Child Development and Pedagogy PYQs

Learning disability refers to a neurological disorder that causes cognitive impairment. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, etc are examples of learning disabilities.

Key Points 'Dyslexia' is the most common learning disability which is related to problems in reading as it makes learners:

• confuse with the same shapes and sounds of the alphabet.
• unable to read, interpret, and understand letters and words.
• bewilder in identifying and relating speech sounds with letters and words.

Hence, it could be concluded that Dyslexia is related to problems in reading.

Important Points Other Disabilities in Brief:

The term ‘underprivileged’ is used to refer to the disadvantaged section of people who are economically, socially, or geographically backward. 

• The disadvantaged section/background refers to not just low income, but also encompasses lower educational achievement, poverty, poor health, financial insecurity, etc.​

Key Points

• Disadvantaged children are in an unfavorable position compared to other sections of society.
• They do not have access to proper nutrition, proper health care, proper education, and skill development.
• Poverty makes these children disadvantaged and deprives them of minimum basic facilities.
• Delinquent children are the children involved in any kind of criminal behavior.
• Special children are children with special needs due to certain physical or intellectual disabilities.
• Backward children are children belonging to a certain backward community of areas.​

Hence, Disadvantaged children is the term used to denote children who are deprived of minimum basic facilities.

Important Points Strategies to cater to the needs of a socially disadvantaged child:

• Such a child has characteristics like backwardness, frustration, aggression delinquency, inferiority complex, alienation, and lack of motivation.
• A teacher should try to find out more about them and involve them in class discussions.
• Interest in learning has to be, created by the teacher, effort should be towards developing self-confidence, self-respect, and a sense of cultural identity.
• The curriculum should be specific and related to the needs and real-life experiences.
• Emphasis should be on learning manual skills, life skills, and technical efficiency.
• Measures like increasing the access of schools to children either by opening new schools, providing residential facilities to them, or opting for open learning systems (open schools, non-formal education centers) may be used for socially disadvantaged children.

Maladjustment is a behavioral adjustment disorder in which our sense of self prevents us from making a normal adjustment to some need or demand in our environment.

Key Points

• Maladjustment often manifests in behavioral patterns, and aggression is a noticeable externalized behavior indicating difficulty in coping with situations or environments.
• Aggression is behavioral response where individuals exhibit hostility or violent actions due to frustration, stress, or inability to adapt.
• It is commonly associated with maladjustment in social or educational contexts.

Hint

• Anxiety: While a symptom of maladjustment, it is more psychological or emotional rather than behavioral.
• Insecurity: This is a psychological state reflecting feelings of inadequacy or uncertainty.
• Apathy: A lack of interest or enthusiasm, often emotional in nature, not directly a behavioral symptom.

Hence, the correct answer is Aggression.

Children with special needs are children who have some difficulties which come in the way of their being able to function adequately in the family, community, or school.

 Key Points The difficulty may be physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional, or psychological.

• CWSN children need special or extra inputs to help them overcome their difficulties.
• They are taught through a different approach that includes:
• Diversity of curriculum.
• Development of sports and extracurricular activities.
• Different teaching methods.
• Using different resources according to the needs of the students such as the use of braille script or audio-visuals.
• ​Training for special activities is not a necessary teaching method for children with special needs.
• It can be given to students who are exceptionally well in a particular field.​

Hence, Training for special activities is not a method for children with special needs.

Classical conditioning is a learning paradigm from the behavioral point of view propounded by Ivan Pavlov.

Key Points

• Classical conditioning is referred to as learning by association.
• In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus, by virtue of its occurrence in close time and space with a natural stimulus that gives rise to a natural response, becomes capable of eliciting that natural response, even in absence of the natural stimulus.
• It is applicable only for reflexive and spontaneous responses, and not for voluntary responses.​

Hence, the Classical conditioning theory propounded by Ivan Pavlov explains learning by association.

Hint

• Reinforcement refers to any reward given to strengthen a behavior. It is associated with operant conditioning.
• Imitation is observing and repeating the observed behavior. It is an element of social learning theory.
• Insight is an element of Gestalt theories.

Additional Information Pavlov identified four essential elements of the learning process:

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): The natural stimulus that elicits a natural response. In Pavlov’s experiment, the meat powder was the UCS.
• Unconditioned response (UCR): The natural response elicited to the natural stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiment, the salivation was the UCR.
• Conditioned stimulus (CS): The neutral stimulus that does not naturally elicit the target response, but may do so after being associated with the UCS a number of times. In Pavlov’s experiment, the light or the sound of the bell was the CS.
• Conditioned response (CR): The target response is similar to the UCR that originally occurred to the UCS only, but after conditioning occurred to CS, even in absence of the UCS. In Pavlov’s experiment, the salivation that occurred in response to the light or bell was the CR.

'Learning' means a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience with the environment. 

• Learning begins in infancy and continues throughout life.
• Learning is a process of continual adaptation to the environment and assimilation and accommodation of new information and knowledge to fit in with pre-existing knowledge structure.
• Learning involves various dimensions of psychological and mental activities.

Key Points Learning can be defined as something acquired via continuous engagement with our environment; consequently,

• A learning process may include reflection, as when we learn something new, we reflect on it to understand the "why" element of it or to balance it out with our prior knowledge.
• The argument element also comes into play when acquiring new knowledge since a student will not accept any information that challenges or attempts to change their present concepts without first questioning it.
• When a youngster combines preexisting notions with newly acquired concepts, derives relationships between them, generalizes them, and develops something new and original that is creative and imaginative, imagination comes into play.

Maturation is the emergence of personal, behavioral, or physical features with age as a result of biological or intrinsic processes, rather than as a function of environmental experience.

• Maturation is a developmental process, within which a person from time to time manifests different traits for which the blueprints have been carried in his cells from the time of his conception.
• At a particular age, every normal child starts crawling, walking, or talking. He doesn't have to put in much conscious effort to learn this behavior as compared to learning how to swim or ride a bicycle.
• Thus maturation is a process of growth and development that takes place regularly in the individual without special conditions of stimulation such as training and practice.
• Maturation is often completed by the age of 25.
• A child saying his/her first word at the age of 18 months is generally due to maturation.
• His/her ability to walk is maturational, his/her skill at high jump is learned; their ability to sense is maturational, and knowing where to push so the door opens is learning.

Thus, it can be concluded that maturation is not a process of learning in children.

Important Points  All human/animal behaviors are not learned, nor does their expression require any effort on the part of the individual.

• Very simple behaviors are known as reflex actions, for example, sneezing when something enters the nose. Sudden withdrawal of hand when it accidentally touches a hot plate, increase in a heartbeat while climbing, etc. These are innate behaviors.
• Few complex behaviors, known as instincts, are also innate. Examples of instinctive behavior are nest building by birds, migration of birds from one place to another in a particular season, hibernation and mating behavior. Instinctive behaviors are species specific.
• There are certain changes in behavior that can be associated with the normal growth of individuals and are related to maturation.

Operant conditioning:- B.F Skinner propounded this theory as a way of learning by means of rewards and punishments.

Key Points

• Operant conditioning is also known as instrumental conditioning proposed by B.F. skinner.
• It is a method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior.
• This type of conditioning holds that certain behavior and a consequence, either a reward or punishment, have a connection that brings about learning.
• Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a
• Behavior and a consequence, whether negative or positive, for that behavior.

Thus, it is concluded that Learning through reward and punishment is introduced by B.F. Skinner.

Hint Social learning:- Social learning theory, proposed by Albert Bandura, emphasizes the importance of observing, modeling, and imitating behaviors, and attitudes.

E. L. Thorndike, an American psychologist, is known as the founder of modern educational psychology.

• He propounded 'The trial and Error Theory' which represents that learning is the result of associations forming between stimulus and responses.
• "Mistakes teach individual" statement is based on 'Trial and Error Theory.

Wolfgang Kohler, a German psychologist, is associated with the 'Theory of Learning, which he called the ‘Theory of Insightful learning’.

• In his theory, he has proposed the term ‘Insight’ that doesn't take place with trial & error, rather than it is a sudden reorganization of experience.

Learning is a continuous life-long process that is not inherited but can begin right from birth by providing constant interaction and stimulation received from the physical, social, and cultural environment and it does not stop till the end.

Key Points

Characteristics of learning:

• Learning is the change in behavior or the strengthening or weakening of old behavior as a result of experience.
• Learning helps in proper adjustment as it makes an individual mature enough to tackle real-life problems in a more effective and sensitive way.
• Learning is influenced by practice, Practice can make the learning of the learner more effective.
• Learning is the product of activity and environment as students learn through various activities and by interacting with their physical environment.
• There is a relatively permanent difference between the knowledge about the concept before learning and after learning the concept.
• Learning is an active process. Learning is an active process as it takes place in a better way when learners are actively involved in it.
• Learning is individualistic. You might have observed that in a class there are some students who learn more quickly while others learn slowly.

Hence Learning is an innate mechanism is not true for the concept of learning.

Additional Information The nature of learning is  : 

• Learning is a process and not a product: Learning is a fundamental and life-long process. Attitudes, fears, gestures, motor skills, language skills, etc. are the products of learning. They are not learning themselves.
• Learning is purposive or goal-directed: Learning is not an aimless activity.

All true learning is based on purpose.

• Learning is comprehensive: The scope of learning is spread over each and every dimension of life. It is a very comprehensive process that covers all domains – Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor- of human behavior.
• Learning is universal and continuous: Every creature till it lives learns.

Concept mapping is a pedagogic technique to help students see explicitly how new concepts can be related to previously learned concepts.

Key Points Construction of a Concept Map: Although there are no specific steps, the following steps, suggested by J.D Novak in his writings on concept maps, may be followed to construct a concept map.

• Select an item for mapping. This could be an important text, passage, lecture notes, or laboratory background material.
• Choose and underlie keywords or phrases; include objects and events in the list.
• Rank the list of concepts from the abstract and inclusive to the most concrete and specific.
• Cluster the concepts according to two criteria: (a) Concepts that function at a similar level of abstraction, and concepts that interrelate closely.
• Link related concepts with lines and label each line in propositional form.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that Concept Mapping in Education was introduced by Joseph D. Novak.

Important Points There are some types of concept maps:

• ​Hierarchy map
• Flowchart
• Spider map
• System map

​Some advantages of using a concept map:

• ​Teaching and revision topic
• Reinforce understanding
• Identify misconceptions
• Check to learn

Hint

• Noam Chomsky develops the theory of language development.
• Jung considered personality in terms of introversion and extroversion concepts which have become part of our everyday speech.

Teaching and learning are closely related terms, and, in the teaching-learning process, the teacher, the learner, the curriculum, and other variables are organized in a systematic way to obtain pre-determined goals.

• Teaching Objectives are the desired change in behavior in a person that we try to bring about through education.

Key PointsAccording to B.S. Bloom there are 3 types of teaching which is based on the objectives of teaching are:

• Cognitive teaching - Teaching that is aimed at the development of the cognitive abilities of the child.
• Affective teaching - Teaching to develop the affective or emotional aspects of the child.
• Psychomotor Teaching - It is aimed at the development of the Physical or psychomotor abilities of the child.

Hence, we conclude that descriptive teaching is not based on the objectives of teaching.

Hint

• Descriptive Teaching - It is a teaching method in which the concept is explained in detail using different resources to give a detailed description of the concept.

Creativity is the most advanced thought process that involves goal-directed thinking which is unusual, novel, and useful.

• Problem Solving is the thought process involved in a person’s effort to remove obstacles in the way to achieving the goal. Both creativity and problem solving are advanced cognitive abilities.

Key Points​The brainstorming method was developed by Alex F. Osborn. It is the oldest and best-known technique for stimulating creative thinking. ​It is the most fruitful exercise to solve complex and critical problems.​

• Within the given time, the student must create ideas using critical thinking which focuses on applying reasoning and logic to new or unfamiliar situations, ideas, and opinions.
• Problems that demand creative or innovative solutions can be presented by the teacher to the students for brainstorming.
• Students present, share and analyze their understanding and look at any issues from different angles and others' points of view to solve the problem related to the concept.
• It helps to achieve the higher order of cognitive objectives as it just demands the active participation of the child in the learning process by making them think and note the ideas in their own style. i.e. It is based on psychological principles.
• It makes students able to take others' perspectives as in brainstorming, many creative minds work together and apply their diverse thinking patterns to generate creative ideas on a particular topic.

Hence, the Brainstorming strategy is a group creativity method for solving a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas.

Hint

• Mastery learning strategy is a teaching approach focused on ensuring that all students achieve a high level of understanding of a topic before progressing to the next.
• Problem-solving strategy begins with an obstacle or difference between the original or initial state and the goal or end state. The goal is desired by the person/s or operator/s in the situation and has some properties defined by the operator, defined by some rules, to convert the problem state into the goal state.
• Heuristic strategy is also named the 'discovery method' that helps in the development of a scientific attitude in the learner. It develops self-confidence, originality, independence, judgment, and thinking power in the learner.

“Motivation represents an unsatisfied need which creates a state of tension or disequilibrium, causing the individual to move in a goal-directed pattern towards restoring a state of equilibrium by satisfying the need.”

Key PointsIn classroom learning, different processes are directly related to the role of motivation :

• Knowledge of progress and result - It provides intrinsic motivation to the children.
• Praise and criticism - Praise and criticism act as a factor of motivation.
• Level of aspiration - Aspirations regulate the level of motivation in classroom learning.

​ Hence Interpersonal adjustment is not directly related to the role of motivation in classroom learning.

Hint

• Interpersonal adjustment is a social factor that is responsible for classroom adjustment.

NCF (National curriculum framework) 2005, which acts as a guideline for textbooks, syllabus, and all the teaching procedures, released by NCERT is the 4^th national curriculum framework and its predecessors were released in 1975, 1988, and 2000 respectively.

Key Points 

• The concept of "Learning without burden" was taken up from the "Yashpal-committee report, 1993".
• This concept is taken to provide advice on how to lessen the burden on school children at all levels, particularly kids, while boosting learning quality, including the opportunity for lifelong self-learning and skill development.
• NCF 2005 lays emphasis on learning without a burden in order to make learning a pleasurable experience and move away from textbooks as a basis for testing and relieve the stress of children.
• It is also recommended that children should learn in a natural environment without having any kind of performance pressure or fear of failure.

​​Hence, it is clear that Learning without a burden is the main philosophy of the National Curriculum Framework – 2005.

Hint

• CCE stands for continuous and comprehensive evaluation which is defined by National education Policy-2020.

The RTE Act of the Parliament of India was enacted on 4 August 2009 and came into force on 1 April 2010. 

• This act is also known as the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act because of its provision of, “the fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 to 14 with specifies minimum norms in elementary schools.”

Key Points Important Provisions of RTE are as follows:

• Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighborhood school.
• It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age-appropriate class.
• It specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authorities, and parents in providing free and compulsory education.
• Provision of the school management committee.
• It lays down the norms and standards relating to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, and teacher-working hours.
• According to the RTE Act, a teacher will spend a minimum of 45 hours in teaching including preparation hours in a week, and will be prohibited from the practice of private tuition.
• It provides for the appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.
• The act prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment.
• It provides for the development of a curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, which would ensure the all-round development of the child.

Hence, from the given points, it is clear that the working hours per week for teachers are 45 hours.

Action research is a form of interpretive research to study human actions and social practices with the participation of the researcher.

• It is applied research, which is focused on immediate application, not to develop any theory for general applications.

Key Points

• Kurt Lewin was a German-American psychologist. He was the first person to coin the term "Action Research".
• It was Stephen M Corey who used this term for the sake of education.
• Action research is a process of collecting data and information with proper research work to conclude the facts, information, and knowledge.
• There are several types of action research that are still in use in various fields of education since the time of Lewin.

Hence by all these references, we can conclude that Stephen M. Covey is not related to action research.

Hint

• Stephen M. Covey is an American writer.

Important Points Action research-

• Its primary aim is to solve an immediate problem. It is cyclic in nature.
• It is a form of interpretive research to study human actions and social practices with the participation of the researcher.
• It is applied research, which is focused on immediate application, not to develop any theory for general applications.
• It refers to the application of research to educational problems in a particular classroom setting.

Measurement is a quantitative description of one’s performance used as a process of quantifying the degree to which someone or something possessed a given trait, i.e., quality, characteristics, or features.

Measurement in educational psychology is used to check the validity and reliability of teaching methods, and educational outputs and for gathering data for research.

Key Points There are four levels of measurement scale :

• Nominal Scale: It is the crudest among all measurement scales but it is also the simplest scale in which the different scores on a measurement simply indicate different categories.
• It does not express any values or relationships between variables.
• Thus it is least useful in educational psychology.
• The ordinal Scale involves the ranking of items along the continuum of the characteristic being scaled. In this scale, the items are classified according to whether they have more or less of a characteristic.
• The ratio Scale is the highest level of measurement scale. This has the properties of an interval scale together with a fixed (absolute) zero point. The absolute zero point allows us to construct a meaningful ratio.
• An equal interval scale is a scale in which the numbers are used to rank attributes such that numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal distance in the characteristic being measured.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that the Nominal scale level of measurement is least used in educational psychology

The term ‘development’ refers to qualitative changes in an individual such as changes in personality or other mental and emotional aspects. However, very often growth and development are used interchangeably.

• The process of development continues even after the individual has attained physical maturity (growth). The individual is continuously changing as he/she interacts with the environment.​

Key Points

• The Social Learning Theory of development proposed by Albert Bandura focuses on the part played by society in changing a child's behavior as they see and imitate their elders.
• Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was the most well-known and influential theorist of cognitive development.
• His views indicate that there is no knowledge that is pre-existing in the world such that it can be ‘taught’ to a child nor does knowledge comes innately (on its own) to the child.
• Knowledge develops when they act in the world.
• His theory also helps in understanding how children ‘construct’ knowledge. Thus, it is also known as a theory in ‘Constructivism’.
• Lev Vygotsky is a Russian Psychologist who proposed the theory of Socio-cultural development.
• In this theory, Vygotsky emphasizes the role of society and culture in the development of the child.
• Abraham Maslow, born in 1908, was an American psychologist. He is considered the father of humanistic physiology.
• He believed that experience is the primary phenomenon in the study of human learning and behavior.
• He emphasized creativity, choice, values, self-realization, and distinctiveness.
• He is famous for designing the hierarchy of needs, better known as Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that Abraham Maslow is Not related to theories of child development.

Heredity refers to the transmission of characters from one generation to the next" or 'The inheritance of characters from parents to the offspring. Inherited traits are determined by elements of heredity termed genes.

• Heredity plays a major role in the development of an individual.

Key Points The role of heredity can be studied by the following methods :

• Twin study - It is the study of genetic patterns of twins as they are the offspring of the same parents.
• Parent-Child analysis - Genes are transferred from the parents to the child. So, it also involves the role of heredity
• Adoption study - It can be used to find out about the genetic patterns and differences that also consider the role of heredity.​

Hence, a Peer group study is not valid to study the role of heredity.

Hint

• Heredity does not play any role in peer group study as the individuals in a peer group are from different families and heredity is not involved in the formation of the peer group.

Phenotype: It is the expression of the genes inherited by an individual. 

Key Points

• The observable physical and psychological characteristics of an individual are termed  Phenotype.
• It specifies the appearance of an individual in a given environment with respect to a certain inherited trait.
• Prototype: It is a basic structure or model of a product prepared to present a preexisting idea about the upcoming projects.
• Karyotype: It is a test to check the shape, size, and number of chromosome structures.
• Genotype: The genetic constitution of an organism, most often expressed in symbols, is its genotype. The genetic constitution of an individual is referred to as its genotype.

 Hence, the phenotype is the term used for observable physical and psychological characteristics of an individual.

Child development deals with the changes in the behavior of children over time and explains why and how it occurs.

• It is an interplay between the heredity and environment.

Key Points

• According to the Biological perspective, child development reflects a specific and prearranged scheme within the body. This perspective emphasizes the role of genetic inheritance and biological factors in human development. Various aspects of child development, such as growth rate, motor abilities, and maturation are all driven by an individual's biological makeup.
• Psychological Perspective: It is the area of study that takes into account the psychological basis to study child development. Also, child development is a branch of psychology.
• Environmental Perspective deals with the influence of the environment.
• Social Perspective is all about the influence of society and the social interactions of the child. It is a part of developmental psychology.​

Hence, we conclude that according to the  Biological perspective**, child development reflects a specific and prearranged scheme within the body.**