by MS. RAHAT SIDDIQUI
Keywords; difference between growth and
development, define growth, define development,
characteristics of growth and development, principles of “growth” and
“development”, stages of “growth” and “development”, educational implications
of growth and development
Difference Between Growth and Development
GROWTH
Growth refers to quantitative changes
in size, which include physical changes in height, weight, size, internal
organs, etc. During babyhood and childhood, the body steadily becomes larger,
taller and heavier. To designate this
change the term growth is used. Growth involves changes in body proportions as
well as in overall stature and weights.
The terms growth thus indicates an increase in bodily dimensions. However, the rate of growth differs from one
part of the body to the other.
DEVELOPMENT
Development, by contrast, refers to qualitative
changes taking place simultaneously with quantitative changes of growth. It may be defined as a progressive series of
orderly, coherent changes. The term
progressive signifies that changes are directional, that they lead forward
rather than backward. Orderly and
coherent suggest that a definite relationship between the changes taking place
and those that precede or will follow them.
Development represents changes in an organism from its origin to its
death, but more particularly the progressive changes that take place from
origin to maturity.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
·
Growth
is physical changes, whereas development is overall development of the
organism.
·
Growth
is cellular but development is organizational.
·
Growth
is the change in shape, form, structure, size of body. Development is
structural change and functional progress of the body.
·
Growth
is the part of development. Development
also includes Growth.
·
Growth
and development go side by side.
·
Growth
is quantitative while development can be both qualitative and quantitative in
nature.
·
Growth
is a subset of Development. Development
is a part of Growth.
·
Growth takes place on a limited scope. The scope for development is rather vast.
·
Growth
may refer to the physical growth of an individual pertaining to physical
characteristics such as height, weight, etc., and the Development of a person
can refer to physical factors and also to other more qualitative factors such
as mentality, spirituality and emotional spheres.
·
Growth
can be measured, while Development can be observed.
·
Growth
is used to convey the sense of maturity while Development is used to convey the
idea of a stage of growth.
·
Growth
and Development are inter-related. Both
are inter-dependent and influence each other. When growth stops because of
illness, or there is premature stoppage of growth, development is equally
effected.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
1. Development is continuous:
Development is a continuous process; it may be overt
or covert. Disease or severe
mal-nutrition may halt its continuity for a time.
2. Development is orderly:
It proceeds from general to specific
responses.
3. Development is sequential:
It follows a pattern i.e., various
steps follow one another e.g., puberty before full physical stature.
4. Development is unique:
Children differ individually with regard to their time
schedule. For example, all children will
first sit up, crawl and stand before they walk.
But individual children will vary in regard to timing or age at which
they can perform these activities.
5. Development is inter-related:
All the three types of development
i.e., mental, social and emotional; are inter-related. Ultimately social development and emotional
development are the two sides of same coin.
Social development is nothing but a reference of emotional development. An emotional development is nothing but a
psychological reference of social behavior.
Principles of “Growth”
and “Development”
Following
are the fundamental principles of growth and development:
1. Continuity:
The growth and development of a child follows the principle of
continuity. It means that these are
continuous processes. We cannot practically
separate different stages of growth and development. However, psychologists have divided this
process in certain stages such as infancy, boyhood, adolescence, adulthood and
old age.
2. Sequence or order:
Another principle followed by child’s growth and development
is a proper order and sequence. For
example, for the great mass of children, learning patterns follows each other
in a fix order. A child learn to stand before
he walks and he passes through the babble stages of syllables in language
before he speaks clearly
3.
Creativity:
Growth and development is a creative process. It means that certain psychological actions
are stimuli for next ones. For example,
a child first stands, then walks, thus standing and walking are creative
processes for running etc.
4. Individual Differences:
In different individuals, growth takes place at different
rate. For example, girls and boys grow
at different rates at different stages of life.
From 1 to 10 years, boys grow rapidly.
After this stage boys grow slowly and girls grow rapidly. After 16 years, the process is again
reversed.
5.
Rate Differences:
It means that the rate of growth is different in different
organs. For example, growth process is
in progress up to 5 to 6 years. Then it
becomes slow up to 12 years. After this,
the rate increases up to 16 years, 18 – 20 years are negligible with respect to
growth.
6. From general to specific responses:
Development proceeds from general to specific responses. For example, at first an infant shows his
happiness by total bodily expression.
But when he grows older, he responds with a smile.
7.
Correlation of Traits:
Most traits are correlated in development. The child whose intellectual development is
above average is generally above average in health, size and attitudes.
8. Unified Development:
The child develops as a uniform. His intellect is related to his physical
well-being. His physical health is
affected by his emotions. His emotions
are influenced by successes or failures in school.
9.
Conspicuous at certain stage
At certain stage, the development and growth take place very
rapidly; but they are negligible at certain stages. For example, 1 – 5, 13 – 16 and 16-25 years,
growth process is very rapid and hence conspicuous.
STAGES OF “GROWTH” AND
“DEVELOPMENT”
1. Infancy: Birth to 18 Months
Ego Development Outcome: Trust v/s Mistrust
Basic Strength: Drive and Hope
Infancy as the Oral Sensory Stage (as anyone might who watches a baby put
everything in his/her mouth) where the major emphasis is on the mother’s positive
and loving care for the child, with a big emphasis on visual contact and
touch. If we pass successfully through
this period life, we learn to trust that life is basically okay and have basic
confidence in the future. If we fail to
experience trust and are constantly frustrated because our needs are not met,
we may end up with a deep-seated feeling of worthlessness and a mistrust of the
world in general (Erikson).
The most significant relationship is
with the maternal parent, or whoever is our most significant and constant
caregiver.
2. Early Childhood: 18 Months to 3 Years
Ego development outcome: Autonomy v/s
Shame
Basic Strengths: Self-control,
Courage, and Will
During this stage we learn to master
skills for ourselves. Not only do we
learn to walk, talk and feed ourselves, we are learning finer motor development
as well as the much appreciated toilet training. Here we have the opportunity to build
self-esteem and autonomy and we gain more control over our bodies and acquire
new skills, learning right from wrong.
And one of our skills during the “Terrible Two’s” is our ability to use
the powerful word “NO!” It may be pain
for parents, but it develops important skills of the will.
It is also during this stage,
however, that we can be very vulnerable.
If we’re shamed in the process of toilet training or in learning other
important skills, we may feel great shame and doubt of our capabilities and
suffer low self-esteem as a result.
The most significant relationships
are with parents.
3. Play Age: 3 to 5 Years
Ego Development Outcome: Initiative
v/s Guilt
Basic Strength: Purpose
During this period we experience a
desire to copy the adults around us and take initiative in creating play
situations. We make up stories with
Barbie’s and Ken’s, toy phones and miniature cars, playing out roles in a trial
universe, experimenting with the blueprint for what we believe it means to be
an adult. We also begin to use that
wonderful word for exploring the world --- “WHY?”
The most significant relationship is
with the basic family.
4. School Age: 6 to 12 Years
Ego
development Outcome: Industry v/s Inferiority
Basic Strengths: Method and
Competence
During this stage, often called the
Latency, we are capable of learning, creating and accomplishing numerous new
skills and knowledge, thus developing a sense of industry. This is also a very social stage of
development and if we experience unresolved feelings of inadequacy and
inferiority among our peers, we can have serious problems in terms of
competence and self-esteem (Constance
Clancy-Fisher EdD).
As the world expands a bit, our most
significant relationship is with the school and neighborhood. Parents are no
longer the complete authorities they once were, although they are still
important.
5. Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years
Ego Development Outcome: Identity v/s
Role Confusion
Basic Strengths: Devotion and
Fidelity
Up to this stage, development mostly
depends upon what is done to us. From
here on out, development depends primarily upon what we do. And while adolescence is a stage at which we
are neither a child nor an adult. Life
is definitely getting more complex as we attempt to find our own identity,
struggle with social interactions, and grapple with moral issues (Craig Haen).
Our task is to discover who we are as
individuals separate from our family of origin and as members of a wider
society. Unfortunately for those around
us, in this process many of us go into a period of withdrawing from
responsibilities, which Erikson called a “moratorium”. And if we are unsuccessful in navigating this
stage, we will experience role confusion and upheaval.
A significant task for us is to
establish a philosophy of life and in this process we tend to think in terms of
ideals, which are conflict free, rather than reality, which is not. The problem is that we don’t have much
experience and find it easy to substitute ideals for experience. However, we can also develop strong devotion
to friends and causes.
It is no surprise that our most
significant relationships are with peer group.
6. Young Adulthood: 18 to 35
Ego Development Outcome: Intimacy and
Solidarity v/s Isolation
Basic Strength: Affiliation and Love
In the initial stage of being an
adult we seek one or more companions and love.
As we try to find mutually satisfying relationships, primarily through
marriage and friends, we generally also begin to start a family, though this
age has been pushed back for many couples who today don’t start their families
until their late thirties. If
negotiating this stage is successful, we can experience intimacy on a deep level
(Erikson).
If we’re not successful, isolation
and distance from others may occur. And
when we don’t find it easy to create satisfying relationships, our world can
begin to shrink as, in defense, we can feel superior to others.
Our significant relationships are
with marital partners and friends.
7. Middle Adulthood: 35 to 55 or 65
Ego Development Outcome: Generativity v/s Self Absorption or
Stagnation
Basic Strength: Production and Care
Now work is most crucial. It is observed that middle-age is when we
tend to be occupied with creative and meaningful work and with issues
surrounding our family. Also, middle
adulthood is when we can expect to “be in charge”, the role we’ve longer
envied.
The significant task is to perpetuate
culture and transmit values of the culture through the family (taming the kids)
and working to establish a stable environment.
Strength comes through care of others and production of something that
contribute4s to the betterment of society, which Erikson calls generativity, so
when we’re in this stage we often fear inactivity and meaninglessness.
As our children leave home, or our
relationships or goals change, we may be faced with major life changes --- the
mid-life crisis --- and struggle with finding new meanings and purposes. If we don’t get through this stage
successfully, we can become self-absorbed and stagnate.
Significant relationships are within
the workplace, the community and the family.
8. Late Adulthood: 55 or 65 to Death
Ego development Outcome: Integrity v/s
Despair
Basic Strengths: Wisdom
It is felt that much of life is
preparing for the middle adulthood stage and the last stage is recovering from
it. Perhaps that is because as older adults we can often look back on our lives
with happiness and are content, feeling fulfilled with a deep sense that life
has meaning and we’ve made a contribution to life, a feeling Erikson calls
integrity. Our strength comes from a
wisdom that the world is very large and we now have a detached concern for the
whole of life, accepting death as the completion of life.
On the other hand, some adults may
reach this stage and despair at their experiences and perceived failures. They
may fear death as they struggle to find a purpose to their lives, wondering
“Was the trip worth it?” Alternatively,
they may feel they have all the answers (not unlike going back to adolescence)
and end with a strong dogmatism that only their view has been correct.
EDUCATIONAL
IMPLICATIONS OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Educational Implications of Growth and Development are described below:
1. “Learning is modification of behavior
through experiences”. There is a sort of
inter-action always going on between the individual and his environment, both
influencing and changing each other. He
inherits only a few fixed patterns of responses. His interests, attitudes, appreciations,
skills and achievements are primarily the product of learning.
2. Growth and development basically
occur as a result of both maturation and learning. Maturation refers to change in a developing
organism due to unfolding and ripening of abilities, characteristics, traits
and potentialities present at birth.
Learning denotes changes in behavior due to activity, training or
experience. Maturation and the learning
process are interacting.
3. Maturation is a process of growth and
development which takes place regularly in the individual with special
conditions of stimulation, such as training and practice. Learning on the other hand is a change of
behavior which depends on the stimuli provided by the environment outside the
individual. It involves training and
practice e.g. at a particular age all children normally learn to crawl, walk of
talk. They have not to put in much
conscious effort to learn these activities.
Whereas they have to learn the skill of cycling. Maturation and learning are actually very
much interconnected with and inter-dependent upon each other. Both contribute to the development of the
individual. Some functions like crawling, walking, etc., are mostly due to
maturation and less due to learning.
Functions like swimming, cycling etc., are more due to learning and less
due to maturation.
4. Learning is possible only when the
organism has reached a certain level of maturation essential to facilitate the
sort of learning. For example, a child
is not too mature to learn the abstract principles of algebra before he has
learnt to deal with concrete things in arithmetic. Similarly the child cannot be made to learn
walking before he is mature enough to stand.
Training in motor skills may, to some extent, show superiority over
other children before maturation, but this soon vanishes when maturity takes
place. For example if a child is given
training in climbing a staircase before he is mature enough for this act, he
will show this superiority over other children of the same level of
maturity. Burt when maturity is achieved
both the children will climb the stairs with the same efficiency. In this case training before maturity is of
little use. Thus maturation is an
important factor in learning.
5. Education is not only a process and a
product of growing. It aims at the
fullest possible realization of all the potentialities of children. This implies that teachers and parents must
know what children are capable of and what potentialities they possess. Equipped with this knowledge they should
provide suitable opportunities and favorable environmental facilities which are
conducive to the maximum growth of children.
Apart from these opportunities, it is necessary that their attitudes are
helpful, encouraging and sympathetic.
6. School programmers, procedures and
practices should be adjusted to the growth and maturational levels of children,
bearing in mind the individual variations in rates of growth. Since various aspects of growth are
interrelated, parents and teachers should pay attention to all aspects. Good physical growth, for example, through
the provision of play, games and sports, is conducive to effective intellectual
development; malnutrition has been found to be an important factor that retards
development; hence, teachers and parents should cooperate in cultivating among
pupils habits of balanced eating.
7. The principles of development have
highlighted the importance of “individual differences” from one child to the
other and from one stage to another.
This fact justifies the provision of diversified courses for the
development of specific talents, abilities and interests and a rich and varied
program of co-curricular activities.
Similarly, the curricular activities should be based on the needs and
interests of various stages of growth i.e., childhood, boyhood or later
childhood, pre-adolescence and adolescence.
8. Each stage of growth has its
possibilities and limitations. This
implies that teachers and parents should not demand of pupils or children what
is beyond their stage of growth. If they
do so, they will only cause frustrations, heighten tension and nervousness in
children. For example, it is wrong to
expect a primary school child to appreciate abstract concepts and theories.
9. The ‘inter-relatedness of growth’
demands presentation of knowledge in an interrelated manner and its integration
with action. Since each child grows in
his own unique way, it is but opposite that parents and teachers should treat
each child as a unique individual and provide for these special needs and
interests.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
The understanding of social laws,
principles, and abiding by or following those social laws and principles is
called social development. A socially
developed person is that which knows how to deal with the members of the
society and who is aware of his duties and rights while living in that society.
Social development refers the
development of social skills and emotional maturity that are needed to forge
relationships and relate to others.
Often developing empathy and understanding the needs of others is also
included in the area of social development.
Parental interactions are the
building blocks for healthy social development in children. By giving lots of love and attention to the
baby, parents form a close bond with the child, allowing him or her to grow in
a comfortable, secure and socially healthy atmosphere.
The early years of a child’s life
present a unique opportunity for healthy development, and research has shown
the great importance of the first five years of life. During these formative years, both positive
and negative experiences help shape the children’s cognitive, social, behavioral
and emotional development.
EDUCATIONAL
IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Personality is incomplete with the
proper social development of the child.
According to Aristotle, the function of education is to produce good
citizens for the society. So, if a
school fails to produce such citizens, it is not a school at all. It means that the social development of the
child is very necessary for the balanced and over-all development of the child.
School should perform at least three
clear functions in regard to a child’s social development.
·
It
should enlarge its knowledge about his social heritage through the study of
science, mathematics, languages, history, geography, literature and folk lore.
·
It
should develop appropriate social skills, attitudes, interests and
understanding which help him to adjust in society.
·
It
should prepare children for change. In
this context it must enable children to perceive and be sensitive to centuries
– old fossils and cobwebs of social traditions which are of no value in the
modern times. It should also make
children open-minded, democratic, responsible and creative in their behavior,
outlook and loyalties.
The school should provide the
facilities needed for the proper social development of the child. The following things should be kept in view
in this regard.
Individual Attention
Individual attention should be given
to children so that they may learn according to their own peculiar
characteristics. The teacher should note the individual differences of each and
every child and in the light of those differences; he should use suitable
methods of instruction and treatment so that they may get advantage of the
teaching according to their own tendencies.
For example the aggressive child must be taught the art of submission. The shy child needs opportunities for
self-assertion. Similarly, the
delinquent child needs to be introduced to the desirability of respecting law.
Provision of Socio-Cultural Activities
Different types of social and
cultural activities should be provided in school. They should be engaged in in-door and
out-door recreations. Games, debates,
quiz competitions, etc., are very helpful for the socialization of
children. Such kinds of activities
develop a sense of cooperation and group spirit in children.
Personal Relations
Healthy interpersonal relations are
also very necessary for the social development of the child. The relations between pupils and their
teacher, between teacher and parents of children etc., should be based on
mutual respect, co-operation, friendship and sympathy. These relations can make the child a socially
well-adjusted man in the future.
