1 middle childhood cognitive and physical development

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Middle ChildhoodCognitive and Physical Development

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Physical Development

Growth is now slower and steadier.

They grow 2 to 3 inches a year.

9 – 10-year-olds: beginning of growth spurt for girls

11-year-olds: beginning of growth spurt for boys

Girls are slightly shorter and lighter until 9.

11-year-olds: girls are generally taller and heavier

Growth is influenced by activity level, exercise, nutrition, gender, and genetic factors

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Motor Development

• Gross Motor Skills

Around age 5, locomotive skills such as running , jumping, and hopping are well in place.

They develop interest in sports

• Fine Motor Skills

Develop rapidly during preschool years and continue to improve

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Nutrition

• Children in North America receive good nutrition so most height and weight differences among children are due to genetically determined factors.

• Children in poorer areas of cities in Calcuta, Hong Kong, and Rio de Janeiro are smaller than their counter parts in affluent areas of the same cities

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Proper NutritionPositive Personality Trait

• More positive emotion• Less anxiety• More moderate activity level• More eager to explore new environment• Showing more persistence in frustrating

situations• Being more alert• More energy levels• Higher levels of self-confidence.

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Obesity

Is defined as body weight that is more than 20% above the average for a person of a given height and weight.

10% of children are obese.70% of children who are obese at ages 10 to

13 will continue to be seriously overweight as adults.

Obesity can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, and other medical problems

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Causes for Obesity

Genetic Factors: a child with one obese parent has a 40% chance of becoming obese, and the proportion leaps to 80% if both parents are obese.

Environmental Factors: The proportion of obesity has risen 54% since the

1960.Television viewingLack of exerciseParental encouragement

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Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget and Education

• Children are active learners who construct their own theories about how the world operates.

• Children learn by doing.

• Teaching should be through showing rather than telling.

• Piaget encourages the use of concrete objects for teaching (blocks, rods, seeds)

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Preoperational Concrete(2 to 5-7 years) (5-7 to 12 years)Rigid and staticIrreversibleFocused on the here &

nowOne dimensionEgocentricFocused on perceptual

evidenceIntuitive

FlexibleReversibleNot limited to the here

and nowMultidimensionalLess egocentricThe use of logical

inferencesCause and effect

relationships

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Information Processing Memory

• Encoding Recorded in memory (Keyboard)

• Storage Saved in memory (on hard drive)

• Retrieved Brought into awareness (on screen)

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Information ProcessingMemory

During middle childhood, short-term memory capacity improves significantly

Meta-MemoryAn understanding about the processes that

underlie memory emerge and improve during middle childhood

Elementary schoolchildren learn control processes – strategies and techniques that enhance memory.

Children develop Metacognition –the process of monitoring your own thinking and memory

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Information ProcessingControl Processes

1- Rehearsal

2- Organization

3- Semantic Elaboration

4- Mental Imagery

5- Retrieval

6- Scripts

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Information-Processing Automatization

1- Knowledge acquisition is automatic when processes require little attention

Children are automatically aware of how often they have encountered people.

Automatically, children develop an understanding of concepts, categorizations of objects, events, or people.

2- Knowledge is deliberate and controlled when processes require large amounts of attention.

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Information Processing Approaches

Cognitive ArchitectureDetermines the specific steps through

which material is processed as it travels through the human mind.

Assume that the basic architecture of information-processing systems is constant over the course of development, although the speed and capacity of the system are thought to grow.

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Vygotsky

• Classrooms are seen as places where children should have the opportunity to try new activities.

• Children should focus on activities that involve interaction with others.– Cooperative learning – children benefit from

the insight of others– Reciprocal teaching – students are taught to

skim a passage, raise questions, summarize it, and predict what will happen next

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Definitions of Intelligence

1-Psychometric Approach

IQ tests – focuses on how people perform on standardized tests which are designed to measure skills and knowledge you have already learned.

2-Cognitive Approach

Intelligence comes in different ways and one test can’t measure it all.

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Psychometric ApproachIQ Score

• IQ score = Mental Age

(MA)

divided by Chronological

Age (CA)

multiplied by 100

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Variations of IQ Scores

Range of Scores % of Population Description

130 + 2% Very superior

120 - 129 7% Superior

110 -119 16% High average

90 - 109 50% Average

80 - 89 16% Low average

70 - 79 7% Borderline

70 & below 2% Deficient

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IQ Tests

• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III)

A test for children that provides separate measures of verbal and performance (nonverbal) skills as well as a total score.

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-III)

A test for adults that provides separate measures of verbal and performance skills as well as a total score.

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The Cognitive ApproachRobert Sternberg

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The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

• Language 7 intelligences

• Logical-mathematical + 2

• Spatial relations Naturalistic

• Bodily-kinesthetic Existential

• Musical

• Interpersonal

• Intrapersonal

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Emotional Intelligence

• 1-Interpersonal Intelligence

• 2-Intrapersonal Intelligence

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Emotional Intelligence

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• Fluid IntelligenceThe ability to deal with new problems and

situationsExamples: categorizing items,

remembering a set of numbers• Crystallized IntelligenceThe store of information, skills, and

strategies that people have acquired through education and prior experience, and through their previous use of fluid intelligence.

Examples: solving a puzzle, solution for mystery

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Learning and Thinking at School

• Teaching facts or concepts

• Giving directions for a particular lesson

• Stating general rules of behavior

• Correcting, disciplining, and praising children

• Miscellaneous activities

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Results

• Children learn more in classes in which time on task is maximized, in which the teacher spends at least half the time on actual teaching and less on such concerns as maintaining order.

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What Should Do to Be Critical ThinkersThe 6 Rs

1- Remembering

2- Repeating

3- Reasoning

4- Reorganizing

5- Relating

6- Reflecting

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The Main Emphasis in Teaching

Now, the emphasis is on – Teaching learning and thinking skills– Tailoring instruction to the child’s individual

learning style and developmental level– Fostering independent, self-regulated, self-

paced learning

Learning in small groups

Cooperative rather than competitive learning

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Learning StylesCynthia Ulrich Tobias

The way in which we view the world is

called our …

Perception

We perceive in 2 ways

Concrete Abstract

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Learning Styles

The way we use the information we use

is called …

Ordering

We order in 2 ways

Sequential Random

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Four CombinationsConcrete Sequential

hardworking, stable, conventional, accurate,

dependable, factual, organized, consistent

Abstract Sequential

analytic, knowledgeable, objective, structured, thorough, systematic,

logical, deliberate

Abstract Random

sensitive, perceptive, flexible, compassionate, imaginative, idealistic,

sentimental, spontanious

Concrete Random

Quick, adventurous, intuitive, instinctive, realistic, creative,

innovative, curious

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Success in School

• Culture: achievement motivation is an acquired culturally based drive (McClelland)

• 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

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Developmental Disorders

1- Mental Retardation

2- Depression

3- Attention Deficit Disorder

4- Learning Disabilities

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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

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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

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Four Levels of Mental Retardation

1- Mild Retardation (IQ of 55 to 70)Can reach 3rd and 6th grade Can hold jobs and function independentlyPsychological retardation

2- Moderate (IQ of 40 to 55)Slow to develop language and motor skills

Generally cannot progress beyond 2nd gradeCapable of training in social skills but need supervisionPsychological Retardation

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Four Levels of Mental Retardation

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)

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2- Depression

Childhood Depressionexaggerated fear, clinginess, avoidance of

everyday activitiesDepression in Older ChildrenSulking, school problems, acts of

delinquencyAdult DepressionProfound sadness and hopelessness,

negative outlook on life, suicidal thoughts

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DepressionProzac

• 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.

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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.

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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)

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ADD/ADHDMedication

• 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.

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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

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Diagnostic Criteria for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

• Symptoms not explained by another disorder such as:

• Anxiety• Schizophrenia• Mania• Dissociative Disorder• Personality Disorder• Developmental Disorder

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4- Learning Disabilities

• 1- Reading Disorder (Dyslexia)

• 2- Disorder of Written Expression (Dysgraphia)

• 3- Mathematics Disorder (Dyscalculia)