3. Physical Changes
Growth and Motor Development From 6 to 12
General growth
Large muscle coordination
Fine motor control
Eye-hand coordination improvement
How did you grow during middle childhood?
4. Physical Changes
Growth and Motor Development From 6 to 12
Gender Differences
Girls:
Faster in overall growth rate
Slightly more fat and less muscle
Better coordination
Boys:
Boys faster and stronger
5. The Brain and Nervous System
Major Middle Childhood Growth Spurts
From 6 to 8 years: Increases in the
sensory and motor cortex
From 10 to 12 years: Frontal lobes and
cerebral cortex add synapses
7. Cognitive Changes
The Brain and Nervous System
Spatial perception lateralization
Improves learning math concepts and
problem-solving
Spatial cognition
Ability to infer rules from and make
predictions about movements of objects
in space
8. Cognitive Changes
Health and Wellness
Rate and Type of Injury Changes with Age
Head injuries
Motor vehicles and bicycles
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
Reduced by helmet usage
9. Cognitive Changes
Health and Wellness
Asthma: Chronic disease that causes airways
to become sore and swollen
Causes
Allergens, irritants, weather, exercise,
infections
Consequences
Most frequent cause of school absence
10. Health and Wellness
Obesity
Obesity: Excess body fat that has adverse
effect on health
Most serious long-term health risk of middle
childhood
Affecting nearly 1 in 5 children
Associated with adult obesity
Let’s look at the prevalence of overweight
children over time.
12. Cognitive Changes
Language
During the school-aged years, children:
Demonstrate improved grammar skills and
pronunciation
Engage in conversation with many ages
Increase in vocabulary, especially derived
words
14. Cognitive Changes
Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
Concrete Operational Stage: Thinking
logically about concrete concepts but have
difficulty understanding abstract or
hypothetical concepts
School-aged children:
Understand rules that govern physical reality
Distinguish between appearance and reality
Utilize a set of powerful schemas
16. Figure 9.3 An Example of Concrete Operational
Thinking
17. Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
Direct Tests of Piaget’s View
Horizontal decalage: Applying new thinking to
all kinds of problems
Conservation: Ability to logically determine
certain quantity remains same despite
adjustment of container, shape, or apparent
size
Let’s see how children perform on tests of
conservation.
19. Direct Tests of Piaget’s View
Siegler
Concrete Operations as Rules for Problem
Solving
Siegler
Cognitive development consists of
acquiring a set of basic rules applied to
broader ranges of problems.
Movement from one rule to next requires
experience.
This approach is a cross between Piaget’s
and information processing theories.
21. Advances in Information Processing Skills
Processing Efficiency
Processing efficiency: Ability to make efficient
use of short-term memory capacity
Major component of cognitive growth
Increases speed of cognitive processing
Change validated with cross-cultural
research
22. Advances in Information Processing Skills
Automaticity
Automaticity: Ability to recall information from
long term memory without using short term
memory capacity
Frees up short-term memory space for more
complex processing
Achieved primarily through practice
23. Advances in Information Processing Skills
Executive and Strategic Processes
Executive processes: Information processing
skills allowing a person to devise and carry
out alternative strategies for remembering
and problem solving
Metacognition: “thinking about thinking”
Memory strategies
24. Advances in Information Processing Skills
Expertise
Expertise: Amount of information possessed
improves information processing
Categorize information in complex and
hierarchical ways
Stirs capacity for creativity
Chi research
25. Schooling
Overview
Every society seeks ways of teaching
children skills needed in adulthood.
In U.S., formal education is one of most
important influence on cognitive
development in middle childhood.
26. Schooling
Literacy: Ability to read and write
Phonological awareness
Balanced approach utilizes systematic
and explicit phonics instruction
Sound-symbol connections and explicit
language mechanics instruction
Curriculum flexibility
27. Second-Language Learners
Limited English Proficient (LEP): Limited ability to
read, write, speak, or understand English
English Language Learners (ELL): Limited English
proficiency prevents full participation in regular
education classes
By 2008, one-half of all U.S. classrooms had one or
more ELL or LEP students
28. Second-Language Learners
Programs and services provided
Bilingual education
ESL
Home-school programs
No single approach is most successful
Any structured program better than
submersion
Transition to English-only program is
necessary
29. Achievement and Intelligence Tests
Standardized tests: Individual performance
determined by comparing score to average
score obtained from large sample of similar
individuals
Kinds of tests
Achievement tests
Paper and pencil intelligence tests
30. Yes or No?
IQ tests should be used as the primary or only
criteria for placing children in educational
programs.
32. Which theory describes intelligence better –
multiple intelligences or the triarchic theory?
Why?
Obesity is becoming a major problem in the
U.S. What can a parent do to help an obese
child or to help a child avoid becoming
obese?
Questions To PonderQuestions To PonderQuestions To PonderQuestions To Ponder
33. Schooling
Group Differences in Achievement
Sex differences
No consistent differences between boys
and girls on total IQ or achievement test
scores
Differences shaped by interaction
between biology and environmental
factors
34. Schooling
Group Differences in Achievement
Ethnic differences
Problems associated with economic status;
access to prenatal care; family stability
Style differences
Analytic
Relational
35. Schooling
Cross Cultural Differences in Achievement
U.S. children significantly behind
industrialized nation peers in math and
science
North American parents emphasize
innate ability; Asians emphasize hard
work
Teaching methods vary
Studies may be measuring surface rather
than subtle variations
36. Children with Special Needs
Overview
13% of all U.S. children receive some kind of
special education
See Table 9.4 for a list of disabilities for
which U.S. children receive special
education services
One of the growing categories of disabilities
include learning disabilities
37. Children with Special Needs
Learning Disabilities
Learning disabilities: Disorder in which child has
difficulty in mastering specific academic skill, even
though she or he possesses normal intelligence and no
physical or sensory handicap.
38. Children with Special Needs
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHD: Neurobiological disorder characterized
by developmentally inappropriate impulsivity,
inattention, and, in some cases,
hyperactivity
Causes
Cultural factors
Treatment
Editor's Notes
Grow 2 – 3 inches and add 6 pounds a year
Increased large-muscle coordination
Better hand-eye coordination
Significant gains in fine motor control
Girls – by age 12: 94% of adult height attained
Boys –by age 12: 84% of adult height attained
Grow 2 – 3 inches and add 6 pounds a year
Increased large-muscle coordination
Better hand-eye coordination
Significant gains in fine motor control
Girls – by age 12: 94% of adult height attained
Boys –by age 12: 84% of adult height attained
From 6 to 8 years
Increases in the sensory and motor cortex
Linked to improvements in hand-eye coordination
Fine motor skills
From 10 to 12 years
Frontal lobes and cerebral cortex add synapses
Associated with gains in logic and planning
Better myelinization of frontal lobes and reticular formation are important. The ability to pay attention is essential for the child to take advantage of improvements in frontal lobe functions.
Selective attention – the ability to focus cognitive activity on the important elements of a problem or situation.
Frontal lobes and reticular formation links improve
12 year olds develop selective attention--focused
Associational area neurons
Sensory, motor, and intellectual functions are linked.
Contributes to increases in information-processing speed
Spatial perception lateralization
Helps with activities such as map reading
Improves learning math concepts and problem-solving
Spatial cognition
Ability to infer rules from and make predictions about movements of objects in space
Includes left-right orientation
Affected by visual experiences
Rate and type of injury changes with age
Head Injuries
Motor vehicles and bicycles
Majority of children recover fully
Education is the first defense followed by daily medication. As children grow and their lung capacity increases, asthma attacks lessen. ½ of children continue with problems throughout life.
Asthma appears around 5 – 7; responsible for more than 11 million school absences each year in U.S.
Education is the first defense followed by daily medication. As children grow and their lung capacity increases, asthma attacks lessen. Hald of children continue with problems throughout life.
Most serious long-term health risk of middle childhood
Nearly 1 in 5 children is obese
Use of BMI (Body Mass Index) for Age
Associated with adult obesity
Requires special diets and increased exercise to lose weight
Prevalence of obesity in U.S. has grown at alarming rate over last five decades
During the school-aged years, children:
Become skilled at managing finer points of grammar
Able to engage in conversation with many ages
Increase in vocabulary, especially derived words
Increase of 5000-10,000 words per year!
Use different tenses to describe past experiences.
Add new vocabulary at 5,000 to 10,000 words a year.
Derived words – words that have a basic root to which some prefix or suffix is added, such as happily or unwanted.
Anglin’s estimates illustrate the largest gain between third and fifth grade occurs in knowledge of derived words
Can easily solve conservation tasks
Construction of schemes that enable children to think logically
Decentration: taking multiple variables into account
Reversibility: mentally undoing a physical or mental transformation
Inductive logic
Moving from personal experience to a general principles
Good at manipulating things that can be seen and touched
Can easily solve conservation tasks
Construction of schemes that enable children to think logically
Decentration: taking multiple variables into account
Reversibility: mentally undoing a physical or mental transformation
Inductive logic
Moving from personal experience to a general principles
Good at manipulating things that can be seen and touched
Decentration – thinking that takes multiple variations into accounts.
Reversibility – the ability to mentally undo some kind of physical or mental transformation.
Ask: What aspects of concrete operational thought do you find in this fifth graders response to a hypothetical premise?
Conservation of mass (7 years)
Conservation of weight (8 years)
Conservation of volume (9 years)
Example of Siegler’s concepts of rules.
Balance scale – Figure 9.4
Rule 1 – preoperational rule – taking into account only one dimension.
Rule 2 – transitional rule – child still judges on the basis of number, except when the same number of weights appears on each side;in that case, the child takes a distance from the fulcrum into account.
Rule 3 – concrete operational rule – the child tries to take both distance and weight into account simultaneously, except that when the information is conflicting, the child simply guesses.
Rule 4 – understanding the actual formula for calculating the combined effect of weight and distance for each side of the balance. – foraml operations thinking.
Children got better in all five tasks over 3 year period. What else do you see?
Balance scale – Figure 9.5
Rule 1 – preoperational rule – taking into account only one dimension.
Rule 2 – transitional rule – child still judges on the basis of number, except when the same number of weights appears on each side; in that case, the child takes a distance from the fulcrum into account.
Rule 3 – concrete operational rule – the child tries to take both distance and weight into account simultaneously, except that when the information is conflicting, the child simply guesses.
Rule 4 – understanding the actual formula for calculating the combined effect of weight and distance for each side of the balance – formal operations thinking.
Elementary school children who have automatized basic math facts learn complex computational skills more rapidly.
See Table 9.2 for more information related to common IP strategies used in remembering
Michelene Chi – expert chess players can remember the placement of chess pieces on a board more quickly and accurately than novice chess players – even when the experts were children and the novices were adults.
Phonological awareness increases
Readers benefit from specific instruction
Automaticity of identifying sound–symbol combinations helps
Balanced approach includes Guided Reading
Poor readers
Have problems with sound-letter combinations
Benefit from highly specific phonics approaches
May need multiple teaching approaches to help catch up
Some participate in bilingual education
Instruction given in two languages
English-as-a-second-language programs (ESL)
Children spend part of the day in classes to learn English
Using a home-component helps
Helps support children’s home language and culture
Providing a transition to English-only classrooms helps LEP students
Some participate in bilingual education
Instruction given in two languages
English-as-a-second-language programs (ESL)
Children spend part of the day in classes to learn English
Using a home-component helps
Helps support children’s home language and culture
Providing a transition to English-only classrooms helps LEP students
Achievement tests
Designed to assess specific information learned in school
Some critics suggest portfolios of children’s school work is better indicator of actual school learning
Paper and pencil intelligence tests
Required by most U.S. school districts
Often result in misclassification of minority students
Strongly correlated with achievement test scores
Discuss opinions.
Multiple Intelligences – Howard Gardner
Intuitively appealing but little empirical support
Triarchic Theory – Robert Sternberg
Contextual intelligence
Experiential intelligence
Componential intelligence
Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman
Children’s control over emotions in early childhood strongly related to academic achievement
Howard Gardner (page 244)
Linguistics – using language effectively
Logical-mathematical – numbers and logical problem solving
Musical – appreciation and production of music
Spatial – works of art and paintings
Bodily kinesthetic – ability to move in a coordinated way
Naturalist – fine discriminations among plants and animals
Interpersonal – sensitivity to moods, behaviors, and needs of others
Intrapersonal – ability to understand oneself
Robert Sternberg
Contextual intelligence – knowing the right behavior for a particular situation
Experiential intelligence – measured by IQ tests – how familiar a child is with the school culture
Componential intelligence – a person’s ability to come up with specific strategies
Emotional Intelligence
awareness of one’s own emotions
the ability to express one’s emotions appropriately
capacity to channel emotions into the pursuit of worthwhile goals
No consistent differences between boys and girls on total IQ or achievement test scores
Girls slightly better on verbal tasks
Boys slightly better on numerical reasoning
Differences shaped by environmental factors
Parent and teacher assumptions about skills
Children internalize beliefs of others
By high school, differences in standardized math tests are apparent
Ethnic differences
Problems associated with economic status; access to prenatal care; family stability
Style differences
Analytic
Define learning goals and follow orderly steps to reach them
Relational
Focus attention on the “big picture” instead of individual bits of information
Higher percentage Asian American and European American children are analytic
More African American, Hispanic, and Native American children are relational
Lack of good cultural fit may cause school problems
U.S. children significantly behind industrialized nation peers in math and science
Underlying cognitive processes are similar
North American parents emphasize innate ability; Asians emphasize hard work
Teaching methods vary
Asian teachers emphasize “master lessons” around a single theme
Asians emphasize computational fluency
Americans may undermine intrinsic motivation by poor use of reward systems
Asian teachers have devised particularly effective modes of teaching math and sciences according to research done by Stigler and Stevenson.
Japanese and Chinese craft master lessons organized around a single theme and involving specific forms of student participation.
Americans spend less time on one topic, often shifting from one concept to the next within the same lesson.
Computational fluency – the degree to which an individual can automatically produce solutions to simple calculation problems.
So..may be related to variations in cultural beliefs and teaching methods
Learning disabilities – difficulty in mastering a specific academic skill – most often reading despite possessing normal intelligence and no physical or sensory handicaps.
Learning disabilities – difficulty in mastering a specific academic skill – most often reading despite possessing normal intelligence and no physical or sensory handicaps.
Dyslexia- skill deficit specific to reading
May have trouble understanding sound and structure of language
Reciprocal teaching – working in pairs or groups
Inclusion: at least part of school day in regular classroom
If more than 2 years behind other children in grade, classified as learning disabled.
Causes
Neurological Differences
Functional differences in the right hemisphere.
Serotonin function is impaired.
Children born 24 – 31 weeks of gestation are 4 to 6 times as likely to suffer symptoms of ADHD.
Require more sensory stimulation than peers.
Cultural factors
Rare outside the U.S.
Parents lose confidence in their abilities
Become permissive or overly harsh
May be helped by parental training programsHelp regain a sense of controlReceive daily feedback from schoolReinforce specific rules
Stimulant medications
Ritalin
Use may have self-fulfilling prophesy effect
May not improve grades