Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood Ages 6-11 Physical Development Aspects of Physical Development ● growth slows considerably Height and Weight ● children grow about 2-3 inches each year between 6 and 11 and weight is doubled ○ girls retain more fatty tissue than boys Nutrition and Sleep ● 2,400 calories needed to be consumed daily to support steady growth and constant exertion ○ more for older children, less for younger children ● sleep needs decline over time ○ 11 hrs/day at 5 ○ 10 hrs/day at 9 ○ 9 hrs/day 13 ■ sleep problems are common during this time Brain Development ● faster, more efficient information processing and an increased ability to ignore distracting information ● magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): enables researchers to observe how the brain changes over time and how these changes vary from one child to another ○ shows that the brain consists of white matter and gray matter ■ gray matter: composed of closely packed neurons in the cerebral cortex ■ white matter: made of glial cells, which provide support for neurons, and of myelinated axons, which transmit information across neurons ● both types are necessary for effective cognition ■ important maturational change- loss in the density of gray matter ● means that the brain becomes “tuned” to the experiences of the child ● changes in gray matter volume peak at different times in the different lobes ● amount of gray matter in the frontal cortex is largely genetic ○ likely linked with differences in IQ ● loss in density of gray matter is balanced by steady increase in white matter ○ connections between neurons thicken and myelinate ■ begins with frontal lobes and moves towards rear ● changes in thickness of the cortex occurs ● thinning occurs in the rear portion of the frontal and parietal cortex in the left hemisphere ○ change correlates with improved performance on the vocabulary portion of an intelligence test Motor Development and Physical Play ● motor skills continue to develop Recess-Time Play ● boys- physically active games ● girls- games that include verbal expression or counting aloud ● recess-time activities promote growth in agility and social competence and foster adjustment to school ● rough-and-tumble play: wrestling, kicking, tumbling, grappling, and chasing, often accompanied by laughing and screaming ○ 10% of school children’s free play in the early grades ○ peaks in middle childhood ○ universal ○ boys engage in higher levels than girls ■ hormonal differences and socialization ○ different play styles may help explain sex segregation during play ○ important adaptive benefits ■ hones skeletal and muscle development ■ offers safe practice for hunting and fighting skills ■ channels aggression and competition Sports and Other Physical Activities ● immediate and long-term health benefits ○ weight control ○ lowers blood pressure ○ improved cardiorespiratory functioning ○ enhanced self-esteem and well-being ○ active children = active adults Health, Fitness, and Safety ● death rate in the middle childhood years is the lowest in the life span Obesity and Body Image ● obesity- major health issue worldwide ● boys are more likely to be overweight than girls ● body image: how one believes one looks ○ becomes more important early in middle childhood Causes of Obesity ● results from an inherited tendency aggravated by too little exercise and too much or the wrong kinds of food ● children are more likely to be overweight if they have overweight parents or other relatives Childhood Obesity is a Serious Concern ● health effects of obesity for children are similar to those faced by adults Prevention and Treatment ● preventing weight gain is easier, less costly, and more effective than treating obesity Other Medical Conditions ● acute medical conditions: occasional, short-term conditions ● chronic medical conditions: physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional conditions that persist for 3 months or more Asthma ● asthma: chronic, allergy-based respiratory disease characterized by sudden attacks of coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing Diabetes ● diabetes: very common in school-aged children, high levels of glucose in the blood as a result of defective insulin production Accidental Injuries ● leading cause of death among school-age U.S. children Cognitive Development Piagetian Approach: The Concrete Operational Child ● concrete operations: third stage of Piagetian cognitive development (ages 7-12) during which children develop logical but not abstract thinking Cognitive Advances ● children have a better understanding than preoperational children of spatial concepts, causality, categorization, inductive and deductive reasoning, conservation, and number Spatial Relationships and Causality ● ability to make judgements about cause and effect ○ improve as children age Categorization ● transitive inferences: understanding the relationship between two objects by knowing the relationship of each to a third object ● class inclusion: understanding the relationship between a whole and its parts Inductive and Deductive Reasoning ● inductive reasoning: involves making observations about particular members of a class of people, animals, objects, or events, and then drawing another conclusion about the class as a whole ● deductive reasoning: moves from a general premise about a class to a conclusion about a particular member or members of the class Conservation ● children are focused on appearances and have difficulty with abstract concepts Number and Mathematics ● ability to estimate progresses with age Influences of Neurological Development, Culture, and Schooling ● the shift from the rigid, illogical thinking of younger children to the flexible, logical thinking of older children depends on both neurological development and experience in adapting to the environment Moral Reasoning ● children’s moral reasoning progresses broadly in this fashion Information-Processing Approach: Planning, Attention, and Memory ● executive function: conscious control of thoughts, emotions, and actions to accomplish goals or solve problems How Do Executive Skills Develop? ● develops gradually ● allow children to be more thoughtful in their cognition and behavior Selective Attention ● school-age children can concentrate longer than younger children and can focus on the information they need and want while screening out irrelevant information Working Memory ● working memory involves the short-term storage of information that is being actively processed, like a mental workspace Metamemory: Understanding Memory ● metamemory: understanding of processes of memory Mnemonics: Strategies for Remembering ● mnemonic device: a strategy to aid memory ● external memory aids: prompts by something outside the person ● rehearsal: conscious repetition ● organization: mentally placing information into categories ● elaboration: making mental associations involving items to be remembered Information Processing and Piagetian Tasks ● improvements in memory may contribute to the mastery of conservation tasks Psychometric Approach ● Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV): for ages 6-16, measures verbal and performance abilities, yielding separate scores for each as well as a total score ● Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT8): a group test for children in kindergarten-12th grade; separate scores for verbal comprehension, verbal reasoning, pictorial reasoning, figural reasoning, and quantitative reasoning can identify specific strengths and weaknesses The IQ of Controversy ● positive side- IQ tests have been standardized and widely used, extensive information about their norms, validity, and reliability ● negative side- critics claim that the tests underestimate the intelligence of children who are in ill health or do not do well on tests Influences on Intelligence (IQ) ● heredity and environment influence intelligence Brain Development ● imaging research shows a moderate correlation between brain size or amount of gray matter and general intelligence, especially reasoning and problem-solving abilities Influence of Schooling on IQ ● schooling increases tested intelligence ● scores drop during summer vacation Influences of Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status on IQ ● test scores vary among racial/ethnic groups ○ tests are unfair to minorities Influence of Culture on IQ ● culture-free tests: tests with no culture-linked content ● culture-fair tests: consists only of experiences common to people in various cultures Is There More Than One Intelligence? ● most IQ tests do not cover other important aspects of intelligent behavior, such as common sense, social skills, creative insight, and self-knowledge Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences ● theory of multiple intelligences ● eight independent kinds of intelligence ○ conventional intelligence tests ■ linguistic ■ logical-mathematical ■ spatial ○ not reflected in IQ scores ■ musical ■ bodily-kinesthetic ■ interpersonal ■ intrapersonal ■ naturalist Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence ● triarchic theory of intelligence ○ componential element: analytic aspect of intelligence ○ experiential element: insightful or creative ○ contextual element: practical Other Directions in Intelligence Testing ● Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC-II): individual test for ages 3-18, designed to evaluate cognitive abilities in children with diverse needs ● dynamic tests: based on Vygotsky’s theories, emphasize potential rather than present achievement Language and Literacy ● language abilities continue to grow during middle childhood Vocabulary, Grammar, and Syntax ● understanding of rules of syntax becomes more sophisticated with age Pragmatics: Knowledge About Communication ● pragmatics: the social context of language Second-Language Learning ● English-immersion approach: language-minority children are immersed in English from the beginning (special classes) ● bilingual education: children are taught in two languages, native language first, then switching to English Becoming Literate ● learning to read and write frees children from the constraints of face-to-face communication Chapter 9: In-Class Review Brian is shown a picture with two cows and four horses in it. When he is asked if there are more horses or animals in the picture, Brian replies that there are more animals. Brian is demonstrating the classification ability of ● class inclusion _____ will help a child understand how to use language in a culturally appropriate way. ● pragmatics What is the effect of parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling? ● parental involvement improves children’s attitudes and performance In-Class Notes Piaget and Moral Reasoning ● cognitive development and moral reasoning ○ learning right/wrong ○ reasoning about scenarios where someone does something wrong Piagetian Moral Reasoning ● rigid obedience to authority ○ 2-7 yr olds- rigid views (no bending or changing rules ○ focuses on the degree of offense, but not intent ● increasing flexibility and autonomy ○ 7-11 yr olds- less egocentric, no single absolute standard of right and wrong ○ focuses on the intent, fairness and equality for all ● notion of equity ○ 11 or 12 yr olds- equal treatment, consider circumstances ○ focuses on the intent and characteristics of the offender Information Processing Approach ● executive function ○ evaluate and control thoughts, emotions, and behavior to accomplish goals ■ regulate and sustain attention ■ process and retain information ■ plan and monitor behavior ■ understand and influence memory ● working memory (short-term memory) increases greatly during middle childhood ○ due to myelination/pruning ■ less gray matter, more white matter ● metamemory also improves ○ selective attention ○ thinking about/understanding memory ● memory ○ mnemonic devices ■ techniques to aid memory ■ external memory aids ● ex- flashcards, note on fridge ■ internal memory aids ● ex- PEMDAS