Unit 1: Learners-Centered Psychological Principles (LCP)

LEARNER-CENTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

The 14 principles have the following aspects:
 They focus on psychological factors that are primarily internal to and under the control
of the learner rather than conditioned habits or physiological factors. However, the
principles also attempt to acknowledge external environment or contextual factors the
interact with these internal factors.
 The principles are intended to deal holistically with learners in the context of real world
learning situations. Thus, they are best understood as an organized set of principles; no
principles should be viewed in isolation.
 The 14 principles are divided into those referring to (1) cognitive and metacognitive,
(2) motivational and affective, (3) developmental and social, and (4) individual
difference factors influencing learners and learning.
 Finally, the principles are intended to apply all learners from children, to teachers, to
administrators, to parents, and to community members involved in our educational
system.
Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors
1. Nature of the learning process
The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an international
process of constructing meaning from information and experience.
 There are different types of learning processes, for example, habit information in motor
learning; and learning that involves the generation of knowledge, or cognitive skills and
learning strategies.
 Learning in schools emphasizes uses of international processes that students can use to
construct meaning from information, experiences, and their own thoughts and beliefs.
 Successful learners are active, goal-directed, self-regulating, and assume personal
responsibility for contributing to their own learning.
2. Goals of the learning process
The successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance, can
create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.
 The strategic nature of learning requires students to be goal-directed
 To construct useful representations of knowledge and to acquire the thinking and learning
strategies necessary for continued learning success across the life span, students must be
generate and pursue personally relevant goals. Initially, students’ short-term goals and
learning may be sketchy in an area, but over time inconsistencies, and deepening their
understanding of the subject matter so that they can reach longer-term goals.
 Educators can assist learners in creating meaningful learning goals that are consistent
with both personal and educational aspirations and interest
3. Construction of knowledge
The successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in
meaningful ways.
 Knowledge widens and deepens as students continue to build links between new
information and experiences and their existing knowledge base. The nature of these
links can take a variety of forms, such as adding to, modifying, or reorganizing
existing knowledge or skills. How these links are made or develop may vary in
different subject areas, and among students with varying talents, interest, and
abilities. However, unless new knowledge and understanding, this new knowledge
remains isolated, cannot be used most effectively in new tasks, and does not transfer
readily to new situations.
 Educators can assist learners in acquiring and integrating knowledge by a number of
strategies that have been shown to be effective with learners of varying abilities, such
as concept mapping and thematic organization or categorizing.
4. Strategic thinking
They successful learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning
strategies to achieve complex learning goals.
 Successful learners use strategic thinking in their approach to learning, reasoning,
problem solving, and concept learning.
 They understand and can use a variety of strategies to help them reach learning and
performance goals, and to apply their knowledge in novel situations.
 They also continue to expand their repertoire of strategies by reflecting on the methods
they use to see which work well for them, by receiving guided instruction and feedback,
and by observing or interacting with appropriate models.
 Learning outcomes can be enhanced if educators assist learners in developing, applying,
and assessing their strategic learning skills.
5. Thinking about thinking
Higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations facilitate
creative and critical thinking.
 Successful learners can reflect on how they think and learn, set reasonable learning or
performance goals, select potentially appropriate learning strategies or methods, and
monitor their progress toward these goals.
 In addition, successful learners know what to do if a problem occurs or if they are not
making sufficient or timely progress toward a goal. They can generate alternative
methods to reach their goal (or reassess the appropriateness and utility of the goal).
 Instructional methods that focus on helping learners develop these higher order
(metacognitive) strategies can enhance student learning and personal responsibility
for learning.
6. Context learning
Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology,
and instrumental practices.
 Learning does not occur in a vacuum. Teachers play a major interactive role with
both the learner and the learning environment.
 Cultural or group influences on students can impact many educationally relevant
variables, such as motivation, orientation toward learning and thinking strategies.
 The classroom environment, particularly the degree to which it is nurturing or not,
can also have significant impacts on student learning.
Motivational and Affective Factors
7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning
What and how much is learned is influenced by the learner’s motivation.
Motivation to learn, in turn, is influenced by the individual’s emotional states,
beliefs, interest and goals, and habits of thinking.
 The rich internal world of thoughts, beliefs, goals, and expectations for
success or failure can enhance or interfere with the learner’s quality of
thinking and information processing.
 Student’s beliefs about themselves as learners and the nature of learning have
a marked influenced on motivation. Motivational and emotional factors also
influence both the quality of thinking and information processing as well as an
individual’s motivation to learn.
 Positive emotions, such as curiosity, generally enhance motivation and
facilitate learning and performance by focusing the learner’s attention on a
particular task. However, intense negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, panic, rage,
insecurity) and related thoughts (e.g., worrying about competence, ruminating
about failure, fearing punishment, ridicule, or stigmatizing labels) generally
detract from motivation, interfere with learning, and contribute to low
performance.
8. Intrinsic motivation to learn
The learner’s creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all
contribute to motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of
optimal novelty and difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for
personal choice and control.
 Curiosity, flexible and insightful thinking, and creativity are major
indicators of the learners’ intrinsic motivation to learn, which is in large
part s function of meeting basic needs to be competent and exercise
personal.
  Intrinsic motivation is facilitated on tasks that learners perceive as
interesting and personally relevant and meaningful, appropriate in
complexity and difficulty to the learners’ abilities, and on which they
believe they can succeed.
 Intrinsic motivation is also facilitated on task that are comparable to real-
word situations and meet needs for choice and control.
9. Effects of motivation on effort
Acquisition of complex and knowledge and skills requires, extended
learner effort and guided practice. Without learner’s motivation to learn,
the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely without coercion.
 Effort is another major indicator of motivation to learn. The
acquisition of complex knowledge and skills demands the investment
of considered learner energy and strategic, effort, along with
persistence over time.
 Educators need to be concerned with facilitating motivation by
strategies that enhance learner effort and commitment to learning and
to achieving high standards of comprehensions and understanding.
 Effective strategies include purposeful learning activities, guided by
practices that enhance positive emotions and intrinsic motivation to
learn, and methods that increase learners’ perceptions that a task is
interesting and personally relevant.
Developmental and Social Factors
10. Developmental influences on learning
As individuals develop, there are different opportunities and
constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when differential
development within and across physical, intellectual, emotional, and
social domains is taken into account.
 Individuals learn best when material is appropriate to their
developmental level and is presented in an enjoyable and
interesting way.
 Because individual development varies across intellectual, social,
emotional, and physical domains, achievement in different
instructional domains may also vary.
 Overemphasis on one type of developmental readiness such as
reading readiness, for example may preclude learners from
demonstrating that they are more capable in other areas of
performance.
  The cognitive, emotional, and social development of individual
learners and how they interpret life experiences are affected by
prior schooling, home, culture and community factors.
 Early and continuing parental involvement in schooling, and the
quality of language interactions and two-way communications
between adults and children can influence these developmental
areas.
 Awareness and understanding of developmental differences among
children with and without emotional, physical, or intellectual
disabilities, can facilitate the creation of optimal learning contexts.
11. Social influences on learning
Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal
relations, and communication with others.
 Learning can be enhanced when the learner has an opportunity to
interact and to collaborate with others on instructional tasks.
 Learning settings that allow for social interactions, and that
respect diversity, encourage flexible thinking and social
competence.
 In interactive and collaborative instructional contexts, individuals
have an opportunity for perspective taking and reflective thinking
that may lead to higher levels of cognitive, social, and moral
development, as well as self-esteem.
 Quality personal relationship that provide stability, trust, and
caring can increase learners’ sense of belonging, self-respect and
self-acceptance, and provide a positive climate for learning.
 Family influences, positive interpersonal support and instruction
in self-motivation strategies can offset factors that interfere with
optimal learning such as negative of test anxiety, negative sex
role expectations, and undue pressure to perform well.
12. Individual differences in learning
Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for
learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity.
 Individuals are born with and develop their own capabilities and
talents.
 In addition, through learning and social acculturation, they have
acquired their own preferences for how they like to learn and the
pace at which they learn. However, these preferences are not
always useful in helping learners reach their learning goals.
 Educators need to help students examine their learning
preferences and expand or modify them, if necessary.
  The interaction between learner differences and curricular and
environmental conditions is another key factor affecting learning
outcomes.
 Educators need to be sensitive to individual differences, in
general. They also need to attend to learner perceptions of the
degree to which these differences are accepted and adapted to by
varying instructional methods and materials.
13. Learning and diversity
Learning is most effective when differences in learners’ linguistic,
cultural, and social backgrounds are taken into account.
 The same basic principles of learning, motivation, and
effective instruction apply to all learners. However, language,
ethnicity, race, beliefs, and socioeconomic status all can
influence learning. Careful attention to these factors in the
instructional setting enhances the possibilities for designing
and implementing appropriate learning environments.
 When learners perceive that their individual differences in
abilities, background, cultures, and experiences are valued,
respected, and accommodated in learning tasks and contexts,
levels of motivation and achievement are enhanced.
14. Standards and assessment
Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and
assessing the learner as well as learning progress including diagnostic,
process, and outcome assessment are integral parts of the learning
process.
 Assessment provides important information to both the
learner and teacher at all stages of the learning process.
 Effective learning takes place when learners feel challenged
to work towards appropriately high goals, therefore,
appraisal of the learner’s cognitive strengths and
weaknesses, as well as current knowledge and skills, is
important for the selection of instructional materials of an
optimal degree of difficulty.
 Ongoing assessment of the learner’s understanding of the
curricular material can provide valuable feedback to both
learners and teachers about progress toward the learning
goals.
 Standardized assessment of the learner progress and
outcomes assessment provides one type of information about
 achievement levels both within and across individuals that
can inform various types of programmatic decisions.
 Self-assessments of learning progress can also improve
students self appraisal skills and enhance motivation and
self-directed learning.
Alexander and Murphy gave a summary of the 14 principles and distilled them into five areas:
1. The knowledge base. One’s existing knowledge serves as the
foundation of all future learning. The learner’s previous knowledge
will influence new learning specifically on how he represents new
information, makes associations and filters new experiences.
2. Strategic processing and control. Learners can develop skills to
reflected and regulate their thoughts and behaviors in order to learn
more effectively (metacognition).
3. Motivation and affect. Factors such as intrinsic motivation (from
within ), reasons for wanting to learn, personal goals and
enjoyment of learning tasks all have a crucial role in the learning
process.
4. Develop and Individual Differences. Learning is a unique
journey for each person because each learner has his own unique
combination of genetic and environmental factors that influence
him.
5. Situation or correct. Learning happens in the context of a society
as well as within an individual.
UNIT 2 Basic Concepts and Issues on Human Development

“By virtue of being born to humanity, every human being has a right to the
development and fulfillment of his potentialities as a human being.”
- Ashley Montagu

 Every living creature is called to become what it is meant to be. The caterpillar is meant
to become a butterfly; a seed into a full grown herb, brush or tree; and a human baby
into a mature person, the person “who is fully alive, the glory of God” in the words of
St. Irenaeus.

MODULE 1 Human Development: Meaning, Concepts and Approaches

- Paul Baltes (Santrock, 2002)- an expert in life-span development.

Development is life-long- It does not end in adulthood. Ken and Nachielle will continue developing even
in adulthood.
Development is plastic. Plasticity refers to the potential for change. Development is possible throughout
the life-span. No one is too old to learn. There is no such things as “I am too old for that.
Aging-is associated with declines in certain intellectual abilities. These declines can be prevented or
reduced. In one research study, the reasoning abilities for older adults were improved through retraining
(Willies & Schose, 1994 cited by Santrock J., 2005)
Development is multidimensional. Development consists of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional
dimensions.
Development as a process is complex because it is the product of biological;
cognitive and socioemotional processes (Santrock,2002).
Biological processes -involve changes in the individual’s physical nature.
Development is relatively orderly. Naschielle and Kenn will learn to sit, crawl then walk before
they can run.
proximodorsal pattern.The muscular control of the trunk and the arms comes earlier as compared to the
hands and fingers.
cephalo-caudal pattern-the greatest growth always occurs at the top-the head-with physical growth in
size, weight and future differentiation radually working its way down from top to bottom (for example,
neck, shoulders, middle trunk and so on). These development patterns are common to Naschielle and
Kenn.
Development takes place gradually. Naschielle and Kenn won’t develop into pimply teenagers
overnight. It takes years before they become one. In fact, that’s the way of nature.
Cognitive processes-involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.
Socioemotional processes- include changes in the individual’s relationship with other people, changes in
emotions, and changes in personality.
cognitive and socioemotional -processes are inextricably intertwined.
Development in contextual.Individuals are changing beings in a changing world. Individuals respond to
and act on contexts.
-These contexts include the individual’s biological make up, physical environment, cognitive processes,
historical, social and cultural contexts. (Santrock, 2002) Naschielle and Kenn biological make up, social
and cultural contexts may vary and therefore make them develop differently from each other.
Development involves growth, maintenances and regulation. Growth, maintenance and regulation are
three (3) goals of human development. The goals of individuals vary among developmental stages.
 MODULE 2 The Stages of Development and Developmental
Tasks
Pre-natal period
Referring to pre-natal development, Sabtrock (2002) asked the following questions
succinctly:
Infancy (from birth to 2 years)
As newborns, we were not empty headed organisms. We cried, kicked, coughed, sucked,
saw, heard, and tasted. We slept a lot and occasionally we smiled, although the meaning of our
smiles was not entirely clear. We crawled and then we walked, a journey of a thousand miles
beginning with a single step. ….Sometimes we conformed, sometimes others conformed to us.
Our development was a continuous creation of complex forms, and our helpless kind demanded
the meeting eyes of love. We split the universe into two halves: “me and not me.” And we
juggled the need to curb our own will with becoming what we could will freely. (Santrock,
2002).
Early Childhood (3 to 5 years)
In early childhood, our greatest untold poem was being only four years old. We skipped,
played, and ran all day long, never in our lives so busy, busy becoming something we had not
quite grasped yet. who knew our thoughts and images and drawings took wings. The blossoms of
our heart, no wind could touch. Our small world widened as we discovered new refuges and new
people. When we said “I” we meant something totally unique, not to be confused with any
other.” (Santrock, 2002)
Middle and Late Childhood (6-12 years)
“In middle and late childhood, we were on a different plane, belonging to a generation and
a feeling properly our own. It is the wisdom of human development that at no other time we are
more ready to learn than at the end of early childhood’s period of expansive imagination. Our
thirst was to know and to understand. Our parents continued to cradle our lives but our growth
was also being shaped by successive choirs of friends. We did not think much about the future or
the past, but enjoyed the present.” (Except for a few words, the paragraph is taken from
Santrock, 2002)
Adolescence (13-18 years old)
In no other of things was adolescence, the simple time of life for us. We clothed ourselves
with rainbows and went brave as the zodiac’ flashing from one end of the world to the other. We
tried on one face after another, searching for a face for our own. We wanted to fly but found that
first we had to learn to stand and walk and climb and dance, in our, most pimply and awkward
moments we became acquainted with sex. We played furiously at adult games but we were
confined to a society of our own peers. Our generation was the fragile cable by which the best
and the worst of our parents’ generation was transmitted to the present. In the end, there were
two but lasting bequests our parents could leave us – one being roots, the other wings.
(Santrock, 2002)

Early Adulthood (19-29 years old)

Early adulthood is a time for work and a time for love, sometimes leaving little time for
anything else. For some of us, finding our place in adult society and committing to a more stable
life take longer than we imagine. We still ask ourselves who we are and wonder if it isn’t enough
just to be. Our dreams, continue and our thoughts are bold but some point we become more
pragmatic. Sex and love are powerful passions in our lives- at times angels of light, at other
times of torment. And we possibly will never know the love of our parents until we become
parents ourselves. (Santrock, 2002)
Middle Adulthood (30-60 years old)
In middle adulthood what we have been forms what we will be. For some of us, middle age is
such a foggy place, a time when we need to discover what we are running from and to and why.
We compare our life with what we vowed to make it. in middle age, more time stretches before
us and some evaluations have to be made, however reluctantly. As the young/old polarity greets
us with a special force, we need to join the daring of youth with the discipline of age in a way
that does justice to both. As middle-aged adults we come to sense that generations of living
things pass in a short while and like runners hand on the torch of life. (Santrock, 2002)
Late Adulthood (61 years and above)
“ The rhythm and meaning of human development eventually wend their way to late
adulthood, when each of us stands alone at the heart of the earth and “suddenly it is evening.”
We shed the leaves of youth and are stripped by the winds of time down to the truth. We learn
that life is lived forward but understood backward. We trace the connection between the end and
the beginning of life and try to figure out what this whole show is about before it is over.
Ultimately we come to know that we are what survives of us. (Santrock, 2002)
 Refer to Havighurst’s Developmental Tasks given in the table on the next page
Infancy and Early Childhood (0-5) Middle Childhood (6-12) Adolescence
1. Learning physical necessary (13-18)
1. Learning to walk for ordinary games 1. Achieving relations with
2. Learning to take solid foods 2. Building a whole-some both sexes
3. Learning to talk attitude toward oneself 2. Achieving a masculine or
4. Learning to control the 3. Learning to get along with feminine social role
elimination of body wastes age-mates 3. Accepting one’s physique
5. Learning sex differences 4. Learning an appropriate sex 4. Achieving emotional
and sexual modesty role independence of adults
6. Acquiring concepts and 5. Developing fundamental 5. Preparing for marriage
language to describe social skills in reading, writing, and and family life
and physical reality calculating 6. Preparing for an economic
7. Readiness for reading 6. Developing concepts career
8. Learning to distinguish necessary for everyday 7. Acquiring values and an
right from wrong and living ethical system to guide
developing and conscience 7. Developing conscience, behavior
morality, and a scale of 8. Desiring and achieving
values socially responsible
8. Developing acceptable behaviour
attitudes toward society

Early adulthood Middle Adulthood Later Maturity

(19-29) (30-60) (61-and over)
1. Selecting a mate 1. Helping teenage children 1. Adjusting to decreasing
2. Learning to live with a to become happy and strength and health
partner responsible adults 2. Adjusting to retirement
3. Starting a family 2. Achieving adult social and and reduced income
4. Rearing children civic responsibility 3. Adjusting to death of
5. Managing a home 3. Satisfactory career spouse
6. Starting an occupation achievement 4. Establishing relations with
7. Assuming civic 4. Developing adult leisure one’s own age group
responsibility time activities 5. Meeting social and civic
5. Relating to one’s spouse as obligations
a person 6. Establishing satisfactory
6. Accepting the living quarters
physiological changes of
middle age
7. Adjusting to aging parent
ABSTRACTION
Concept of developmental tasks
In each stage of development a certain task or tasks are expected of every individual.
Robert Havighurst defines developmental task as one that “arises at a certain perod in
our life, the successful achievement of which leads to happiness and success with later
tasks while failure leads to unhappiness and social disapproval, and difficulty with later
tasks.” (Havighurst, 1972)
Developmental stages
There are eight (8) developmental stages given by Santrock. The eight (8)
developmental stages cited by Santrock are the same with Havighurst’s six (6)
developmental stages only that Havighurst did childhood while Santrock mentioned
them as two (2) separate stages. These developmental stages are described more in detail
in the next paragraphs.
The developmental tasks (Santrock, 2002)
Let’s describe the developmental tasks and outstanding trait of each stageas described
by Santrock and compare them to tbose listed by Havighurst himself.
1. Prenatal period (from conception to birth) – it involves tremendous growth – from a
single to an organism complete with brain and behavioral capabilities.
2. Infancy (from birth to 18-24 months) – A time of extreme dependence on adults. Many
psychological activities are just beginning – language symbolic thought sensorimotor
coordination and social learning.
3. Early childhood (end of infancy to 5-6 years (Grade 1) – these are the preschool years.
Young children learn to become more self-sufficient and to care for themselves, develop
school readiness skills and spend many hours in play with peers.
4. Middle and late childhood (6-11 years of age, the elementary school years) – The
fundamental skills of reading, writing and arithmetic are mastered. The child is formally
exposed to the larger world and its culture. Achievement becomes a more central theme
of the child’s world and self-control increases.
5. Adolescence – (10-12 years old age ending up to 18-22 years of age) Begins with rapid
physical changes – dramatic gains in height and weight, changes in body contour; and
the development of sexual characteristics such as enlargement of the breasts,
development of pubic and facial hair, and deepening of the voice. Pursuit of
independence and identity are prominent. Thought is more logical, abstract and
idealistic. More time is spent outside of the family.
6. Early adulthood (from late teens or early 20’s lasting through the 30’s – it is a time of
establishing personal and economic independence, career development, selecting a mate,
learning to live with someone in an intimate way, starting a family and rearing children
7. Middle adulthood (40 to 60 years of age) – it is a time of expanding personal and social
involvement and responsibility ; of assisting the next generation in becoming competent
and mature individuals; and reaching and maintaining satisfaction in a career.
8. Late adulthood (60’s and above) it is a time for adjustment to decreasing strength and
health, retirement, and adjustment to a new social roles.
MODULE 3 Issues on Human Development

The interaction of heredity and environment is so extensive that to ask which is

more important , nature or nurture, is like asking which is more important to a
rectangle, height or width
- William Greenough

Nature refers to an individual’s biological inheritance.

Nurture refers to environmental experiences.
Continuity development involve gradual, cumulative changes
Ex. seeding gradually growing into an acacia tree
Discontinuity distinct changes.
Ex. caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
Stability our first experiences have made of us
Change – we develop into someone different from who we were at an earlier point in
development

ABSTRACTION
The issues presented can be translated into questions that have sparked animated debate
among development lists. Are girls less likely to do well in math because of their ‘feminine’
nature or because of society’s ‘masculine’ bias? How extensively can the elderly be trained to
reason more effectively? How much, if at all, does our memory decline in old age? Can
techniques be used to prevent or reduce the decline? For children who experienced a world of
poverty, neglect by parents, and poor schooling in childhood, can enriched experiences in
adolescence remove the ‘deficits’ that they encountered earlier in their development (Santrock,
2002)?
Based on the presentations, each one has his/her own explanations for his/her stand on the
developmental issues. What is the right answer? Up to this time, the debate continues.
Researchers are on-going. But let me tell you that most life-span developmentalists recognize
that extreme positions on these are unwise. Development is not all nature or all nurture, not
all continuity or discontinuity and not all stability or all change (Learner, 1998 as quoted by
Santrock, 2002). Both nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, stability and
change characterize our life-span development. The key to development is the interaction of
nature and nurture rather than either factor alone (Rutter, 2001 as quoted by Santrock, 2002). In
other words, it is a matter of “both-and” not “either-or.” Just go back to the quote beneath the
title of this lesson and the message gets crystal clear.
To summarize, both genes and environment are necessary for a person even to exist.
Without genes, there is no person; (Scarr and Weinberg, 1980, quoted by Santrock, 2002).
Heredity and environment operate together or cooperate and interact – to produce a person’s
intelligence, temperament, height, weight … ability to read and so on.
If heredity and environment interact, which one has a greater influence or contribution,
heredity or environment? The relative contributions of heredity and environment are not
addictive. So we can’t say 50% is a contribution of heredity and environment. Neither is it
correct to say that full genetic expression happens once, around conception or birth, after which
we take our genetic legacy into the world to see how far it gets us. Genes produce proteins
throughout the life span, in many different environments. Or they don’t produce these proteins,
depending on how harsh or nourishing those environments are. (Santrock, 2002).

How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life
What make us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be anxious, overweight
or asthmatic? How is it that some of us prone to heart attacks, diabetes or high blood pressure?
There’s a list of conventional answers to these questions. We are the way we are because it’s
in our genes. We turn out the way we do because of our childhood experiences. Or our health
and well-being stem from the lifestyle choices we make as adults.
But there’s another powerful source of influence you may not have considered: your life as a
fetus. The nutrition you received in the womb; the pollutants, drugs and infections you
were exposed to during gestation; your mother’s health and state of mind while she was
pregnant with you – all these factors shaped you as a baby and continue to affect you to this
day.
This is provocative contention of a field known as fetal origins, whose pioneers assert that
the nine months of gestation constitute the most consequential period of our lives,
PERMANENTLY (Underscoring, mine) influencing the wiring of the brain and the
functioning of organs such as the heart, liver and pancreas. In the literature on the subject,
which has exploded over the past 10 years, you can find references to the fetal origins of cancer,
cardiovascular disease, allergies, asthma, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, mental illness. At the
farthest edge of fetal-origins research, scientists are exploring the possibility that intrauterine
conditions influence not only our physical health but also our intelligence, temperament, even
our sanity.
As a journalist who covers science. I was intrigued when I first heard about fetal origins.
But two years ago, when I began delve more deeply into the field, I had a more personal
motivation: I was newly pregnant. If it was true that my actions over the next nine months would
affect my offspring for the rest of his life, I needed to know more.
 Of course, no woman who is pregnant today can escape hearing the message that what she
does affect her fetus. She hears it at doctor’s appointments, sees it in the pregnancy guidebooks:
Do eat this, don’t drink that, be vigilant but never stressed. Expectant mothers could be forgiven
for feeling that pregnancy is just a nine-month slog, full of guilt and devoid of pleasure, and this
research threatened to add to the burden.
But the scientist I met weren’t full of dire warnings but of the excitement of discovery –
and the hope that their discoveries would make a positive difference. Research on fetal origins is
prompting a revolutionary shift in thinking about where human qualities come from and when
they begin to develop. Its turning pregnancy into a scientific frontier: the National Institutes of
Health embarked last year on multidecade study that will examine its subject before they’re born.
And it makes the womb a promising target for prevention, raising hopes of conquering public-
health scourges like obesity and heart disease through interventions before birth.
Time Magazine, October 4, 2010
 MODULE 4 Research in Child and Adolescent Development
“Research is to see what everybody else has seen and to think what nobody else has
thought.”
Albert Szent – Gyorgi, Hungarian Biochemist

 Teachers as Consumers/End Users of Research

Research gives teachers and also policy-makers important knowledge to use in
decision-making for the benefit of learners and their families. Well-informed teachers
are able to use and integrate the most authoritative research findings. Research
enables teachers to come up with informed decisions related to educational policies,
curriculum, effective teaching-learning processes, and even those involving research,
too. It can help us, teachers, to be more knowledgeable about how to fit our teaching
with the developmental levels of our learners.
 Teachers as Researches
The conduct of research does not only belong to thesis and dissertation writers. It
is for students and teachers, too. Let us learn how to conduct research by finding out
the different research principles and the research methods and designs with focus on
child and adolescent development.
 The Scientific Method
One important of research is adherence to the scientific method, since research is
a systematic method. They are as follows:
1. Identify and define the problem
2. Determine the hypothesis
3. Collect and analyze data
4. Formulate conclusions
5. Apply conclusions to the original hypothesis
Simply explained, identifying the research problem is the first step. This
followed by stating a tentative answer to the research problem called the hypothesis. The
hypothesis is also referred to as an “educated guess”. How correct is your “educated
guess” or “hypothesis?” if your research problem is concerned with determining the
cause of an effect or a phenomenon you have to gather and analyze data derived from an
experiment. This is true with experimental research. However, if your research problem
is concerned with describing data and characteristics about the subjects or phenomenon
you are studying, you do not need to perform an experiment. This is descriptive research.
After analyzing the data, you formulate your conclusions.
 Compare your conclusions to your original hypothesis to find out if your original
hypothesis is correct or not. If your original hypothesis jibes with your finding and
conclusions, reject your original hypothesis.
 Research Designs
Researchers that are done with high level of quality and integrity provide us with
valuable information about child and adolescent development. To be able to conduct
quality research, it is important that you know various research designs and different
data gathering techniques used by developmental researcher. Some are given and
described below:
Research Design Description Strengths Weaknesses
1. Case study An in-depth look at an It provides information about Need to exercise caution
individual. an individual’s fears, hopes, when generalizing from the
fantasies, traumatic information; the subject of a
experiences, upbringing, case study is unique, with a
family relationships, health, genetic make-up and
and anything that helps a experiences no one else
psychologist understand that shares; involves judgements
person’s development of unknown reliability in that
(Santrock, 2002) usually no check is made to
see if other psychologists
agree with other observation
(Santrock, 2002)
2. Correctional Study A research design that Useful because the more two Because correlational
determines associations events are correlated, the research does not involve the
more we can predict one manipulation of factors, it is
from the other not a dependable way to
isolate cause (Kantowitz, et
al, 2001 cited by Santrock,
2002)
3. Experimental A research design that The only true reliable Experimental research is
determine cause-and-effect method of establishing cause limited to what is observable,
relationships. The and effect testable and manipulate
experimental method .
involves manipulating one Failure to achieve
variable to determine if randomization may limit the
changes in one variable. This study sample is representative
method relies on controlled of the parent population and,
methods, random assignment with it, generalizability of the
and the manipulation of findings of the study
variables to test a hypothesis.
Experimentation with humans
is subject to a number of
external influences that may
dilute the study results
(Donnan, 2000)

A further limitation of
experimental research is that
subjects may have change
their behavior or respond in a
specific manner simply
because of awareness of
being observed
-Hawthorne effect (Haughey,
1994; Clifford, 1997)
4. Naturalistic A research design that One of the advantages of this The disadvantages of
Observation focuses on children’s type of research is that it naturalistic observation
experiences in natural allows the researcher to include the fact that it can be
settings. directly observe the subject difficult to determine the
in a natural setting. exact cause of a behavior and
This does not involve any the experimenter cannot
 intervention or manipulation control outside variables
on the part of the researcher.

This technique involves

observing subjects in their
natural environment. This
type of research is often
utilized in situations where
conducting lab research in
unrealistic, cost prohibitive or
would unduly affect the
subject’s behavior.
5. Longitudinal This research design studies Allows them to record and They are expensive and time-
and follows through a single monitor developmental consuming.
group over a period of time, trends
usually several years or more. The longer the study lasts, the
more subjects drop out – they
move, get sick, lost interest,
etc. subjects can bias the
outcome of a study, because
those who remain may be
dissimilar to those who drop
out.
6. Sequential This is the combined cross- Allows them to record and It is complex, expensive, and
sectional and longitudinal monitor developmental time
approachable to learn about trends. It provides -consuming.
life-span development information that is
(Schaie, 1993 cited by impossible to obtain from
Satrock, 2002). cross-sectional or
This starts with a cross- longitudinal approaches
sectional study that includes alone (Santrock, 2002)
ages. A number of months or
years after initial assessment,
the same individuals are
tested again-this is the
longitudinal aspect of the
design. At this later time, a
new group of subjects is
assessed at each grade level.
7. Cross-sectional A research strategy in which Allows them to record and It gives no information about
individuals of different ages monitor developmental how individuals change or
are compared at one time. trends. The researcher does about the stability of their
not have to wait. characteristics.

 Data-Gathering Techniques
Data-Gathering Definition/Description
Techniques
1. observation Observations can be made in either laboratories or natural settings. In
naturalistic observation, behavior is observed in the real world like
classrooms, home in neighborhood.
2. Physiological Certain indicators of children’s development such as among others,
Measures heart rate, hormonal levels, bone growth, body weight, and brain
activity are measured.
3. Standardized These are prepared test that assess individual’s performance in
different domains.
4. Interviews and Involve asking the participants to provide information about
Questionnaires themselves based on the interview or questionnaire given by the
researcher.

Gathering of data may be conducted through a printed questionnaire,

over the telephone, by mail, in person or on-line
5. Life-History Records These are records of information about a lifetime chronology of
 events and activities. They often involve a combination of data
records on education, work family, and residence. These include
public records or historical documents or interviews with respondent.

 Ethical Principles (OPPS BINABASA MO BA TALAGA? HAHAHA)

To serve the genuine purposes of research, teacher researchers are subject to ethical
principles. Just as we have the Code of Ethics that governs the behavior to teachers, there
also exist ethical standards that guide the conduct of research. These ethical standards serve
as reminders that as researchers, we should strive to protect the subjects of our study and to
maintain the integrity of our research. Details of theses ethical principles are found in
documents such as the following:
1. Ethical standards of the American Educational Research Association
http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/About_AERA/Ethical_Standards/EthicalStandards.pd
f
2. Ethical Standards for Research with Children – Society for Research in Child
Development (USA) http://www.srcd.org./index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=110
3. Standards of the American Psychological Association Concerning Research
http://www.lcsc.edu/policy/Policy/1.112a.PDF

We invite you to read and reflect on them.

Common among the three standards given above are the following considerations for
researchers conducted with young children and other vulnerable population which are
enumerated by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Some key points are:

1. Research procedures must never harm children, physically or psychologically.
2. Children and their families have the right full information about the research in which
they may participate must be based on what is called “informed consent.” There must be
informed consent procedures with research participants.
3. Children’s questions about the research should be answered in a truthful manner and in
ways that children can understand. Researches must be honest and clear in their
communication.
4. There should be respect for privacy. Information obtained through research with children
should remain confidential. Researches should not disclose personal information or the
identity of participants in written or oral reports and discussions.

 The Data Privacy Act of 2012 (R.A 10173)

This law was passed in the Philippines in 2012 “to protect the fundamental human
right of privacy of communication while ensuring free flow of information to promote
innovation and growth.”’
 The law states that the collection of personal data “must be a declared, specified, and
legitimate purpose and that… consent is required prior to the collection of all personal
data.”
For more details, read R.A 10173

 Impact of Teachers’ Research Involvement on Teachers

Research itself has proven that the teachers have everything to gain and nothing to
lose when they get involved in the research process.
Evidence suggest that:
1. Teachers who have been involved in research may become more reflective, more critical
and analytical in their teaching, and more open and committed to professional
development (Oja & Pine 1989; Henson 1996; Keyes 2000; Rust 2007).
2. Participating in teacher research also helps teachers become more deliberate in their
decision-making and actions in the classroom.
3. Teacher research develops the professional dispositions of lifelong learning, reflective
and mindful teaching, and self-transformation (Mills 2000; Stringer 2007)
4. Engaging in teacher research at any level may lead to rethinking and reconstructing what
it means to be a teachers relate to children and students.
5. Teacher research has the potential to demonstrate to teachers and prospective teachers
that learning to inquire (Borko, Liston & Whitcomb 2007).
Teacher involvement in the conduct of teacher research shows a shift from thinking about
teacher research as something done to teachers to something done by teachers (Zeichner
1999; Lampert 2000).

 A research abstract – A research is a brief summary that appears at the beginning of the
article. It has the following parts:
 Title
 Researcher/s
 Date of Research
 Introduction
 Methods
 Findings/Result of the Study
 Conclusions and Recommendations
 References
The first (3) are self-explanatory and so need no further explanation. The introduction, as
the title implies, introduces the problem or issue that is being studied. It includes a concise
review of research relevant to the topic, theoretical ties, and one or more hypotheses to be tested.
The method section consists of a clear description of the subjects evaluated in the study, the
measures used and the procedures that were followed. The results section reports the analysis of
the data collected. The conclusion of the study. Methods, findings/Results of the study and
conclusions and Recommendations constitute the Body of the Abstract. The last part of the
abstract is the references. These include bibliographic information for each source cited in the
research report.