Child Development Theories

Developmental Aspects of School Curriculum

Schools are largely organized on the cohort model of grouping children by age in a gradual sequence, and most states grant teacher certification defined by the developmental level of the schools in which they may legally teach. Horace Mann may be credited with both those customs, having introduced kindergarten and grade-level divisions in the new public school system. He also pioneered teacher preparation, and his thoughts on teaching were widely circulated. These included sensitivity to children's capacities and adjustment of instruction in response to them.

American schools, at first designed to instill a canon of knowledge, eventually became contexts in which each child was nurtured to his or her fullest potential, thus revealing an assumption of natural impetus that schools should discover and enrich.

Current reform legislation (i.e., No Child Left Behind) emphasizes the achievement of academic objectives; most critics of the trend cite inconsistencies with what is developmentally appropriate, although the new standards emphasize developmentally appropriate instructional methods. The scope and sequence of curriculum was designed as a sequence of preparatory steps. Most use an “expanding horizons” model of topics gradually more distant from the children's immediate experience. As hypothesized by Jerome Bruner, however, any child can learn just about any concept if it is presented in a way the child can grasp. American public schools are closely scrutinized for curriculum materials that might prematurely expose children to mature sexual content. Waldorf schools carefully define what is and is not appropriate based on child development stages, for instance, prohibiting teachers from posing values clarification questions because they cause more confusion than certainty until children reach an age of reason.

The Development of Developmental Theories

Physical changes are the most obvious and were of greatest interest in early years of high mortality when it was unusual for a child to survive to adulthood. Survival of the child and survival of the family dictated an interest in predicting a healthy and productive development. Earlier concepts of development regarded the change from child to adult as a binary shift at some recognized signal, such as the physical capacity to bear children or perform rituals requiring reason and judgment. Not until modern times was childhood considered an important period with its own qualities, rather than merely preparation for [Page 123]adulthood. Rousseau famously extolled a romantic constraint-free childhood for boys, but not girls, to learn through curiosity and creativity. He triggered the last two centuries of interest in finding out how the mind develops its interests and capacities.

...