The document covers the cognitive and moral development of children during middle childhood, focusing on concepts like Piaget's concrete operational stage, cognitive advances such as spatial thinking and reasoning, and moral judgments. It discusses the role of language development, schooling challenges, and developmental disorders such as ADHD and learning disabilities, as well as the influence of factors like culture and environment on school success and intelligence. Theories on multiple intelligences and teaching strategies emphasize the complexity and diversity of children's cognitive abilities.

1. COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Thinking
Moral Reasoning
Memory & Mnemonics
Information-Processing Skills
Intelligence
Language
School Achievement
1

2. PIAGETIAN APPROACH
THE CONCRETE OPERATIONAL CHILD
When children use mental operations, such as
reasoning to solve actual problems, children
enter the stage of concrete operations.
2

3. COGNITIVE
ADVANCESABILITIES EXAMPLE
1. Spatial Thinking Directions
2. Causality (Cause & Effect) Balance Scale
3. Categorization
(shape, color, number, length, weight, etc.)
 Class Inclusion
 Seriation
 Transitive Inference
Flowers & Roses
Order, Arrangements
A>B>C, then A>C
3

4. All of these are flowers.
Which is more in number?
ROSES? or FLOWERS?
CLASS INCLUSION
4

5. Arrange according to length.
From longest to shortest
SERIATION
5

6. A > B > C, then A > C
TRANSITIVE
INFERENCE
then
6

7. COGNITIVE
ADVANCESABILITIES EXAMPLE
4. Inductive & Deductive
Reasoning
Particular & General
Premises
5. Conservation
Principle of Identity
Principle of Reversibility
Decentering
Clay
6. Number & Mathematics Counting in the head
7

8. 8

9. Decentering &
Reversibility
9

10. So, during middle childhood, cognitive
advances continue and the development
of concrete operational skills becomes
more established.
• Children at this stage can
understand such concepts
as relationships between
time and speed…
10

11. At the beginning of the concrete operational
stage, kids reason that the 2 cars on these
routes are traveling the same speed even though
they arrive at the same time. Later, they realize
the correct relationship between speed &
distance.
11

12. COGNITIVE
ADVANCESABILITIES EXAMPLE
4. Inductive & Deductive
Reasoning
Particular & General
Premises
5. Conservation
Principle of Identity
Principle of Reversibility
Decentering
Clay
6. Number & Mathematics Counting in the head
12

13. Examples:
1.) 5 + 5 =
2.) You went to a fruit store with P15.00.
You bought 2 apples for P4.00 each.
You received a change.
How much did you receive?
ANSWER:
10 – 2(4) = 2
13

14. • Despite the obvious advances
that occur during the
concrete operational stage,
children still experience a big
limitation in their thinking:
They are still tied to concrete
physical reality!
(no understanding of
abstract/hypothetical/logic)
14

15. Moral Development
QUESTION: WHO’s NAUGHTIER?WHO’s NAUGHTIER?
DANIEL HARRY
INK BLOTINK BLOT
ON THE TABLEON THE TABLE
IMMATUREIMMATURE
MORALMORAL
JUDGEMENTS:JUDGEMENTS:
DEGREE OF
OFFENSE:
MOREMORE
DEGREE OF
OFFENSE:
LESSLESS
MATURE MORALMATURE MORAL
JUDGEMENTS:JUDGEMENTS:
INTENT:
UNINTENTIONAUNINTENTIONA
LL
INTENT:
INTENTIONALINTENTIONAL
15

16. 3 STAGES OF MORAL
REASONING
1st
Stage (approximately ages 2 – 7)
*RIGID OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY*
-egocentric
-rules cannot be bent or changed
-behavior is wither right or wrong
-any offense deserves punishment,
regardless of intent
16

17. 3 STAGES OF MORAL
REASONING
2nd
Stage (ages 7 or 8 to 10 or 11)
*INCREASING FLEXIBILITY*
-wider range of viewpoints
-discard the idea: absolute right&wrong
-sense of justice based on fairness or
equal treatment for all
-more subtle moral judgements
17

18. 3 STAGES OF MORAL
REASONING
3rd Stage (around age 11 0r 12)
*EQUITY*
-taking specific circumstances
into account
end of Piagetian approach 18

19. • Encoding Recorded in memory
(Keyboard)
• Storage Saved in memory
(on hard drive)
• Retrieved Brought into awareness
(on screen)
INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH
(Planning, Attention, and Memory)
19

20. INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH
(Planning, Attention, and Memory)
Children in middle childhood make
steady progress in the abilities to
regulate and sustain attention, process
and retain information, & plan and
monitor their behavior.
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION which is the
conscious control of thoughts, emotions,
and actions to accomplish goals or solve
problems.
20

21. INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH
(Planning, Attention, and Memory)
The development of the Executive Function
accompanies the development of the brain,
in particular, the prefrontal cortex
(planning, judgment, and decision making).
Unneeded synapses are pruned away and
pathways become myelinated, processing
speed.
Home environment also contributes to
the development of the executive skills.
21

22. MNEMONICS:
Strategies For Remembering
4 COMMON MEMORY STRATEGIES
STRATEGY DEFINITION EXAMPLE
External
Memory
Aids
Prompting by
something outside the
person
Making a list of
something you have to
do today
Rehearsal Conscious repetition Memorizing notes by
saying it over and over
again
Organization Grouping by
categories
Recalling animals in
the zoo first in
mammals, reptiles,
amphibians, fish, then
birds
Elaboration Associating items to
be remembered with
something else
(phrase, scene, or
story)
Colors of the rainbow:
(ROY G. BIV)
Music: (E,G,B,D,F)
Every Good Boy Does Fine 22

23. PSYCHOMETRIC
APPROACH:
Assessment of Intelligence
23

24. IQ Tests
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for Children (WISC-III)
A test for children (6-16) that provides
separate measures of verbal and
performance (nonverbal) skills as well
as a total score.
• Otis-Lennon School Ability
Test (OLSAT8)
A test for kindergarten through 12th
grade.
24

25. The IQ Controversy
ACTIVITY: DEBATE
Group or Representative
• Group yourselves into 2
• 1 Group for “FOR IQ TESTS”
• 1 Group for “AGAINST IQ TESTS”
25

26. The IQ Controversy
ACTIVITY: DEBATE
“IQ TESTS ACCURATELY ASSESS
CHILDREN’S INTELLIGENCE”
You are given 5 minutes to think it over
before the debate will start.
3 minutes to speak your argument.
26

27. The IQ Controversy
START
27

28. INFLUENCES ON INTELLIGENCE
1. Influences of Brain Development
2. Influence of Schooling
3. Influences of Race/Ethnicity and
SES
4. Influence of Culture
28

29. Is There More Than One
Intelligence?
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
by
HOWARD GARDNER
And
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
by
Robert Sternberg
29

30. INTELLIGENCE DEFINITION FIELDS
Verbal/Linguistic
(Word Smart)
Ability to use & understand words
and nuances of meaning
Writing, editing,
translating
Logical-
Mathematical
(Number Smart)
Ability to manipulate numbers and
solve logical problems
Science, business,
medicine
Visual/Spatial
(Picture Smart)
Ability to find one’s way around in an
environment & judge relationships
between objects in space
Architecture, carpentry,
city planning
Interpersonal
(People Smart)
Ability to understand and
communicate with others
Teaching, acting, politics
Musical
(Music Smart)
Ability to perceive & create patterns
of pitch and rhythm
Musical composition,
conducting
Naturalist
(Nature Smart)
Ability to distinguish species and their
characteristics
Hunting, fishing, farming,
gardening, cooking
Bodily-Kinesthetic
(Body Smart)
Ability to move with precision Dancing, athletics,
surgery
Intrapersonal
(Myself Smart)
Ability to understand the self Counseling, psychiatry,
spiritual leadership
Howard Gardner
30

31. 31
Interpretation:
What intelligences are above the line?
What intelligences are below the line?
Are any intelligences above the line more dominant than others?
Are they all much the same?
Read the descriptions for all intelligence types. Do you agree?
Intelligences above the line indicate preferred intelligences, whereas
intelligences below the line are the ones that you don't show any
preference towards and would be considered 'uncharacteristic for you'.
It's not unusual to have 3 intelligences with a similar strength.
In this case, it just shows that you are 'well balanced’ from an intelligence
point of view and exhibit characteristics of several intelligence types.

32. TRIARCHIC THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE
(Robert Sternberg)
COMPONENTIAL
ELEMENT
Analytic
It determines how efficiently people process
information; it tells people how to solve problems,
monitor solutions, and evaluate the results
EXPERIENTIAL
ELEMENT
Insightful or Creative
It determines people how to approach novel or
familiar tasks; it allows people to compare new
information with what they already know and to
come up with new ways of putting facts together–to
think originally
CONTEXTUAL
ELEMENT
Practical
It determines how people deal with their
environment; it is the ability to size up a situation
and decide what to do: adapt to it, change it, or get
out of it
32

33. Language Development
During Middle Childhood
• Vocabulary continues to increase during the
school years.
• School-age children's mastery of grammar
improves.
• Children's understanding of syntax, the rules
that indicate how words and phrases can be
combined to form sentences, grows during
childhood.
• Certain phonemes, units of sound, remain
troublesome (j, v, h, zh).
33

34. • School-age children may have difficulty
decoding sentences when the meaning
depends on intonation, or tone of voice.
• Children become more competent in their use
of pragmatics, the rules governing the use of
language to communicate in a social context.
• Language helps children control their
behavior.
• One of the most significant developments in
middle childhood is the increase in
METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS, an
understanding of one's own use of language.
Language Development
During Middle Childhood
34

35.  BILINGUALISM is the use of
more than one language.
• Being bilingual may have
cognitive advantages.
• greater cognitive flexibility
• greater metalinguistic awareness
• may improve scores on IQ tests
Language Development
During Middle Childhood
35

36. • The effectiveness of language immersion
programs where subjects are taught in a foreign
language show mixed results.
– All subjects in a school taught in a foreign
language!
~Benefits include increased self esteem
~Negative results common when minority
groups immersed in English only programs
~Positive results when children (especially
majority group children) are learning
languages not spoken by the dominant
culture
Language Development
During Middle Childhood
36

37. • School marks the time when society formally
attempts to transfer its body of knowledge,
beliefs, values, and accumulated wisdom to
new generations.
• In the U. S., a primary school education is
both a universal right and a legal
requirement.
• More than 160 million of the world's children
do not have access to education.
• Close to a billion people (2/3 of them
women) are illiterate throughout their lives.
The Child In School
37

38. Schooling in Middle
Childhood
• In developing countries, females
receive less formal education
than males.
• In developed countries, women
still receive less education than
men on average, particularly in
science & technology topics.
~Why?
-Widespread cultural & parental
biases favoring males over
females
38

39. When are kids ready for school?
• Recent research suggests that age
is not a critical indicator of when
children should start school.
• Some research suggests that
delaying children’s entrance into
school based on age may actually
be harmful!
~Developmental readiness is a
better measure (family support,
etc.)
39

40. Reading: Learning Meaning
 Development of reading skill generally occurs
in several broad, frequently overlapping
stages.
• Stage 0
– lasts from birth to the start of first grade
– children learn the essential prerequisites for
reading, including identification of the
letters in the alphabet, writing their names,
and reading a few words.
40

41. (stages of reading development)
• Stage 1
– first and second grade
– is the first real reading, but it is
largely phonological decoding skill
where children can sound out words
by sounding out and blending
letters
41

42. (development of reading skill)
• Stage 2, typically around second and
third grades, children learn to read aloud
with fluency.
• Stage 3 extends from fourth to eighth
grades where reading becomes a means
to an end and an enjoyable way to learn.
• Stage 4 is where the child understands
reading in terms of reflecting multiple
points of view.
42

43.  There is an ongoing debate among educators
regarding the most effective way to teach reading.
• Code-based approaches to reading
emphasize phonics and how letters and
sounds are combined to make words.
• Whole-language approaches to reading are
based on the notion that children should
learn to read as they learn to talk, by
exposure to complete writing and being
immersed in literature.
• The National Research Council, in a landmark
decision in 1998, argued that the optimum
approach was to use a combination of
elements from both approaches.
43

44. 44
Success in School
• Culture: achievement motivation is an
acquired culturally based drive
• Gender: accounts for some differences,
but this is often due to environmental
factors rather than brain physiology
• Parents: parents of successful children:
– Have realistic beliefs about their
children
– Have high expectations
– Are authoritative parents
– Talk to, listen to, and read to their
children

45. 45
Developmental
Disorders
1- Mental Retardation
2- Depression
3- Attention Deficit
Disorder
4- Learning Disabilities

46. 46
1- Mental Retardation
(Causes)
• Genetic anomalies
• Prenatal exposure to diseases and
drugs
• Anoxia at birth
• Extreme malnutrition during birth
or during infancy
• Family can have a debilitating or a
facilitating effect on the child’s
intellectual development

47. 47
The Diagnostic and Statistical
Manuel (DSM-IV)
• Criteria that a child should
meet to be diagnosed as
mentally retarded:
1- Significantly subaverage
functioning based on IQ test
scores
2- Significantly impaired adaptive
behaviors in areas such as self-
care, self-direction, and general
functioning
3- Onset before age 18

48. 48
4 Levels of Mental
Retardation
1- Mild Retardation (IQ of 55 to 70)
Can reach 3rd
and 6th
grade
Can hold jobs and function
independently
Psychological retardation
2- Moderate (IQ of 40 to 55)
Slow to develop language and motor
skills
Generally cannot progress beyond 2nd
grade
Capable of training in social skills but
need supervision
Psychological Retardation

49. 49
3- Severe (IQ of 25 to 40)
Generally don’t profit from training
Are unlikely to support themselves
Need 24-hour care
4- Profound (IQ below 25)
Are not vegetative
Usually suffer from neurological
and physiological disabilities
(biological retardation)
4 Levels of Mental
Retardation

50. 50
2- Depression
Childhood Depression
exaggerated fear, clinginess,
avoidance of everyday activities
Depression in Older Children
Sulking, school problems, acts of
delinquency
Adult Depression
Profound sadness and
hopelessness, negative outlook on
life, suicidal thoughts

51. 51
Depression
Prozac
• Prescribing Prozac for children
has become very popular.
• No antidepressant has been
approved by governmental
regulators for use with children.
• Because it is approved for adults,
it is perfectly legal for physicians
to write prescriptions for children.

52. 52
What’s Wrong with
Antidepressants for Children?
• There is little evidence that
antidepressant drugs have long
term effectiveness.
• We don’t know the consequences
of the use of antidepressants on
the developing brains of children.
• The drugs in orange or mint-
flavored syrups might lead to
overdoses or perhaps encourage
the use of illegal drugs.

53. 53
3- Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
• Patients with ADD/ADHD suffer
from an underactivation of the
brain.
• Their IQ is usually above average.
• A gap between potential and
performance occurs.
• They often show an excess of
Theta brainwaves (focused
behavior) or insufficient Beta
brainwaves (unfocused behavior)

54. 54
ADD/ADHD Medication
• ADD/ADHD is the result of low levels of
dopamine
• Ritalin is a stimulant that increases
dopamine levels. Sensing that the
levels of dopamine are abnormally high,
the brain may reduce its own production
of dopamine. Thus, when Ritalin is
discontinued, the ADD?ADHD patient
may be more ADD/ADHD than before
taking the drug.
• The brain compensating mechanism
would kick in to get rid of the extra
dopamine.

55. 55
Diagnostic Criteria for
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder
• Symptoms must persist for at
least six months
• Symptoms must have begun
before age seven
• Symptoms present in at least
two situations
• Disorder impairs functioning

56. 56
Diagnostic Criteria for
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder
• Symptoms not explained by
another disorder such as:
• Anxiety
• Schizophrenia
• Mania
• Dissociative Disorder
• Personality Disorder
• Developmental Disorder

57. 57
4- Learning Disabilities
• 1- Reading Disorder
(Dyslexia)
• 2- Disorder of Written
Expression (Dysgraphia)
• 3- Mathematics Disorder
(Dyscalculia)

58. Gifted Children
58
• Creativity
• Convergent Thinking
• Divergent Thinking
• Enrichment Programs
• Acceleration Programs

59. 59