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Developmentally Appropriate Instruction

Scarlett Palmieri

Regent University
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Introduction

In a study conducted in 1995, Deborah Stipek, a Professor of Education in the Stanford

Graduate School of Education, compared developmentally appropriate practices to

developmentally inappropriate practices. She found that children who were taught using

developmentally appropriate practices rated their general abilities significantly higher than those

taught using developmentally inappropriate practices. Not only did these children have higher

expectations for academic success, but they demonstrated more pride in their accomplishments,

showed less dependency on others for permission and approval, and claimed to experience less

anxieties over school (Stipek, D., Feiler, R., Daniels, D., & Milburn, S., 1995). Interestingly

enough, the results were consistent with children in economically disadvantaged backgrounds

and children in middle-class backgrounds. Her results confirmed the theory that developmentally

appropriate practices are powerful in the school setting and must incorporate a great degree of

cultural awareness to be effective (Stipek, D., Feiler, R., Daniels, D., & Milburn, S., 1995).

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

In order to demonstrate my commitment to developmentally appropriate instruction, I

have chosen two artifacts that I believe provide strong evidence of my efforts to utilize

developmentally appropriate instruction and practices in the classroom that meet the needs of all

children, regardless of age, gender, disabilities, socioeconomic status or race, and demonstrate

cultural awareness of the children I am serving.

My first artifact is a cross-curricular lesson plan on plant products that addresses the

Virginia state standard of learning science 2.8. This lesson plan utilizes the Madeline Hunter

template, a seven-step decision making model that is used for mastery of content. In creating this

lesson plan, I was able to ensure that I included every element of a successful lesson and
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followed through with my instruction in a developmentally appropriate way. Furthermore, by

including an extension activity that allowed students to discover the unique ways in which plants

products are used in other cultures, specifically the ways cinnamon is harvested in Sri Lanka and

the United Kingdom, I was able to encourage multicultural thinking, inspire students to reflect on

the ways plant products are used similarly and/or differently by different people groups and

embolden students to develop a more expansive view of the world around them.

By including various instructional elements into this lesson that are attractive and

relevant to second graders, such as turn and talks, exit tickets, formative assessment and hands-

on, inquiry based activities, I was able to provide students with the opportunity to explore the

world around them. Furthermore, through direct experience, experimentation and observation,

students were able to manipulate materials of the natural world, such as cotton, cinnamon, rubber

and seeds. As a result, I was able to stimulate their sensory skills and perpetuate this age group’s

natural sense of curiosity of the world around them.

To accompany this artifact, I have chosen to attach an example of student work generated

from this lesson. This completed student exemplar serves as my second and final artifact for this

competency. Coupled together, this lesson plan and example of student work illustrates just how

purposeful and impactful developmentally appropriate instruction can be in the classroom.

Reflection for Theory and Practice

Developmentally appropriate instruction refers to instruction that matches curriculum to

how children think and learn. The National Association for the Education of Young Children,

“expanded the definition of ‘age-appropriate’ to portray the relationship among age, culture and

individual determinants of development.” (Hart, Burts & Charlesworth, 1997, p. 2) Its purpose is

to design a curriculum that meets the needs of all children, regardless of age, gender, disabilities,
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socioeconomic status or race. What makes developmentally appropriate instruction different

from other methods of instruction is found in the attention it pays to the individual differences

that exist among children. In this way, developmentally appropriate instruction is unique in that

it emphasizes the whole child and takes into account gender, race, socioeconomic status, cultural

nuances, disabilities and other factors that affects a child’s thinking, learning and perception. As

a result, a teacher who utilizes developmentally appropriate instruction relies heavily on cues

from the student and adjusts his or her practices readily with respect to individual differences

(Hart, Burts & Charlesworth, 1997, p. 3).

Developmentally appropriate instruction is applicable and significant to educators

because it promotes various skill domains in children. These domains include academic, social,

emotional, cognitive and physical domains. In addition, developmentally appropriate instruction

encourages educators to continually and consistently modify, adapt and differentiate their

practices, strategies, resources and materials to best reach their student body. Teachers who

instruct using developmentally appropriate practices avoid using a “one size fits all” mentality

and consider the developmental needs of their student population before designing and

implementing their instruction.

In their book, “Effects of Different Instructional Approaches on Young Children’s

Achievement and Motivation”, authors Hart, Burts and Charlesworth argue for the adoption of a

developmentally appropriate curriculum. They go on to describe the impressive implications

developmentally appropriate curriculums have beyond classroom activities in the way it guides,

directs, manages and controls and influences the way a practitioner approaches their students’

behaviors (Hart, Burts & Charlesworth, 1997, p. 17).

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Because developmentally appropriate instruction mandates that all aspects of a child’s

immediate world be considered, cultural awareness becomes an essential practice. For the

teacher, this means adopting a diverse, multicultural perspective of the world; one that

recognizes individual differences in a group of students and views those differences as positions

of strength, rather than weakness. This cultural component adds a whole other dimension to

developmentally appropriate instruction referred to by Lourenco and Machado as “individual

appropriateness.” According to Lourenco and Machado, “individual appropriateness” demands

an educator’s “knowledge of the culture and values of individual children as well as those of the

family and community as important sources for curriculum development.” (Lourenco &

Machado, 1991, p. 202).

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References

Lourenco, O., & Machado, A. (1996). In defense of Piaget’s theory: A reply to 10 common

criticisms. Psychological Review, 103(1), 143-64.

Hart, C., Burts, D., & Charlesworth, R. (1997). Integrated curriculum and developmentally

appropriate practice: Birth to age eight. Albany, New York: State University of New

York Press.

Stipek, D., Feiler, R., Daniels, D., & Milburn, S. (1995). Effects of different instructional

approaches on young children’s achievement and motivation. Child Development, 66,

209-23.