Chapter 11
Creating Developmentally
Appropriate Classrooms
The Importance of Age and Developmental Status
Focus Questions
How can culture and schooling affect
students’ development?
 Are there really stages to children’s
development?
 How do teachers determine what is
developmentally appropriate for students?

Developmentally Appropriate
Practice (DAP)
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Providing learning
environments, instructional
content, and pedagogical
practices that are responsive
to needs and interests of a
period of life.
◦ What is known about childhood
development and learning?
◦ What is known about the
strengths, interests, and needs of
each individual child in the
group?
◦ Knowledge of the social and
cultural contexts in which
children live
Economic Aims for Schooling

National Education Goals Panel
◦ All American children will enter
school “ready to learn”
◦ Preschools not equitable for
families in poverty
◦ 1 in 5 children are living in
poverty

Dangers
◦ Major purpose of school is to
prepare students for the
workforce
◦ Realization that college degrees
are required for an increasing
number of jobs
Cognitive Development Theories

Jean Piaget
◦ Theory of Cognitive
Development

Lev Vygotsky
◦ Social Constructivist
Theory
◦ Cognitive Structures
◦ Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD)

Maria Montessori
◦ Teaching the “whole
child”
Middle School
Most diverse and varied population
 Middle childhood- age range from 7-12

◦ Educators knowledgeable and
committed to young adolescents
◦ Balanced curriculum based on their
needs
◦ Range of organizational arrangements
◦ Varied instructional strategies
◦ Full exploratory program
◦ Comprehensive advising and counseling
◦ Continuous progress
◦ Evaluation procedures compatible with
age
◦ Cooperative planning
◦ Positive school climate
Early Childhood Education
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Collaboration
Child study and mental hygiene
Kindergarten
Nursery Schools to Prekindergarten
Great Depression
Children’s Defense Fund
Developmentally appropriate
Working parents
Project Head Start
Cognitive Revolution
1950-1960s- new respect for
children’s intellectual resources
 Piaget: “American question”

◦ How much can we accelerate the
pace of children’s cognitive learning in
order to create smarter adults?
More concerned with process
than content
 Social knowledge
 Howard Gardner- goal is
understanding

School Experiences
Nature vs. Nurture debate
 Individual differences and development
domains- motor, cognitive,
language/communication, social/emotional
 Milestones and delays
 Child Study Movement- developmentally
appropriate practices
