Understanding Development: Orderly and Progressive Changes

The question asks for the term that describes orderly and progressive changes in a human being brought about by maturation and experience. Let's look at the options to understand which term fits this description best.

• Growth: Growth primarily refers to quantitative changes, such as an increase in size, height, or weight. While it is a part of the overall process, it doesn't fully capture the qualitative shifts and organizational changes that occur.
• Development: Development is a broader term that encompasses both quantitative and qualitative changes. It refers to the orderly and progressive changes that occur throughout a person's life span as a result of both maturation (biological processes unfolding over time) and experience (interactions with the environment and learning). These changes lead to increased complexity and improved functioning.
• Physical changes: This option is too specific. While physical changes like growth are part of development, development also includes cognitive, emotional, social, and moral changes.
• Mental changes: This option is also too specific. Mental or cognitive changes are a significant aspect of development, but development is a holistic process involving many different domains, not just the mental one.

The definition provided in the question perfectly matches the definition of development. Development is a continuous process where changes happen in a sequence (orderly) and lead towards greater capability or complexity (progressive). These changes are driven by our biological ripening (maturation) and what we learn and experience from the world around us (experience).

Therefore, the term that describes orderly and progressive changes in a human being due to maturation and experience is development.