you have been asked by the principal in your school to share the research you completed during the summer regarding major human developmental theories and theorists with your colleagues.
Write a maximum 700-word summary addressing the following questions:
How were the early human development theories and theorists similar?
What major trends do you see in the progression of human development?
How did the field of education change as more research and theories were established in the field of human development?
Why is it important for educators to become familiar with the relationship between human development theories, theorists, and the field of education?
Shift from Determinism to Interactionism: Early theories were deterministic (fixed by biology or environment). Later theories, such as Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory and Jean Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory, emphasized the active role of the individual in constructing knowledge through interaction with the environment and culture.
Expansion Beyond Childhood: Initially focused on infancy and childhood, the field evolved to embrace the lifespan perspective, championed by Erikson and further refined by modern researchers. Development is now viewed as continuous, lifelong, multidirectional, and plastic.
Integration of Context: The focus broadened from the individual's internal processes (psyche or cognition) to include the ecological context. Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory formalized this trend, showing that development is influenced by nested environmental systems (microsystem, exosystem, macrosystem).
Rise of Cognitive and Information Processing: Following the behaviorist era, the "cognitive revolution" brought theories that examined how the mind works—how children think, remember, and solve problems (e.g., Piaget). More recently, neuroscience has integrated biological mechanisms into these cognitive models.
How the Field of Education Changed
The progression of human development research profoundly transformed education by providing a scientific basis for pedagogy:
Sample Answer
Summary of Major Human Developmental Theories for Educators
How Early Theories and Theorists Were Similar
Early human development theories, primarily emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shared key similarities despite differences in focus. Theorists like Sigmund Freud (Psychoanalytic Theory), Erik Erikson (Psychosocial Theory), and even early behaviorists like John B. Watson, all viewed development as a series of distinct, universal stages that people must progress through.
A common thread was the emphasis on the profound influence of early childhood experiences in shaping adult personality and behavior. Freud focused on psychosexual stages and unconscious drives, while Erikson expanded this to include the social and cultural context across the entire lifespan through psychosocial crises. Furthermore, these early frameworks were often deterministic, suggesting that outcomes were largely fixed by forces outside the individual's full control—be they biological drives or environmental conditioning.
Major Trends in the Progression of Human Development Theories
The field of human development has progressed through several major trends, shifting its focus and expanding its scope: