Developmental Psychology Research Paper

This paper seeks to explore the manner through which developmental psychology theory is applicable in a class for the teacher to plan and enhance the learning of students. Developmental psychology theory is an approach followed in the understanding, explanation, and prediction of the behavior of an individual as it occurs in the entire lifespan. It emphasizes that the child’s development is characterized by intellectual as well as cognitive changes that take place the moment people grow or move in the whole lifespan from youthful to adulthood (Baker, & Allen, 2012). Therefore, in order to understand a child’s development, one needs to consider one’s physical, social, and cognitive changes in every stage. According to Jean Piaget’s theory of development, people go through four stages n sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage (Wadlington &Wadlington, 2008).

Furthermore, Vygotsky identifies that people’s development starts from the social level where children learn from their teachers, peers, and caregivers (Zhang, et al. Bandura in his social learning theory argues that learning is made possible through the child’s repetition of the behavior that one can observe from other people. In classroom, the developmental psychological theory is normally applied to understand the changes of student’s life. In class, this theory is applicable or directly instructed through the assessment of the student’s learning disabilities (Martin, Martin, &Carvalho, 2008). Once a teacher realizes that a child is not able to meet a milestone at a specific time, a developments psychologist can be engaged to evaluate the situation and come up with the teaching strategies that need to be applied to enable the learners continue in the stages of development.

Therefore a teacher teaches telling time and identifies the learning disable children. Therefore, in the application of this theory, different learning ideas are introduced at every time of a child’s development. In organizing classroom activities, a teacher needs to apply the Vygotsky ZPD concept in order to consider the student’s capabilities and what their interaction with other students can help them to learn. This concept is useful in the teacher’s consideration of the fact that instruction is capable of being planned to offer practice in the child’s zone of development or for a group’s development (Datchuk, 2015). For instance, giving hints to children acts as a basis of instructional activities. 988373 Baker, P. & Allen, D. Use of positive behavior support to tackle challengingbehavior.