No two individuals are alike.

Each are influenced by different biological and environmental

makeup(Santrock,2008).Based on my study,I found out that biological and environmental factor
exerts influence on childrens cognitive and physical development.

There are many factors that affect physical development in childhood. They fall into two
primary categories, namely, biological aspects and environmental influences.First and
foremost,biological factors plays a biggest role in the physical development of the
children.Biological factors that affect physical development in childhood include heredity and
genetics. With regard to heredity and ethnicity, the physical attributes of a child are largely
determined by his or her parents. For instance, if there is a family history of fat stature, chances
are the child will not grow thinner.This can be proved when, one of the students is obese
whereas another one looked thin. When I interviewed the obese student, he said that his father
is also obese and another said that his father is thin. The obese student cannot contribute in
physical activity actively. This is because his body weight does not support him to participate.
He easily feel tired. From here, we can see that how genetic plays an important role in
developing the physical development the children. Children develop motor skills for large
motions including walking, grouped into the gross movement category, and smaller actions such
as eye movement,writing classified as fine motor skills.For example,student A is left handed
because one of his parents is left handed. Therefore,biological factor is the main factor which
influence physical development of the children.

The environmental factors such as family and school plays an important role in children`s
physical development.This is because parents should monitor what are the food that eaten by
children. The family background of the obese student, his father own a restaurant. In the
interview, he said that he likes to eat heavy food such fried rice, `Mee rojak` ,chicken rice and so
on in his father`s restaurant every day. We can see that the proportion of food he consume
everyday is heavy. Physical development is dependent on the kind of food that we eat and how
much of it that we consume. Nutrition is essential to healthy physical development of the
children. Healthy children who continually receive proper nutrition will thrive developmentally,
while malnourished children may suffer problems in physical development. It is important for the
parents to promote healthy eating habits and to teach their children how to make good food
choices. Routinely eating unhealthy foods like junk food and fast food contributes to obesity and

diabetes, which can impede normal physical development in a variety of different ways.This can
be clearly seen from student B who is obese because he always eats unhealthy foods. Similarly,
if a child does not receive a sufficient amount of vitamins and other nutrients in his or her early
years, the body will not be able to grow properly. This is a tremendous problem and readily
apparent in parts of the world plagued by malnutrition.For instance,student A is very thin
because his body is lack of nutrients.It is because he is from a poor family and his family cannot
afford to provide him with good food.Moreover, exercise promotes healthy physical
development.Family should involve in outdoor activities with the children like biking or shooting
hoops,jogging to keep children bodies fit.Student A is as fit as fiddle because he used to do
exercise and go for cycling with his family members.However,student B is fat and not fit
because he does not do exercises since his parents are busy doing business,having
restaurant.As a conclusion,parents should make sure that their children is following healthy
eating habit and doing physical exercises regularly so that the children will not face problem in
their physical development.

Further more,school teacher`s are role model to students. To develop the gross motor skills
and fine motor skills teachers are the key to students in middle childhood category. At the age of
8 years old,children are beginning to improve coordination, control, manipulation and
movement.From the survey,I noticed that during this time period children are very active
exploring their environment and learning how to control their bodies in order to achieve success
in certain games, sports or skills.For a example,student A and B were willing to learn how to tie
the rope of their shoes.I also noticed that student B tried to hop on one foot eventhough he
faced some difficulties in doing that because of his body weight.Teachers must provide them
with many opportunities to practice and master all of the skills and abilities that they are know
learning. The more enriching and challenging the environment the greater the chances for
learning and improving (Zembar,M.J, Blume,L.B.(2009).Hence, teachers should implement
appropriate activities such as physical exercises to develop the students gross motor skills.
According to the previous study,there was an activity which both the two students have to jump
about 30 centimetres vertically, and their participation was very good. The obese student also
taking part actively in this activity although he knows that his body do not support to jump
broadly. Moreover,lessons should emphasize on exercising fine motor skills.Students who are 8
years old could be instructed to cut on the line with scissors and colour-in neatly not because it
looks nice, but to exercise fine motor skills.The development of young childrens fine motor skills

allows them to draw well.To make sure the motor development, teachers should give students a
positive context by providing them a work space where they dont have to be worried about
being messy or damaging things. For an example, in case study the students were asked to
draw a picture of apple to develop their fine motor skills. Both of the students were enjoying
doing although they do not know how to draw properly. Their fine motor skills are getting much
more refined and we may observe them tying their shoes, lacing and threading, writing and
drawing (San Ramon, R.G.2010).Teachers also responsible in educating the students on
healthy eating habits.This will help to motivate student A who is very thin to take food with
nutrients and student B who is obese to take less amount of unhealthy food.Students being like
sponge and they always absorb what the teachers teach them.

In certain extent biological factor exerts influence on children`s cognitive development.

This is because Jean Piaget`s theory viewed that children can learn many things on their own
without the intervention of older adults such as parents, teachers. In this study, the genetic
factor plays a crucial role in cognitive development.This is because he thought that because
children can construct their own knowledge from experimenting on the world.Genetic is what
that have been half inherited by the mother and the father in the form of gene. Gene is also
affects the character and mental intelligence or IQ of an individual (Whitaker et al, 1997).
Cognitive development is also influenced by the hereditary traits; one gets from his parents. For
an example,student A is good in memorizing the facts and he can think critically while student B
is not.This is because their development is similar to their parents cognitive development.
Obviously, we can see the genetic plays a vital in judging students cognitive development
because everything depends on students natural ability to memorise. Without the strong
genetic influence, the environmental factor cannot help the students to memorise.

Next, cognitive development also influenced by environmental factor which is school and
family.A
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School teacher are responsible to educate the students.Moreover, moral values are also instils
in the students where teachers tried to shape the childs behaviour through motivational

wordings that are display at school. For an example, in previous study there was an activity
which both the students have to solve the simple mathematical question such as subtraction,
addition and multiplication. In this activity, a boy had done well in mathematics although he was
from a poor background. However, another boy who his father owned a restaurant,doing
business and he could not know how to solve the simple mathematics.This can prove that the
teacher`s guide is important to solve the mathemathical operations.In school, students will learn
something new and gain knowledge everyday and teachers play an important role in teaching
the students to think.Teachers also teaches the students to read and write.For example,student
A and student B think when I asked them to write 5 sentences on the topic My
Father.Moreover,when the teachers teach in class,the student pay attention and they think
about it so that they can recall it when doing exercise.Student A and B also learnt to draw the
picture of an apple in school.When the teacher asked them to draw the picture,they immediately
understands and image is formed in their mind.They sketched a circle with the guidance of the
teacher and finally they recognize the shape of the apple.They become imaginative. This factor
has supported by Vygotsky theory. Vygotsky`s method which are `scaffolding` and zone of
proximal development emphasised the importance of relationship and interactions between
children and more knowledgeable peers and adults.We can conclude that, the cognitive
development is influenced by both biological and environmental factor.

No two children develop in the same way. Similarly, no two children will react to biological
and environmental factors in exactly the same way either.In conclusion, there are many factors
that can be considered to have a major influence on the physical and cognitive development of
a child. Theorists suggest that the reason for this is that we are influenced by the confines of our
environment, with factors such as culture, nutrition and the opportunities for experience shaping
our physical make up, and allowing us time to build the necessary knowledge and skills to
survive in a complex society of modern life.