Growth, Development and Stages of Development
Growth and development questions come in two shapes: precise definitions, and "why does this child behave this way" applications. Both reward exact terminology and correct attribution of stages.
Growth versus development
Growth is quantitative, measurable in centimetres and kilograms, and stops at maturity. Development is qualitative, orderly, continuous and lifelong, and includes growth. Development moves from general responses to specific ones, follows the cephalocaudal (head-to-foot) and proximodistal (centre-to-periphery) directions, and shows individual differences. Heredity sets limits; environment decides how far they are reached.
Stages
Infancy (0-2), early childhood (2-6), later childhood (6-12), adolescence (12-19). Piaget's cognitive stages: sensorimotor (0-2), preoperational (2-7), concrete operational (7-11), formal operational (11 onward). Kohlberg's moral levels: preconventional, conventional, postconventional. Erikson placed identity versus role confusion in adolescence; Stanley Hall called adolescence a period of "storm and stress".
Worked example
A Class VII teacher complains that pupils cannot test a hypothesis formally. Reasoning: formal operations begin around 11-12, and many pupils are still concrete operational, so abstract propositions with no concrete referent fail. Remedy: begin with physical apparatus, record observations, then move gradually to general statements, and only later ask pupils to predict.
Traps
Writing "development stops at 18"; using growth and development as synonyms; naming Piaget's stages out of order; presenting heredity and environment as either/or rather than interactive; dating adolescence by class rather than by puberty.