Child Development and Pedagogy PYQs

Noam Chomsky, the linguist gave an explanation that human beings have an innate ability to acquire language. He put forth the innate proposition of the development of language. 

• This knowledge is given to them by nature – the rules that govern language are part of a biologically based human language faculty. This is called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD).

Key Points Nativist theory: The nativist theory of language development proposed by Noam Chomsky, argues that language is a unique human accomplishment.

Some major points of his theory are-

• The rate at which children acquire words and grammar without being taught can not be explained by learning principles.
• Children also create all sorts of sentences they have never heard and, therefore, could not be imitating.
• Chomsky believes language development is just like physical maturation- given adequate care, it “just happens to the child”.
• Children are born with “universal grammar”. They readily learn the grammar of any language they hear.
• Children throughout the world seem to have a critical period, a period when learning must occur if it is to occur successfully, for learning the language.
• Children across the world also go through the same stages of language development.
• Chomsky’s emphasis on our innate readiness to learn grammar helps explain why children acquire language so readily without direct teaching.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that Noam Chomsky is related to language development.

Hint

• Jean Piaget Proposed the Cognitive theory of development.
• The moral development theory is proposed by Lawrance Kohalberg.

Individual differences refer to how individuals differ from each other. Different people have different interests; and their behavior is influenced by these interests, likings, values, beliefs, etc.

Key PointsCharacteristics of Individual differences:

• Individual differences in personality are due to hereditary and environment-related factors.
• The role of heredity is mostly important when we talk of physical features such as black eyes or fair complexion and other such aspects.
• Genes are responsible for producing biological differences in personality. These differences are called temperaments which refer to general tendencies to feel or act in particular ways.
• Three main types of temperament are activity level, emotionality, and sociability.

Hence, we conclude that Individual differences in temperament are basically ​Innate.

Personality is an all-inclusive concept and includes in it all the traits and tendencies that bring about consistency and dynamism in personality. 

• It is the total of an individual’s properties as a distinct and unique human being.
• The external properties are directly observed, while the internal is only inferred from the behavior of a person.

Key Points

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that B.F. skinner has not propounded any theory of personality.

Hint

• B. F. Skinner (1904 - 1990) was an American. His experiments on operant conditioning won him worldwide fame. Skinner defined operant conditioning as the process of learning that elicits operant behavior. According to Skinner, there are two types of behaviors, namely respondent behavior, and operant behavior.

Personality is all that a person is. It is the totality of one's behavior towards one's own self as well as others. It includes everything about the person, his/her physical, emotional, social, mental, and spiritual make-up. 

Key Points There are different kinds of projective techniques for personality measurement and the Thematic Apperception Test is one of them.

• The Thematic Apperception test is developed by Murray and Bellack.
• TAT was originally designed to measure personality factors in research settings.
• TAT consists of 31 pictures (one of which is blank), almost all of which depict people rather than objects.

Some of the pictures are designed to be administered to males, some to females, and others to both genders.

• A thematic apperception test (TAT) is a projective technique used to investigate a person's unconscious self.
• More specifically, a thematic apperception test can uncover a person's true personality, their capacity for emotional control,

and their attitudes towards aspects they encounter in everyday life (wealth, power. gender roles, racial and religious attitudes, intimacy, etc.).

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that TAT is the test of personality developed by Murray and Bellack.

Hint 

• The Sentence Completion Test is given by Hermann Ebbinghaus
• Sixteen Personality Factors are Given by R.B. Cattell.

Growth refers to quantitative changes in size which include physical changes in height, weight, size, internal organs, etc. of a child.

Key Points The growth of a child depends on various factors :

• Nutrition
• Health
• Sleep
• Environment
• Exercise
• Socio-Economic Status
• Emotions

Domicile is the place of residence of an individual. It refers to the state, area, village, or particular place of residence. It does not influence the growth of a child.

Hence, option 4 Domicile is not a factor related to growth of a child.

Additional Information An individual passes through a series of stages throughout his life 

• Prenatal
• infancy
• early childhood
• middle childhood
• adolescence
• early adulthood
• middle adulthood
• old age.

Intelligence has been defined as the total of everything you know, as the ability to learn or profit from experience, as the ability to solve problems, or as the ability to cope with the demands of the environment.

• Intelligence tests are used to measure the intelligence level of an individual because of individual differences.

Key Points Raven's Progressive Matrices test (Standard) of intelligence:

• The Raven's Progressive Matrices is administered as a nonverbal group test.
• It is an Adult Culture Fair Test.
• It is typically a 60-item test used in measuring abstract reasoning and is regarded as a non-verbal estimate of fluid intelligence.
• Many patterns are presented in the form of a 6×6, 4×4, 3×3, or 2×2 matrix, giving the test its name.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that, Standard Progressive Matrices.

Important Points Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

• The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents.
• Provides deviation IQ

Intelligence tests for rapid classification of army personnel. In view of this, American Army psychologists developed two tests:

(i) Army Alpha and (ii) Army Beta.

• Both the tests were group tests in which the first was a language test, while the second was a non-language-performance test.

Bhatia Battery test is a performance test of intelligence which is developed by C.M. Bhatia in 1955. It includes cards with different patterns and the children are required to draw these patterns without lifting the pencil. Bhatia Battery Test includes five sub-tests, namely:

• Pattern Drawing Test
• Kohs' Block Design Test
• Picture construction Testx
• Alexander Pass along Test
• Immediate Memory Test for Digits

Howard Gardner proposed a theory of multiple intelligence. Gardner defines intelligence as "a biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture.

Key Points  Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that people are not born with all of the intelligence they will ever have. It includes eight types of intelligence.

• Linguistic intelligence
• Logical-Mathematical intelligence
• Musical intelligence
• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
• Interpersonal intelligence
• Intrapersonal intelligence
• Spatial intelligence
• Naturalistic intelligence

Thus, we consider that emotional intelligence is not included in the eight types of intelligence proposed by Howard Gardner.

Hint In later discussions and revisions of the theory, Gardner introduced additional intelligences, such as "Naturalist Intelligence" and "Existential Intelligence." 

The term emotional intelligence has been widely used by many people. It was first brought into focus that intelligence is not just the general ability but has three different levels of functioning i.e., abstract intelligence, mechanical intelligence, and social intelligence.

• Goleman defined emotional intelligence as a person's capacity to control their emotions and express them in a healthy and productive way.

Creativity is the phenomenon whereby imaginative and original ideas are turned into reality. It is a cognitive ability to produce something novel by offering a fresh perspective.

• There are some elements that create hindrances to creativity such as Functional fixedness, Convergent thinking, and Mental set but Divergent thinking is not a hindrance to creativity.

Key Points Creativity is related to the concept of 'divergent thinking' as creativity to the ability to identify or prepare original and divergent solutions to problems. 

Divergent thinking refers to:

• a way of solving problems with more than one approach.
• an act of working with open-ended questions using creativity.
• a process that includes brainstorming, out-of-the-box thinking, etc.
• the ability possessed by people who are creative, persistent, and imaginative.

Hence, it could be concluded that Creativity is usually associated with Divergent thinking.​

Hint Reflection is a kind of thinking process in which one brings the subject to the forefront of the mind and gives serious thought to this.

• It is a process of manipulation of knowledge and it's reprocessing toward the set goal, so it is goal-directed.
• One ‘thinks’ when in uncertainty or difficulty so as to solve the problem and the process leads to testing through some action.

Mental Retardation is the state of functioning beginning in childhood that is characterized by limitations in intellectual and adaptive skills.

Key Points It is characterized by certain malfunctions in the intellectual abilities such as :

• The person with this disability learns very slowly.
• Other areas of difficulty are attention, short-term memory, planning, and language.
• The term mental retardation is replaced with the term Intellectual disability by Rosa's Law in October 2010.​

Hence, The term mental retardation is replaced with Intellectual disability.

Important Points  Intellectual disability involves problems with general mental abilities that affect functioning in two areas:

1. Intellectual functioning (such as learning, problem solving, judgment)
2. Adaptive functioning (activities of daily life such as communication and independent living)

• Intellectual disability is thought to affect about 1% of the population. Of those affected, 85% have a mild intellectual disability. This means they are just a little slower than average to learn new information or skills. With the right support, most will be able to live independently as adults.

Personality is the “dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment".

Key PointsTheoretical concepts of personality include :

• Personality is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a person’s character, temperament, intellect, and physique that determine his or her unique adjustment to his or her environment according to Eysenck.
• It is generally defined as an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotions.
• Personality is not static but dynamic.
• It refers to the distinctive patterns of behavior that characterize each individual’s adaptations to the situations of his life or her life.

So, we can say that stable, enduring, and unique are the theoretical characteristics of personality.  Hence, "normal " is not true for the theoretical concept of personality.

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.