Formal Proposal
Formal Proposal
Draft 03
Research on Child Development
‘Child Development’ is the process that involves various stages of physical, social, and psychological growth that occur from birth through young adulthood (Elsevier, 2008). Every parent is concerned about their child’s development and what makes an impact on a child’s behavior and thinking. Is it immediate environment, such as parents, family or distant environment, such as friends, classmates and society as whole? What is child development? Is it a process that involves learning and mastering skills such as sitting, walking, talking, skipping and tying shoes? Or is it the increases in height and weight? In reality, it is both. Development involves change, which may be physical, mental or emotional changes. Physical changes may be, increase in height, weight, activity level, and vocabulary, which are quantitative changes. Emotional changes can be when old toys and games lose their fascination in favor of new friendships and increased social contacts for children, which are qualitative changes. We see quantitative types of changes when children’s shoes no longer fit, when they run faster and jump higher, and qualitative changes when their increased proficiency in language helps them control their surroundings and their behaviors in a more accomplished manner. Every child goes through this process and learns these abilities, called developmental milestones. Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range (Boyse, 2013). Here it is important to distinguish between development and maturation because many of us mix these two concepts. The concept of maturation refers to the unfolding of personal characteristics and behavioral phenomena through the processes of growth and development, whereas development refers to optimal achievement of a skill (Schuster, 1992).
The first reason that I am interested in this topic is that I have
Draft 03
Research on Child Development
‘Child Development’ is the process that involves various stages of physical, social, and psychological growth that occur from birth through young adulthood (Elsevier, 2008). Every parent is concerned about their child’s development and what makes an impact on a child’s behavior and thinking. Is it immediate environment, such as parents, family or distant environment, such as friends, classmates and society as whole? What is child development? Is it a process that involves learning and mastering skills such as sitting, walking, talking, skipping and tying shoes? Or is it the increases in height and weight? In reality, it is both. Development involves change, which may be physical, mental or emotional changes. Physical changes may be, increase in height, weight, activity level, and vocabulary, which are quantitative changes. Emotional changes can be when old toys and games lose their fascination in favor of new friendships and increased social contacts for children, which are qualitative changes. We see quantitative types of changes when children’s shoes no longer fit, when they run faster and jump higher, and qualitative changes when their increased proficiency in language helps them control their surroundings and their behaviors in a more accomplished manner. Every child goes through this process and learns these abilities, called developmental milestones. Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range (Boyse, 2013). Here it is important to distinguish between development and maturation because many of us mix these two concepts. The concept of maturation refers to the unfolding of personal characteristics and behavioral phenomena through the processes of growth and development, whereas development refers to optimal achievement of a skill (Schuster, 1992).
The first reason that I am interested in this topic is that I have
Citations: - ‘Child Development’, S.R. Hooper. Umansky Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall, Jul 20, 2010 - Kail, Robert, ‘Child Development’ Kail, R. V. (2012). Children and Their Development (6th ed). Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson. - ‘Developmental Milestones’, Kyla Boyse, RN, MS, University of Michigan Health System, August 2013