Middle Childhood Development

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Cognitive DevelopmentThe cognitive domain includes language development

and reasoning abilities. Middle-aged children will gradually increase in logical reasoning using concrete examples and greater memory capacity. The affective domain includes their personalities, emotional development, and self-esteem. Children will develop more confidence through the participation in academic, athletic, or artistic activities. They will also develop more emotional attachments to family members and others as they develop a deeper sense of who they are to become and what can be achieved if they work hard.

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Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget and EducationChildren 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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CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE

Characterized by the active, and appropriate use of logic. Children at this stage can easily solve conservation problems—logic used over appearance. (for example whether the amount of liquid stays the same although poured into different shaped containers)

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Information Processing MemoryEncoding Recorded in memory (Keyboard)

Storage Saved in memory (on hard drive)

Retrieved Brought into awareness (on screen)

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Information Processing in Middle Childhood Children become increasingly able to handle information because their

memories improve. MEMORY is the process by which information is initially encoded, stored,

and retrieved. Encoding is the process by which information is initially recorded in a form

usable to memory. The information must be stored, or placed and maintained in the memory

system. Information must be retrieved, located and brought into awareness. During middle childhood, short-term memory capacity improves

significantly. META-MEMORY, an understanding about the processes that underlie

memory emerge and improve during middle childhood. Children use control strategies, conscious, intentionally used tactics to

improve cognitive functioning. Children can be trained to use control strategies and improve memory.

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Language Development 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.

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Language Development

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).

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VygotskyClassrooms 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 othersReciprocal teaching – students are taught to skim a

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

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Definitions of Intelligence1-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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The Cognitive ApproachRobert Sternberg

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The Theory of Multiple IntelligencesLanguage 7 intelligencesLogical-mathematical + 2Spatial relations NaturalisticBodily-kinesthetic ExistentialMusicalInterpersonalIntrapersonal

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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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Intrapersonal Intelligence

Learning and Thinking at SchoolTeaching facts or conceptsGiving directions for a particular lessonStating general rules of behavior Correcting, disciplining, and praising childrenMiscellaneous activities

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The physical development domain includes the biological and physiological development, the refinement of perceptual and motor skills, and the adolescent's physical health. Children will undergo rapid growth spurts and gain weight as well as improve in athletic abilities. Puberty will occur at varied ages, but the average is eleven-years-old for girls and thirteen-years-old for boys.

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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

girls11-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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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENTSkeletal and Muscular

average weight increase: 5 to 7 pounds a year.

average height increase: 2 to 3 inches a year

muscle mass increases as baby fat decreases, the legs become longer, and the body trunk becomes slimmer.

strength gradually increases due to heredity and exercise, doubling their strength, during these years. Because of a greater number of muscle cells boys are usually stronger than girls.

Motor DevelopmentGross Motor Skills

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

They develop interest in sportsmastery of large muscle movements.

Fine Motor SkillsDevelop rapidly during preschool years and

continue to improvedealing with dexterity.

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Boys will usually out perform girls in gross motor skills, whereas girls typically perform better than boys in fine motor skills. As children get older they become more aware of their bodies, and more able to control their physical movements.

Children are able to keep their attention longer, and have less distracting body movement.

NutritionChildren 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 TraitMore positive emotionLess anxietyMore moderate activity levelMore eager to explore new environmentShowing more persistence in frustrating

situationsBeing more alertMore energy levelsHigher levels of self-confidence.

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ObesityIs 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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Psychosocial development includes understanding themselves, moral and ethical development, and maintaining relationships with others. School-age kids will begin to understand how to reciprocate relationships and deepen their friendships. They will also begin seeking fairness in family, school, and peer communities. Children live in the real world and all four of these domains develop at the same time not separately in their neat little categories.

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Middle ChildhoodPersonality and Sociocultural Development

• Personality Development in an Expanding Social World

• Social Knowledge and Reasoning

• Peer Relationships

• Family Influences in Middle Childhood

Personality Development in an Expanding Social World

• Three perspectives on middle childhood

– Social-learning

– Psychodynamic

– Cognitive-developmental

• The development of the self is among the most important task of this period

• Self-concept is a central component of self

Three Major Perspectives on Middle Childhood

Personality Development

• Self-concept

– Children form increasingly stable pictures of themselves, and self-concept becomes more realistic

– They begin to attribute specific traits to themselves

– They start to compare themselves specifically with others

Personality Development

• Industry versus inferiority – Erikson’s stage of middle childhood

– When children succeed in school they incorporate a sense of industry into their self-image

– Children who don’t achieve mastery may perceive themselves to be inferior

– Their success in this stage lays the groundwork for their self-esteem

Personality Development

• Self-esteem: children’s positive or negative evaluation of themselves

– Significant correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement & achievement in other activities

– Positive self-esteem is linked to being viewed positively by family, peers, and others

– Praise is good, but not if it is unrealistic

– Excessive praise can lead to distorted perceptions of right and wrong and make children too egocentric

Social Knowledge and Reasoning

• Children move from Piaget’s preoperational stage to the concrete operational stage

• Central to development is:

– development of social cognition

– development of morality

Development of Social Cognition

• Social cognition is a person's knowledge and understanding of the social world. It includes:

– Social inference: guesses and assumptions about what another person is thinking or feeling

– Social responsibility: one’s obligations to family, friends, and people in authority

– Social regulation: adhering to the customs and conventions that govern social interaction

Aspects of Social Cognition

Development of Morality

• Morality—a sense of what is right and wrong and of fairness and justice

• Stage Theories– Piaget’s moral realism versus moral

relativism

– Kohlberg’s preconventional, conventional, and postconventional reasoning

Moral Development

• Kohlberg presented children of different ages with moral “dilemmas”

• A person’s level of moral reasoning assessed by evaluating reasoning behind response

• Critics say that moral behavior is not as orderly and predictable as Kohlberg suggested and that his emphasis on “justice” shows a male bias

Kohlberg’s Six Stages of Moral Development

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Good emotional self-regulation (have developed skills)

Perspective taking: the capacity to imagine what other people may be thinking and feeling

The Peer GroupCulture of children: The particular habits,

styles, and values that reflect the set of rules and rituals that characterize children as distinct from adult society.FashionLanguagePeer culture

FriendshipSchool-age children value personal friendship

more than peer acceptance.Gender differences

Girls talk more and share secrets.Boys play more active games.

Friendships lead to psychosocial growth and provide a buffer against psychopathology.

Older children:Demand more of their friendsChange friends less oftenBecome more upset when a friendship

endsFind it harder to make new friendsSeek friends who share their interests and

values

Friendship

FriendshipAvoidance of opposite sex becomes very

pronounced during middle childhood

Children’s friendships are almost entirely sex-segregated

When sexes interact it is called “border work”, is often romantic, and helps emphasize clear boundaries between sexes

Boys and Friendship Larger networks of friends than girls do

Tend to play in groupsStrict DOMINANCE HIERARCHY

Differences in status within the group are usually pronounced, with an acknowledged leader and a hierarchy of members.

Members of higher status can safely question/oppose lower ranking members

Limiting aggression among group membersAttempt to maintain and improve status in hierarchy

Restrictive play (play interrupted when status challenged)

Girls and FriendshipsFocus on one or two “best friends” of

relatively equal statusConflicts solved by compromise, ignoring

situation, or giving in; goal is to maintain equal-status relationships, with no dominance hierarchy.

Can be confrontational with other girls not their friends

Language is less confrontational and direct than boys’. Indirect forms of verbs (“Let’s go to the movies” or “Would you want to trade books with me?”

Family Influences in Middle Childhood

• Parent-Child Relationships– Family continues to be the most important

socializing force

– Effective parenting in middle childhood involves effective monitoring of children’s activities and behaviors, so as to promote self-regulated behavior

– Children adjust better when parents and children share responsibilities for regulating behavior (coregulation)

DivorceBoth children and parents may show

psychological maladjustment for 6 months to a few years following divorce. Children may experience anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, or phobias. By the age of 10, children feel the pressure to choose sides and experience some divided loyalty. In some cases, the divorce produces a more positive effect since the children are no longer subject to the high conflict that existed in the intact relationship.