Foundation of Education

Key Unit competence: Apply principles and theories of human development in education both in school and real-life contexts.

Introduction

 Child development theories explain why and how children grow and develop (Mwagi, 2012). It is from that perspectives that theories were tested to indicate developmental stages through which a human being goes through and specific learning abilities and actions he might perform at a specific stages or age. Although those theories have some common grounds, they have different perspectives of behavior and development of a child as well. Theories which were developed and tested in the light of human development are those of Jean Piaget: “Theory of cognitive development”, Sigmund Freud: “theory of psychosexual development”, Erik Erikson: “Theory of psychosocial development”, and David Wood: “language development theory”.

12.1.Cognitive development theory (Jean Piaget 1896-1990)

Answer critically to the following question: 

Haven’t you ever seen young children imitating how to prepare food? How would you explain that phenomenon?

Jean Piaget was born in 1896 in Neuchatel and died in 1980 in Geneva, Switzerland. He suggested that cognitive development begins with a child’s inborn ability to explore the environment. He contended that cognitive development occurs in four major stages which are age-related. 

 At each stage, the child’s mind develops throughout different perspectives. He maintained that learning is based on simple sensory and motor activities to logical and abstract thought. According to Piaget, cognitive development occurs through the process of organization, adaptation and equilibration explained below:

The first “Organization”, refers to the tendancy of increasing complex cognitive schemas or structures.

 – The second “Adaptation” refers to how children handle new information in the light of what they already know. It involves the process of assimilation and accommodatation. 

 – The third “Assimilation”, has to do with grasping information and incorporating it into the existing cognitive structure.

The following examples help to understand the above concepts: The infants who are breast fed only develop a schema of the mother’s milk which is sweet and liquid. If sweet water is introduced, the infant fits sweet water into the existing schema of the breast milk. Next, accommodation involves adjusting one’s cognitive structures to fit the new information. For example, a child who has seen a dog may see a goat and think it is a dog, but after realizing that a goat is not a dog, he/she forms the schema of a goat.

At last according to Piaget, cognitive equilibrium which is the last stage has to do with a state of mental balance. It occurs when a person continuously attempts to reconcile new experiences with the existing ones. Children with these experiences are in the state of disequilibrium. They organize mental patterns that integrate the new experiences restoring a more comfortable state of equilibrium. This means that while teaching a person, the teacher should rely upon the lived experience of the learners to enable them easy understanding.

a. Sensory motor stage (Birth-2 years) 

This period is characterized by the child’s reflex activity when he is involved in systematic natural reflex activities to assist him in learning the environment. In Piaget’s view, this stage begins at birth and continues until about age 2. After extensive observations of infants and toddlers, especially his own three children, Piaget described the sensorimotor stage as a series of six sub-stages.

• Sub stage 2: Primary Circular Reactions (1–4 Months)

 In the first few months of life, infants’ behaviors are focused almost exclusively on their own bodies (in Piaget’s terminology, the behaviors are primary) and are repeated over and over again (i.e., they are circular). Infants also begin to refine their reflexes and combine them into more complex actions. For example, an infant might now open and close her hand and then put it in her mouth.

• Sub stage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions (4–8 Months)

 Sometime around 4 months, infants become more aware of and more responsive to the outside world (their behaviours become secondary), and they begin to notice that their behaviours can have interesting effects on the objects around them. For instance, a child of this sub-stage will continue to play with a spoon on a plate since it produces an enjoyable noise. These actions permit the infant to imitate spontaneously the behaviours, but they imitate only those actions they themselves have practiced many times.

• Sub stage 4: Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8–12 Months) 

After repeatedly observing that certain actions lead to certain consequences, infants gradually acquire knowledge of cause-effect relationships. Accordingly, they begin to engage in goal- directed behaviour: They behave in ways that they know will bring about desired results. They also begin to combine behaviours in new ways to accomplish their goals.

• Sub stage 5. Tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months) 

 The circular reactions become experimental and creative. The infant repeats an action with variation aiming to provoke new outcomes. Tertiary circular reactions consist of attempting actively all the possible means of an action in order to discover the consequences of actions like what will happen if I do it this way? Psychologists call this stage discovering new means through active experimentation”. The child explores the properties of objects by acting on objects in novel ways. Having for example, observed the relationship between a mate and a toy, the child will pull the mate so that he /she can take the toy. For the object permanence, the child has got the ability to search for a hidden object in different locations. Children are able to imitate unfamiliar behaviours.

• Sub stage 6. Mental representation (18 months to 2 years) 

The last phase of the sensory-motor stage it is about “Inventing new means through mental combinations”. It involves the ability to make a mental representation that is the internal images of absent objects and past events. With the capacity to represent, children understand that objects can move or be moved when they are absent. Representation also brings capacity for deferred imitation that is the ability to remember and copy the behaviour of absent behaviour. They also begin to combine behaviours in new ways to accomplish their goals. Yet another acquisition at this sub-stage is “Object permanence”., The realization that physical objects continue to exist even when they are removed from view. For example, when a caregiver hides an attractive toy beneath a pillow, the infant knows that the toy still exists, also knows where it exists, and will attempt to retrieve it.

b. Pre-operational stage (2-6/7 years)

 • Sub-stage1: Pre-conceptual (2 – 4 yars)

 At this stage child can use one thing to represent another. Children use symbols and language to express themselves. The ability to use language to let a word stand for one object or person indicates a dramatic change in the child’s intellectual functioning. Pre-operational children share with adult the ability to represent reality to themselves by means of signs and symbols. These thought processes are internal compared to the older children and adults. According to Piaget, the  “Semiotic function”  is a representational ability that emerges when the child is about 18 months old. It is a unified capacity that enables the child to represent an object or an event that is not present (a signified) by means of another object that is present (a signifier). Thus for example, a baby doll (signifier) will represent a child (signified).

• Sub-stage 2: Intuitive Thought (4-7 years)

 Children tend to grow very curious and ask many questions; they begin the use of primitive reasoning. There is an emergence in the interest of reasoning and wanting to know why things are the way they are. Piaget called it the Intuitive sub-stage because children realise they have a vast amount of knowledge but don’t know how they know it. In Preoperational thought, centration is the act of focusing all attention on a single characteristic compared to the others.

Some key characteristics of thinking of children during the pre-operational stage

 The examples below about egocentrism, animism, artificialism, reversibility and conservation, show that at this stage children experience some limitations in their way of thinking.

• Egocentrism

 Children are egocentric in thinking. At this stage, children see the world from their own view points. Egocentrism in children appears in two ways. 

 The first occurs when a child thinks that the non-living things can react, act, or move as human being. By thinking in this way, she/he refers to himself due to the fact that he has no barriers to go wherever he/she wants and he/ she believes non-living things or animals can do so as well. Example, my “Hen come, let us go to have lunch”. The hen does not have intelligence neither speak human language to understand him. Additionally, the hen cannot neither sit on chair nor eat on the plate.

The second egocentrism thinking refers self-centeredness regarding the surroundings things belongingness. In that sense, this egocentrism emerges when a child starts referring to him/her whenever he/she says something. The personal pronoun “ I” predominates all his verbal interactions with others. That predominance of “ I” leads to self-centeredness whereby a child can think that everything belongs to him or her.

For example, a child can cry or feel bad when he/she is with siblings and discuss to whom their Mamy belongs. That child will truely think that the mother belongs to him/or her alone. My Mamy, My Mamy. When siblings dispute with him or her, she/he cries. 

 • Animism 

 Animism refers to the illusion that a child may have about objects as if they have life like qualities - i.e thoughts, beliefs, emotions, feelings, intentions etc. Example - a child may think that sun is chasing the clouds. When he hits or fall on something, he/she feels hurt, when the mother or the guardian slaps the object on the ground, a child may think that the object will feel hurt too.

• Artificialism

 Children may think that leaves fall of the trees because they want to make the ground warm or flowers grow to make us happy. They may want to know why the sky is blue and who painted it blue.

 • Reversibility 

 Children at this stage have a problem of reversibility. When they go forward they are not able to go backward in their thinking; for example, if you had asked Denny last year what would happen if you put orange juice into an ice tray and put it in the freezer, he would have had to think hard. He knew that putting water into an ice tray results in ice, so he could figure out that putting juice into the ice tray would produce orange juice-flavored ice. 

But if you asked Denny’s little sister Nadia, who’s only three, she wouldn’t have any idea what would happen if you put orange juice into the ice tray. She’d just shrug her shoulders. This is because Nadia can’t mentally manipulate the world in order to figure out what would happen with a substance other than water.

• Conservation 

 According to the psychologist Jean Piaget: conservation refers to a logical thinking ability that allows a person to determine that a certain quantity will remain the same despite adjustment of the container, shape, or apparent size, 

The following are examples of tasks that Piaget used to test the conservation skills of children who are in Pre-operational stage. These examples show how pre-school children fail to demonstrate conservation skills.

c. Concrete operational stage

 The third Piagetian stage is concrete operational stage that occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 years and is characterised by the appropriate use of logic. Important processes during this stage are:

Transitivity:  the ability to recognise logical relationships among elements in a serial order - eg: if A is taller than B and B is taller than C, then A must be taller than C 

– Seriation: the ability to sort objects in an order according to size, shape or any other characteristic. 

 – Classification: the ability to name and identify sets of objects according to appearance, size or other characteristic, including the idea that one set of objects can include another 

– Reversibility: the child understands that numbers or objects can be changed, then returned to their original state. For this reason, a child will be able to rapidly determine that if 5+7 = 12, 12−7 will equal 5, the original quantity. 

– Conservation: understanding that quantity, length or number of items is unrelated to the arrangement or appearance of the object or items. 

– Elimination of Egocentrism: the ability to view things from another’s perspective (even if they think incorrectly).

Note: In this stage, children can perform operations, and logical reasoning replaces intuitive thought as long as reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples. Children in this stage can only solve problems that apply to actual (concrete) objects or events, and not abstract concepts or hypothetical tasks. 

d. Formal operational stage

 The formal operational period is the fourth and final of the periods of cognitive development in Piaget’s theory. This stage commences at around 12 years of age (puberty) and continues into adulthood. It is characterized by acquisition of the ability to think abstractly, reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical situations. Now, individuals are able to think in an abstract way and solve problems symbolically without using objects in front of them.

12.2. Psychosexual development (Sigmund Freud 1856- 1939)

Freud’s idea of personality development indicates that all human behaviours are caused by psychological factors that operate unconsciously. Moreover, Freud was of the view that people go through 5 stages of psychosexual development and that people have one part of their body that gives more pleasure at each stage of development than the rest of the body.

In his theory there are some concepts that are mostly used and it is important to define them first: 

– Erogenous zones: A part of the body that gives a strong pleasure at each stage of development.     

-Libido: Sexual energy 

 – Fixation: It refers to the failure to mature beyond a particular stage of psychosexual development. This is due to when an excessive amount of energy or derivation of energy is tied to a particular stage.

Freud believes that the child passes through a series of psychosexual stages during the first five years of life with each stage originating in the sexual instincts of personality. For him, as children develop, they go through periods when pleasurable sensations are centered on particular areas of the body; erogenous zone of the body. When an excessive amount of energy or derivation of energy is tied to particular stage, then fixation is likely to occur. These stages are known as psychosexual stages of development.

Five Freudian psychosexual stages are: 

a. Oral stage (0-1 year of age) 

It occurs during the first 18 months of life, in which the infant’s pleasure centers around the mouth. Chewing, sucking and biting are chief sources of pleasure. These actions reduce the tension in the infant.

b. Anal stage (1-3 years of age)

 It occurs between 11/2 and 3 years of age, in which the child’s greatest pleasure involves the anus or the eliminative functions associated with it. In Freud’s view, the exercise of anal muscles reduces tensions. 

c. Phallic stage (3-6 years of age ) It occurs between the ages of 3 and 6. Its name comes from the Latin word phallus which means ‘penis’. During the phallic stage, pleasure focuses on the genitals as both boys and girls discover that self-manipulation is enjoyable.

The phallic stage has a special importance in personality development because it is during this period that the Oedipus complex appears. This name comes from Greek mythology, in which Oedipus, the son of the King of Thebes, unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.

During this stage, the focus of sexual gratification shifts to genital stimulation. The infant’s erogenous zone is genitals. At the same time, the so-called family romance emerges a child feels attracted to the parent of opposite r sex and also experiences jealousy of the same-sexed parent who is perceived as a rival. Freud coined Electra complex and Oedipus complex to describe this conflict in girls and boys respectively

The Oedipus complex involves three people: A child, a mother and father. It is called so, after the tragic Oedipus Rex (King Oedipus), who, in Sophocles’ play unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. This takes place when a boy seeks sexual pleasure by associating with his mother, but hates his father and sees him as a rival. The same as the girl; she seeks sexual pleasure by associating with her father, but hates the mother and sees her as a rival. He believes that most children find this situation stressful, so they resolve it. This identification will take place because the child realises that his/her same sex parent can punish him/her because of the incestuous wishes, or boys fear that their fathers will punish them by cutting off their penis. Fred called this fear the castration complex.

d. Latency stage (6-12 years of age)

 It occurs between approximately 6 years of age and puberty. During this period, the child represses all interest in sexuality and develops social and intellectual skills. This activity channels much of child’s energy into emotionally safe areas and helps the child forget the highly stressful conflicts of the phallic stage.

e. Genital stage (12 years and beyond)

 It is a time of sexual reawakening; the source of sexual pleasure now becomes someone outside of the family. Freud believed that unresolved conflicts with parents re-emerge during adolescence. When these conflicts have been resolved, adolescents are able to develop a mature love relationship and to engage in appropriate sexual behaviour, which may lead to marriage and childbirth.

12.3. Social development theories 

A. Erick Erikson’s psychosocial development 1902-1994

1. Ganza is two years old. Once he finds his mum washing shoes for him or doing laundry activities at home, Ganza always fights for doing so by himself.

 2. What do you think are drives which make Ganza to do so?

Erik Erikson (1902-1994) opposes Freud’s view of psychosexual stages of development by presenting a developmental view of people’s lives in eight psychosocial stages of human development. In Erikson’s theory; eight stages of development unfold as people go through the life span. Each stage consists of developmental task that confronts individuals with a crisis. The more successfully an individual resolves each crisis, the more psychologically healthy the individual will be. Each stage has both positive and negative sides.

a. Trust versus mistrust (0-1year of age) 

This is Erikson’s first psychological stage occurs in the first year of life. An infant becomes completely dependent on adults for the attainment of his basic needs. The development of trust requires a feeling of physical comfort, happiness, warm, nurturing, care giving positive outcome and guidance

from adults. On the other hand, mistrust develops when infants are treated too negatively or are ignored. The first and foremost task of an infant is to develop the basic sense of trust in him /her and in environment.

b. Autonomy versus shame and doubt (1-3 years of age)

 It occurs in late infancy and the toddler years. After gaining trust in their caregivers, infants begin to discover that their behavior is their own. They assert their independence and realize their will (a child tends to develop a sense of autonomy and realizes that his/her behaviors are personal). If infants are restrained too much or punished too harshly, they develop a sense of shame and doubt. 

 c. Initiative versus guilt (3-6years of age) 

It corresponds to early childhood, about 3 to 5 years of age. As young children experience a widening social world, they are more challenged than they were infants. To cope with these challenges, they need to engage in active, purposeful behavior. In this stage, adults expect children to become more responsible and require them to assume some responsibilities for taking care of their bodies and belongings. They express their autonomy in behavior. While developing a sense of responsibility children increase their initiative. Children develop uncomfortable guilt feelings if they are irresponsible or are made to feel too anxious.

d. Industry versus inferiority (6-12 years of age) It corresponds approximately with the elementary school years, from 6 years of age up to puberty or early adolescence. Children’s initiative brings them into contact with a wealth of experiences. A child of this age is full of energy and has effort to produce new things. As they move into the elementary school years. They direct their energy toward mastering knowledge and intellectual skills. At no time are children more enthusiastic about learning than at the end of early childhood when their imagination is expansive. The danger in the elementary school years is developing a sense of inferiority, unproductiveness and incompetence when they realize that they are still children and that they cannot produce.

 e. Identity versus identity confusion (12-19/21 years of age) It corresponds to the adolescent years. Adolescents try to find out who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life. This is the stage in which individuals build castles in the air, trusting their imagination by gaining what they cannot attain in real life. They are confronted with new roles and adult statuses (such as vocational and romantic).

Adolescents need to be allowed to explore different paths to attain a healthy identity. If they do not adequately explore different roles and don’t carve out a positive future path, they can remain confused about their identity. 

 f. Intimacy versus isolation (21-34 years of age) It corresponds to the early adult years (The twenties and thirties). The developmental task is to form positive relationships with others. Erikson describes intimacy as finding oneself, but losing oneself in other person. The hazard of this stage is that one will fail to form an intimate relationship with a romantic partner or friend and become socially isolated. For such individuals, loneliness can become a dark cloud over their lives. 

 g. Generativity versus stagnation (34-64 years of age) It corresponds to the middle adulthood years, the forties and fifties. Generativity means transmitting something positive to the next generation. This can involve such roles as parenting and teaching, through which adults assist the next generation in developing useful values and skills. Erikson described stagnation as the feeling of having done nothing to help the next generation.

h. Integrity versus despair (64 and above) Is Erikson’s eight and final psychological stage. Older adults review their lives, reflecting what they have done. If the retrospective evaluations are positive, they develop a sense of integrity. That is, they view their life as positively integrated and worth living. In contrast, older adults become despairing if their background glances are mainly negative. 

B. Attachment theory John BOWLBY 1907-1990 

Social development refers to individual relationship and others. Social interactions start in the context of care that parents particularly the mother provides for the child since his or her birth. From these relationships, attachment is created. Attachment is defined as the strong, affectional ties we feel for special people in our lives that leads us to feel pleasure and joy when interact with them. Babies are born with behaviours like crying, babbling and laughing to gain adult attention & on the other side; adults are biologically programmed to respond to their signals. Attachment promotes contact and intimacy. 

 According to Bowlby, the following are the 4 phases of attachment: 

– Pre-attachment Phase (Birth – 6 Weeks)

 – “Attachment in Making” Phase (6 Weeks – 6 to 8 Months)

– “Clear Cut” Attachment Phase (6-8 Months to 18 Months-2 Years) – Formation of Reciprocal Relationship (18 Months – 2 Years and on) 

a. The pre attachment phase ( Birth-6 Weeks of age) During this period, babies smile at anybody and can be comforted by anybody. Thehe innate signals attract the caregiver (grasping, gazing, crying, smiling while looking into the adult’s eyes). When the baby responds in a positive manner, the caregivers remain close by. The infants get encouraged by the adults to remain close as it comforts them. Babies recognize the mother’s fragrance, voice and face. They are not yet attached to the mother and don’t mind being left with unfamiliar adults as they have no fear of strangers.

b. Attachement in making” phase ( 6 Weeks – 6 to 8 Months) Babies smile and react to their caregivers more often than other persons. Infants responds differently to familiar caregivers than to strangers. The baby would smile more to the mother and babble to her and will become quiet more quickly, whenever picked by the mother. The infant learns that his/her actions affect the behavior of those around. They tend to develop a “Sense of Trust” where they expect the response of caregiver, when signalled. They do not protest when they get separated from the caregiver. 

c. “Clear cut” attachment phase (6-8 Months to 18 Months -2 Years) Babies protest when caregivers leave them alone. Most babies develop attachment to other family members and family friends. The attachment to familiar caregiver becomes evident. Babies show “separation anxiety”, and get upset when an adult on whom they rely, leaves them. This anxiety increases by week 6 -15 months, and its occurrence depends on the temperament and the context of the infant and the behavior of the adult. The child would show signs of distress, in case the mother leaves, but with the supportive and sensitive nature of the caretaker, this anxiety could be reduced.

d. Formation of reciprocal relationship (18 Months – 2 Years and on)

 From two years, children know that their behavior can influence that of caregivers. That is why they cry in supermarkets so that mothers buy sweets for them or cry for whatever in which they find pleasure to own it. They try also to understand the motives of others, that is, when the mother goes out, she should tell him for instance what to do with his/her toy. With rapid growth in representation and language by 2 years, the toddler is able to understand few factors that influence parent’s coming and going, and can predict their return. Thus leading to a decline in separation protests.

The child can negotiate with the caregiver to alter his/her goals via requests and persuasions. Child depends less on the caregiver along with the age. 

The following factors influence attachment: 

– Mothers’ personality and her relationship with her baby. The mother should show a positive attachment. 

– Temperament of the baby exerts an influence on the person who cares for it. 

 – Mother’s work should not have a negative effect on the baby. 

– Psychological factors such as unhappy marriage, poverty and lack of social support have negative attachment on the personality of the baby. (Kaleeba and 2004)

12.4. Moral development theories

IHIRWE and KALISA are primary 1 learners. They are obedient to either parent or teachers by conforming to their rules. Once they have committed errors, they are fearful to the attitudes that either parents or teachers will have on them. 

1. Why do they have fear to commit errors? 

 2. Do you think the attitude of these children towards the rules at this age will it be the same when they are 18 years old?

A. Piaget’s theory of moral development

 According to Piaget (1932-1965), morality consists of a set of rules that are handed down from adults to children. He identified two broad stages of moral understanding; heteronomous and autonomous morality. Heteronomous morality or the moral realism (5 to 10 years)

The word heteronomous means under the authority of another. As the term suggests, children of this stage view rules as stipulated by significant others (parents, teachers as well as God), as having permanent existence, unchanged and requiring strict obedience. 

During and before early school years, children have little understanding of rules that that govern social behaviour. When they play rule-oriented games, for example, they do not mind about wining, losing, or coordinating their actions with those of others. 

At the age of 5, they start to show much more concern with and respect for rules. According to Piaget, two factors limit children’s moral understanding: 

– The power of adult to insist that children comply, which promotes unquestioning respect for rules and those who enforce them.

– Egocentrism, children think that all people view rules in the same way, their moral understanding is characterised by realism. That is, they consider rules to be permanent and features of reality rather than subjective principles that can be modified at will. 

Children of the heteronomous age believe in immanent justice that wrong doing inevitably leads to punishment. They think that moral order is only maintained by punishment.

Autonomous morality or morality of cooperation (about 10 years and above)

 This is Piaget’s second stage of moral development, in which children view rules as flexible, socially agreed-on principles that can be revised to fit the will of the majority. Children at this stage cease to regard unquestioning obedience to adult as a sound basis for moral action. They recognise that sometimes there may be justified reasons to violate or changer a rule. Also, they discard the view that wrongdoing is inevitably punishable. Instead punishment should be rationally related to the offense.

B.Kohlberg’s theory of moral development 

Like Piaget, Kohlberg contends that morality is developed in a series of stages. His theory considers six of these, categorized within three major levels. The pre-conventional level (0 to 9 years), the conventional level (9 to 15 years), and the post- conventional level (age 16 and over).

a. The pre-conventional level (0 to 9 years) At this level, children have little conception of socially acceptable behavior. They unquestionably accept the rules of authority figures, and actions are udged by their consequences. Children at this level will reason in ways designed to bring them pleasure and avoid punishment. Behaviors that culminate in punishment are considered as bad, and those that lead to rewards are seen as good.

Stage 1: The punishment and obedience orientation At this stage, children begin to follow rules in order to avoid punishment. They conform to rules imposed on them by authoritarian figures. True rules awareness is not yet established; children’s moral conduct is based largely on fear associated with rules violation.

 Stage 2: The naively egoistic orientation or instrumental purpose orientation Regarding this stage, children reason that by taking the right action, they usually earn some tangible reward. According to Kohlberg, a sense of reciprocity is in operation here, children do right things to appease others and expect some sort of return favour.

b. The conventional level (9 to 15 years) 

 At this level, children continue to view conformity to social rules as vital, but not for purposes of self-interest. They believe that adhering to social norms is important for ensuring mutual human relationships and societal order.

 Stage 3: The ‘good boy-good girl orientation’ or the morality of interpersonal cooperation. Children of this stage want to maintain the affection and approval of friends, and significant others. They want to be regarded as good persons, trustworthy, loyal, respectful, and helpful.

 Stage 4: The social order-maintaining orientation: At this stage child take into account societal laws. They will insist that there are rules, which must not be disobeyed. If these rules are broken, then punishment will certainly follow. These youngsters believe laws are vital for ensuring social order. Children’s ideas about guilt usually start during this stage.

c. The post conventional or principled level (16 years and over) At this level, individual do not maintain social order for the sake of doing it, but recognize principles of making choices that involve reasoning and consistency. They see and do things for the general good of a wider community, and are concerned more with wider social justice. There are also two stages in this level.

Stage 5: The social-contract orientation People at this stage start to become aware of the interest of the wider community, and of the individual. They start to see that the community’s needs may sometimes be at a greater importance than individual needs. They consider societal rules as flexible instruments for furthering human purposes. They can objectively judge whether the laws imposed by the society are fair, common, or need to be changed to suit a certain situation. One has an obligation to obey the rule (social contract orientation). 

 Stage: The universal ethical principle orientation At this stage, individuals make their judgments on the basis of universal ethical principles regardless of law and societal agreement. These values are abstract no concrete rules like the Ten Commandments. The right action of an individual is defined by self-chosen ethical principles that are rational and universally applicable.

12.5. Language development by David Wood

1. With reference to language development, look at the statement here below and discuss their accuracy in relation with language acquisition. Before making words, children raise their voices by crying to make differrent. 

2. Two years old children cannot understand a proverb, but they will be able to understand it when they are in adulthood. Discuss why?

1. Establish the behavioural parallelism of child development stages and adolescence and propose effective ways of dealing with their behaviours based on their smilar, or different behaviours and different categories of age.

 2. Think a behaviour/situation that you can observe on a person from your family, class or community which justify the developmental theories. And write the identified behaviour under its related theory. For instance: in cognitive theory of development: My young brother aged at 3 years doesn’t want to share the toys. He always says that everything new is his. This is egocentrism. 

 3. Describe the role of Piagetian Theory in today’s world of teaching