Life Stages: GCSE Revision Notes

Comprehensive GCSE revision vocabulary flashcards covering the five life stages, growth vs. development, PILES, puberty, ageing, and stages of play.

Infancy

The life stage spanning from $0$ to $2\,\text{years}$ of age.

Childhood

The life stage spanning from $3$ to $10\,\text{years}$ of age.

Adolescence

The life stage spanning from $11$ to $18\,\text{years}$ of age.

Adulthood

The life stage spanning from $19$ to $65\,\text{years}$ of age.

Later Adulthood

The life stage spanning from $65+\,\text{years}$ of age.

Growth

An increase in measurable physical size, mass, height, or weight over time.

Development

The progressive process of gaining skills, abilities, knowledge, and understanding as a person grows and experiences life across the lifespan.

PILES

An acronym representing the five interlinked areas of human development: Physical, Intellectual, Language, Emotional, and Social.

Gross Motor Skills

Physical skills that involve whole body movements and require control of larger muscles, needed for actions such as walking, hopping, or balancing.

Fine Motor Skills

Physical skills involving manipulative movements made with fingers and control over small muscles, needed for activities such as playing an instrument, sewing, or writing.

Self-Esteem

An aspect of emotional development defined as a person's confidence and self-worth.

Self-Regulation

An emotional development skill that involves managing one's own emotions.

Attachment

An area of emotional development defined as the process of forming bonds.

Puberty

A period of physical change during adolescence where hormones cause the body to mature and become capable of reproduction.

Primary Sexual Characteristics

Changes and physical characteristics that directly involve reproductive organs and functions, such as the testes beginning to produce sperm and the start of menstruation.

Secondary Sexual Characteristics

Physical changes that develop during puberty not directly involved in reproduction, such as breast development, voice deepening, body shape changes, and the growth of pubic and underarm hair.

Ageing Process

A gradual and lifelong process in later adulthood characterized by physical, sensory, and cognitive changes such as reduced bone density, loss of skin elasticity, and decline in memory.

Unoccupied Play

A stage of play where a child is not engaged in a clear activity, but may make movements or observe what is around them.

Solitary Play

A stage of play where a child plays alone and focuses entirely on their own activity.

Onlooker Play

A stage of play where a child watches other children playing and may speak with them, but does not join in.

Parallel Play

A stage of play where children play alongside each other, often using similar toys, but do not coordinate their play.

Associative Play

A stage of play where children interact, talk, or share materials, while each child may still have their own goal.