Chapter 5 Developmental Stages of the Learner

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Chapter 5Developmental Stages of the Learner
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Developmental Characteristics

• Chronological age versus stage of development
• Example Children with chronic illness often are
  delayed developmentally an adolescent who
  suffers a traumatic event may regress
  developmentally.

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Developmental Characteristics (contd)

• Rationale Chronological age per se is not a
  good predictor of learning ability. At any given
  age, there can be a wide variation in physical,
  cognitive, and psychosocial variables.
  Developmental stage acknowledges that human
  growth and development are sequential, but not
  always specifically age-related.

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Developmental Stages of Childhood

• Pedagogy is the art and science of helping
  children learn.
• Infancy and Toddlerhood
• Preschooler
• School-aged Child
• Adolescence

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Infancy and Toddlerhood

• Piaget sensorimotor stage
• learning is through sensory experiences and
  through movement and manipulation of objects
• Erikson trust vs. mistrust (birth to 12 months)
  autonomy vs. shame and doubt (1-3 years)
• building trust and establishing balance between
  feelings of love and hate learning to control
  willful desires

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Infancy and Toddlerhood (contd)

• Salient Characteristics
• cognitive
• Example responds to step-by-step commands
  language skills develop rapidly during this stage
• psychosocial
• Example aggravated by personal and external
  limits routines provide sense of security

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Infancy and Toddlerhood (contd)

• Teaching Strategies
• focus on normal development, safety, health
  promotion, and disease prevention
• use repetition and imitation
• stimulate the senses
• provide safety
• allow for play and manipulation of objects

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Preschooler

• Piaget preoperational stage
• egocentric thinking is literal and concrete
  precausal thinking
• Erikson initiative vs. guilt
• taking on tasks for the sake of being involved
  and on the move learning to express feelings
  through play

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Preschooler (contd)

• Salient Characteristics
• cognitive
• Example animistic thinking limited sense of
  time egocentric transductive reasoning
• psychosocial
• Example separation anxiety play is his/her
  work fears loss of body integrity active
  imagination interacts with playmates

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Preschooler (contd)

• Teaching Strategies
• build trust
• allow for manipulation of objects
• use positive reinforcement
• encourage questions
• provide simple drawings and stories
• focus on play therapy
• stimulate the senses

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School-Aged Child

• Piaget concrete operations stage
• developing logical thought processes and ability
  to reason syllogistically understands cause and
  effect
• Erikson industry vs. inferiority
• gaining a sense of responsibility and
  reliability increased susceptibility to social
  forces outside the family unit gaining
  awareness of uniqueness of special talents and
  qualities

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School-Aged Child (contd)

• Salient Characteristics
• cognitive
• Example able to draw conclusions and
  intellectually can understand cause and effect
• psychosocial
• Example fears failure and being left out of
  groups fears illness and disability

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School-Aged Child (contd)

• Teaching Strategies
• encourage independence
• use logical explanations and analogies
• relate to childs experience
• use subject-centered focus
• use play therapy
• provide group activities
• use drawings, models, dolls, painting, audiotapes
  and videotapes

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Adolescence

• Piaget formal operations stage
• abstract thought reasoning is both inductive
  and deductive
• Erikson identity vs. role confusion
• struggling to establish own identity seeking
  independence and autonomy

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Adolescence (contd)

• Salient Characteristics
• cognitive
• Example propositional thinking complex logical
  reasoning can build on past experiences
  conceptualizes the invisible
• psychosocial
• Example personal fablefeels invulnerable,
  invincible/immune to natural laws
• Example imaginary audienceintense personal
  preoccupation

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Adolescence (contd)

• Teaching Strategies
• establish trust
• identify control focus
• use peers for support and influence
• negotiate for change, contract
• focus on details
• make information meaningful to life

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Adolescence (contd)

• Teaching Strategies (contd)
• ensure confidentiality and privacy
• use audiovisuals, role play, contracts, and
  reading materials
• allow for experimentation and flexibility within
  safe limits

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AdulthoodDevelopmental Stages

• Young Adulthood
• Middle-Aged Adulthood
• Older Adulthood

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AdulthoodTeaching Learning

• Andragogy the art and science of helping adults
  learn
• Adult Learning Principles relates learning to
  immediate needs self-directed teacher is
  facilitator learner desires active role

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Young Adulthood

• Piaget formal operations stage (begins in
  adolescence and carries through adulthood)
• abstract thought reasoning is both inductive
  and deductive
• Erikson intimacy vs. isolation
• focusing on relationships and commitment to
  others in their personal, occupational, and
  social lives

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Young Adulthood (contd)

• Salient Characteristics
• cognitive
• Example cognitive capacity is fully developed,
  but continuing to accumulate new knowledge and
  skills
• psychosocial
• Example autonomous independent stress
  related to the many decisions being made
  regarding career, marriage, parenthood and higher
  education

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Young Adulthood (contd)

• Teaching Strategies
• use problem-centered focus
• draw on meaningful experiences
• focus on immediacy of application
• allow for self-direction and setting own pace
• organize material
• encourage role play

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Middle-Aged Adulthood

• Piaget formal operations stage
• abstract thought reasoning is both inductive
  and deductive
• Erikson generativity vs. self-absorption and
  stagnation
• reflecting on accomplishments and determining if
  life changes are needed

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Middle-Aged Adulthood (contd)

• Salient Characteristics
• cognitive
• Example ability to learn remains steady
  throughout this stage
• psychosocial
• Example facing issues with grown children,
  changes in own health, and increased
  responsibility for own parents

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Middle-Aged Adulthood (contd)

• Teaching Strategies
• maintain independence and reestablish normal life
  patterns
• assess positive and negative past learning
  experiences
• assess potential sources of stress
• provide information relative to life concerns and
  problems

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Older Adulthood

• Piaget formal operations stage
• abstract thought reasoning is both inductive
  and deductive
• Erikson ego integrity vs. despair
• coping with reality of aging, mortality, and
  reconciliation with past failures
• Geragogy the teaching of older persons,
  accommodating the normal physical, cognitive and
  psychosocial changes

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Older Adulthood (contd)

• Salient Characteristics
• cognitive
• fluid intelligencecapacity to perceive
  relationships, to reason, and to perform abstract
  thinking, which declines with aging
• crystallized intelligencethe intelligence
  absorbed over a lifetime, which increases with
  experience
• psychosocial
• Example adjusting to changes in lifestyle and
  social status

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Older Adulthood (contd)

• Teaching Strategies
• use concrete examples
• build on past experiences
• focus on one concept at a time
• use a slow pace
• use repetition and reinforcement
• provide brief explanations
• use analogies

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Older Adulthood (contd)

• Teaching Strategies (contd)
• speak slowly and clearly
• use low-pitched tones
• minimize distractions
• rely on visual aids and supplement with verbal
  instructions
• use large letters and well-spaced print
• provide a safe environment
• give time to reminisce

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Role of Family in Patient Education

• Family is the most important variable influencing
  patient outcomes.
• JCAHO accreditation standards warrant family
  participation.
• The nurse educator and family should be allies.
• It is important to choose the most appropriate
  caregiver to receive information.

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Summary

• Readiness to learn in children is very
  subject-centered, and motivation to learn in
  adults is very problem-centered.
• Rate of learning and capacity for learning, as
  well as situational and emotional barriers to
  learning, vary according to stages of development.

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Summary (contd)

• Knowledge of tasks associated with each
  developmental stage will help individualize the
  approach to education in meeting the needs and
  desires of learners and their families.
• Nurses, as the main source of health education,
  must determine what needs to be taught, when to
  teach, how to teach, and who the focus of
  teaching should be in light of the developmental
  stage of the learner.