Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

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Chapter 9

• Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle
  Childhood

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In This Chapter
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Physical ChangesGrowth 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?

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Physical ChangesGrowth 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

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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

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The Brain and Nervous System
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Cognitive ChangesThe 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

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Cognitive ChangesHealth and Wellness

• Rate and Type of Injury Changes with Age
• Head injuries
• Motor vehicles and bicycles
• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
• Reduced by helmet usage

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Cognitive ChangesHealth 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

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Health and WellnessObesity

• 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
• Lets look at the prevalence of overweight
  children over time.

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Figure 9.1 Prevalence of Overweight among
U.S. 6 11 Year Olds

• Figure to come

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Cognitive ChangesLanguage

• During the school-aged years, children
• Demonstrate improved grammar skills and
  pronunciation
• Engage in conversation with many ages
• Increase in vocabulary, especially derived words

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Figure 9.2 Vocabulary Growth in Middle
Childhood
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Cognitive ChangesPiagets 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

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Cognitive ChangesPiagets Concrete Operational
Stage

• Do you know what powerful schema school-aged
  children use?

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Figure 9.3 An Example of Concrete
Operational Thinking
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Piagets Concrete Operational StageDirect Tests
of Piagets 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
• Lets see how children perform on tests of
  conservation.

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Figure 9.4 Within-Stage Development in Concrete
Operations
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Direct Tests of Piagets ViewSiegler

• 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 Piagets and
  information processing theories.

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Figure 9.5 Piagets Balance Task
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Advances in Information Processing
SkillsProcessing 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

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Advances in Information Processing
SkillsAutomaticity

• 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

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Advances in Information Processing
SkillsExecutive 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

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Advances in Information Processing
SkillsExpertise

• Expertise Amount of information possessed
  improves information processing
• Categorize information in complex and
  hierarchical ways
• Stirs capacity for creativity
• Chi research

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SchoolingOverview

• 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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Yes or No?

• IQ tests should be used as the primary or only
  criteria for placing children in educational
  programs.

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SchoolingAchievement and Intelligence Tests
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?
?
Questions To Ponder

• 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?

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SchoolingGroup 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

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SchoolingGroup Differences in Achievement

• Ethnic differences
• Problems associated with economic status access
  to prenatal care family stability
• Style differences
• Analytic
• Relational

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SchoolingCross 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

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Children with Special NeedsOverview

• 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

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Children with Special NeedsLearning 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.
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Children with Special NeedsAttention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• ADHD Neurobiological disorder characterized by
  developmentally inappropriate impulsivity,
  inattention, and, in some cases, hyperactivity
• Causes
• Cultural factors
• Treatment