Define Growth and differentiate between growth and development


Growth refers to changes inhuman weight, height and structure. It is a part of development which is primarily concerned with the human physique.

  • Growth refers, to quantitative changes in an organism particularly growth in size and structure. 
  • Growth means a measurable increase in size, height, weight and length of the various parts of the body.  
Growth refers to the change in height, width and bone structure of an individual. On the other hand, development refers to a continuous process of changes through which task managing abilities of the individual are polished resulting in experiences and learning. In simple words, development refers to several changes taking place in the individual. Growth is a part of development that is concerned only with the physical development.


                       Difference between Growth and Development

Growth :-

  • Growth is concerned with the quantitative changes.
  • Growth may be looked upon as the cellular multiplication.  
  • Growth does not continue throughout life.
  • Growth is an aspect of development.
  • Changes occurred due to growth are observable and measurable.
  • The changes occurred due to growth takes place under natural principles.
  • Various parts of body become larger due to growth.
  • Increase in height, weight and structure is regarded as growth.
Development :-
  • Development is concerned with the qualitative changes.
  • Development may be looked upon as organization of all the parts which growth has produced.
  • development goes on continuously throughout the human life-span.
  • Development is an integrated whole which includes growth too.
  • The development changes cannot be measured scientifically.
  • Development changes are concerned with learning, experiences and observations of individual.
  • An organization is functions of various parts of body is observed due to development.
  • Development includes intelligence, social understanding, expertise in language and utilization of educational opportunities.

Define development and the salient principles or characteristics of development


Development refers to the changes an individual goes through from conception to death.

  • Development refers to the changes that begins at conception and continues through the life span. 
  • Development refers to orderly durable changes in a learner resulting from a combination of learning, experience, and maturation.
  • Development refers to the, ways people grow, adapt and change during their lifetime. 
  • Development is a process in Which not only quantitative changes are observed but also it is an integrated process in which different structures and their fictions are tried to comprehend with reference to each other. 
  • Development refers to, the process whereby a living thing transforms itself from a single cell into a vastly complicated multi-cellular organism. 
  • Development means orderly and adaptive change we go through from conception to death.
  • Development means the process involving all the orderly changes that occur during progress towards maturity. 


Since development is orderly and predictable, it seems essential to know the principles of development and developmental patterns. Knowledge of the principles of development, it becomes possible to predict which behavior and which development takes place at what age. If a baby does not show a particular behavior as
per the norm of development, the parents may take necessary steps to improve his development. Following are the fundamental principles of development :-

Development is a continual process : 

Development is a process which continues from conception to maturity. Of course, there are some visible differences in the rate of development of different parts of the human organism. It takes place at a slow but regular pace rather than by leaps and bounds. We Should keep into consideration that it is not always smooth and gradual. There  are some spurts in physical growth and psychological functioning as increase in height and weight and sudden improvement in problem-solving abilities during adolescence. It is commonly
observed that due to illness or psychological disorder, children do not grow as per the general norm of development but after recovery they improve and reach the expected standard of development by compensating the deficiency.

Development involves change : 

The process of development involves Changes from conception till death of an individual. Development refers to qualitative changes while growth involves quantitative changes. These changes are concerned with the change in size and structure of the body and the mental conditions. All the changes bring about development and growth. Changes in height, weight and internal organs are concerned with the physical development. But changes in perceptual capacity, leaning, thinking, reasoning and creative ability are concerned with the psychological development. Due to the process of development, old features are
replaced with the newer ones.

Development follows an orderly sequence : 

Though the individuals vary in the rate of growth and development but even then the development follows the universal orderly sequence. A high degree of similarity can be observed in the order in which various developments appear. The developmental psychologists have reported several directional trends in development. ‘Cephalocaudal sequence’ ‘Proximodistal sequence’ and ‘Locomotion sequence’ are the main developmental trends which rule the process of development and growth.

Development is an individualized process : 

All the individuals grow and develop in their own way. All the children vary in the rate of physical, social,
emotional, cognitive and intellectual development. If we observed the children of seven-year age group, we may notice remarkable differences in their height, weight, social attitudes and learning readiness. The developmental psychologists hold that children have different rate of development at different stages of age. The rate of growth is high in infancy and childhood but it slows down in the later growth stages. To Summarize, development is individualized in nature. It varies from person to person in some respects despite there are particular similarities in the process of development.

Development is a cumulative process : 

The developmental psychologists hold that development is a cumulative process. There are changes Which draw the attention of the. observers with their dramatic suddenness but actually they do not emerge all of a sudden. The child’s first word, first step and first emotional response are the results of cumulative progression. A child has continuously been preparing for performing these functions. Each change is the result of previous growth and experience. An individual, is a cumulative whole. All of his developmental changes provide grounds for Other changes. The chain of changes do not end or stop.

Development proceeds from general to specific : 

According to this principle of development, a child exhibits general responses and learns to exhibit specific and goal directed responses afterwards. For instance, a baby starts moving his arms in a general random movement but these general motor movements are converted into specific responses like grasping and handling. Similarly, when a newborn infant cries, his whole body is involved in this action but as he develops, it is limited to the vocal cords, facial expressions and eyes impressions. In: the development of language, the child begins with generalized response such as by calling all men daddy and all women mom but as he develops, he begins to use these names only for his father and mother. In short, a specific activity emerges from a general activity. All the developmental activities are first general in nature and then they become specific.

Development is predictable : 

The researches regarding development tell us that development is predictable. With the help of uniformity of pattern and sequence of development, a developmental psychologist, to a great extent, can forecast the
general nature and future behavior of the child in one or more aspects at any particular stage of his growth and development. That is why; a developmental pathologist discusses the general nature of development at different stages such as infancy, childhood, neo-adolescence, adolescence and maturity. At every stage of
development there are certain developmental changes which can be expected or predicted.

Development is an interactive process : 

The process of development involves an active interaction between the individual and environment. An organism inherits at the time of conception in the womb of the mother. After birth, physical and socio- psychological environment influences the development of an individual. Therefore, at every stage of growth and development, the behavior and personality make up of an individual is nothing but an end-product of the Constant interaction between the hereditary environment and environmental set up. To summarize, both heredity and environment influence the development of the organism. It is difficult to distinguish the contribution either of the two forces. To me, the role of heredity and environment is the developmental process is unquestionable. That is why; development is an interactive process.

Development is a correlated process : 

It is generally observed that there exists positive correlation amongst various aspects of development. For instance, there is a correlation between physical and cognitive development. Usually a healthy child enjoys a good mental health. An intelligent child has good health and capable of good social adjustment. On contrary, an inadequate physical or cognitive development may result in socially or emotionally maladjusted personality. Development of sexual behavior largely depends upon the growth and maturation of the sexual organs. Likewise, language development depends upon the development of speech organs. Learning depends upon the maturational development of brain and various parts of the body. That is why; all educational efforts are directed towards achieving harmonious development in all aspects of an individual’s personality.

Development is similar to all : 

Every normal human being grows and develops through a similar pattern and process of development. An individual creeps, crawls, sits and stands before he walks and runs. The language development of a baby starts from meaningless voices and babbling. Then he learns to utter meaningful sentences and at last he speaks in a scholarly manner. Every normal human being is subjected to the similarity in the process of development. The researchers have found no deviation anywhere to the general principles of development. Though there are individual differences in the rate of development yet there is no deviation in the general principles of growth and development.

There is a lack of uniformity in the rate of development : 

Though, development is a continual process yet it does not exhibit steadiness and uniformity in terms of the rate of development in various dimensions of personality. There are periods of accelerated growth and decelerated growth as well. During the first three years of infancy, the rate of growth and development become rapid. Then the rate of growth slows down which is again accelerated at the adolescence stage. Different internal organs like heart and liver develop slowly in childhood but grow very fast during adolescence. Intelligence also develops at different rate in different stages of human life. Similarly, neither of the parts of body grows at the same rate nor all aspects of cognitive development progress equally. Various aspects of development reach their maturity at different times.

Human Development


A new born baby has to be dependent on the environment around him. But as the time passes, he begins to sit, then to stand, then to walk and to run at last. At first, he just weeps but with the passage of time, smile begins to appear on his face. Then he expresses anger, love and hatred. At first, he cannot speak. Gradually, he begins to speak word and then utters broken sentences. Afterward, a time comes and he speaks the mother tongue fluently. At birth, his society is just confined to his parents, brothers and sisters. Gradually,
his contacts become larger and deeper. They expand from street to city. All these changes bring the child to the stage of maturity. In psychology, these changes are considered as ‘development’.

Development is a continual process beginning in the conception and ending with death. Although physical changes may be the most obvious, we also change socially, personally, cognitively, intellectually and educationally. The subject of human development has traditionally been the primary concern of educational psychologists. Most commonly the field is called developmental psychology. It focuses primarily on child development. Psychology itself is often defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental process. Development deals with how individuals change with time while remaining in some respects the same. In the present days, the field of life-span development has been multidisciplinary. It encompasses not only psychology but also biology, sociology and anthropology. A developmental psychologist should avoid the tendency to view the various academic disciplines as somehow separated into water tight departments. The academic disciplines are loosely defined. The borderlines are so, vague that a researcher gives little thought to whether he is invading discipline’s field of study. Such academic overlap encourages a freshness of approach and functions as a stimulus in advancing the frontiers of knowledge. A true researcher welcomes aid and collaboration from any qualified person where or not that person belongs to the same academic discipline.

Economic gains of education


The economic gains of education are concerned with the individual and collective economic development. These gains are closely related with the social stability. The individual and collective development is connected with the acquisition of these gains. The experts hold the following economic gains of education :-

Provision of skillful manpower : 

Provision of skillful manpower to the society is a significant economic gain of education. Acquisition of this gain can cause economic development and individual well-being. The skilled work force of a country plays a productive role in the economic development. Provision of competent and skilled men to the society i is the primary responsibility of education. An education system trains the individuals in conformity with the needs of the country. These skilled competent and trained men do their best for the overall development of the country and thereby make it a stronger, flourishing and prosperous one.

Economic development : 

Education is directly linked with the individual and collective economic development and stability. Education enables an individual to participate in the productive economic activities and thereby promote his standard of
living. When an individual’s standard of living is raised, he starts moving towards the individual economic growth and consequently collective economic development is ensured. Keeping in view the concern of economic development with education, this is the duty of the state to take necessary practical steps to educate and train the men of society so that economic backwardness may be eradicated.

Utilization of natural resources : 

The educationists hold that utilization of natural resources is one of the significant economic gain of education. This is the responsibility of education to enable the individuals to fully utilize the national natural resources. In this Way, the Grand National Products will increase. No nation can utilize their natural resources without an organized system of education established for the individuals. Education produces such skilled and professionally trained individuals who are capable of utilizing the natural resources for national welfare and promotion.

Promotion of economic opportunities : 

Promotion of economic opportunities is also a significant economic gain of education. The abundance in economic opportunities is closely linked with the abundance in employment opportunities. If there is no economic activity, there is no possibility of employment. Education opens new ways of development and economic stability. The individuals get benefit of new economic opportunities and thereby strengthen their economic conditions by means of the process of education.

Increase in individual and national income : 

Every system of education desires an increase in individual and national income. A developed system of education opens new ways of economic development. Education enables an individual to earn his livelihood in accordance with" his potentials and professional skills. In this way, his individual income increases. This very individual income causes an increase in the national income. The experts maintain that individual income is in fact, a national income and economic stability of an individual is the economic stability of the society in reality. When an individual is economically stable, this is the economic stability of the society in general

Rise in the standard of living : 

Betterment in the standard of living is another economic gain of education of today. Education increases and develops those abilities of the individual with which he becomes able to participate in the productive economic activities. In this way, the individual income and the purchase power increase. Increase in purchase power brings about rise in the standard of living which enables the individuals lead a prosperous life. 

Discuss the political gains of education


Man has established many institutions for the organization of collective life. ‘State’ is the most remarkable of all these. The state plays a valuable role in the formation of human life. It grants meaning to the social life. A healthy political system cannot be established in the society without education. Education provides organized foundation on which the society ensures its survival. It develops the political awareness of the individual and makes the useful citizens of the society. Education and politics are concomitant to each other. To me, following are the valuable political gains of education :-

Political insight : 

Education enables an individual to comprehend and solve the political problems. This is the fundamental right of every citizen to express his opinion. This is possible only if he has been politically trained in an organized
manner. Education cultivates critical and philosophical abilities in the individual which enable them to trace the positive solutions of the political problems.

Leadership : 

A good system of education ensures the provision of political leaders to the country. Education develops the leadership qualities in the individuals and then they are capable of performing the duty of leadership. Education enables the individuals to make political policies for the smooth running of the political affairs of the country. This is the only way for securing national stability and integrity.

Character formation : 

Education builds the character of the individuals in the light of national ideology and social values. After being education, the social and political character of an individual thus becomes the true follower of the national values and traditions. Then, we observe the national values in the character and conduct of the individual. A country needs sincere, industrious, honest, patriot and untiring persons to run the political affairs. This is the responsibility of education to provide such persons to the society.

Internationalization : 

Means of communication and the means of transportation have brought the countries of the world close to one another. All the citizens belonging to different countries are now considered the citizen of a single global
state. Education produces such individual who may understand the international affairs and thereby run the business of the state in a wisely manner. Education enables the individual to understand the modern changing international trends. This. is what we call cultivation of internationalization in the terminology of education.

National unity & stability : 

The destination of national unity and stability is achieved by means of education. Education makes the people aware of their cultural and nationalization heritage. The instruction of the Same curriculum. makes the people
united and . integrated. It produces the feelings of fraternity and mutual affection among of the people of the country. A feeling of patriotism is awakened in the hearts of the people through education. No country can get progress unless the citizens are united together because mutual differences cause political unrest.

Public opinion : 

Every government plans various projects of social welfare according to the pre-decided policies. The people of a country become aware of those policies through formal and non-formal education. In this way, various modes of education level the public opinion for the execution of those policies and the government succeeds in the acquisition of objectives. The experts hold that education is the most significant tool for leveling and Changing the public opinion.

Development of creativity : 

One of the significant aims of education is to produce the critical and creative abilities so that an individual may look into the political affairs seriously. The people having concerns with politics are usually confronted
with new conditions and circumstances. They have to look into various circumstances from a variety of angles. In these circumstances, the creative and critical abilities help the individual a lot. These abilities pave the way for all-round development of the individual and the society.

Define the concepts of 'evaluation', 'measurement' and 'assessment' And also explain the differences among them with examples

The concept of educational evaluation is not a discovery of the present age. Evaluation is a reality of our daily life. Every individual...