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Chapter 12: Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood (Piaget's Theory…
Chapter 12: Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood
Piaget's Theory: The Concrete Operational Stage - thought is more logical, flexible and organized that is was during early childhood
CLASSIFICATION: the ability to focus on relations between a general category and two specific categories
SERIATION: the ability to order items along a quantitative dimension, such as length and weight
REVERSIBILITY: the capacity to think through a series of steps and then mentally reverse direction, returning to the starting point
TRANSITIVE INFERENCE: the ability to seriate mentally
DECENTRATION: the ability to focus on several aspects of a problem and relate them rather than centering on just one aspect
Advances in spatial reasoning lead to the creation of COGNITIVE MAPS, which are mental representations of familiar large-scale spaces
Features of children's maps at each age
Ages 8-10: Better organized, shows landmarks along an organized route of travel, form an overall view of a large-scale space
Ages 10-12: Able to grasp scale (proportional relation between a space and its map representation)
Preschool: include landmarks, arrangement not always accurate, can only work if the map is rotated to a position other than orientation
Cultural variations: non-Western children have more intimate neighborhood knowledge showing a rich array of landmarks and aspects of social life. American kids draw more formal, extended space, with main streets and key directions by missing landmarks
Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought
Major limitation: children can only think in an organized, logical fashion ONLY when dealing with concrete information that they can perceive directly...work poorly with abstract ideas.
Major limitation: Kids do not come up with general logical principles that they apply to all relevant situations, children seem to work out the logic of each problem separately
Follow-Up Research on Concrete Operational Thought
How culture and schooling contribute to children's mastery of conservation and Piagetian tasks
Conservation is delayed in some cultures - taking part in relevant everyday activities helps children master conservation
Going to school increases mastery of Piagetian tasks where kids have opportunities to seriate objects, learn about order relations, and to remember the parts of complex problems
Case's information-processing view of cognitive development: With practice, cognitive schemes demand less attention about become more automatic, freeing up space in working memory, so children can focus on combining old schemes and generating new ones
CENTRAL CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURES: Networks of concepts and relations that permit one to think more effectively in a wide range of situations; emerge from integrating concrete operational schemes that result in increasingly complex, systematic reasoning
Reasons why children's understandings appear in specific situations at different times rather than being master all at once
Different forms of the same logical insight vary in their processing demands with those acquired later requiring increasing working memory
Child's experiences vary widely...children with relevant experiences will master tasks that are relevant
Information Processing: two factors that underlie every act of cognition are ATTENTION and MEMORY. Brain development causes changes to information processing because 1) increases in information-processing speed and capacity (due to myelination and synaptic pruning) and 2) gains in inhibition (ability to control internal and external distracting stimuli) is associated with PFC maturation
Attention
Changes during middle childhood
More adaptable
More planful
More selective
Order in which children acquire selective, adaptable, attentional strategies
CONTROL DEFICIENCY - fail to control/execute strategies effectively
UTILIZATION DEFICIENCY - use strategies, but not well
PRODUCTION DEFICIENCY - fail to produce strategies when they could be helpful
EFFECTIVE STRATEGY USE - use strategies consistently and performance increases
How do children typically learn planning skills and discuss what adults can do to foster it
A. Learn about planning by collaborating with more expert planners - organizing tasks, teacher's explanations of how to plan
B. Allowing children to do some planning in groups without being adult led so that kids have the opportunity to brainstorm and work out the details of the plans themselves
Children with ADHD
Typical characteristics of children with ADHD
Often hyperactive, exhausting parents and teachers and irritating others with their excessive motor activity
Typically perform lower on tests of intelligence
Low focus on tasks requiring mental effort; often act impulsively; ignoring social rules; lashing out with hostility when frustrated
Thought to be caused by deficient executive processing
Impairment in capacity to inhibit action in favor of thought, resulting in adequacy in self regulation and strategic thinking
Cluster of executive processing problems that interfere with ability to guide one's own behavior
Influences of heredity and environment on ADHD
Heredity - ADHD Is pretty heritable. Abnormal PFC activity, brains grow more slowly, smaller volume, thinner cerebral cortex
Environment - Prenatal teratogens linked to ADHD. More likely to come from homes with unhappy marriages and high family stress
Treatments for ADHD
Modeling and reinforcing appropriate academic and social behavior
Family interventions to ensure appropriate behavioral support
Stimulants - increase PFC activity
Memory Strategies
Memory strategies that emerge during middle childhood
REHEARSAL - repeating information to oneself
ORGANIZATION - grouping related items together
Factors required for perfecting memory strategies
Time
Effort
How is kids use of memory strategies adaptive
Tendency to experiment with many memory strategies is adaptive so that they can discover which ones work best and how to combine them effectively
ELABORATION: creating a relationship between 2 or more pieces of information not in the same category
Helps to combine items into meaningful chunks, permitting kids to hold onto much more information and to further expand working memory
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: The more you know, the more you can organize information by rapidly associating new items with the things that you already knew.
MOTIVATION is the most important factor in children's memory processing as motivated kids acquire knowledge more quickly but also actively use what they know to add more
Cultural variation: no practical reason to use memory techniques
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD THEORY OF MIND
Older children see their mind as active - they know that focusing attention and effort leads to improving performance. They know that remembering is crucial for understanding and that understanding strengthens memory
Being able to make mental inferences helps to perspective taking: expands kids' their knowledge of false belief - enabling them to pinpoint the reasons that another person arrived at a certain belief, helping them understanding others' perspectives.
SECOND-ORDER FALSE BELIEFS: one character's belief about a second character's belief in a complex story
Appreciation of second order false beliefs enables kids to pinpoint the reasons that another person arrived at a certain belief; assisting them greatly in understanding others' perspectives
Teachers call attention to the workings of the mind when they remind children to pay attention, remember mental steps, share points of view, with peers, and evaluate their own and others' reasoning
Cognitive Self-Regulation: the process of continuously monitoring progress toward a goal, checking outcomes and redirecting unsuccessful efforts; researchers study it by measuring the impact of children's awareness of memory strategies on how well they remember.
School age children are not good at cognitive self-regulation - they know about strategies but they do not always apply them effectively or use them at all.
Beings to develop gradually in middle childhood. It is cognitively demanding, so if they encounter problems, they will take steps to address them. Passivity is associated with poor student achievement
Adults can foster self-regulation skills: pointing out important features of a task, suggest strategies on how to approach problems and monitoring their own performance
ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY: confidence in their ability, which supports future self-regulation; based on the acquisition of effective self-regulatory skills
Applications of Information Processing to Academic Learning
Information processing skills associated with reading
Recognize appearance of common words
Hold chunks of texts in working memory
Translation of letters into speech sounds
Combine parts of text into an understandable whole
Perception of single letters/letter combinations
Approaches to learning how to read
WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH: being exposed to text will motivate kids to discover the skills they need to read
PHONICS APPROACH: children must learn basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds, and only after mastering these skills should they get complex reading material
Combination of both approaches is optimal: learning phonics helps kids to decode words they have never seen before; detecting new letter-sound relations while reading on their own and as their fluency in decoding words increase, they are freer to attend to text meaning
Reading skill development
7-8 years: masters basic decoding skills, reads about 3000 words
9-14 years: reads to learn new knowledge
6-7 years: masters letter-sound correspondences, reads simple stories
15-17 years: reads widely, taps material with diverse viewpoints
2-6 years: pretends to read and write
18 years and older: reads with self-defined purpose
Mathematics instruction
Controversy between use of drill in computing vs number sense (conceptual understanding): balance is usually best
Why are Asian students better at math? There is a consistent structure of number words; use of the metric system, short words - more can be held in working memory; extensive everyday practice in counting and computation; more time exploring math concepts in school rather than on drilling
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT
Types of items included on intelligence tests for children: vocabulary, general information, verbal comprehension, block design, picture concepts, spatial visualization, digit span, letter # correspondence, symbol search
Most common intelligence tests
Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children - IV: appropriate for individuals for ages 6-16, assesses four broad intellectual factors - verbal reasoning, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed, first test to be standardized on samples representing the total population of the US, including ethnic minorities
Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence - Revised: appropriate for children 2 years 6 months through 7 years 3 months
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales: appropriate for individuals between 2 years of age and adulthood, assesses five broad intellectual factors - general knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, working memory, and basic information processing
Differences in IQ test administration
GROUP ADMINISTERED: large #s of students tested; screen to see who needs more evaluation; useful for instructional planning; can be given by teachers will little training
INDIVIDUALLY ADMINISTERED: increased amount of time; 1:1 evaluation; to give tests requires considerable training and experience; look at behavior as well as answers
Recent Efforts to Define Intelligence: Factors that are important in predicting IQ - efficient thinking, processing speed, working memory capacity, flexible attention, memory, reasoning strategies
COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS: looking for relationships between aspects or components of information processing and children's intelligence test scores
Identifying the processing skills that test poorly will give us information about how to intervene
Major shortcoming: It regards intelligence as entirely due to causes within the child disregards how cultural and situational factors affect children's thinking
STERNBERG'S TRIARCHIC THEORY OF SUCCESSFUL INTELLIGENCE: emphasize the complexity of intelligent behavior, when IQ tests can overlook intellectual strengths of children
CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE: think more skillfully than others when faced with novelty
PRACTICAL INTELLIGENCE: ability to adapt to, shape or select environments
ANALYTICAL INTELLIGENCE: the information processing strategies that underlie all intelligent acts, such as, applying strategies, self-regulation, acquiring task-relevant and cognitive knowledge
GARDER'S THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES: defines intelligence in terms of distinct sets of processing operations that permit individuals to engage in a wide range of culturally valued activities; not grounded in research
Spatial
Bodily-kinesthetic
Musical
Naturalist
Logico-mathematical
Interpersonal
Linguistic
Intrapersonal
Primarily influenced by cultural values and learning opportunities
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: refers to a set of emotional abilities that enable individuals to process and adapt to emotional information; measured by devising items that tap emotional skills that enable people to manage their own emotions and interact competently with others
Modestly related to IQ, positively associate with self-esteem, empathy, prosocial behavior and life satisfaction
How to foster emotional intelligence: teach emotional understanding, respect and caring for others, strategies for regulating emotion, resistance to unfavorable peer pressure, using active learning techniques that provide skill practice in and out of the classroom
Explaining individual and group differences in IQ
SES differences: middle-SES kids outperform low-SES kids by an average of 9 points. When SES is matched, difference in black-white kids is discovered by 1/3
Ethnic differences: black kids score 10-12 points below, Hispanic kids score 5-7 points below white average
Kinship studies and role of heredity in IQ: IQs of identical twins are more similar than those of fraternal twins, leading researchers to believe that heredity counts for 50% of IQ. Heritability of children's intelligence rises with parental education and income-conditions tat enable kids to realize their genetic potential
Adoption studies and contribution of environmental factors in IQ: IQs of adopted kids increased compared with IQs of nonadopted children remaining in deprived families. Children of the low-IQ biological mother scored above average in IQ if they were adopted by a mum with above average IQ.
Increase in IQ tests scores with each generation: Generational rise in average IQ, supporting idea of importance of role of environmental factors - increased quality of nutrition and education, technological advances and an increase in cognitively demanding leisure activities.
TEST BIAS: occurs when a test samples knowledge/skills that not everyone has learned or if the testing situation favors performance of some groups.
Controversy around this: If IQ represents success in a culture, it is really biased? Lack of exposure to knowledge and communication styles, negative stereotypes can undermine children's performance
Using nonverbal IQ tests does NOT raise the scores of ethnic minority children - they grow up in less "object-oriented" families, lacking opportunities to use games and objects that promote certain intellectual skills
Ethnic minority parents without extensive schooling prefer a COLLABORATIVE style of communication. With increasing education, parents establish a HIERARCHICAL stype.
STEREOTYPE THREAT: the fear of being judged on the basis of a negative stereotype can trigger anxiety that interferes with performance
Kids end up with decreased motivation via self-protective disengagement sparked by stereotype threat that causes students to devalue doing well in school
Two components of self-discipline that predict school performance
Effort
Delay of gratification
Reducing Cultural Bias in Testing
ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR: ability to cope with the demands of their everyday environments
Often used in combination with IQ to determine if students need special education support
DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT: pretest-intervene-rest; adult introduces purposeful teaching into testing situation to find out what the child can attain with social support; not proven effective but individualized assistance on tasks carefully selected to help the child move beyond their current level of development
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS - ability to think about language as a system
Vocabulary: rate of vocab growth is highest - kids learn about 20 new words per day
Strategies that assist school-age children in building vocab
Figure out word meanings from context
Benefit from conversations with more expert speakers
Analyze structure of complex workds
Reading offers exposure to more diverse and complex vocabulary
New gains: use words more precisely, explanations of categorical relationships, use of synonyms, appreciate multiple meanings of words, riddles and puns are understood
Grammar - two achievements of middle childhood - use of the passive voice more frequently and advanced understanding of infinitive phrases
Pragmatics
Advances in pragmatic speech
Increase in ability to evaluate clarity of others' messages and better at resolving inconsistencies
More sensitive to distinctions between what people say and what they mean
Better at adapting to the needs of listeners in challenging communicative situations
Cultural differences in children's narrative
African American kids - use a topic-associating style in which they blend several similar experiences
American kids - topic focused style of describing an experience from beginning to end
Learning Two Languages
Two ways in which children become bilingual
Acquiring both languages at the same time in early childhood
By learning a 2nd language after mastering the first
Sensitive period for 2nd language development exists but a cutoff for 2nd language learning has not been identified
Cognitive benefits of bilingualism: denser grey matter in left hemisphere areas devoted to language; increased selective attention, analytical reasoning, concept formation, cognitive flexibility, metalinguistic awareness, reading achievement
Canada's Language Immersion Programs: English speaking kids are taught entirely in French for several years across all subject areas
American bilingual education - two streams
Time communicating in a kid's native tongue decreases English language achievement
Must develop native languages to show respect for kid's heritage and prevents inadequate proficiency in both languages
Increased engagement and participation
Quicker acquistion of 2nd langauge
Children's Learning in School
Characteristics of high-quality education in elementary school
Physical setting
Integrated and rigorous curriculum
Class size (no larger than 18 children)
Reasons why small class sizes are beneficial
Less time disciplining, more time teaching and giving individual attention
Better concentration, higher-quality class participation, more favorable attitudes towards school
Relationships with parents
Educational Philosophies
Constructivist Classrooms: Teacher acts as a guide and support in response to needs of kids; students evaluated by their progress; children are active agents who reflect on and coordinate their own thoughts rather than absorbing those of others; associated with gains in critical thinking, social and moral maturity, and positive attitudes
Nature of social-constructivist classrooms: teachers and students working together; as children appropriate the knowledge and strategies generated through working together they become competent, contributing members of their classroom and increase in cognitive and social development
Vygotskian inspired teaching methods
Communities of learners: teachers guide overall process of learning but no other distinction is made between adult and child contributors - all participate, define and resolve problems.
Based on assumption that different people have different expertise that can benefit the community and that students can be experts too
Teaching adapted to students' ZPD
Reciprocal teaching: refers to a method of learning in which a teacher and 2-4 students form a cooperative group and take turns leading dialogues on the content of a text passage
Cognitive strategies group members apply during these dialogues
Summarizing the passage
Discuss the summary and clarifying unfamiliar ideas
Asking questions about the content of the text passage
Predicting upcoming content based on clues in the passages
Traditional Classrooms: teacher is authority for all knowledge, rules and decision making and does most of the talking. Students are passive and follow direction of teacher. Progress is evaluated by how well they keep pace to a uniform set of standards for their grade.
Teacher-student interaction
High-achieving, well behaved students: receive increased support and praise from their teachers
Low-achieving, disruptive students: receive more conflicts and criticism from their teachers
EDUCATIONAL SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES: children may adopt teachers' positive or negative views and start to live up to them; effects on kids - decreased achievement, respond with intense anxiety and reduced motivation
Grouping Practices
HOMOGENEOUS GROUPS: where children of similar ability are taught together; get more drill and kill, engage in less discussion and progress at a slower pace, Can lead to decrease in self-esteem and motivation
COOPERATIVE LEARNING: multigrade classrooms
Benefits: Increased academic achievement and self esteem, positive attitudes towards school, harmony, decreased competition
Computers and Academic Learning: use a computer for 30 minutes for schoolwork, and 1 hour per day for pleasure
Use of word-processing programs: write freely, experimenting without worrying about handwriting, easily revised (less worried about mistakes), projects tend to be longer and of a higher quality
Gender differences in computer use and choice of activities
Boys: downloading, trading/selling, creating webpages, writing computer programs, data analysis, use spreadsheets
Girls: information gathering, instant messaging
Teaching Children with Special Needs
INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM: where students with learning difficulties learn alongside typical students in their regular educational setting for part or all of the school day - designed to promote participation in society and to combat prejudices against individuals with disabilities
Achievement gains depend on disability severity and the support services available - may be overwhelmed by their peers; best practice is half in, half out programming
Promoting peer acceptance in inclusive classrooms
Promote positive peer relations - cooperative learning, peer tutoring
Fostering emotional sensitivity and prosocial behavior
Kids with learning disabilities: 5-10% of school age children, have considerable difficulty with one or more aspects of learning. Achievement is considerably behind what would be predicted on basis of IQ.
Kids with mild mental retardation: IQ between 55-70, also show problems with adaptive behavior
Gifted children - IQ scores above 130, have keen memories and an exceptional capacity to solve challenging academic problems
CREATIVITY - refers to the ability to produce work that is original yet appropriate
CONVERGENT THINKING: involves arriving at a single correct answer - type of thinking emphasized on IQ tests
DIVERGENT THINKNG: generation of multiple and unusual possibilities when faced with a task or problem
TALENT - refers to outstanding performance in a particular field
Family characteristics that foster talent: warm and sensitive parents; providing a stimulating home life; devoted to developing child's abilities; provide models of hard work and high achievement; reasonable demands; arrange for appropriate tutelage
Risk factors associated with giftedness: social isolation, hiding of their abilities to better relate to peers, girls report low self-esteem and depression
Models for educating gifted children
Pull children out for special instruction
Advance to a higher grade
Providing enrichment in regular classrooms
How Well-Educated are US Children? - most American parents and teachers believe innate ability is more important than hard work when it comes to academic success
Why do US children lag behind kids from other countries?
Less equitable in quality of education provided
Teachers have large variation in training, salaries and teaching conditions
Instruction is less challenging
Why is Finland recognized for having such a good educational system?
Abandoned national testing system and replaced it with high-quality national curriculum
Teachers are highly trained
Education is grounded in equal opportunity for all
Strategies for improving the US education system
Supporting parents
Investing in high quality preschool education, so everyone is ready to learn
Strengthening teacher education
Pursuing school improvements that reduce the large inequities in quality of education between SES and ethnic groups
Providing challenging, relevant instruction with real-world applications