The most astounding difference I noticed was physical development.  There were some students who looked like they were just out of sixth grade and others who looked like they were in high school.  This is not so surprising considering the school is seventh grade through ninth grade.  It was astounding the changes that actually take place in three years, much like the infant.  Some students were thin and childlike with curiosity in their eyes and others whose physical development was more mature.  Some girls had begun to develop breasts and the boys were beginning to form muscles and facial hair.  I noticed that the students who were physically more developed were not limited to the older grades.  There were some seventh grade students who were more developed than the ninth graders and vise versa.  This showed me that development varies from person to person.

These variations in development are the types of characteristics that cause some students to feel uncomfortable through these changing years. This discomfort is part of the large picture of social and emotional development. Students in the middle school or junior high setting are experiencing so many changes that it affects them on an emotional level.  I noticed one young lady in the math class that I was in who was much more physically developed than her same age peers.  It was obvious to me that she was uncomfortable.  I saw that she had developed a sense of self.  She was very self conscious and fidgeted with her clothing and hair more than any other student in the room.  She wore more make up than any other seventh grader in the room and she flipped her hair often.  The other students did not feel the need to fuss as much because they had not begun the dramatic developmental changes.They were comfortable in their own skin because they were more like each other and unlike their self conscious peer. I believe it is the diversity in development that contributes to the adolescent behavior. While hormones trigger the changes, it is the changes that trigger an adolescent’s behavior and the conflict they tend to have with adults. Adults have a tendency to treat teenagers less like children and more like young adults. The physical changes that adolescents experience cause them to adapt to the way society treats them, thus affecting their social and emotional development.

Seventh grade was a great age to observe because they are fresh out of elementary school and leaning the ways of junior high. I was amazed at the differences once again in cognitive development. I was pleased to watch as they were learning how to type, yet surprised that some students resolved themselves to not trying. There were many students who would follow directions and use the keyboard cover, and others who would look over to see the keys.  As I talked to the students who were peeking, I asked them why they didn’t just make the mistakes so that they could get it over with.  They told me that they just could not do it.  I explained to them that each mistake they made took them closer to the accomplished goal.  If they would just allow themselves to make mistakes, they would learn from them.  I believe that as a society we have programmed our children to think that mistakes are not acceptable.  By teaching them that, we are hindering their ability to explore and learn in healthy ways.  Somewhere along the way, an I can’t do it attitude has been instilled into those students.  Cognitive development is one of many aspects of growth that must be nurtured in children in order for them to thrive.

Overall my service learning experience for child development opened my eyes and made me more aware of the main developmental changes in adolescence.  Physical, social and emotional, and cognitive development all accelerate during adolescence, making the lives of those children like a roller coaster ride of emotions and discovery. "Don't laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find a face of his own." (Logan Pearsall Smith, "Age and Death," Afterthoughts, 1931). This quote reminds us that our teens are discovering who they are; moving from childhood to adulthood in dramatic ways. Just as the infant moves through infancy to toddler hood in two to three years, so does the child pass through to adolescence in about the same amount of time. I will have more patience for this age group because of this service learning experience.

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