PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING :: GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND MATURATION.

The poem "The Seven Ages of Man" is a part of the play "As You Like It", where Jacques makes a dramatic speech in the presence of the Duke in Act II, Scene VII. Through the voice of Jacques, Shakespeare sends out a profound message about life and our role in it. The lines goes like this...

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players, 
They have their exits and entrances,................

In this drama of life, each one of us plays seven distinct roles. This, the author says, is the Seven Ages of Man. These seven roles begin at birth and end with death. Life is for once and too short... In a blink, life moves on. I am so deeply inspired by this poem, so tried connecting it to this psychological concept. 

Often in our day-to-day life we use the terms like growth, development and maturation. Sometimes in the place of one word we use the other. Psychologically, all the three terms are different, and we need to understand that these terms are related and finally all together are the parameters that define a child in specific. Let’s find it in more detail.........

DEFINITIONS:

Growth- Growth refers to dimensional augmentation, cellular multiplication or quantitative changes in size, height and weight.
Growth refers to changes in the body, it is in quantitative view i.e., increase in size, weight and height. It will not continue throughout the life. It ends with the attainment of maturity. It is narrow in meaning. It is one of the aspects of development. Growth may or may not bring development. It is measurable as its quantitative and is specific. Growth is physical and external in nature. It is structural.

Development- Development refers to a series of progressive, orderly and meaningful changes resulting in improved functioning of the individual.

Development refers to overall changes resulting in an improved functioning. Development refers to change in both quantitative and qualitative. Development brings changes in structure and shape as well as improvement and changes in functioning and behaviour. It is a continuous process. It is a wider and comprehensive term, it is related to all the types of changes both physical and psychological. Development is possible without growth. It cannot be measured as its quite complex but can be observed. It is internal and can be physical, social, emotional and intellectual. Development is functional. 

Maturation- Maturation refers to the unfolding of biologically inherited potentialities as a function of time or in an age-related sequence.
Maturation is a kind of growth or biological ripening of the organism. It too is changes both in quantitative and qualitative aspects. Maturation occurs at specific area of developmental span. It is holistic and bring changes in physical, psychological and social context of a child/ individual. Maturation comes out of growth, development and experience. It is measurable. It is both external and internal in nature. Maturation is operational.

PRINCIPLES OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT:

1. Principle of interaction between Heredity and Environment: 
An individual's development is based upon his/ her genetic make-up and the environmental influence. A child's body structure, personal and behavioural pattern, mental setting is drawn from heredity which are very much influenced even by the surrounding environmental conditions. 

2. Principle of Proceeding from General to Specific responses: 

During the developmental stages of the life of a child he/ she proceeds from genera; to specific responses. For example, she/ he calls everyone as mom/ dad but later he/ she realizes and corrects themselves. 

3. Principle of Maturation and Learning: 

Maturation is related to the chronological and mental development of a child in time and over a period of age. Behaviour pattern is shaped through learning.

4. Principle of Uniform Development Pattern:

Development occurs in a uniform and definite pattern. It occurs by step by step process in all children. But, each child follows its own time schedule of growth. For example, kids first creep, then crawl, then walk. Language development, cognitive abilities, physical, psycho-social developments all occur in a sequence. 

5. Principle of 'Continuous':

The process of growth and development is a continuous process, it occurs from conception till death. It is a never-ending process.

6. Principle of Individual Differences:

Every individual is unique. Everyone is different and distinct in several aspects like body structure, action, social behaviour, mental functioning etc.

7. Principle of Integration:

Development involves the movement from parts to whole and whole to parts in relation to psycho-physical system.

8. Principle of Interrelation: 

Interrelation plays a very important role in one's growth and development. One thing related to the other, example a good healthy physique develops a healthy mind and an emotionally stable and socially amicable personality.

9. Principle of Predictability:

Child's growth and development are sequential and uniform. With these we can forecast the general nature and behaviour of a child. Example, with the knowledge of the development of physical structure we can predict his/ her adult structure.

10. Principle of Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal Sequence:

The development proceeds in a longitudinal axis as from head to foot, this is called as Cephalocaudal. Example, the child first gain control over his head, arms and then the legs.

The Proximodistal talks about development that proceeds from near to distant. Example, the child tries to exercise and gain control on the fundamental muscles of his arms and hand then later over the smaller muscles of the fingers.

Recently I came across a story, which talks about the human capacities. One day God in his court of justice was discussing with his team regarding a place to hide the utmost capabilities of human, the wisdom and hidden potentialities. One of the team members said, "God let's hide it on the top of the mountains". God said I know about the stubbornness of my creation, he can find it out. Then one of the team members said, "Let's hide it in the deepest of the oceans". God was not convinced, and he said, "I created him and I know that he can dive deep into the oceans of the world". Finally, he decided to hide it deep in the heart of the individual. As human has the tendency to be restless, till he finds the goal. So, he will try his level best to quest for the best and undergo self-awareness, finally to evolve into a wonder and attain to his fullest capabilities.  

As God cannot take care of all the things in the Universe at once, he has send his parts of perfection as our parents, teachers and people who show us way. Parents are the first teachers of a child and then the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the teachers. Teachers are the pillars of the whole teaching and learning process. 

Knowing the growth, development and maturation of the child makes one to bring the best in child's life. Every child is unique and special and different from the other. Interrelating and working together will help the teacher a lot in the overall development of the child. Most of the days' time of a child is with parents at home and then with teachers. Parents and teachers together can work parallelly for the overall development of the child. Parenting is a responsible task as today's children are tomorrow's citizen. After the mass explosion of knowledge and development in science and technology, today we are not only working for the betterment of academics but also for the development of the eroded values and morals and various other life-skills including the reality of life. By reality of life, what I mean is the education will help the human to stand in the difficulties, but real strength comes from leaning the reality which is not taught in books and schools. To think correctly, scientifically, we must know the 'Truth". As the ancient saying puts it, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free". 

We need to work for 'Nation building' and 'World peace'. 
We need leaders for the world!!