Child and Adolescence Development: Applying Theory to a Scenario

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Brynne's scenario, focusing on key areas of adolescent development including moral, cognitive, and social-emotional well-being. The analysis identifies issues in Brynne's development, such as a shift from cooperative behavior to rudeness and rebelli...Read More

Running head: CHILD AND ADOLESCENCE DEVELOPMENT
Child and Adolescence Development
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
1. Knowledge and understanding of issues in adolescent development:.........................................2
2. Links to pedagogical theory, models and practice:.....................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
A child undergoes a series of personality developments through biological, emotional and
psychological changes. The development process continues till the end of the adolescence
period. Adolescence is a stage of transition to the adulthood age. Hence, the period between the
birth and the adolescence are very critical and needs to be taken care with utmost strategic
settings at homes, schools and the society. It is the responsibilities of parents that they are able to
judge the behavioural changes in their child, so that, effective strategies could be adopted to
address the changes. Effective measures are needed also at the school level to identify any
negative characteristic development in children (Bergin & Bergin, 2018). The assignment is
purposefully aimed at studying a chosen scenario in the light of the selected themes. Therefore,
the study finds the chosen themes as the areas of improvement for Brynne as depicted in scenario
2.
1. Knowledge and understanding of issues in adolescent development:
The chosen scenario is about Brynne who was very cooperative to its peers in class and
also a good performer. The results were excellent in year 7. However, Brynne was identified as
to have developed a few behavioural changes which are very uncommon to the characteristic.
Though, the results have been good again; however, the change in behaviour is not a good
indication for both Brynne and the other students in the same classroom. The change in
behaviour indicates the different types of developments that Brynne lack in like Moral
development, cognitive development and Social and emotional well-being. The identified areas
of development are very critical and must be rectified at the earliest, so that, it does not get along
in the adulthood age. The identified areas of development may seriously impact the decision

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making capability, social wellbeing, appropriate display of emotions and much (). Following are
the identified issues in Brynne:
Moral development: It means educating a child to differentiate well from bad and to act
accordingly. It is in the list of parenting responsibilities. Teachers are also responsible for it. The
chosen case scenario does very well indicate that Brynne needs a moral development. The
change in behaviour from being cooperative to rude & rebellious just tells that Brynne is not able
to differentiate right from wrong. Brynne himself might not be aware of the fact that he lacks an
understanding of moral values. This is why the transition from being moral to rebellious was not
identified by him (Cook et al., 2017).
An understanding of moral values is necessary while being with the family and also the
social groups. A child with moral understanding possesses a certain set of traits which do not
only make him a good person but, also influences a social wellbeing. People close to him can
expect help in their needful situation. They feel pleased to be around him and are also able to
develop a god relationship with the person. Such kids are a resource to happiness for their
parents. Parents feel delighted as kids with high moral values do not make unnecessary demands
that may be a challenge to a few parents (Huang et al., 2014). Kids with high moral values are a
god stress reliever for their tutors. Tutors may ask such children to look after a few kids who are
weak in study. Such kids do effectively reduce the productivity of the whole class. Tutors are
required to pay extra attention to them. Such efforts do consume time and also affects the
concentration level of others (Huang et al., 2014).
Social and emotional well-being: Social and emotional well-being are the two different
terms yet interrelated to each other. Emotional well-being can be understood as a state where a

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person is able to make the justified decisions. The person is able to understand the situation
needs and also be able to differentiate well from bad. Emotional well-being gives a realisation of
things to consider in the given situation. It helps to adjust with the external circumstances at
homes, at schools or at any place (Colten, 2017). Social means being social and becoming a
responsible person in the society that one exists in. The feeling for being social requires a good
understanding of emotional well-being. It needs one’s understanding of the external environment
and the relevant responses to adjust within the system (Colten, 2017).
The development of social and emotional well-being is very necessary in kids. They
should have an understanding of the social values. They need also understand the different
emotions, so that, they feel comfortable to adjust with it. Social interactions are very common
and tend to take different shape at the different stages of life. When kids are in pre-schools, they
have different circumstances to what they get in further studies. It goes on changing till the end
of life. The social gatherings can be different in nature; however, all such social interaction
requires a good and thorough understanding of emotions. Such understanding is needed to be
learnt at the very early stages of life. Schooling is perhaps the best stage where kids can actually
develop how to manage the social things (Simmons, 2017). The chosen scenario of Brynne does
very well indicate towards an emotional and social failure of him. Brynne was very rude and
rebellious in year 8. However, Brynne was a completely different person in year 7 when he used
to help his peers. This is a clear transition from being social to anti-social. If Brynne had the
understanding of emotional well-being he would not have behaved the way he actually did. The
change in Bryan’s behaviour can be problematic to others in the classroom. However, due to not
being good in emotional well-being, Brynne was not able to judge his behaviour.

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Cognitive development: Cognitive development is a school of thought focused on
studying the psychological development in child. Psychological development is in regards to
information processing, language learning, perceptual skills and others. This is a very vital
development that occurs from childhood to adolescence and to adulthood. The developments are
different in each of the stages. It can be understood as a resource that produces a thought-
process, the decision making, and also the problem solving capabilities. Thought process may be
different at the different stages of life; however, a cognitive development facilitates the
construction of such thought process (Lewallen et al., 2015).
As stated in the aforesaid section, cognitive development is very vital for kids. It is
required at the different stages such as at the childhood, adolescence and the adulthood. In the
chosen case scenario, Brynne has experienced a transition from being cooperative to rude. It just
shows a change in the thought process in him. The way Brynne had reacted to surrounding
circumstances is very much different than it used to be in year 7. The way of looking on to
someone and the attitude has now changed.
Impact on curriculum and teaching practice: Such students often create issues not just for
themselves and their families but, also for the entire class and the tutors. The classroom
environment does get disturbed and produces the needs for the extra attention being given to
such kids. Tutor’s patience level is tested as they may be asked to give their extra efforts on such
students, so that, the overall productivity does not get hamper (Freud, 2018). Tutors need to
adopt some extra initiatives to make things working. There must be the regular meetings between
tutors and the parents. The purpose of such meetings will be to discuss the issue and requesting a
proper guidance at homes. Tutors must also speak with such kids in personal. The purpose of the
interaction will be regarding the disciplinary issues. Such sessions may be helpful in figuring out

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the few important points that might not have caught the attention of tutors. Tutors might come
across some findings which had not been expected earlier.
It also affects the study curriculum and asks for a few changes in it as better strategies
can help to cope with the changed thought process. The syllabus must be competent and must be
identifying the different phases of development which the kids undergo. Apart from the syllabus,
there is a need for personality development course fully integrated with strategic and
technological features. It is needed to make the kids enjoy while undergoing the development
process (Sulik et al., 2015).
2. Links to pedagogical theory, models and practice:
There are a numerous kinds of theories of learning. Such theories can be categorised into
three types like behaviourism, cognitive information processing and constructivism. All such
theories can be used or observed in case of adolescence getting explored to the different kinds of
learning. Following is the description of how theories can be used for the development of
adolescence:
Behaviourism: It means adolescence have the tendency to learn when they observed a
different behaviour. The theory believes in developing a learning environment by drawing the
focus of adolescence towards a changed behaviour (Feldman, 2015). This can be understood
from an example such as the case scenario of Brynne where Brynne was observed to have a
changed behaviour. The changed behaviour is a factor of worry for teachers and the adolescence;
however, the theory of behaviourism believes that a changed behaviour can also be utilised in
educating the adolescence. Brynne needs a true guidance of the teachers, so that, he gets back to
the characteristic which the whole class had observed a few years back. The changed behaviour

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has drawn the attraction of teachers towards Brynne. Hence, Brynne would get the ample of
opportunities from teachers to learn how to get rid of the existing issue. On the other hand, other
adolescence will also get the opportunity to learn because the changed behaviour has drawn the
attention of teachers towards making the adolescence aware of such behaviours and the way to
learn from it (Pellegrini & Galda, 2017). In this way, teachers can utilise the changed behaviour
of Brynne or a few other adolescence and in course of this, they actually follow the theory of
behaviourism.
Cognitive: The theory of cognitive states that one can learn by observing and by focusing
on something. If it is considered for adolescence in the classroom, it would mean that
adolescence can learn by giving a thorough attention to anything they observe in the classroom
and outside of it. Teachers can use the theory of cognitive development for attracting and
encouraging the adolescence to give an utmost attention to useful things in the classroom (Kim et
al., 2015). It’s also the responsibility of parents that they take care of their children and
encourages them to focus on useful things, so that, they get uncle of support and learning
environment at their home. Teachers will have the responsibilities that they at least observe the
attention level of adolescence. If one of them or few of them are not giving the attention on
development, teachers must take quick actions like discussing with the identified adolescence.
Teachers must try to know the reason why the adolescence is not being attentive in the class.
Such strategy will help teachers know the reason behind not being attentive in the classroom.
Hence, teachers will have sufficient data and they can accordingly construct their learning
approaches for the identified kids.
Constructivism: The theory of constructivism states that knowledge can be created by
constructing on the basis of data driven from different resources. Such resources can be the

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sharing of information irrespective of its size and value. The theory believes that by changing
and utilising the information teachers can effectively teach the adolescence (Van den Akker et
al., 2014). For example, social constructivism is a kind of constructivism theory which states or
means that adolescence by exchanging what they know can really build up an environment of
learning. Hence, it is the responsibility of teachers that they facilitate and promote the exchange
of information from adolescence to another in the classroom or even in the school premises. In
this way, teachers will actually promote the formation of learning environment. The case of
Brynne can also be resolved, if the teachers and the other adolescence in the classroom facilitate
the exchange of information and good thoughts, Brynne may supposedly realise the mistake.
Conclusion
The change in behaviour of Brynne is understandable from the perspectives of different
learning theories as discussed in the aforesaid section. The changed behaviour is a matter of
worry for the class and the Teachers. However, teachers have the scopes in the form of different
theories of learning such as behaviourism, cognitive information processing and constructivism.
Teachers can utilise these different theories of learning and promote a learning environment in
the classroom. The classroom driven from such theories will have a knowledge management
process which is very necessary to avoid any unwanted actions in the classroom. Moreover,
adolescence will also get an improved and productive learning environment. The professional
tutors will also get good reviews and will be able to justify their roles and responsibilities.

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References
Bergin, C. C., & Bergin, D. A. (2018). Child and Adolescent Development in Your Classroom,
Chronological Approach. Cengage Learning.
Colten, M. (2017). Adolescent stress: Causes and consequences. Routledge.
Cook, A., Spinazzola, J., Ford, J., Lanktree, C., Blaustein, M., Cloitre, M., ... & Mallah, K.
(2017). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 390-398.
Feldman, R. (2015). Mutual influences between child emotion regulation and parent–child
reciprocity support development across the first 10 years of life: implications for
developmental psychopathology. Development and psychopathology, 27(4pt1), 1007-
1023.
Freud, A. (2018). Normality and pathology in childhood: Assessments of development.
Routledge.
Huang, C. Y., Costeines, J., Kaufman, J. S., & Ayala, C. (2014). Parenting stress, social support,
and depression for ethnic minority adolescent mothers: Impact on child
development. Journal of child and family studies, 23(2), 255-262.
Kim, B. E., Oesterle, S., Catalano, R. F., & Hawkins, J. D. (2015). Change in protective factors
across adolescent development. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 40, 26-37.
Lewallen, T. C., Hunt, H., Potts‐Datema, W., Zaza, S., & Giles, W. (2015). The Whole School,
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Pellegrini, A., & Galda, L. (2017). The development of school-based literacy: A social ecological
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Simmons, R. G. (2017). Moving into adolescence: The impact of pubertal change and school
context. Routledge.
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