Arnold Gesell's Theory of Maturation

Arnold Gesell's Theory of Maturation

By: Nicole Argueta, Ly Nguyen, Carmen Yu, Marie-Soleil Reid and Italia Caeser

What was his theory?

Development is based on the child's genetic makeup; his studies showed that there is a pattern to the growth of the characteristics and capabilities and that they are only slightly influenced by the environment. The observations taken by his studies at Yale University led to the belief of benchmarks, average ages at which a child learns to sit, walk or talk. This has been questioned as the studies focused mainly on children of the same social and cultural background. Because of this, these benchmarks only apply to those in that social/cultural group. Gesell was the first theorist to express the idea that children develop in stages as opposed to age.

What can we conclude from this?

Who is Arnold Gesell?

What are the stages of development?

Arnold focused on the different aspects of development for children such as: motor characteristics, personal hygiene, emotional expression, fears and dreams, self and sex, interpersonal relations, play and pastimes, school life, ethical sense and philosophic outlook. Gesell's philosophy of maturation is an important early childhood educational philosophy. This philosophy articulates that children are growing organisms, and the traditional way of educating children with information is not as beneficial as supporting growth through the child's self-exploration.

The growth of the child depends on their stage of development of learning. Each stage of development has its own unique aspects and states of equilibrium. From the earliest stage to oldest: smooth (equilibrium), breaking up (disequilibrium), rounded (equilibrium), inwardized (disequilibrium), expansive (equilibrium) and troubled (disequilibrium).

Born on June 21st, 1880 in Alma, Wisconsin. He was a pediatrician and psychologist before attending Clark University in Worcester, MA when he became interested in the development of children. Gesell received his doctorate from Clark University in 1906, then later went on to study at the Yale Psycho-Clinic in New Haven, CT. He received his M.D from Yale in 1915 which he used to pursue in his passion in child development. He passed away in 1961 at the age of 81.

References

Arnold Gesell: Biography and Theory of Child Development. Cycles of equilibrium and disequilibrium. (2003-2015)

Arnold Gesell: Biography & Theory of Child Development

http://study.com/academy/lesson/arnold-gesell-biography-theory-of-child-development.html, (2013-2015)

Growth and Development Theory: ARNOLD GESELL (1880-1961)

http://schoolworkhelper.net/growth-and-development-theory-arnold-gesell-1880-%E2%80%93-1961/, St. Rosemary Education Institution (2010-2015)

Linde, S. (2015). Arnold L. Gesell: Biography & Theory of child development. http://bit.ly/1MqoqKv

Wittmer, D. Peterson, S. & Pukett, M., (3013). The Young Child: Development from prebirth through age eight. (6th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education.

Gesell's spiral-like pattern illustrates his idea that developmental stages would vary in rate of learning. This comes back to the idea that children phase between periods of plateaus and rapid growth and learning. These are the stages of equilibrium, which are the plateau periods where growth is slower, and during disequilibrium, learning is more rapid.