Child Development and Pedagogy (Paper I, 30 marks)
What this section tests
Child Development and Pedagogy carries 30 of the 150 marks in Assam TET Lower Primary (Classes I–V). Questions rarely ask for a definition; they place you in a classroom of 6–11 year olds and ask what the teacher should do or what a child's behaviour shows.
Core concepts
- Piaget: preoperational (2–7) - symbolic play, egocentrism, centration, no conservation; concrete operational (7–11) - conservation, reversibility, classification, seriation.
- Vygotsky: development is social. The Zone of Proximal Development is what a child can do with help but not alone; scaffolding is that temporary help; speech turns inward.
- Kohlberg: pre-conventional (punishment, reward), conventional (approval, law and order), post-conventional (justice).
- Erikson: ages 6–12 are industry versus inferiority; competence grows by completing real tasks.
- Learning theories: Pavlov (classical), Skinner (operant, reinforcement), Thorndike (laws of learning), Kohler (insight), Bruner (enactive–iconic–symbolic, spiral curriculum).
- RTE Act 2009: free and compulsory schooling 6–14, no detention till elementary completion, no board exam till Class VIII, School Management Committee.
- Assessment: formative gives feedback during learning, summative judges at the end; CCE uses portfolio, rubric and anecdotal records.
- Inclusion: dyslexia (reading), dysgraphia (writing), dyscalculia (mathematics), dyspraxia (motor coordination); support through an Individualised Education Plan.
Worked example
A Class II child sees water poured from a tall narrow glass into a wide bowl and says the bowl has less water. Why?
She is in Piaget's preoperational stage: she centres on height and cannot conserve quantity. Conservation appears in concrete operational thought around 7–8 years. The teacher lets her pour the water back rather than simply correcting her.
Traps
This is centration, not egocentrism (the three-mountain task). Piaget held development precedes learning; Vygotsky held learning leads development. ZPD and MKO are different terms.