Arnold Gesell's Theories Of Teaching And Learning

1.0 Introduction
As everyone knows, a child’s growth and development can be divided into five stages which are infancy, early childhood, childhood, early adolescence and adolescence. Each stage has own level of physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and moral aspect. It is important for teachers to know as it is useful for them to plan activities that are suitable for different level of students. Therefore, teachers should get more knowledge on children that are at different stages.

2.0 Theories of physical development and its implications towards teaching and learning in primary school
Arnold Gesell and Robert Havighurst are the theorists for physical development. There are three major consumptions in Gesell’s theory which are development

As everyone knows, there is a close connection between cognitive development and language development. Vygotsky believed that as children develop language, they actively build a symbol system, which helps them to understand the world (Close, 2010). He viewed language as developing the cognitive of children. Vygotsky’s theory views the important effect that an adult has on the development of language and it describes the importance of Zone of Proximal Development which refers to tasks that are difficult for children to master alone but that can be master with assistance from other people. The assistance is known as scaffolding. In order for children to understand a thing and solve it, language that is being used is important. Thus, parents or teachers should use proper language level when they are speaking with children. Vygotsky believed that children who engaged in large amounts of private speech are more socially competent than children who do not use it

This means that students should listen to their friend’s ideas during group activity. Those who listen well will be getting reinforcement from teacher. Aside from this, teachers should ensure their class exhibit awareness and support moral and universal issues (Haliza, Joy & Rafidah, 2008). This can be done by being aware of current issues that involve moral and emotional values. It is also important to make sure that students can differentiate between laws that secure safety and laws that values moral. Teachers can also help students to evaluate their problems. For example, they can discuss openly with others about their emotional problems such as feelings of jealousy towards siblings and peers, prejudism, feelings of isolation and being mocked (Haliza, Joy & Rafidah,