Life Span Development

Life span development refers to the particular stages that are passed through during the course of a life span. This definition commonly refers to three elements: change, permanent or lasting impact, and growth through a progression of certain stages. Development involves movement from one state to another. A second aspect of development leads one to a lasting or permanent impact. The third aspect involves a model of human development moving through stages.

The human life cycle as argued by Daniel J. Levinson consists of four periods, each consisting of 25 years. The four periods are childhood and adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. According to Levinson, each period is unique and has a transition period to the next era. During the transition period, which may take from 3 to 6 years to complete, humans undergo a basic change in the character of their lives.

Mark Tennant and Philip Pogson provided another model for human development. They argue that the developmental process is not necessarily linear. Three elements were recognized as influencing development. First, the normative age-graded component included variables that were highly correlated with age such as physical maturation, commencement of education, and parents' death. The second influence included normative-history graded. This includes events such as wars, technological changes, and environmental influences that influence most members of a culture at the same time. The last influence refers to events that were significant to the particular individual but not part of an [Page 616]overall pattern tied to the life cycle, like traffic accidents, lottery winnings, and/or religious conversion.

The importance of life span development to education is that it allows for the creation and delivery of instructional and other educational services that are developmentally appropriate to students. Acquisition of knowledge and skills in many K–12 school settings is based on assumptions about life span development as are state accountability and testing processes. Similar parallels can be drawn to the adult education field.

Although many theories exist that define the periods of human development, there are many debates about the nature and extent of stages. Educators must avoid relying on predictable development stages, recognizing that human development is complex. With this knowledge, one will avoid the idea that stages of development are predictable.