Child Development & Pedagogy Notes

Child Development and Pedagogy are the important sections of the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET). It is important to understand this section to score good marks on the exam. We are here to provide you with notes on child development and pedagogy. So let us get started!

Child psychology is the discipline of psychology that investigates children’s behaviour and consciousness from infancy to puberty. Child psychology addresses not only the physical development of children, but also their psychological, social, and emotional development. Understanding the physiological and biological changes that occur in students requires an understanding of child development and education.

Child Development and Pedagogy: Highlights

Particulars	CTET Paper 1 Highlight	CTET Paper 2 Highlight
Exam mode	Online	Online
Number of subjects/sections	5	4
Names of subjects	Child Development and Pedagogy Language-I Language-II Mathematics Environmental Studies	Child Development and Pedagogy Language-I Language-II Mathematics and Science or Social Studies/Social Science
Duration of exam	2.5 hours (150 minutes)	2.5 hours (150 minutes)
Total Questions	150	150

Also read: CTET Notes & Study Plan

Child Psychology

Child Psychology is an important branch of psychology that focuses on the mind and behaviour of children from parental development through adolescence. Child psychology deals not only with the growth of children physically but also with their mental, emotional and social development as well. 

Development

Development refers to the biological and psychological changes that occur in human beings between conception and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy. It may also be defined as a process of internal features of a human being in collaboration with external or environmental features.  

• Development is a continuous process-It does not occur in spurts. Growth continues from conception until an individual reaches maturity. 
• It follows a pattern or sequence-Every species, whether animal or human follows a pattern of growth. 
• General to specific-It moves from generalized to localized behaviour. Growth occurs from large muscle movements to more refined (smaller) muscle movements. 
• Different rates of individual growth and development-Neither all the parts of the body grow at the same time nor do the mental abilities of a child develop fully? They attain maturity level at different pace. 
• Development is a complex phenomenon-All the aspects of growth are closely interrelated each other. 

Intelligence

According to the subject Child Development and Pedagogy, Intelligence is the ability to learn about, learn from, understand and interact with one’s environment. It includes various specific abilities such as-

• Adaptability to a new environment.
• Capacity for reason and abstract thought.
• Ability to comprehend relationships.
• Capacity for original and productive thought.
• Ability to evaluate and judge.

Using Multiple Intelligences in the Classrooms

The theory states that all these are needed to productively function in society and teachers should structure the presentation of material in such a style that could engage most or all of the intelligence. 

Explore: CTET Syllabus

The Principle of Child Development

 With the help of given child development and pedagogy principles, we can easily identify how children are developing and at which stage they are. 

1. Principle of Cephalo-Caudal

• Development proceeds from head to toe
• 6 to 12 months infants
• Coordination of arms before leg

2. Principle of Proximal-Distal

• Centre to outward
• The spinal cord develops first then the outer parts of the body.

3. Principle of Simple to Complex

• Skills related to mental or intellectual abilities and skills related to verbal comprehension are used by the child to solve the problem.
• For example, if the child must learn to classify the object so the kite and aeroplane may be the same for her because they both fly in the sky.
• But in the later stage of learning, they will be able to understand more complex similarities and differences between these objects.

4. Principle of Continuous Process

• Addition or accumulation or deposition in skills takes place on a continuous basis.
• For example, in language development, a child starts by babbling and then proceeds further in more accomplishment of the language.

5. Principle of General to Specific

• Firstly gross/large muscle motor movement development takes place then moving forward to more refined smaller/ fine motor muscle movements.

6. Principle of Individual Rates of Growth and Development

• Everyone is different, that’s why their rates are too.
• That’s why there should be no such notion as the average child because everyone proceeds according to their rates. So, we can’t compare two children on the basis of their intellectual development or one child’s progress with another.
• Its rates of development are also not uniform for all children.

Types of Children’s Strategies for Learning

Types of Children’s Strategies for Learning come under Child Development and Pedagogy. It includes strategies like:

• No School Bag: As in the initial years of schooling children feel hesitant to go to school because of the new environment and because of heavy bags. Nowadays, many schools adopted the policy of no school bags. This is basically done in order to attract kids to school on a regular basis and develop the learning of regularity among kids.
• Organising a Competition for Reading and Writing: This strategy of learning is helpful for 3rd-grade to 5th-grade students because of proper development of reading and writing skills. This helps in developing the learning of reading and writing. 
• Organising Play Competition: This strategy of learning is basically part of a co-curricular activity when the child gets exposure to know about the outside world. 
• Daily sharing of News: The teacher in order to develop a habit of listening to news and reading newspapers from a small age only.
• Organising Outdoor Activities: Teachers can organise small trips or picnics to museums, parks, etc. 

Autocratic Teaching Strategy

This strategy uses traditional methods of teaching. In this method, the teacher has full control over teaching and students are not allowed to act freely. This strategy is of four types:

1. Storytelling Method: Under this method, the teacher delivers the content in a story form to the students. This method increases the vocabulary of the student and enhances their vocabulary.

2. Lecture Method: The lecture method is the oldest and one-way communication method of teaching and is helpful in developing the cognitive and affective domains of the child. 

3. Demonstration method: This method is useful in teaching a practical subject where the content can be understood by only showing.

4. Tutorial Method: Under this method, a class is divided into groups according to the capacities of students. Each group is handled by different teachers. 

Democratic Teaching Strategy

Democratic Teaching Strategy is a vital part of Child Development and Pedagogy notes for CTET. Under this strategy, a child is free to express their views in front of the teacher and maximum interaction between teachers takes place. Here the teacher works as a guide or instructor. Six types of methods are covered under this strategy:

1. Discussion Method: Under this method, an oral conversation about a topic takes place between students and teachers. The discussion method develops the thinking and communication power which results in the development of a higher level of the cognitive and affective domain. This method is suited to all subjects teaching except maths, art, music, and dance.

2. Heuristic Method: Under this method, a teacher raises a problem in front of the student and also guides him. The students are able to solve the problem after gaining knowledge through self-study, self-learning, investigation and research.

3. Discovery Method: Under this method, students find the solution to their problems in their own surrounding environment. 

4. Project method: Under this method, a project related to real-life experiences is assigned to students by making a group. Students learn and solve real-life problems with each other’s cooperation.

5. Role-playing Method: Under this method, roles are assigned to students and students are allowed to play those roles. 

6. Brainstorming: It is a creative method of teaching under which a number of ideas are generated for the solution of a specific problem. 

Child Development & Pedagogy Well-Versed Syllabus 

After knowing and getting familiar with the exam pattern, another CTET preparation tip that aspirants must adhere to is getting familiar with the correct syllabus and marking scheme of the CTET exam. Candidates must know that the CTET Syllabus is different for Paper – I & Paper II. Hence, aspirants must try to cover the complete CTET syllabus. 

CTET Paper- I	Child Development & Pedagogy, Language-1, Language-2, Environmental Studies, Mathematics.
CTET Paper-II	Child Development & Pedagogy, Language-1, Language-2, Social Studies or Mathematics & Science

To help you comprehend the different sections of the CTET, here is a table that demonstrates the pattern for each (Paper I & Paper II) section of the exam.

Sections	No. of Questions	Marks
Language l	30	30
Language ll	30	30
Environmental Studies	30	30
Mathematics	30	30
Child Development and Pedagogy	30	30
Grand Total	150 Multiple Choice Questions	150 Marks

Child Development and Pedagogy Reference Books

In order to gear up for the above-mentioned topics, you must have the necessary reference books to save precious time on researching every topic separately. Here is the list of prominent books on Child Development and Pedagogy that you need to have while preparing for teaching exams such as TET:

S.No	Child Development and Pedagogy Books	Authors
1	Child Development & Pedagogy for CTET & STET (Paper 1 & 2) 2nd Edition	Shalini Punjabi
2	Wiley’s Child Development and Pedagogy Exam Goalpost for CTET and TETs Exams, Paper I-II, Class I-VIII	DT Editorial Services
3	A Complete Resource for CTET: Child Development and Pedagogy	Sandeep Kumar
4	Thought and Language	Lev Vygotsky
5	PRAGYA’s Child Development and Pedagogy: CDP for CTET	N.K Ullah
6	CTET and TETs Child Development and Pedagogy Paper 1 and 2	Arihant Experts

How to Prepare for Child Development and Pedagogy Section?

Here are a few essential tips that candidates must keep in mind at the time of preparation for the Child Development and Pedagogy section of the CTET 2022 exam.

• Students must have a thorough understanding of the syllabus: The key to success in the Child Development and Pedagogy section of the CTET exam is to have a complete understanding of the syllabus and pattern. 
• Students are advised to study each topic minutely under the syllabus to have an understanding of the basic concepts of each section.
• Students can practice CTET question papers for testing themselves. This will help them gain confidence in the section. There are many papers and mock tests available for Child Development and Pedagogy questions.
• Another important tip is to not leave any questions blank. The marking scheme prescribed for CTET 2022 indicates one mark for every correct answer without any negative marking in the exam. 

Important Questions and Answers

Now that you know the basics of this concept, we have curated a list of some of the important practice questions on Child Development and Pedagogy. 

1. As a teacher, who firmly believes in the social constructivist theory of Lev Vygotsky, which of the following methods would you prefer for assessing your students?

(a)  Collaborative projects
(b)  Standardized tests
(c)  Fact-based recall questions
(d)  Objective multiple-choice type questions

2. According to NCF, 2005, the role of a teacher has to be-

(a)  Authoritative
(b)  Permissive
(c)  Dictatorial
(d)  Facilitative

3. Research suggests that in a diverse classroom, a teacher’s expectations from her students,_____ their learning.

(a)  Have a significant impact on
(b)  Are the sole determinant of
(c)  Should not be correlated with
(d)  Do not have any effect on[optin-monster-shortcode id=”xf2mlnjiouddzrshykdb”]

4. Inclusion of children with special needs:

(a)  Is an unrealistic goal
(b)  Is detrimental to children without special needs
(c)  Will increase the burden on schools
(d)  Requires a change in attitude, content and approach to teaching.

5. A teacher can enhance effective learning in her elementary classroom by:

(a)  Offering rewards for small steps in learning
(b) Encouraging competition among students
(c) Drill and practice
(d) Connecting the content to the lives of the students

If you are exploring Child Development and Pedagogy, then you must take a look at our detailed blog on BEd SPECIAL EDUCATION

6. Primary school children will learn most effectively in an atmosphere:

(a)  Where their emotional needs are met and they feel they are valued
(b)  Where they are mostly happy and playing games
(c)  Where the teacher is authoritative and clearly dictates what should be done
(d)  Where the focus is only on mastering primarily cognitive skills of reading, writing and mathematics

7. Which of the following is the most effective method to encourage conceptual development in students?

(a)  New concepts need to be understood on their own without any reference or help
(b)  Give students multiple examples and encourage them to use logic
(c)  Replace the students’ incorrect ideas with correct ones by asking them to memorize
(d)  Imposing your own views and ideas on the students and eliminating theirs

8. A child sees a crow flying past the window and says, “ A bird”. What does this suggest about the child’s thinking?

A. The child has previously-stored memories
B. The child has developed the concept of a ‘bird’
C. The child has developed some tools of language to communicate his experience

(a)  A and B
(b)  B and C
(c)  A, B and C
(d)  Only B

9. The cephalocaudal principle of development explains how development proceeds from:

(a)  General to specific functions
(b)  Differentiated to integrated functions
(c)  Rural to urban areas
(d)  Head to toe

10. A 5-year-old girl talks to herself while trying to fold a T-Shirt. Which of the following statements is correct in the context of the behaviour displayed?

(a)  Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky would explain this as the egocentric nature of the child’s thoughts.
(b)  Jean Piaget would explain this as egocentric speech, while Lev Vygotsky would explain this as the child’s attempt to regulate her actions through personal speech.
(c)  Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky would explain this as the child’s attempt to imitate her parents
(d)  Jean Piaget would explain this as social interaction, while Lev Vygotsky would explain this as an exploration.

ANSWERS

1. a
2. d
3. a
4. d
5. d
6. a
7. b
8. c
9. d
10. b

[Bonus] Other Impotant CTET Notes

• CTET Mathematics Notes
• CTET Study Notes on Food
• CTET Study Notes on Health and Diseases
• CTET Child Development Theories
• CTET Child Development Study Notes on Special Needs
• CTET Notes & Study Plan

Check Out Other CTET Notes

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2. CTET Study Notes on Food
3. CTET Notes on Family
4. CTET Notes on First Farmers and Herders
5. CTET Social Science
6. CTET Study Notes on Health and Diseases
7. CTET Notes on Learning Principles and Theories
8. CTET Child Development Theories
9. CTET Child Development Study Notes on Special Needs

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