Page 1 - LN

Class XI

Chapter 4

Human Development

Lesson Notes

Module 4

CHILDHOOD
 The child’s growth slows down during early childhood as compared to infancy.
 The child develops physically, gains height and weight,learns to walk, runs, jumps,
and plays with a ball.
 The child also begins to acquire the concepts of good and bad, i.e. develops a sense
of morality.
 Children have increased physical capacities, can perform tasks independently, can
set goals, and meet adult expectations.

 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
1. Early development follows two principles:
(i) Development proceeds cephalocaudally, i.e. from the cephalic or head region
to the caudal or tail region.

Children gain control over the upper part
of the body before the lower part.
(ii) theproximodistal trend, i.e. children gain control over their torso before their
extremities.

growth proceeds from the centre of body and moves
towards the extremities or more distal regions

2. As children grow older, they look slimmer as the trunk part of their bodies
lengthens and body fat decreases. The brain and the head grow more rapidly than
any other part of the body.

3. During middle and late childhood years, children increase significantly in size
and strength; increase in weight is mainly due to increase in the size of the skeletal
and muscular systems, as well as size of some body organs.