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Home > Child Development

Child Development

Playing at Sunset

The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development.

In order to provide a level-appropriate learning environment, teachers should have an understanding of child development and recognize that children learn and grow in different ways than adults.

“We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today." -Stacia Tauscher
Standard: 1. Case Teacher Licensure Mission: The mission of the Case educator preparation unit is to prepare Proactive Scholar-Practitioners who demonstrate thorough content and pedagogical knowledge; skill in instructional planning, delivery, and assessment; and dispositions consistent with the principles of commitment, collaboration, and creativity. We define Proactive Scholar-Practitioners as educators who, upon entering the teaching profession, demonstrate through their performance in instructional contexts:
Indicator: thorough understanding of content in their field, of child and adolescent development and diversity, of principles of learning and teaching, and of evidence-based teaching practices specific to their field (Scholar)
OH- Ohio Standards for the Teaching Professions
Standard: Standard #1: Students Teachers understand student learning and development, and respect the diversity of the students they teach.
USA- INTASC: Model Standards for Beginning Teacher Licensing and Development (1992)
Knowledge, Disposition and Performance Indicators
Principle 2: Student Learning: The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social and personal development.
Area 2.10: Knowledge
Standard 2.11: The teacher understands how learning occurs--how students construct knowledge, acquire skills, and develop habits of mind--and knows how to use instructional strategies that promote student learning.
Standard 2.12: The teacher understands that students’ physical, social, emotional, moral and cognitive development influence learning and knows how to address these factors when making instructional decisions.
Standard 2.13: The teacher is aware of expected developmental progressions and ranges of individual variation within each domain (physical, social, emotional, moral and cognitive), can identify levels of readiness in learning, and understands how development in any one domain may affect performance in others.
Area 2.20: Dispositions
Standard 2.21: The teacher appreciates individual variation within each area of development, shows respect for the diverse talents of all learners, and is committed to help them develop self-confidence and competence.
Standard 2.22: The teacher is disposed to use students’ strengths as a basis for growth, and their errors as an opportunity for learning.
Area 2.30: Performances
Standard 2.31: The teacher assesses individual and group performance in order to design instruction that meets learners’ current needs in each domain (cognitive, social, emotional, moral, and physical) and that leads to the next level of development.
Standard 2.32: The teacher stimulates student reflection on prior knowledge and links new ideas to already familiar ideas, making connections to students’ experiences, providing opportunities for active engagement, manipulation, and testing of ideas and materials, and encouraging students to assume responsibility for shaping their learning tasks.
Standard 2.33: The teacher accesses students’ thinking and experiences as a basis for instructional activities by, for example, encouraging discussion, listening and responding to group interaction, and eliciting samples of student thinking orally and in writing.
USA- Praxis II
Test Names: Test Names
Licensure Area: Music K-12
Test 0113: Music: Content Knowledge (contains listening section)
Content Category IV: Music Learning, K-12
USA- Praxis II Principles of Learning
Test: Principles of Learning & Teaching: Grades 7-12
Category: I. Students as Learners
Topic: A. Student Development and the Learning Process
Detail: 1. Theoretical foundations about how learning occurs: how students construct knowledge, acquire skills, and develop habits of mind
Detail: 2. Human development in the physical, social, emotional, moral, speech/language, and cognitive domains
USA-Praxis III/Pathwise Teacher Performance Criteria
Copyright ©2003 Educational Testing Service. Used with permission of ETS. Also see Danielson, Charlotte (1996) "Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching" Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Domain: Domain A - Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning
Criterion A1: Becoming familiar with relevant aspects of students' background knowledge and experiences
Criterion A4: Creating or selecting teaching methods, learning activities, and instructional materials or other resource that are appropriate for the students and that are aligned with the goals of the lesson
Criterion A5: Creating or selecting evaluation strategies that are appropriate for the students and that are aligned with the goals of the lesson

Reflection on the Learning Outcome

The third outcome of Case Western Reserve University's Proactive Scholar Practitioner Program is Child Development. For a prospective teacher to fulfill this outcome, he or she must “understand how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development,” according to Case Western standards. This means that they must understand that children are not small adults; they are in a state of mental, emotional, and physical growth and change which should be taken into consideration in planning curricula. It is important that future teachers be trained in and have an understanding of child development to successfully mentor their pupils.

The Child Development standard requires that teachers understand how children behave and develop from earliest years to adulthood. That their intellect, social skills, and personality are “under construction” should be taken into account by teachers as they construct activities, plan curricula, and evaluate their students. A thorough understanding of child development will enable teachers to effectively connect with their pupils and develop their program and outcomes at a level appropriate to the students. Thus, they will able to create a level-appropriate learning environment. Furthermore, a knowledge of basic child psychology will ensure that teachers are able to control their students in both classroom and one-on-one situations. Fulfilling the Child Development outcome leads to better results for teacher and student alike.

There are countless opportunities for the prospective teacher to succeed at the Child Development outcome. Case Western's program requires several courses, such as EducationalPsychology, which ensure that music education majors are prepared. However, opportunities also abound outside the classroom. Observing classes is, as always, an excellent way to learn about child development, especially watching the instructor's methods and both teacher-student interaction and inter-student interaction. Simply being around children is also a great way to learn about how they think and learn; I have found that my experiences as the eldest of four children as well as my previous job as a nanny and my volunteer work as a teacher's aid have contributed greatly to my understanding of child development. One might also consider other resources such as attending lectures and conferences, reading articles and books, and conducting research as methods of improving their understanding of Child Development.

Artifacts for the third outcome of the Case Proactive Scholar Practitioner include projects done in class and documentation or video recordings of interaction with children (teaching lessons, working as a teacher's aid, etc.) If one has pursued research in the area of child development, that too might be used as an artifact, along with reviews of child


Author: Natasha Marsalli
Last modified: 4/28/2009 8:30 PM (EST)