth and the Newborn
• Chapter 4: Physical Development in Infancy & Toddlerhood
• Chapter 5: Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
• Chapter 6: Social and Emotional Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
• Chapter 7: Physical Development in Early Childhood
• Chapter 8: Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
• Chapter 9: Social Emotional Development in Early Childhood
• Chapter 10: Middle Childhood - Physical Development
• Chapter 11: Middle Childhood – Cognitive Development
• Chapter 12: Middle Childhood - Social Emotional Development
• Chapter 13: Adolescence – Physical Development
• Chapter 14: Adolescence – Cognitive Development
• Chapter 15: Adolescence – Social Emotional Development

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Welcome to Child Growth and Development. This text is a presentation of how and why children grow, develop, and learn. We will look at how we change physically over time from conception through adolescence. We examine cognitive change, or how our ability to think and remember changes over the first 20 years or so of life. And we will look at how our emotions, psychological state, and social relationships change throughout childhood and adolescence.

About the Contributors

Contribute to this page.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

1 Introduction to Child Development

Chapter Objectives

After this chapter, you should be able to:

• Describe the principles that underlie development.
• Differentiate periods of human development.
• Understand issues in development.
• Distinguish the different methods of research.
• Explain what a theory is and compare and contrast different theories of child development.

Introduction

“Early child development sets the foundation for lifelong learning, behaviour, and health” (Mustard, 2006).

Welcome to Child Growth and Development. This text is a presentation of how and why children grow, develop, and learn from conception to adolescence. Registered early childhood educators (RECEs) draw from their professional knowledge of child development, learning theories, and pedagogical and curricular approaches to plan, implement, document and assess child-centered inquiry and play-based learning experiences for children (College of Early Childhood Educators, 2017, p. 10).  Understanding the patterns of development help early childhood educators build caring and responsive relationships (College of Early Childhood Educators, 2017) with the children in their care as well as design safe and accessible environments which support children’s play and learning (College of Early Childhood Educators, 2017), both of which contribute to a sense of belonging and overall well-being (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014b).

The content in this text is being shared with pre-service early childhood educators with an Ontario context, referring to foundational documents that support the early learning and care profession, including, but not exclusive of: The Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Early Childhood Educators in Ontario, How Does Learning Happen ? and Excerpts from ELECT .

Principles of Development

There are several underlying principles of development to keep in mind:

• Development is lifelong and change is apparent across the lifespan (although this text ends with adolescence). Early experiences affect later development.
• Development is multidirectional. We show gains in some areas of development while showing a loss in other areas.
• Development is multidimensional. We change across three general domains/dimensions: physical, cognitive, and social-emotional.

In Ontario, the Continuum of Development can be found in the Excerpts to ELECT.   It outlines the sequence of steps across the five domains of development (social, emotional, communication/language/literacy, cognition, physical) that are typical for the majority of children. It is not an assessment tool, rather it was designed to support RECEs as they observe and document children’s emerging skills (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014). It should be noted that all five domains are interrelated and no one domain is more important than another (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014a).

Research in child development tends to fall into one of the following four themes:

• Early Development is related to later development but not perfectly. Can you think of examples?
• Development is always jointly influenced by heredity and environment (nature/nurture).
• Children help to determine their own development. Can you think of examples?
• Development in different domains is connected.

The physical domain includes changes in height and weight, changes in gross and fine motor skills, sensory capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness.

The cognitive domain encompasses the changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem-solving, memory, and language.

The social and emotional domain (also referred to as psychosocial) focuses on changes in emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends.

All three domains influence each other. It is also important to note that a change in one domain may cascade and prompt changes in the other domains.

Development is characterized by plasticity, which is our ability to change, and that many of our characteristics are malleable. Early experiences are important, but children are remarkably resilient (able to overcome adversity).

Development is multicontextual (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019). We are influenced by both nature (genetics) and nurture (the environment) – when and where we live and our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to circumstances surrounding us. The key here is to understand that behaviours, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture (Lumen Learning, n.d.).

Now let’s look at a framework for examining development.

Periods of development

Consider what periods of development you think a course on Child Development would address. How many stages are on your list? Perhaps you have three: infancy, childhood, and teenagers.

Developmentalists (those that study development) break this part of the life span into these five stages as follows:

• Prenatal Development (conception through birth)
• Infancy and Toddlerhood (birth through 30 months)
• Early Childhood  (2.5 to 5 years)
• Middle Childhood (6 to 12 years)
• Adolescence (13 years to adulthood)

The scope of practice of a registered early childhood educator in Ontario is to work with children twelve years old and younger (College of Early Childhood Educators, 2017), thus the first four stages in this list will be explored in this book. So, while both an 8-month-old and an 8-year-old are considered children, they have very different physical, social, emotional, language, and cognitive skills and abilities.

prenatal development

Conception occurs and development begins. All of the major structures of the body are forming and the health of the mother is of primary concern. Understanding nutrition, teratogens (or environmental factors that can lead to birth defects), and labor and delivery are primary concerns.

infancy and toddlerhood

The first two years of life are ones of dramatic growth and change. A newborn, with a keen sense of hearing but very poor vision is transformed into a walking, talking toddler within a relatively short period of time. Caregivers are also transformed from someone who manages the feeding and sleep schedules to a constantly moving guide and safety inspector for a mobile, energetic child.

Early childhood

Early childhood is also referred to as the preschool years and consists of the years which follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling (grade 1). As a three to five-year-old, the child is busy learning a language, is gaining a sense of self and greater independence and is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world. This knowledge does not come quickly, however, and preschoolers may initially have interesting conceptions of size, time, space, and distance such as fearing that they may go down the drain if they sit at the front of the bathtub or by demonstrating how long something will take by holding out their two index fingers several inches apart. A toddler’s fierce determination to do something may give way to a four-year-old’s sense of guilt for action that brings the disapproval of others.

middle childhood

The ages of six through twelve comprise middle childhood and much of what children experience at this age is connected to their involvement in the early grades of school. Now the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic skills and of assessing one’s abilities and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and others. Schools compare students and make these comparisons public through team sports, test scores, and other forms of recognition. Growth rates slow down and children are able to refine their motor skills at this point in life. Children begin to learn about social relationships beyond the family through interaction with friends and fellow students.

adolescence

Adolescence is a period of dramatic physical change marked by an overall physical growth spurt and sexual maturation, known as puberty. It is also a time of cognitive change as the adolescent begins to think of new possibilities and to consider abstract concepts such as love, fear, and freedom. Ironically, adolescents have a sense of invincibility that puts them at greater risk of dying from accidents or contracting sexually transmitted infections that can have lifelong consequences (Lumen Learning, 2019).

Issues in Development

There are some aspects of development that have been hotly debated. Let’s explore these in a bit more detail.

Nature   and   Nurture  

Why are people the way they are? Are features such as height, weight, personality, being diabetic, etc. the result of heredity or environmental factors-or both? For decades, scholars have carried on the “nature/nurture” debate. For any particular feature, those on the side of Nature would argue that heredity plays the most important role in bringing about that feature. Those on the side of Nurture would argue that one’s environment is most significant in shaping the way we are. This debate continues in all aspects of human development, and most scholars agree that there is a constant interplay between the two forces. It is difficult to isolate the root of any single behaviour as a result solely of nature or nurture. This said, research does consistently point to the fact that healthy child development depends on the relationships children have with parents and other important people in their lives (Bisnaire, Clinton & Ferguson, 2014).

Continuity versus Discontinuity 

Is human development best characterized as a slow, gradual process, or is it best viewed as one of more abrupt change? The answer to that question often depends on which developmental theorist you ask and what topic is being studied. The theories of Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and Kohlberg are called stage theories. Stage theories or discontinuous development assume that developmental change often occurs in distinct stages that are qualitatively different from each other, and in a set, universal sequence. At each stage of development, children and adults have different qualities and characteristics. Thus, stage theorists assume development is more discontinuous. Others, such as the behaviourists, Vygotsky, and information processing theorists, assume development is a more slow and gradual process known as continuous development. For instance, they would see the adult as not possessing new skills, but more advanced skills that were already present in some form in the child. Brain development and environmental experiences contribute to the acquisition of more developed skills.

Active Vs Passive

How much do you play a role in your own developmental path? Are you at the whim of your genetic inheritance or the environment that surrounds you? Some theorists see humans as playing a much more active role in their own development. Piaget, for instance, believed that children actively explore their world and construct new ways of thinking to explain the things they experience. In contrast, many behaviourists view humans as being more passive in the developmental process (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).

How do we know so much about how we grow, develop, and learn? Let’s look at how that data is gathered through research.

Research Methods

An important part of learning any science is having a basic knowledge of the techniques used in gathering information. The hallmark of scientific investigation is that of following a set of procedures designed to keep questioning or skepticism alive while describing, explaining, or testing any phenomenon. Some people are hesitant to trust academicians or researchers because they may seem to change their narratives. That, however, is exactly what science is all about; it involves continuously renewing our understanding of the subjects in question and an ongoing investigation of how and why events occur. Science is a vehicle for going on a never-ending journey. In the area of development, we have seen changes in recommendations for nutrition, in explanations of psychological states as people age, and in parenting advice. So think of learning about human development as a lifelong endeavour.

Take a moment to write down two things that you know about childhood. Now, how do you know? Chances are you know these things based on your own history (experiential reality) or based on what others have told you or cultural ideas (agreement reality) (Seccombe and Warner, 2004, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). There are several problems with personal inquiry.

Read the following sentence aloud:

Paris in the the spring

…Are you sure that is what it said?

Read it again:

If you read it differently the second time (adding the second “the”) you just experienced one of the problems with personal inquiry; that is, the tendency to see what we believe. Our assumptions very often guide our perceptions, consequently, when we believe something, we tend to see it even if it is not there. This problem may just be a result of cognitive ‘blinders’ or it may be part of a more conscious attempt to support our own views. Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for evidence that we are right and in so doing, we ignore contradictory evidence. Karl Popper was an Au strian-British philosopher ,  academic  and  social commentator .  One of the 20th century’s most influential  philosophers of science , Popper is known for his rejection of the classical  inductivist  views on the  scientific method  in favour of  empirical falsification . He suggests that the distinction between that which is scientific and that which is unscientific is that science is falsifiable; scientific inquiry involves attempts to reject or refute a theory or set of assumptions (Thornton, 2005, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Theory that cannot be falsified is not scientific. And much of what we do in personal inquiry involves drawing conclusions based on what we have personally experienced or validating our own experience by discussing what we think is true with others who share the same views. Science offers a more systematic way to make comparisons guard against bias.

Scientific Methods

One method of scientific investigation involves the following steps:

• Determining a research question
• Reviewing previous studies addressing the topic in question (known as a literature review)
• Determining a method of gathering information
• Conducting the study
• Interpreting results
• Drawing conclusions; stating limitations of the study and suggestions for future research
• Making your findings available to others (both to share information and to have your work scrutinized by others)

Your findings can then be used by others as they explore the area of interest and through this process, a literature or knowledge base is established. This model of scientific investigation presents research as a linear process guided by a specific research question. And it typically involves quantifying or using statistics to understand and report what has been studied. Many academic journals publish reports on studies conducted in this manner.

Another model of research referred to as qualitative research may involve steps such as these:

• Begin with a broad area of interest
• Gain entrance into a group to be researched
• Gather field notes about the setting, the people, the structure, the activities, or other areas of interest
• Ask open-ended, broad “grand tour” types of questions when interviewing subjects
• Modify research questions as the study continues
• Note patterns or consistencies
• Explore new areas deemed important by the people being observed
• Report findings

In this type of research, theoretical ideas are “grounded” in the experiences of the participants. The researcher is the student and the people in the setting are the teachers as they inform the researcher of their world (Glazer & Strauss, 1967, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Researchers are to be aware of their own biases and assumptions, acknowledge them, and bracket them in efforts to keep them from limiting accuracy in reporting. Sometimes qualitative studies are used initially to explore a topic and more quantitative studies are used to test or explain what was first described.

Let’s look more closely at some techniques, or research methods used to describe, explain, or evaluate. Each of these   designs   has   strengths   and   weaknesses   and   is   sometimes   used   in   combination   with   other   designs   within   a   single   study.  

Observational Studies

Observational studies  involve watching and recording the actions of participants. This may take place in the natural   setting,   such   as   observing   children   at   play   at   a   park,   or   behind   a   one-way   glass   while   children   are   at   play   in   a   laboratory   playroom. The researcher may follow a checklist and record the frequency and duration of events (perhaps how many   conflicts occur among 2-year-olds) or may observe and record as much as possible about an event (such as observing   children in a classroom and capturing the details about the room design and what the children and teachers are doing   and saying). In general, observational studies have the strength of allowing the researcher to see how people behave   rather   than   relying   on   self-report.   What   people   do   and   what   they   say   they   do   are   often   very   different.   A   major   weakness   of observational studies is that they do not allow the researcher to explain causal relationships. Yet, observational   studies   are   useful   and   widely   used   when   studying   children.   Children   tend   to   change   their   behaviour   when   they   know   they   are   being   watched   (known   as   the   Hawthorne   effect)   and   may   not   survey   well. 

Experiments

Experiments  are designed to test hypotheses (or specific statements about the relationship between variables) in a controlled setting in efforts to explain how certain factors or events produce outcomes. A variable is anything that changes in value. Concepts are operationalized or transformed into variables in research, which means that the researcher must specify exactly what is going to be measured in the study.

Three conditions must be met in order to establish cause and effect. Experimental designs are useful in meeting these conditions. 1. The independent and dependent variables must be related. In other words, when one is altered, the other changes in response. (The independent variable is something altered or introduced by the researcher. The dependent variable is the outcome or the factor affected by the introduction of the independent variable. For example, if we are looking at the impact of exercise on stress levels, the independent variable would be exercise; the dependent variable would be stress.) 2. The cause must come before the effect. Experiments involve measuring subjects on the dependent variable before exposing them to the independent variable (establishing a baseline). So we would measure the subjects’ level of stress before introducing exercise and then again after the exercise to see if there has been a change in stress levels. (Observational and survey research does not always allow us to look at the timing of these events, which makes understanding causality problematic with these designs.) 3. The cause must be isolated. The researcher must ensure that no outside, perhaps unknown variables are actually causing the effect we see. The experimental design helps make this possible. In an experiment, we would make sure that our subjects’ diets were held constant throughout the exercise program. Otherwise, the diet might really be creating a change in stress level rather than exercise.

A basic experimental design involves beginning with a sample (or subset of a population) and randomly assigning subjects to one of two groups: the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group is the group that is going to be exposed to an independent variable or condition the researcher is introducing as a potential cause of an event. The control group is going to be used for comparison and is going to have the same experience as the experimental group but will not be exposed to the independent variable. After exposing the experimental group to the independent variable, the two groups are measured again to see if a change has occurred. If so, we are in a better position to suggest that the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable.

The major advantage of the experimental design is that of helping to establish cause and effect relationships. A disadvantage of this design is the difficulty of translating much of what happens in a laboratory setting into real life.

Case Studies

Case studies  involve exploring a single case or situation in great detail. Information may be gathered with the use of observation, interviews, testing, or other methods to uncover as much as possible about a person or situation. Case studies are helpful when investigating unusual situations such as brain trauma or children reared in isolation. And they are often used by clinicians who conduct case studies as part of their normal practice when gathering information about a client or patient coming in for treatment. Case studies can be used to explore areas about which little is known and can provide rich detail about situations or conditions. However, the findings from case studies cannot be generalized or applied to larger populations; this is because cases are not randomly selected and no control group is used for comparison.

Surveys are familiar to most people because they are so widely used. Surveys enhance accessibility to subjects because  they can be conducted in person, over the phone, through the mail, or online. A survey involves asking a standard set of questions to a group of subjects. In a highly structured survey, subjects are forced to choose from a response set such as “strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, strongly agree”; or “0, 1-5, 6-10, etc.” This is known as the Likert Scale. Surveys are commonly used by sociologists, marketing researchers, political scientists, therapists, and others to gather information on many independent and dependent variables in a relatively short period of time. Surveys typically yield surface information on a wide variety of factors, but may not allow for an in-depth understanding of human behaviour.

Of course, surveys can be designed in a number of ways. They may include forced-choice questions and semi-structured questions in which the researcher allows the respondent to describe or give details about certain events. One of the most difficult aspects of designing a good survey is wording questions in an unbiased way and asking the right questions so that respondents can give a clear response rather than choosing “undecided” each time. Knowing that 30% of respondents are undecided is of little use! So a lot of time and effort should be placed on the construction of survey items. One of the benefits of having forced-choice items is that each response is coded so that the results can be quickly entered and analyzed using statistical software. The analysis takes much longer when respondents give lengthy responses that must be analyzed in a different way. Surveys are useful in examining stated values, attitudes, opinions, and reporting on practices. However, they are based on self-report or what people say they do rather than on observation and this can limit accuracy.

Developmental Designs

Developmental designs  are techniques used in developmental research (and other areas as well). These techniques   try   to examine how   age, cohort, gender, and   social class impact development.  

Longitudinal Research

Longitudinal research involves beginning with a group of people who may be of the same age and background, and measuring them repeatedly over a long period of time. One of the benefits of this type of research is that people can be followed through time and be compared with them when they were younger.

A problem with this type of research is that it is very expensive and subjects may drop out over time.

In Canada, the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth which began in 1994 is an example of a longitudinal study that provided data on children’s development. Surveys were conducted every 2 years with the last survey conducted in 2008-2009. The sample size was roughly 26,000 children aged 0-23 years.

Cross-Sectional Research

Cross-sectional   research   involves   beginning   with   a   sample   that   represents   a   cross-section   of   the   population.   Respondents who vary in age, gender, ethnicity, and social class might be asked to complete a survey about television   program preferences or attitudes toward the use of the internet. The attitudes of males and females could then be compared, as could attitudes based   on   age.   In   cross-sectional   research,   respondents   are   measured   only   once.  

This method is much less expensive than longitudinal research but does not allow the researcher to distinguish between the impact of age and the cohort effect. Different attitudes about the use of technology, for example, might not be altered by a person’s biological age as much as their life experiences as members of a cohort.

Sequential Research

Sequential research  involves combining aspects of the previous two techniques; beginning with a cross-sectional sample and  measuring   them through   time.  

This is the perfect mode l for looking at age, gender, social class, and ethnicity. But the drawbacks of high costs and attrition are here as well (Lumen Learning, n.d.).

Table 1.1: Advantages and disadvantages of different research designs, (Lukowski & Milojevich, 2021).

Qualitative Research in Early Childhood

Qualitative research involves describing and explaining an individual or group experience, a phenomenon or a situation. Such research is conducted with a focus on discovery and therefore open-ended. Information (data) collected and analyzed are in the form of narratives and images obtained from in-depth interviews, observations, documents, and physical artifacts. The following are some research methods used in qualitative research.

Table 1.2: Qualitative research methods, (Lukowski & Milojevich, 2021)

Canada’s Contribution to Child Development Research

Canada has a long history of contributing to child development research. 

In 1892, James Mark Baldwin was appointed the first social scientist at the University of Toronto where he set up Canada’s first psychological research laboratory. Baldwin proposed a social psychological perspective in studying child development and believed that development occurs in stages. He explained that development of physical movement proceeds from simple to complex and eventually leads to more sophisticated mental processes. Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) later advanced this idea further.

Dr. Jean Clinton of McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) is an internationally renowned advocate for children’s issues. Her research focus is in brain development and the role social relationships play in development.

Dr. Fraser Mustard (1927-2011) created the “Canadian Institute for Advanced Research”. Of particular interest to Dr. Mustard was the role of communities in early childhood. In 1999, along with Dr. Margaret McCain (1934- ), he prepared the influential report “The Early Years Study – Reversing the Real Brain Drain” for the Ontario government. The report emphasized promoting early child development centres for young children and parents by: boosting spending on early childhood education to the same levels as in K to 12, making programs available to all income levels, and encouraging local parent groups and businesses to set up these programs instead of the government, when possible.  In 2007, Dr. Mustard, Dr. McCain and Dr. Stuart Shanker wrote a follow-up report critical of Ontario’s progress and calling for national early childhood development programs.

Dr. Stuart Shanker (1952- ) is Canada’s leading expert in the psychosocial theory of self-regulation. Richard Tremblay (1944- ) holds the Canadian Research Chair in Child Development. His research focusses on the development of aggressive behaviour in children and whether early intervention programs can reduce chances of children turning to crime as adults. Dr. Mariana Brussoni of the University of British Columbia is currently active researching the developmental importance of risky play in childhood. Her focus is child injury prevention as well as the influence of culture on parenting in relationship to risky play and safety.

In 1925, Professor Edward Alexander Bott established the St. George’s School for Child Study at the University of Toronto, which would eventually come to be known as The Institute for Child Study. It has been and continues to be, highly influential in developing Ontario’s early childcare and education system.

Statistics Canada, in partnership with Human Resources Development Canada, undertook a major Canadian research initiative in 1994 titled “National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY)”. Researchers tracked multiple variables affecting children’s emotional, social and behavioural development over a period of time, using both longitudinal and cross-sectional sampling. Families from all 10 provinces and territories were included with the exception of families living on First Nations reserves, in extremely remote areas of Canada and full-time members the Canadian Armed Forces. These exclusions should be kept in mind when extrapolating the data. 

This is just a small selection of Canadian researchers who have contributed, and continue to contribute, to our knowledge of how best to support the development of young children. 

Consent and Ethics in Research 

Research should, as much as possible, be based on participants’ freely volunteered informed consent. For minors, this also requires consent from their legal guardians. This implies a responsibility to explain fully and meaningfully to both the child and their guardians what the research is about and how it will be disseminated. Participants and their legal guardians should be aware of the research purpose and procedures, their right to refuse to participate; the extent to which confidentiality will be maintained; the potential uses to which the data might be put; the foreseeable risks and expected benefits; and that participants have the right to discontinue at any time.

But consent alone does not absolve the responsibility of researchers to anticipate and guard against potential harmful consequences for participa nts (Lumen Learning, n.d.). It is critical that researchers protect all rights of the participants including

Confidentiality.

The Canadian Psychological Association (2017) has published the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists, which sets out four ethical principles Canadian psychologists must consider when conducting research: In order of priority, the four principles are: 

• Principle I: Respect for the Dignity of Persons and Peoples 
• Principle II: Responsible Caring
• Principle III: Integrity in Relationships
• Principle IV: Responsibility to Society

While all four principles should be taken into account, there may be times when there is a conflict between the principles. For example; what is best for society might not respect the dignity of persons and people. In this situation, more weight should be given to Principle 1 than Principle 4 in order to make an ethical decision. 

Child development is a fascinating field of study – but care must be taken to ensure that researchers use appropriate methods to examine infant and child behaviour, use the correct experimental design to answer their questions, and be aware of the special challenges that are part-and-parcel of developmental research. Hopefully, this information helped you develop an understanding of these various issues and to be ready to think more critically about research questions that interest you. There are so many interesting questions that remain to be examined by future generations of developmental scientists – maybe you will make one of the next big discoveries!  A nother really important framework to use when trying to understand children’s development are theories of development. 

Let’s explore what theories are and introduce you to some major theories in child development.

Developmental Theories

T he College of Early Childhood Educators (2017), clear ly articulates in a number of places in the Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice for Early Childhood Educators in Ontario, the expectation that RECEs are as knowledgeable about research and theories related to children’s development. Let’s explore what is m eant by a child development theory and why they are important to practice. 

What is a theory? 

In our attempts to make sense of the world and our human experience, it is in our nature to ask questions and develop theories, both formal and informal. This begins at an early age and as we move through this text, we will explore examples of children developing and testing their theories.   

While it is true that students sometimes feel intimidated by theory; even the phrase, “Now we are going to look at some theories…” is met with blank stares and other indications that the audience is now lost. But theories are valuable tools for understanding human behaviour and development. Indeed, they are proposed explanations for the “how” and “whys” of development. Have you ever wondered, “Why is my 3 year old so inquisitive?” or “Why are some fifth graders rejected by their classmates?” A theory is an organized way to make sense of information. Theories can help to make predictions and explain these and other occurrences. Theories can be further tested through research. Developmental theories offer explanations about how we develop, why we change over time, and the kinds of influences that impact development.

Further, a theory guides how information is collected, how it is interpreted, and how it is applied to real-life situations. It provides the researcher with a blueprint or model to be used to help piece together various studies. Think of theories as frameworks or guidelines much like directions that come with an appliance or other object that requires assembly. The instructions can help one piece together smaller parts more easily than if trial and error are used.

Theories can be developed using induction in which a number of single cases are observed and after patterns or similarities are noted, the theorist develops ideas based on these examples. Established theories are then tested through research; however, not all theories are equally suited to scientific investigation.  Some theories are difficult to test but are still useful in stimulating debate or providing concepts that have practical application. Keep in mind that theories are not facts; they are guidelines for investigation and practice, and they gain credibility through research that fails to disprove them (Lumen Learning, n.d.).

Before we examine some foundational child development theories, let’s take a preliminary look at the theorists who have contributed to our current understanding of child development. Take a moment to scan the images of the theorists included in the next few pages.  Find some words to describe what you notice. Can you identify groups who are not represented in this group of theorists? If your answer included women, people of colour, visible minorities and/or Indigenous people as examples you are correct! 

Academics and researchers have, and do, develop theories and frameworks for thinking critically about human knowledge and systems. Critical theory is an example of a postmodern theory the aim of which is to unmask the ideology that falsely justifies some form of economic or social oppression and to see it for what it is…ideology! This can set in motion the task of ending the oppression. 

Today many nations are actively addressing the legacies of colonialism that brought with it such things as patriarchy, eurocentrism, and structuralism. It has been feminist theory, queer theory, Indigenous peoples, and other marginalized groups who, over the past few years, have helped to draw attention to, and disrupt, what, in socio-cultural terms are often referred to as dominant discourses and grand narratives. These ways of describing the world and human experience tend to align with a Western ideology with embedded hierarchies and colonist world views. Historically, these narratives have served to advantage certain populations while pathologizing and further marginalizing others. The process of reconceptualizing is embraced as a way to move forward with social justice. 

For more information check out  Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education. 

Critical theory demands that we adopt a postmodern perspective of child development and encourages early educators to reexamine ideologies, beliefs, and assumptions and to question and look beyond the fixed views of children proposed by existing theories. In everyday practice, this may look like critically examining a storybook for any hidden political or social points of view ( e.g. gender, race, class) made through the stories and images. Posing questions such as whose story is this? Who gets to tell the story? Is it a true representation? Who has been left out? Educators are encouraged to engage in conversations with families and children about representations, a practice that lives into the four foundations of How Does Learning Happen? 

In sum, postmodernism denies the existence of one objective view of child development but rather encourages multiple perspectives of viewing how children develop and learn. 

Within the dominant discourse described above, the scientific method was lauded as the way to objectively quantify and describe the world, including human development and diversity.  We are reconceptualizing science as one of many ways to describe and make meaning of the world and human experience. We are only here today because our ancestors survived and flourished for millennia. They shared their experiences across generations through oral tradition and art as examples.

Indigenous Perspectives

In Indigenous cultures, children are viewed as sacred gifts from the Creator and therefore their growth is seen as a spiritual journey of development and learning. The Medicine Wheel that symbolizes stages of life is used to represent this sacred journey. First Nation, Inuit, and Metis families are interdependent and with each stage of life, each member brings special gifts as well as responsibilities to the family and community. Elders, who are considered knowledge keepers, bring teachings from ancestors to help children understand their sacred place in the universe. Indigenous communities view child development as a journey that is closely bound by the natural and spiritual world and therefore the developing child is shaped by unique ways of knowing and teachings.

For further reading:

A child becomes strong: Journeying through each stage of the life cycle.

We are now beginning to embrace these ways of living in the world. One way to begin to integrate these world views is through ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’.  This guiding principle refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing … and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all. Shared by Elder Albert Marshall in 2004 ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’ is the gift of multiple perspective treasured by many Indigenous peoples (Institute for Integrative Science and Health, n.d.), and refers to shifting from the Western binary dualism of ‘either/or’ to embracing the positive in both of these world views as ‘both/and’.  

Please note that the above is not a critique of science. We do not have to look too far to see evidence of just how much science has contributed to global human health and well-being. It is about HOW science has been used to often deny rather than embrace human diversity.

Let’s   take   a   look   at   some   key   theories   in   Child   Development.  

  sigmund   freud’s   psychosexual   theory  .

We begin with the often controversial figure, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud has been a very influential figure in the area of development; his view of development and psychopathology dominated the field of psychiatry until the growth of behaviourism in the 1950s. His assumptions that personality forms during the first few years of life and that the ways in which parents or other caregivers interact with children have a long-lasting impact on children’s emotional states have guided parents, educators, clinicians, and policy-makers for many years. We have only recently begun to recognize that early childhood experiences do not always result in certain personality traits or emotional states. There is a growing body of literature addressing resilience in children who experience trauma and yet develop without damaging emotional scars (O’Grady and Metz, 1987, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Freud has stimulated an enormous amount of research and generated many ideas. Agreeing with Freud’s theory in its entirety is hardly necessary for appreciating the contribution he has made to the field of development.

Freud’s theory of self suggests that there are three parts of the self.

• The  id is the part of the self that is inborn. It responds to biological urges without pause and is guided by the principle of pleasure: if it feels good, it is the thing to do. A newborn is all id. The newborn cries when hungry and defecates when the urge strikes.
• The  ego  develops through interaction with others and is guided by logic or the reality principle. It has the ability to delay gratification. It knows that urges have to be managed. It mediates between the id and superego using logic and reality to calm the other parts of the self.
• The  superego  represents society’s demands for its members. It is guided by a sense of guilt. Values, morals, and the conscience are all part of the superego.

The personality is thought to develop in response to the child’s ability to learn to manage biological urges. Parenting is important here. If the parent is either overly punitive or lax, the child may not progress to the next stage. Here is a brief introduction to Freud’s stages.

Table 1.3 Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud’s Theory

Freud’s theory has been heavily criticized for several reasons. One is that it is very difficult to test scientifically. How can parenting in infancy be traced to personality in adulthood? Are there other variables that might better explain development? The theory is also considered to be sexist in suggesting that women who do not accept an inferior position in society are somehow psychologically flawed. Freud focuses on the darker side of human nature and suggests that much of what determines our actions is unknown to us. So why do we study Freud? As mentioned above, despite the criticisms, Freud’s assumptions about the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our psychological selves have found their way into child development, education, and parenting practices. Freud’s theory has heuristic value in providing a framework from which to elaborate and modify subsequent theories of development. Many later theories, particularly behaviourism and humanism, were challenges to Freud’s views (Overstreet, n.d., as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).

Main Points to Note About Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

Freud believed that:

• Development in the early years has a lasting impact.
• There are three parts of the self: the id, the ego, and the superego
• People go through five stages of psychosexual development: the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, latency, and the genital stage

We study Freud because the assumptions about the importance of early childhood experience provide a framework for later theories (they both elaborated and contradicted/challenged the work).

Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Now, let’s turn to a less controversial theorist, Erik Erikson. Erikson (1902-1994) suggested that our relationships and society’s expectations motivate much of our behaviour in the theory of psychosocial development. Erikson was a student of Freud’s but emphasized the importance of the ego, or conscious thought, in determining our actions. In other words, he believed that we are not driven by unconscious urges. We know what motivates us and we consciously think about how to achieve our goals. He is considered the father of developmental psychology because this model gives us a guideline for the entire life span and suggests certain primary psychological and social concerns throughout life.

Erikson expanding on Freud’s theories by emphasizing the importance of culture in parenting practices and motivations and adding three stages of adult development (Erikson, 1950; 1968, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).

He believed that we are aware of what motivates us throughout life and the ego has greater importance in guiding our actions than does the id. We make conscious choices in life and these choices focus on meeting certain social and cultural needs rather than purely biological ones. Humans are motivated, for instance, by the need to feel that the world is a trustworthy place, that we are capable individuals, that we can make a contribution to society, and that we have lived a meaningful life. These are all psychosocial problems.

Erikson divided the lifespan into eight stages. In each stage, we have a major psychosocial task to accomplish or a crisis to overcome. Erikson believed that our personality continues to take shape throughout our lifespan as we face these challenges in living. Here is a brief overview of the eight stages.

Table 1.4 Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

These eight stages form a foundation for discussions on emotional and social development during the life span. Keep in mind, however, that these stages or crises can occur more than once. For instance, a person may struggle with a lack of trust beyond infancy under certain circumstances. Erikson’s theory has been criticized for focusing so heavily on stages and assuming that the completion of one stage is a prerequisite for the next crisis of development. This theory also focuses on the social expectations that are found in certain cultures, but not in all. For instance, the idea that adolescence is a time of searching for identity might translate well in the middle-class culture of Canada, but not as well in cultures where the transition into adulthood coincides with puberty through rites of passage and where adult roles offer fewer c hoices (Lumen Learning, n.d.).

Main Points to Note About Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Erikson was a student of Freud but focused on conscious thought.

• Stages of psychosocial development address the entire lifespan and suggest a primary psychosocial crisis in some cultures that adults can use to understand how to support children’s social and emotional development.
• The stages include trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.

BehavioUrism

While Freud and Erikson looked at what was going on in the mind, behaviourism rejected any reference to mind and viewed overt and observable behaviour as the proper subject matter of psychology. Through the scientific study of behaviour, it was hoped that laws of learning could be derived that would promote the prediction and control of behaviour (Baker & Sperry, 2021).

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov (1880-1937) was a Russian physiologist interested in studying digestion. As he recorded the amount of salivation laboratory dogs produced as they ate, he noticed that they actually began to salivate before the food arrived as the researcher walked down the hall and toward the cage. “This,” he thought, “is not natural!” One would expect a dog to automatically salivate when the food hit their palate, but BEFORE the food comes? Of course, what had happened was . . . you tell me. That’s right! The dogs knew that the food was coming because they had learned to associate the footsteps with the food. The keyword here is “learned”. A learned response is called a “conditioned” response.

Pavlov began to experiment with this concept of  classical conditioning . Pavlov began to ring a bell, for instance, prior to introducing the food. Sure enough, after making this connection several times, the dogs could be made to salivate to the sound of a bell. Once the bell had become an event to which the dogs had learned to salivate, it was called a conditioned stimulus . The act of salivating to a bell was a response that had also been learned, now termed in Pavlov’s jargon, a conditioned response. Notice that the response, salivation, is the same whether it is conditioned or unconditioned (unlearned or natural). What changed is the stimulus to which the dog salivates. One is natural (unconditioned) and one is learned (conditioned).

Let’s think about how classical conditioning is used on us. One of the most widespread applications of classical conditioning principles was brought to us by the psychologist, John B. Watson.

John B. Watson

John B. Watson (1878-1958) believed that most of our fears and other emotional responses are classically conditioned. Watson gained a good deal of popularity in the 1920s when expert advice on parenting was offered to the public. However, this type of research is now known to be unethical and that this type of parenting is inappropriate.

Watson tried to demonstrate the power of classical conditioning with the famous experiment with an 18-month-old boy named “Little Albert”. Watson sat Albert down and introduced a variety of seemingly scary objects: a burning piece of newspaper, a white rat, etc. But Albert remained curious and reached for all of these things. Watson knew that one of our only inborn fears is the fear of loud noises so Watson proceeded to make a loud noise each time one of Albert’s favorites, a white rat, was introduced. After hearing the loud noise several times paired with the rat, Albert soon came to fear the rat and began to cry when it was introduced. Watson filmed this experiment for posterity and used it to demonstrate that he could help parents achieve any outcomes they desired, if they would only follow the advice. Watson wrote columns in newspapers and in magazines and gained a lot of popularity among parents eager to apply science to household order.

Operant conditioning, on the other hand, looks at the way the consequences of a behaviour increase or decrease the likelihood of a behaviour occurring again. So let’s look at this a bit more.

B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990), who brought us the principles of operant conditioning, suggested that reinforcement is a more effective means of encouraging a behaviour than is criticism or punishment. By focusing on strengthening desirable behaviour, we have a greater impact than if we emphasize what is undesirable. Reinforcement is anything that an organism desires and is motivated to obtain.

A  reinforcer is something that encourages or promotes a behaviour. Some things are natural rewards. They are considered intrinsic or primary because their value is easily understood. Think of what kinds of things babies or animals such as puppies find rewarding.

Extrinsic or secondary reinforcers are things that have a value not immediately understood. Their value is indirect. They can be traded in for what is ultimately desired.

The use of  positive reinforcement involves adding something to a situation in order to encourage a behaviour. For example, if I give a child a high five for cleaning a room, or compliment the job they have done they are more likely to do it again. Think of ways in which you positively reinforce others.

Negative reinforcement occurs when taking something unpleasant away from a situation encourages behaviour. For example, I have an alarm clock that makes a very unpleasant, loud sound when it goes off in the morning. As a result, I get up and turn it off. By removing the noise, I am reinforced for getting up. How do you negatively reinforce others?

Punishment is an effort to stop a behaviour. It means to follow an action with something unpleasant or painful. Punishment is often less effective than reinforcement for several reasons. It doesn’t indicate the desired behaviour, it may result in suppressing rather than stopping a behaviour, (in other words, the person may not do what is being punished when you’re around, but may do it often when you leave), and a focus on punishment can result in not noticing when the person does well. Not all behaviours are learned through association or reinforcement. Many of the things we do are learned by watching others. This is addressed in social learning theory.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura (1925-) is a leading contributor to social learning theory. He calls our attention to the ways in which many of our actions are not learned through conditioning; rather, they are learned by watching others (1977). Young children frequently learn behaviours through imitation

Sometimes, particularly when we do not know what else to do, we learn by modeling or copying the behaviour of others. A kindergartner on their first day of school might eagerly look at how others are acting and try to act the same way to fit in more quickly. Adolescents struggling with their identity rely heavily on their peers to act as role-models. Sometimes we do things because we’ve seen it pay off for someone else. They were operantly conditioned, but we engage in the behaviour because we hope it will pay off for us as well. This is referred to as vicarious reinforcement (Bandura, Ross and Ross, 1963, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).

Bandura (1986, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) suggests that there is interplay between the environment and the individual. We are not just the product of our surroundings, rather we influence our surroundings. Parents not only influence their child’s environment, perhaps intentionally through the use of reinforcement, etc., but children influence parents as well. Parents may respond differently with their first child than with their fourth. Perhaps they try to be the perfect parents with their firstborn, but by the time their last child comes along they have very different expectations both of themselves and their child. Our environment creates us and we create our environment (Lumen Learning, n.d.).

Bandura and the Bobo Doll Experiment & Today’s Children and the Media

Other social influences: TV or not TV? Bandura et al. (1963, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) began a series of studies to look at the impact of television, particularly commercials, on the behaviour of children. Are children more likely to act out aggressively when they see this behaviour modeled? What if they see it being reinforced? Bandura began by conducting an experiment in which he showed children a film of a person hitting an inflatable clown or “bobo” doll. Then the children were allowed in the room where they found the doll and immediately began to hit it. This was without any reinforcement whatsoever. Not only that, but they found new ways to behave aggressively. It’s as if they learned an aggressive role.

Children view far more television today than in the 1960s; so much, in fact, that they have been referred to as Generation M (media). The amount of screen time varies by age. As of 2017, children 0-8 spend an average of 2 hours and 19 minutes. Children 8-12 years of age spend almost 6 hours a day on screen media. And 13- to 18-year-olds spend an average of just under 9 hours a day in entertainment media use.

The prevalence of violence, sexual content, and messages promoting foods high in fat and sugar in the media are certainly cause for concern and the subjects of ongoing research and policy review. Many children spend even more time on the computer viewing content from the internet. The amount of time spent connected to the internet continues to increase with the use of smartphones that essentially serve as mini-computers. And the ways children and adolescents interact with the media continues to change. T he popularity of YouTube and the various social media platforms are examples of this. What might be the implications of this? (Rasmussen, 2017).

Main Points to Note About Behaviourism

Behaviourists look at observable behaviour and how it can be predicted and controlled.

• Pavlov experimented with classical conditioning, the process of conditioning response to stimulus (the dog’s salivating to the bell).
• Watson offered advice to parents to show them how classical conditioning can be used. The most famous experiment was conditioning Little Albert to fear a white rat.
• Skinner believed that reinforcing behaviour is the most effective way of increasing desirable behaviour. This is done through operant conditioning.
• Bandura noted that many behaviours are not learned through any type of conditioning, but rather through imitation. And he believed that people are not only influenced by their surroundings but that they also have an impact on their surroundings.

Theories also explore cognitive development and how mental processes change over time.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is one of the most influential cognitive theorists. Piaget was inspired to explore children’s ability to think and reason by watching his own children’s development. He was one of the first to recognize and map out the ways in which children’s thought differs from that of adults. Piaget’s interest in this area began when he was asked to test the IQ of children and began to notice that there was a pattern in their wrong answers. Piaget believed that children’s intellectual skills change over time through maturation. Children of differing ages interpret the world differently.

A  schema  or schemes are categories of knowledge. They are like mental boxes of concepts. A child has to learn many concepts. They may have a scheme for “under” and “soft” or “running” and “sour”. All of these are schema. Our efforts to understand the world around us lead us to develop new schema and to modify old ones.

One way to make sense of new experiences is to focus on how they are similar to what we already know. This is  assimilation . So the person we meet who is very different may be understood as being “sort of like my sibling” or “that voice sounds a lot like yours.” Or a new food may be assimilated when we determine that it tastes like chicken!

Another way to make sense of the world is to change our mind. We can make a cognitive accommodation to this new experience by adding new schema. This food is unlike anything I’ve tasted before. I now have a new category of foods that are bitter-sweet in flavor, for instance. This is  accommodation . Do you accommodate or assimilate more frequently? Children accommodate more frequently as they build new schema. Adults tend to look for similarity in their experience and assimilate. They may be less inclined to think “outside the box.” Piaget suggested different ways of understanding that are associated with maturation. This was divided into four stages.

Table 1.5 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory

Piaget has been criticized for overemphasizing the role that physical maturation plays in cognitive development and underestimating the role that culture and interaction (or experience) plays in cognitive development. Looking across cultures reveals considerable variation in what children are able to do at various ages. Piaget may have underestimated what children are capable of given the right cir cumstances (Lumen Learning, n.d.). 

 Note About Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget, one of the most influential cognitive theorists, believed that

• Understanding is motivated by trying to balance what we sense in the world and what we know in our minds.
• Understanding is organized through creating categories of knowledge. When presented with new knowledge we may add new schema or modify existing ones.

Children’s understanding of how the world changes in their cognitive skills mature through four stages: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage.

Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist who wrote in the early 1900s but whose work was discovered in the United States in the 1960s but became more widely known in the 1980s. Vygotsky differed with Piaget in that he believed that a person not only has a set of abilities, but also a set of potential abilities that can be realized if given the proper guidance from others. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities. He believed that through guided participation known as scaffolding, with a teacher or capable peer, a child can learn cognitive skills within a certain range known as the zone of proximal development (Lumen Learning, n.d.).  This belief was that development occurred first through children’s immediate social interactions, and then moved to the individual level as they began to internalize their learning (Leon, n.d.)

Main Points to Note About Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Vygotsky concentrated on the child’s interactions with peers and adults. He believed that the child was an apprentice, learning through sensitive social interactions with more skilled peers and adults.

Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky

Vygotsky concentrated more on the child’s immediate social and cultural environment and their interactions with adults and peers. While Piaget saw the child as actively discovering the world through individual interactions with it, Vygotsky saw the child as more of an apprentice, learning through a social environment of others who had more experience and were sensitive to the child’s needs and abilities (Leon, n.d.). 

Like Vygotsky, Bronfenbrenner looked at the social influences on learning and development.

Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky – both statements are right for indigenous culture, the child is seen as “actively discovering the world through individual interactions with it (children are encouraged to play outside) and,  as more of an apprentice, learning through a social environment of others who had more experience and were sensitive to the child’s needs and abilities.” (Leon, n.d) Boys were around their mothers until the age of 7; subsequently, they would go with the men to learn the skills of protection and hunting ( i.e. flint making, arrows, making nets, snowshoes, etc.)  Today, in some families who are keeping the traditional ways of life alive, boys go hunting, trapping and, fishing with their father, a community member or another male relative; some as early as 7 or 8 for small game. When they reach the age of 11 or 12 they are encouraged to kill big game which is celebrated. They are encouraged to share the game with elders and/or other community members. Girls were traditionally taught skills such as cooking, tanning hides, putting up the teepee (or other forms of habitats), rearing children, fetching wood and water, as well as other chores. Today, it is not uncommon for girls to do the same as the boys with their father or with the whole family. Both girls and boys help with younger siblings, especially if there are many. Some of these may defer from nation to nation.

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) offers us one of the most comprehensive theories of human development. Bronfenbrenner studied Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and learning theorists and believed that all of those theories could be enhanced by adding the dimension of context. What is being taught and how society interprets situations depends on who is involved in the life of a child and on when and where a child lives.

Table 1.6 Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model

For example, in order to understand a student in math, we can’t simply look at that individual and what challenges they face directly with the subject. We have to look at the interactions that occur between teacher and child. Perhaps the teacher needs to make modifications as well. The teacher may be responding to regulations made by the school, such as new expectations for students in math or constraints on time that interfere with the teacher’s ability to instruct. These new demands may be a response to national efforts to promote math and science deemed important by political leaders in response to relations with other countries at a particular time in history.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model challenges us to go beyond the individual if we want to understand human development and promot e improvements (Leon, n.d.).

Main Points to Note About Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model

After studying all of the prior theories, Bronfenbrenner added an important element of context to the discussion of influences on human development.

• He believed that the people involved in children’s lives and when and where they live are important considerations.
• He created a model of nested systems that influence the child (and are influenced by the child) that include: microsystems, mesosystems, the exosystem, macrosystems, and chronosystems.

Indigenous PerspectiveS

As for Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model: it seems the same as the saying: It takes a community to raise a child. In some indigenous communities, the aunts and uncles are the ones who “discipline” children to keep harmony in the family. Discipline in the sense that they talk to the children when they are not contributing to the household or when they are giving their parents a hard time. It is common for children to go live with either aunts and uncles, or grandparents for periods of time to learn different skills, knowledge and/or teachings as well as to go help out with child-rearing. There is a strong sense of sharing our gifts from the Creator, the children, with our extended family. They are considered to be lent to us by the Creator.  

In this chapter we looked at:

• underlying principles of development
• the five periods of development
• three issues in development
• various methods of research
• important theories that help us understand the development

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Rasmussen, E. (2017). Screen time and kids: Insights from a new report. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/screen-time-and-kids-insights-from-a-new-report

Child Growth and Development Canadian Ed Copyright © 2022 by Tanya Pye; Susan Scoffin; Janice Quade; and Jane Krieg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Towards a Strong Foundation: Social and Emotional Development in Young Children

Nurturing relationships provide the context for human development and are an essential source of resilience for children and adults (e.g., Luthar, 2006; Rutter, 1987). Resilience refers to the capacity to weather and bounce back from both everyday challenges and significant adversity and trauma -- like that we’ve all experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is influenced by foundational social and emotional skills and competencies (e.g., Masten, 2009).

In this short essay we describe children’s early social and emotional skills, show how they are linked to early caregiving and are influenced by stress and vulnerability, and highlight some programs, practices, and strategies that foster them. 

Social and Emotional Development and Foundational Relationships

Social and emotional development refers to the processes whereby children learn to identify and express emotions, focus attention and manage impulses, successfully navigate relationships with peers and adults, develop a positive self-concept, make responsible decisions, and solve problems (e.g., Jones, McGarrah, & Kahn, 2019). 

Over many decades researchers from an array of disciplines, e.g. human development and psychology, neuroscience, education and economics, have described how these essential skills are deeply intertwined with other areas of development, such as cognitive and physical. These developments in the brain and in behavior all work together to influence school and life outcomes, including higher education, physical and mental health, economic well-being, and civic engagement (Jones & Kahn, 2018). 

During development, social and emotional skills grow and change like building blocks. Early skills lay the foundation for more complex skills that emerge later in life. For example, during early childhood, children learn and grow in the context of relationships with parents and other caregivers at home and in childcare and preschool settings. Through responsive, nurturing interactions these relationships shape the growth of basic executive functions, self-regulation and emotional competencies, which are the salient social and emotional skills of early childhood. 

These skills encompass young children’s emerging capacity to:

Understand their emotions, communicate about them, and read those of others around them. For example, use feeling words when frustrated, angry, or excited. 

Be aware of and begin to manage impulses and behavior. For example, wait for a snack or dinner when hungry or for the chance to share news in the classroom, or remember and follow the routines of bedtime. 

Focus and shift attention in explicit ways and imagine the perspectives of another person. For example, move from one activity to another in the classroom, or engage in basic social back and forth and play. 

Basic skills like these set the stage for more complex skills later in life such as planning and problem solving, critical thinking and decision making, forming and maintaining sophisticated friendships, and coping skills, among others (Bailey & Jones, 2019). 

The Role of Experience and Context Including Stress and Vulnerability

Importantly, these early skills are highly susceptible to stress and vulnerability. Research shows that the prefrontal cortex – which is responsible for executive function and self-regulation -- is closely linked to other brain regions that signal emotions like fear, anger, and anxiety. 

These brain regions are connected through the stress response system, which alerts the body to react in times of danger (e.g., Arnsten, 1998). But responding and adapting to stress can come at a cost. When stress is chronic or takes over, it can inhibit children’s early social and emotional skills, resulting in dysregulated, reactive, and sometimes withdrawn behavior, and this is true for young children and adults (e.g., Arnsten, Mazure & Sinha, 2012). 

Critical to this dynamic is that predictable, nurturing relationships are protective. They operate as a buffer between stress and strain on the one hand, and children’s healthy development on the other (Center on the Developing Child, 2014). 

Research on children’s wellbeing during the pandemic illustrates how these processes can play out. For example, Harvard education researcher Emily Hanno (2021) examined data about a sample of young children and families before and after COVID-19 shut down U.S. childcare centers and preschools in 2020. They found that as parents experienced more stress, households grew more chaotic, and parent-child conflict increased, children displayed more challenging behaviors and fewer adaptive ones. 

Another large-scale study, the Rapid Assessment of Pandemic Impact on Development–Early Childhood (RAPID)https://rapidsurveyproject.com/), documented that high levels of material hardship that families experienced in the first year of the pandemic, coupled with ongoing week-to-week unpredictability, had detrimental effects on both caregivers’ and children’s well-being (Liu, et al 2022). Studies on how poverty, disasters, bereavement, armed conflict, and displacement affect children and adults have produced similar findings.

Supporting Family Well-Being and Social and Emotional Development

Supporting children’s social and emotional development demands coordinated child, family, and education-based efforts. Some examples of these are described here.

As noted above, social and emotional development, indeed successful early childhood development more generally, requires nurturing care. This has been defined as health, nutrition, security and safety, responsive caregiving, and opportunities for early learning (Black, et al, 2016). 

Globally, this concept has been advanced through The Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development ( https://nurturing-care.org/ ) .

The Nurturing Care Framework was developed by WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank Group, in collaboration with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, the Early Childhood Development Action Network and many other partners, and launched alongside the 71st World Health Assembly in May, 2018. It takes a comprehensive approach by outlining important strategies to address the integrated needs of the developing child.

The wellbeing of caregivers is the enabling environment for responsive care. The promotion of social emotional development depends on policies and practices that take a whole family approach, assuring that those who care for young children have the support they need to be successful as caregivers, including adequate housing, income, childcare, education, health, and mental health supports.

A relevant and recently launched innovation focused on parents is the Global Initiative to Support Parents ( https://ecdan.org/global-initiative-to-support-parents/ ) . This unique partnership launched by the Early Childhood Development Action Network, WHO, UNICEF, End Violence Against Children, and Parenting for Lifelong Health includes the ultimate vision that all families worldwide have universal access to evidence-based parenting support.

Early childhood services designed for parents and children have for decades been understood to play an important role in offsetting the impact of vulnerability and adversity on healthy growth and development and to be an important setting for cultivating emerging social and emotional skills. A hallmark of these efforts is that they provide families with information, resources, and support that enables those nurturing, connected interactions, and helps all parents navigate the stress that inevitably comes with raising young children (Jones, Bailey & Partee, 2017). 

In the early classroom context, there are a large number of curricular and strategy-based approaches that educators can embed in their instructional and caregiving routines. The most effective of these programs typically combine direct teaching of social and emotional skills with structures and routines that provide young children with lots of opportunities to practice emerging skills, as well as support for adult caregivers to proactively manage young children’s behavior (e.g., Jones, Bailey & Jacob, 2014).

As noted above, children across the world have been impacted by the uncertainty, isolation and stress caused by the pandemic. In response, The LEGO Foundation teamed up with HundredED, to identify education innovations from across the world focused on improving social and emotional learning. In 2021, they published Spotlight Social and Emotional Learning which presented 13 innovations from 10 countries. These inspiring examples provide promising solutions that can help respond to the needs of children and offer ideas about how to foster caring and nurturing relationships. Some of these innovations can be found here: https://hundred.org/en/collections/social-emotional-learning-sel .

In summary, research and practice focused on children’s early social and emotional development tells us that these skills: 

Develop in the context of primary relationships and interactions. 

Are foundational to early learning, as well as important developmental milestones throughout life. 

Are optimized when children feel safe, secure, and supported.

Are influenced and shaped by experience, culture, and beliefs. 

Effective approaches to fostering and supporting these important skills are situated in families, leverage nurturing relationships and interactions at home and in early learning settings, and are rooted in community and family support.

Stephanie Jones

Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Child Development and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Co-Director, Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative

Joan Lombardi

Senior Fellow, Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, Georgetown University

Senior Advisor, Graduate School of Education, Stanford Center on Early Childhood

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InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development

This brief is part of a series that summarizes essential scientific findings from Center publications.

Content in This Guide

Step 1: why is early childhood important.

• : Brain Hero
• : The Science of ECD (Video)
• You Are Here: The Science of ECD (Text)

Step 2: How Does Early Child Development Happen?

• : 3 Core Concepts in Early Development
• : 8 Things to Remember about Child Development
• : InBrief: The Science of Resilience

Step 3: What Can We Do to Support Child Development?

• : From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts
• : 3 Principles to Improve Outcomes

The science of early brain development can inform investments in early childhood. These basic concepts, established over decades of neuroscience and behavioral research, help illustrate why child development—particularly from birth to five years—is a foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society.

Brains are built over time, from the bottom up.

The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood. Early experiences affect the quality of that architecture by establishing either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the learning, health and behavior that follow. In the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second . After this period of rapid proliferation, connections are reduced through a process called pruning, so that brain circuits become more efficient. Sensory pathways like those for basic vision and hearing are the first to develop, followed by early language skills and higher cognitive functions. Connections proliferate and prune in a prescribed order, with later, more complex brain circuits built upon earlier, simpler circuits.

The interactive influences of genes and experience shape the developing brain.

Scientists now know a major ingredient in this developmental process is the “ serve and return ” relationship between children and their parents and other caregivers in the family or community. Young children naturally reach out for interaction through babbling, facial expressions, and gestures, and adults respond with the same kind of vocalizing and gesturing back at them. In the absence of such responses—or if the responses are unreliable or inappropriate—the brain’s architecture does not form as expected, which can lead to disparities in learning and behavior.

The brain’s capacity for change decreases with age.

The brain is most flexible, or “plastic,” early in life to accommodate a wide range of environments and interactions, but as the maturing brain becomes more specialized to assume more complex functions, it is less capable of reorganizing and adapting to new or unexpected challenges. For example, by the first year, the parts of the brain that differentiate sound are becoming specialized to the language the baby has been exposed to; at the same time, the brain is already starting to lose the ability to recognize different sounds found in other languages. Although the “windows” for language learning and other skills remain open, these brain circuits become increasingly difficult to alter over time. Early plasticity means it’s easier and more effective to influence a baby’s developing brain architecture than to rewire parts of its circuitry in the adult years.

Cognitive, emotional, and social capacities are inextricably intertwined throughout the life course.

The brain is a highly interrelated organ, and its multiple functions operate in a richly coordinated fashion. Emotional well-being and social competence provide a strong foundation for emerging cognitive abilities, and together they are the bricks and mortar that comprise the foundation of human development. The emotional and physical health, social skills, and cognitive-linguistic capacities that emerge in the early years are all important prerequisites for success in school and later in the workplace and community.

Toxic stress damages developing brain architecture, which can lead to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and physical and mental health.

Scientists now know that chronic, unrelenting stress in early childhood, caused by extreme poverty, repeated abuse, or severe maternal depression, for example, can be toxic to the developing brain. While positive stress (moderate, short-lived physiological responses to uncomfortable experiences) is an important and necessary aspect of healthy development, toxic stress is the strong, unrelieved activation of the body’s stress management system. In the absence of the buffering protection of adult support, toxic stress becomes built into the body by processes that shape the architecture of the developing brain.

Policy Implications

• The basic principles of neuroscience indicate that early preventive intervention will be more efficient and produce more favorable outcomes than remediation later in life.
• A balanced approach to emotional, social, cognitive, and language development will best prepare all children for success in school and later in the workplace and community.
• Supportive relationships and positive learning experiences begin at home but can also be provided through a range of services with proven effectiveness factors. Babies’ brains require stable, caring, interactive relationships with adults — any way or any place they can be provided will benefit healthy brain development.
• Science clearly demonstrates that, in situations where toxic stress is likely, intervening as early as possible is critical to achieving the best outcomes. For children experiencing toxic stress, specialized early interventions are needed to target the cause of the stress and protect the child from its consequences.

Suggested citation: Center on the Developing Child (2007). The Science of Early Childhood Development (InBrief). Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu .

Related Topics: toxic stress , brain architecture , serve and return

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Theories of Child Development and Their Impact on Early Childhood Education and Care

• Published: 29 October 2021
• Volume 51 , pages 15–30, ( 2023 )

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• Olivia N. Saracho   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4108-7790 1  

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Developmental theorists use their research to generate philosophies on children’s development. They organize and interpret data based on a scheme to develop their theory. A theory refers to a systematic statement of principles related to observed phenomena and their relationship to each other. A theory of child development looks at the children's growth and behavior and interprets it. It suggests elements in the child's genetic makeup and the environmental conditions that influence development and behavior and how these elements are related. Many developmental theories offer insights about how the performance of individuals is stimulated, sustained, directed, and encouraged. Psychologists have established several developmental theories. Many different competing theories exist, some dealing with only limited domains of development, and are continuously revised. This article describes the developmental theories and their founders who have had the greatest influence on the fields of child development, early childhood education, and care. The following sections discuss some influences on the individuals’ development, such as theories, theorists, theoretical conceptions, and specific principles. It focuses on five theories that have had the most impact: maturationist, constructivist, behavioral, psychoanalytic, and ecological. Each theory offers interpretations on the meaning of children's development and behavior. Although the theories are clustered collectively into schools of thought, they differ within each school.

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The author is grateful to Mary Jalongo for her expert editing and her keen eye for the smallest details.

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Saracho, O.N. Theories of Child Development and Their Impact on Early Childhood Education and Care. Early Childhood Educ J 51 , 15–30 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01271-5

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The Importance of Understanding Child Development When Teaching

For the next few weeks, I’d like to explore some key points of child development from three years of age to eighteen. We must know what we are dealing with in order to deal with it effectively. The same goes for teaching. We would never walk into a room of kindergarten students expecting them to do algebra or hand a class of high schoolers the Dolch pre-primer list and have them read it, expecting growth in literature. Unfortunately, with all of the paperwork, curriculum, district evaluation procedures, standardized testing, and new common core implementation, very few teachers have time to brush up on their child’s development.

Child development is a process every child goes through. This process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and tying shoes. Most children learn these skills, called developmental milestones, during predictable time periods. Milestones develop in a sequential fashion. This means that a child will need to develop some skills before he or she can develop other skills. For example, children must first learn to crawl and to pull up to a standing position before they are able to walk. Each milestone that a child acquires builds on the last milestone developed.

There are five main areas of child development in which children develop skills:

• Cognitive Development:   This is the child’s ability to learn and solve problems.
• Social and Emotional Development:  This is the child’s ability to interact with others, which includes being able to help themselves and self-control.
• Speech and Language Development:  This is the child’s ability to both understand and use language.
• Fine Motor Skill Development:  This is the child’s ability to use small muscles, specifically their hands, and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw.
• Gross Motor Skill Development:  This is the child’s ability to use large muscles.

Through extensive research, we now know that neurons can continue to make connections into adulthood. However, the fact still remains that the brain grows very rapidly, with billions of neurological connections being made during the first three years of life so it is very important that children get adequate exposure early on to the five areas previously listed.

Although the digital age has expanded the abilities and knowledge of young children, it should never act as a replacement for providing the exposure children need in order to reach these milestones. Each child is an individual and may meet developmental milestones a little earlier or later than his peers. However, there are definitely blocks of time when most children will meet a milestone. And developmental milestones don’t just end once kids are six or seven. All five areas continue to develop up to the age of 21 for most children, especially boys. Although gross motor, fine motor, and speech and language development have reached a plateau, cognitive and social development will continue to snowball.

If we go into a classroom completely unprepared for whom we are teaching, it will be very difficult to see progress and will cause tremendous frustration for the students and for us. Our expectations need to be high but not higher than what the child is developmentally able to give us.

In the next few weeks, I’d like to provide checklists in each area for each age of development. It will by no means be an end in itself, but more a springboard for teachers to use in order to evaluate and work from. We must also remember that children are individuals and will not develop in the five areas at the same rate.

This is where the importance of differentiated classrooms comes into play. All classrooms are differentiated by definition, meaning that not every student is in the same place as others. And even though it’s so very difficult in today’s world of education to find any extra time to evaluate outside of the box, let alone teach all over the board, if we do our homework beforehand, it becomes easier to identify what we are dealing with in our classrooms.

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Paula Kay Glass

Paula has a Masters degree in education with an emphasis on child development and child behavior.... More by Paula Kay Glass

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It is important to parents to learn the different stages of child development so that we would know what stage they are right now and if they need something to learn or something to improve for their child’s development.

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I’m a prison guard in Kenya and had challenges understanding the reasons why prisoners behave in such split personalities, which prompted me to undertake undergraduate course that luckily captured child development widely. Now I can say for sure that a number of our children collide into the criminal justice system as a result of gaps in the five stages of child development, echoed with unfulfilled “Maslow hierarchy of needs”. Understanding child development is key in bringing up a ‘well baked’ individual.

I am a parent of two brilliant daughters and I can see the activeness and curiosity in children of their age. Younger children should be dealt with extreme care and diligence and their potential should be brought to light. I personally believe that in preschool there should be a play-learn kind of an environment that enhance the children’s decision making skills and learning ability. I found just the right montessori for them in my area that gives this kind of a learning atmosphere! Reference: San Marcos Montessori Preschool ( https://smmontessori.com/ ).

Great information, I’m a grandad swimming in new water, I’m dealing with a very playful 5 year old whom has had an unexplained change in my patience. Now I spend a lot time enjoying and watching his development, wanting to educate myself more to deal properly with him in all his growing phases.

Important information.thanks lot

I completely agree with what you have written. I hope this post could reach more people as this was truly an interesting post.

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