santrock section 5 (chapter 9) middle and late childhood

7/25/2019 Santrock Section 5 (Chapter 9) Middle and Late Childhood

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Section 5:

Middle and Late Childhood

Chapter 9:

Physical and Cognitive Development in

Middle and Late Childhood

1Physical Changes and Health

BODY GROWTH AND CHANGE

2 to 3 inches and 5 to 7 poundgrowth per year

4 feet, 9 incheswomen

4 feet, 10 inchesmen

headproportional to the body

waistproportional to the height

NOTE:

Muscle mass and strength gradually increase; baby fat

decreases

Ossification of bones

Boys have a greater number of muscle cells and are typically

stronger than girls

THE BRAIN

NOTE:

Brain volume stabilizes

Significant changes in structures and regions occur,

especially in the prefrontal cortex

o Improved attention, reasoning, and cognitive

control

Thickening of cerebral cortex

Activation of some brain areas increase while others decrease

o Shift from larger areas to smaller, more focal

areas

o Due to synaptic pruning

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

NOTE:

Gross motor skills become smoother and more coordinated

o Boys usually outperform girls on gross motor skills

Improvement of fine motor skills during middle and late

childhood

o Increased myelination of the central nervous

system

o Girls usually outperform boys on fine motor skills

EXERCISE

NOTE:

Exercise- plays an important role in childrens growth and

development

Percentage of children involved in daily P.E. programs in

schools decreased from 80% (1969) to 20% (1999)

Television watchingis linked with low activity and obesity in

children

more fatigued and more active children

aerobic exercise

HEALTH, ILLNESS, AND DISEASE

Middle and late childhoodtime of excellent health

Accidents and Injuries

Injuries- are the leading cause of death during middle and late

childhood

Motor vehicle accidents- are most common cause of severe

injury

Overweight Children

Overweight - child is a risk factor for being obese as an adult

Girls- are more likely than boys to be overweight

Changes in diet and total caloric intake- may be one reason

for increasing obesity rates

Body mass indexcategorizes an individual to be obese,

overweight, and at risk of overweight that computed by formulathat takes into account the height and weight of a child.

NOTE:

Raises risks for many medical and psychological problems

Pulmonary problems, such as sleep apnea

diabetes,

high blood pressure

Low self-esteem,

depression,

exclusion from peer groups

Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseasesuncommon

NOTE:

Many elementary-school children already possess risk factors

for cardiovascular disease

Cancer

Cancer- is the 2nd leading cause of death in children 514 years old


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Leukemia - most common child cancer

- cancer in which bone marrow manufactures an abundance of

abnormal white blood cells

Other types of cancer:

1. bone

2. lymph nodes

3. kidney

4. brain

5. muscles

6. nervous system

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CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

SCOPE OF DISABILITIES

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilitydifficulty in learning that involves

understanding or using spoken or written language, and the

difficulty can appear in listening, reading, thinking, writing, and

spelling

boys girlsstats of learning disabilities

Definition of learning disability includes three

components:

Minimum IQ level

Significant difficulty in a school-related area

Exclusion of severe emotional disorders, second-language

background, sensory disabilities, and/or specific neurological

deficits

Three types of learning disabilities:

1. Dyslexiacategory reserved for individuals who have a

severe impairment in their ability to read and spell

2. Dysgraphialearning disability that involves difficulty in

handwriting

-may write very slowly

-writing products are illegible

- make numerous spelling errors because of

their inability to match up sounds with letter

3. Dyscalculiaaka developmental arithmetic disorder

- learning disability that involves difficulty in

math computation

Possible Causes:

Genetics (many tend to run in families)

Environmental influences

Problems in integrating information from multiple brain regions

Difficulties in brain structures and functions

Intervention:

Improving reading ability through intensive instruction

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Syndrome (ADHD)

ADHDa disability in which children consistently show one or more

of the following characteristics: (1) inattention, (2) hyperactivity,

and (3) impulsivity

Inactivedifficulty in focusing on any one thing that they may be

bored with a task after a few minutes

Hyperactiveshow high levels of physical activity

Impulsivedifficulty in curbing their actions

Possible Causes: Genetics

Brain damage during prenatal or postnatal development

Cigarette and alcohol exposure during prenatal development

Later peak for cerebral cortex thickening

ADHD Treatment:

Stimulant medication(Ritalin or Adderall) is helpful

Combination of medication and behavior management seems

to work best

Exercise may reduce ADHD symptoms

NOTE:

Critics argue that physicians are too quick to prescribe

medications

Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Emotional and behavioral disordersserious, persistent

problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, fears

associated with personal or school matters, as well as other

inappropriate socioemotional characteristics.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)aka pervasivedevelopmental disorder

- range from severe disorder

labeled autistic disorder to the milder syndrome called Asperger

syndrome

- characterized by problem in

social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and

repetitive behaviors.


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Autistic disordera severe spectrum disorder that has its onset in

the first three years of life

- includes deficiencies in social relationships,

abnormalities in communication, and restricted, repetitive, and

stereotyped patterns of behavior

Asperger syndromea relatively mild ASD in which the child has

relatively good verbal language, milder nonverbal language

problems, and a restricted range of interests and relationships

Causes: Genetics

Brain dysfunction with abnormalities in brain structure and

neurotransmitters

Mutationsmissing or duplicated pieces of DNA on

chromosome 16

EDUCATIONAL ISSUES

1975laws passed requiring all public schools to serve disabled

children

Individualized Education Plan (IEP)- written statement that is

specifically tailored for the disabled student

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) - a setting that is as

similar as possible to that of non-disabled children

Inclusion-educating a child with special education needs in the

regular classroom

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COGNITIVE CHANGES

PIAGETS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL

THEORY

Concrete Operational Stage

Concrete operational stage

- ages 7 to 11

- children can perform concrete operationsand reason logically

- reasoning can only be applied to specific, concrete examples

- ability to classify things into different sets and consider their

interrelationships

operationsreversible mental actions

concrete operationsoperations that are applied to real,

concrete objects

-coordinates information about width and

height

Seriation- the ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension

Transitivity the ability to logically combine relations to understand

certain conclusions

Classificationimportant ability in concrete operational thought

- can move up and down a level, and up and down

and across within the system

Evaluating Piagets Concrete Operational Stage

Criticism:

Piaget proposed that various aspects of a stage should

emerge together

o Some concrete abilities do not appear at the same

time

Education and culture exert stronger influences on childrens

development than Piaget believed

Neo-Piagetiansargue that Piaget got some things right, but that

theory needs considerable revision

- more emphasis on attention, memory, and

strategy use

INFORMATION PROCESSING

Memory

long-term memoryrelatively permanent and unlimited type ofmemory,increases with age during middle and late childhood

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE

Expertiseability to remember, reason and solve problems

-affects ability to remember, reason, and solve problems

NOTE:

Older children usually have more expertise about a subject

than younger children do

STRATEGIES

Strategiesdeliberate and mental activities to improve the

processing of information

Strats:

Encourage children to engage in mental imagery.

Motivate children to remember material by understanding

rather than by memorizing it.

Repeat with variation on the instructional information and link

early and often.

Embed memory-relevant language when instructing children.


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FUZZY TRACE THEORY

Fuzzy trace theorystates that memory is best understood by

considering two types of memory representations: (1) verbatim

memorytrace and (2) gist.

- older childrens better memory is attributed to

the fuzzy traces created by extracting the gist of information

Verbatim memory traceprecise details of the information

Gistcentral idea of the information

Thinking

Aspects of thinking

1. Critical Thinking thinking reflectively and productively,

and evaluating evidence

Mindfulnessbeing alert, mentally present, and

cognitively flexible while going through lifes everyday

activities and tasks

2. Creative Thinkingthe ability to think in novel and

unusual ways, and to come up with unique solutions to

problems Convergent thinking

produces one correct answer

Divergent thinking

- produces many different answers to the same

question

3. Scientific Thinking

children tend to:

o ask fundamental questions about reality

o place a great deal of emphasis on causal

mechanisms

o be more influenced by chance events than

by overall patterns

o maintain old theories regardless of evidence tools of scientific thought are not routinely taught in

schools

Strategies for Fostering Creativity:

Encourage brainstorming

Provide environments that stimulate creativity

Dont overcontrol students

Encourage internal motivation

Build childrens confidence

Guide children to be persistent and delay gratification

Encourage children to take intellectual risks

Introduce children to creative people

Metacognition

Metacognitioncognition about cognition

- knowing about knowing

- knowledge about strategies

Metamemoryknowledge about memory

5 to 6 years of agefamiliar items are easier to learn

NOTE:

Limited to other children

Limited knowledge about their own memory.

Brainstorminga technique in which individuals are encourage to

come up with creative ideas in a group, play off each others

ideas, and say practically what comes to their mind

INTELLIGENCE

Intelligenceproblem-solving skills and the ability to learn from and

adapt to everyday life.

Individual differencesstable, consistent ways in which people

are different from each other

The Binet Test

Binet Testsdesigned to identify children with difficulty learning in

school

1905 Scaleconsisted of 30 questionson topics ranging from the

ability to touch ones ear to the ability to draw designs from

memory and define abstract concepts

Mental age (MA) - an individuals level of mental developmen

relative to others

Intelligence quotient (IQ) - a persons mental age divided by

chronological age, multiplied by 100

Stanford-Binet Testsrevised version of the Binet test

- revised to analyze an individuals response

in five content areas : fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitativereasoning, visual spatial reasoning, and working memory

normal distribution a bell-shaped curve

- symmetrical, with a majority of the scores

falling in the middle of the possible range of scores and few

scores appearing toward the extremes of the range

The Wechsler Scales

Wechsler Scales - give scores on several composite indices

- three versions for different age groups

Include:

1. Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale o

IntelligenceThird Ed.

- 2 years and 6 months to 7 years and 3 months

2. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children4th

ed.

- 6 to 16 years

3. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale3rd

ed.


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Types of Intelligence

Sternbergs Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

- intelligence comes in three forms:

1. Analyt ical in tel l igence ability to analyze, judge,

evaluate, compare, and contrast

2. Creative intell ig ence ability to create, design,

invent, originate, and imagine

3. Pract ical intell ig ence ability to use, apply,

implement, and put ideas into practice

Gardners Eight Frames of Mind people learn best what they

can so in a way that uses their stronger intelligences

Frames of the mind:

1. Verbal:ability to think in words and use language to express

meaning

Occupat ions : authors, journalists, speakers

2. Mathematical:ability to carry out mathematical operations

Occupat ions : scientist, engineers, accountants

3. Spatial:ability to think three-dimensionally

Occupat ions : architects, sailors, artists

4. Bodi ly-Kinesthet ic :ability to manipulate objects and be

physically adept

Occupat ions : surgeons, dancers, athletes, craftspeople

5. Musical:sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone

Occupat ions : composers, musicians, sensitive listeners

6. Interpersonal:ability to understand and interact effectively

with others

Occupat ions : teachers, mental health professionals

7. Intrapersonal:ability to understand oneselfOccupat ions : theologians, psychologists

8. Naturalist : ability to observe patterns in nature and

understand natural and human-made systems

Occupat ions : farmers, botanists, ecologists, lansdcapers

Evaluating the MI Approach

Controversies and issues in intelligence:

Heredity and genetics versus environment (increasingly

higher scores suggest role of education)

Flynn effect Bell curve: U.S. is developing large underclass of intellectually

deprived

Racial and cultural bias

Use and misuse of IQ tests

Classifying types of mental retardation

Classification as being gifted

Evaluating Multiple-Intelligence Approaches:

Pros:

o Stimulated teachers to think more broadly about

childrens competencies

o Motivated educators to develop programs that

instruct students in multiple domains

o Contributed to interest in assessing intelligence

and classroom learning

Cons:

o Multiple-intelligence views may have taken the

concept of specific intelligences too far

o Research has not yet supported the different types

o Are there other types of intelligences?

Interpeting Differences in IQ Scores

A. Influences of Genetics:

Heritabilitythe variance in a population that is attributed to

genetics

o Heritability of intelligence is about .75

o Problems:

Heritability index is only as good as the

data entered into the analysis

Assumes we can treat genetic and

environmental influences as separate

One strategy is to compare the IQs of identical and fraternal

twins

Most researchers agree that genetics and environmentinteract to influence intelligence

B. Environmental Influences:

Communication of parents

Schooling

Flynn Effect:rapidly increasing IQ test scores around the

world

o Increasing levels of education attained by more

people

o Explosion of available information

Interventions designed to help children at risk for

impoverished intelligence

C. Group Differences:

On average, African American schoolchildren score 10 to 15

points lower on IQ tests than White American schoolchildren

o Gap has begun to narrow as African Americans

have gained social, economic, and educational

opportunities

D. Culture-Fair Tests - tests that are intended to be free of

cultural bias

Items that are familiar to children from all backgrounds

Nonverbal intelligence tests

E. Using Intelligence Tests: Avoid stereotyping and expectations

Know that IQ is not the sole indicator of competence

Use caution in interpreting an overall IQ score

EXTREMES OF INTELLIGENCE

Mental Retardation

Mental retardationa condition of limited mental ability in which

an individual has a low IQ (usually below 70) on a traditional test

of intelligence, and has a diff iculty adapting to everyday life


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Categories:

1. Mild

- 55 to 70

- able to live independently as adults

- work at variety of jobs

2. Moderate

- 40 to 54

- attain a second-grade level

- support themselves as adult through some typesof labor

3. Severe

- 25 to 39

- talk and accomplish simple tasks

- require extensive support

Causes:

1. Organic retardation

- caused by genetic disorder or by brain damage

- organic refers to the tissues or organs of the

body

- 0 to 50

2. Cultural-familial retardation

- Mental deficit with no evidence of organic brain

damage

- 50 to 70

Giftedness

Giftedness people who have 130 IQ or higher and/or superior

talent for something

Three criteria:1. Precocitymaster earlier than peers, inborn high ability

2. Marching to their own drummer minimal

scaffolding, resist explicit instruction

3. A passion to masterobsessive interest

NOTED:

Giftedness is likely a product of both heredity and

environment

Many experts argue that education programs for gifted

children need a significant overhaul

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LANGUAGE

VOCABULARY, GRAMMMAR, AND

METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS

During middle and late childhood:

Changes occur in the way childrens mental vocabulary is

organized Rapid increase in vocabulary and grammar skills

Improved logical reasoning/analytical skills

Metalinguistic Awareness

- knowledge about language

- knowing what a preposition is or the ability to discuss the

sounds of language

- improves significantly during elementary school years

READING

NOTE:

Children with a large vocabulary have an advantage in

learning to read

Two approaches to teaching reading:

1. Whole- language appr oach

- reading instruction should parallel childrens

natural language learning

- recognize whole words; use context to guess at

meaning

- reading is connected with listening and writing

skills

2. Phonics approach

- reading instruction should teach basic rules for

translating written symbols into sounds

- research suggests that instruction in phonics

should be emphasized, although both methods

can be beneficial

WRITING

Note:

Children often invent spellings

Corrections should be selective and done in positive ways

BILINGUALISM

NOTE:

Learning a second language is easiest for children

U.S. students are far behind other countries in learning

multiple languages

Ability to speak two languages has a positive effect on childs

cognitive development

Bilingual children perform better on tests of:

o Control of attention (focus)

o Concept formation

o Analytic reasoning

o Cognitive flexibility

o Cognitive complexity


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santrock section 5 (chapter 9) middle and late childhood

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