Childhood and Growing Up

Course Objectives: The student-teachers will be able to

1.  Develop an understanding of the notions of childhood and adolescence;

2.  Develop an understanding about the impact/influence of socio cultural context in shaping human development, especially with respect to the Indian context;

3.  Develop an understanding of dimensions and stages of human development and developmental tasks;

4.  Understand the range of cognitive capacities among learners;

5.  Appreciate the critical role of learner differences and contexts in making meanings, and draw out implications for schools and teachers;

6.  Understand socialization and its role in identity formation of a child;

7.  Understand identity formation and its determinants;

Unit 1: Understanding Childhood

a)  Concept of Childhood: Historical and contemporary Perspectives; major discourse

b)  Key Factors during Childhood: Family, Neighborhood, Community and School

c)  Children and their Childhood: The Contemporary realities with special focus on Bihar

d)  Development of learner: physical, cognitive, language, social, and moral; their interrelationships and implications for teachers (with reference to Piaget, Erickson and Kohlberg)

Unit 2: Understanding Adolescence

a)  Concept of Adolescence: stereotypes and need of understanding, major issues and factors

b)  Understanding Stages of development with special emphasis on adolescence

c)  Adolescence: activities, aspirations, conflicts and challenges of learner; the role of teacher, family, community and state

d)  The contemporary reality of adolescence with special focus on Bihar

Unit 3: Understanding Socialization and the Context of the Learner a) Concept of Socialization: 

Major perspectives, education as a medium and key factors

b)  Socialization: the context of family, community and school

c)  Gender Identities and Socialization Practices in: family, schools, other formal and informal organization; Schooling of Girls

d)  Process of Socialization and social realities (with special focus on Bihar): Inequalities, conflict, marginalization

Unit 4: Understanding Differences in Learners

a) Difference in learners based on socio-cultural contexts

b) Dimensions of differences in psychological attributes: cognitive, abilities, interest, aptitude, creativity, personality,

c) Understanding differences based on a range of cognitive abilities: learning difficulties, slow learners and dyslexics, intellectual deficiency, intellectual giftedness

d) Implication for catering to individual variations in view of ‘difference’ rather than ‘deficit’ perspective

Unit 5: Learner’s Identity Development

a) Understanding ‘Identity Formation’

b) Determinants of identity formation in individual and groups; social categories such as caste, class, gender, religion, language and age; peer group

c) School as a site of identity formation in teacher and students

d) The influence of media, technology and globalization on identity formation

Sessional Work

 Assignment (Any two of the following) (Concerned teacher can devise assignment as per requirement of the course)

1. Critical analysis of classroom instruction in the light of the understandings developed

2. Case study of a learner with behavior problem/talented child/a LD child/a slow learner/a disadvantaged child

3. Observing children in their natural setting

4. Study of intelligence of at least

5 school children and relating it with achievement and other background factors