Middle Childhood

Piaget saw age 7 as a major cognitive turning point

from

preoperational thinking (symbols)

to

more advanced concrete operational thought (rules, order, logic)

Cognitive changes between early and middle childhood:

• capacity for logical, systematic thinking (cause & effect)• using multiple pieces of information• Gaining ability to perceive underlying reality despite superficial

appearances• Gaining better understanding of spatial relationships• domain-specific knowledge, expertise• information-processing capacity

– Varying control over attention & memory– Application of

executive functioning– Use of memory strategies

• metacognition

Elementary school children still face cognitive limitations:

• Lack adults’ broad base of knowledge.• Sometimes have trouble using a skill as part of

larger problem-solving system.• Cannot reason maturely about abstract

hypothetical problems.

Conservation Concepts

By age 10, most children understand conservation of physical quantities such as:

• Number (seriation), length, area, mass• displaced liquid volume• Class inclusion (ability to see relationship

between a whole and its parts)• Use inductive and deductive reasoning

Information-Processing AbilitiesIn directing their attention, school-aged children

become increasingly:– systematic– organized– selective– flexible

Individual differences in attentional abilities become apparent during these years.

Memory development during middle childhood involves changes in:– memory capacity– knowledge– memory strategies– metamemory

Memory Strategies

Mnemonic strategies: Intentional, goal-directed behaviors designed to improve memory.

Rehearsal The mnemonic strategy of repeating information over and over.

Organization The mnemonic strategy of arranging information to be recalled into meaningful categories.

Elaboration The mnemonic strategy of creating a meaningful connection between items to be remembered, either verbally or visually.

Metamemory

Metamemory:

Knowledge about memory and memory processes.

• Once children realize mnemonic strategies improve recall, they are more likely to use them.

• Many 5- and 6-year-olds can think of only one strategy; older children think of more.

TV, video games, computers• Children are massive consumers of television, video

games and computer games. – The average American child grows up in a home with

• 2 TVs• 3 tape players• 3 radios • 2 VCRs/DVD players • 2 CD players• 1 video game• At least 1 computer

– The average American youth spends 900 hours in school and 1023 hours watching TV each year.

– Children daily spend 4.7 hours per day in front of a screen (2.5 watching TV)

– 46% of children 8-12 have a TV in their bedroom.

Influence of TV

• Impact on health– Obesity – highest among those watching 4+ hours per day

• Educational TV? (television is an entertainment & commercial medium)– One in 5 E/I children’s programs have little or no educational value

• Images of gender and race– Often stereotyped activity, behavior, image

• Images of violence– 28% of children’s TV shows contain four or more acts of violence– Concern about effect on children’s attitudes toward violence,

feelings of fear about the world, stereotypes perpetuated

Influence of TV Advertising

• Children between the ages of 2 and 11 watch over 20,000 TV ads per year (between 150-200 hours)

• Prime time most common time of children’s viewing– Nearly 16 min. of ads in an ave. hour of TV

• Children ask for commercial products as a result of watching TV ads

• Children learn stereotyping about gender from ads aimed at children– Gender bias favors boys over girls in ads

What do children see in the ads?

• Stereotyping by gender affects socialization toward role expectations– Boys: aggression, paid labor roles– Girls: attractiveness, unpaid labor roles,

less physical pursuits

• Emotional tie-ins with products skew perspective

What is this guy selling?

Gender Stereotyping in Commercials on

Children’s TV (11/22/04, ~8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.)

Products Sold To…

Girls Boys Both

My Photo Booth

Clik-its

Carebears

Polly Pocket Rocket Roller

Water Babies

Strawberry Shortcake (cartoon promo)

Tamaguchi

SpiderMan playset

Transformers

Imagenex

My Science

Backyard Sports

Chuckie Cheese

Lemony Snicket (film promo)

McDonalds

Trix Cereal

MicroPets

Pringles Prints (food)

Harry Potter DVD

WHAT DID YOU WATCH?

With a partner, discuss the programs you watched for the TV assignment. What positive examples did you see in the stories being told (e.g., take- away lessons)?

About representations of gender, race and violence? (none, neutral, positive?)

Did you see anything negative? Anything that would contribute to children’s ideas about race, gender or violence that might be harmful or biased?

What Parents Can Do

Advocate

Monitor

Educate

Television Ratings and the v-chip

Ratings: • TV-Y: suitable for all children • TV-Y7: directed toward kids 7 years and older (children who are able to

distinguish between make-believe and reality); may contain "mild fantasy violence or comedic violence" that may scare younger kids

• TVG: suitable for a general audience; not directed specifically toward children, but contains little to no violence, sexual dialogue or content, or strong language

• TV-PG: parental guidance suggested; may contain an inappropriate theme for younger children and contains one or more of the following: moderate violence (V), some sexual situations (S), occasional strong language (L), and some suggestive dialogue (D)

• TV-14: parents strongly cautioned - suitable for only children over the age of 14; contains one or more of the following: intense violence (V), intense sexual situations (S), strong language (L), and intensely suggestive dialogue

• TV-MA: designed for adults and may be unsuitable for kids under 17; contains

one or more of the following: graphic violence (V), strong sexual activity (S), and/and crude language (L)

V-chip: allows you to program your TV to display only the appropriately-rated shows - blocking out any other, more mature shows.

Video Games

• Some positives:• Negatives

– Social isolation– Stereotyped images of gender and race and body image (e.g.,

women portrayed as weaker characters that are helpless or sexually provocative)

– Aggression and violence (exposure + interaction + temperament + gender)

• Practicing violent acts may contribute more to aggression than passive activities like watching television

• In many violent games, players must become more violent to win. • Most don’t offer action that requires independent thinking or

creativity

– Academic achievement may suffer

Definitions of Intelligence

• Psychometric approach to cognitive development

• Alfred Binet– First successful intelligence test (1905)

• Factor analysts– Multifaceted view– Early factor analysts

• Spearman’s 2 Factor Theory of Intelligence– General factor “g” (general)– Specific factor “s” (specific)

Broadening the Definitionof Intelligence

Academic intelligence:

Intellectual capacity as measured by performance on tasks typically encountered in school or on standard IQ tests.

Academic intelligence:

Intellectual capacity as measured by performance on tasks typically encountered in school or on standard IQ tests.

Practical intelligence:

Intellectual capacity as reflected in successful performance in natural, everyday, nonschool settings.

Practical intelligence:

Intellectual capacity as reflected in successful performance in natural, everyday, nonschool settings.

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Linguistic Understanding & using language.

Musical Skill in the creation of music.

Logical-mathematical

Logical thinking & reasoning about quantities.

Spatial Understanding how patterns & objects are laid out in space.

Bodily-kinesthetic

Skill in anything involving complex body movement

Intrapersonal Understanding one’s own feelings & motives.

Interpersonal Understanding feelings & behaviors of others.

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

Copyright 2003 Allyn & Bacon

IQ tests are designed to give approximately normally distributed results, which causes a "bell curve"

graph of IQ score frequency. Colors delineate one

standard deviation.

Explaining IQ Differences

• There is evidence for both genetic and environmental influences on IQ.

• The hereditary influence involves many genes.• Reaction range refers to the range of possible

outcomes from a set of genes, depending on the environment.

• Some evidence for genetic influences comes from adoption studies.

• IQ reaction range seems to be about 20-25 points.

Addressing Individual and Group Differences in IQ

• Cultural bias can affect IQ tests:– Language fluency– Knowledge of cultural references (i.e., test

content)– Cultural differences in definitions of intelligence – Testing conditions

• Reducing test bias• Design of tests that are

– culture-free – free of culture-based content – culture-fair – appropriate to all cultures in which

the test is used

Moral Reasoning

• Moral Reasoning– Piaget proposed moral reasoning

develops in 3 stages– Stage 1: obedience to authority (2-7

yrs)– Stage 2: mutual respect, rules,

cooperation (7-11)– Stage 3: everyone is “equal” (over

11 or 12)

Language and Literacy

•  Literacy– Traditional approach to reading

emphasizes decoding, is called phonetic, or code emphasis approach

– More recent whole-language approach emphasizes visual retrieval and the use of contextual clues

– Visually based retrievals: child looks at word

The Child in School: Influences on School Achievement

– Use of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

– Effects of SES– Effects of maternal

employment, SES, and child’s gender

– Teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecy

– The educational system and school environment

– Current educational innovations

• Social promotion• Identifying risk

students• Home schooling

movement• Computer and

Internet use• Cultural influences

The Child in School: Selected issues

• Bilingual or Second Language

• Children with learning disabilities

• ADD/ADHD

• Gifted Children

Elementary school children can learn from both didactic and cooperative learning

experiences.

Didactic learning experience:

Situation in which a knowledgeable teacher who has already mastered a problem teaches a particular solution to a learner.

Cooperative learning experience:

A situation in which learners at about the same knowledge and skill interact, share ideas, and discover solutions on their own.

Several factors facilitate cooperative learning among peers:

• Task should be concrete, rich in relevant information, not too complex.

• Information available must support at least two different conclusions.

• Peers must see reaching consensus as a goal.

• The children should know each other and have smooth system of interaction.

• Problem solving• Creativity• Team work• Budgeting• Improvisation• Knowledge

application• Teamwork

• Innovation• Generating many

ideas• Research• Project management• Time management• Technical design• Communication

Based on your experience in creative problem solving, describe a cooperative game or activity you might offer to a group of school-age (6-12 yrs) children. The activity may be around general cooperation; it may be focused

on a topic (e.g., math) or activity (e.g., soccer).

Remember:• Task should be concrete, rich in relevant information, not

too complex.• Information available must support at least two different

conclusions.• Peers must see reaching consensus as a goal.• The children should know each other and have smooth

system of interaction.