AHE2103 Exam Revision on Growth Development and Ageing

Summary:

Motor development is the evolution of motor behaviour across the lifespan, influenced by the task, individual biology, and environment. It is qualitative, sequential, cumulative, directional, multifactorial, and varies individually. Age can be classified chronologically or biologically, with the latter considering morphological, skeletal, dental, and sexual maturity. Growth is quantitative structural development, while maturation is qualitative functional change.

Movement skills are classified by Gentile’s model, considering environmental context (stationary/motion conditions and variability) and function (stability, locomotion, object manipulation), and by Gallahue’s scheme, which looks at the phase of motor development (reflexive, rudimentary, fundamental, specialized) and the function of the task (stability, locomotion, manipulation).

Research methods include cross-sectional, longitudinal, and mixed-longitudinal studies with advantages and limitations, such as ease of administration, ability to observe change, and the influence of generational effects.

Phase-stage theories suggest universal age periods characterize behaviour, with sequential stages that cannot be reordered. Erikson’s psychosocial approach outlines stages from trust vs. mistrust in infancy to integrity vs. despair in late adulthood. Development task theory and developmental milestones theory provide frameworks for gauging development progress.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development through adaptation, assimilation, and accommodation spans from the sensorimotor phase in infancy to formal operations in adolescence. The ecological approach views development as a function of environmental context and includes the branches of dynamic systems and behaviour settings.

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