Life Span Development The School Years: Cognitive Development – Chapter 12 Psychosocial Development – Chapter 13 July 15, 2004 Class #11

Building on Piaget and Vygotsky  Concrete Operational Thought Piaget’s 3rd stage children reason logically about the things and events that they perceive  Vygotsky did not believe the child was a socially isolated learner instruction by others is crucial

Logical Principles  Classification  Identity  Reversibility  Reciprocity

 Classifying Objects, Ideas, and People Classification—process of organizing things into groups according to some shared property Children have an understanding categories can be any of the following:  hierarchical  overlapping  separate Children that can categorize can analyze problems, derive correct solutions, and ask follow-up questions Logical Principles

 Identity, Reversibility, and Reciprocity identity—the idea that certain characteristics of an object remain the same even if other characteristics change reversibility—the idea that sometimes an object that has been changed can be returned to its original state by reversing the process by which it was changed Reciprocity occurs when 2 things change in opposite ways in order to balance each other out; e.g., conservation experiment with liquid Logical Principles

 Identity, Reversibility, and Reciprocity all three concepts are relevant to mathematical processes these concepts can be (but are not always) applied to everyday social encounters Logical Principles

Logic and Culture  Piaget’s ideas still remain logical research shows that sometimes older children may make mistakes when applying new logic  Vygotsky’s premise is that, added to Piaget’s ideas, the social cultural context of learning is important  Most research in U.S. and England but in Brazil, research has shown that street children who do not attend school can still think in complex ways, and that a special relationship exists between thinking and experience

 Focus is on Kohlberg’s theory built on Piaget’s theory and research, theory describes moral developmental stages Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg ( )  Lawrence Kohlberg was, for many years, a professor at Harvard University  He became famous for his work there beginning in the early 1970s  He started as a developmental psychologist and then moved to the field of moral education

Adolescents and Morality: Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning  Kohlberg believed...and was able to demonstrate through studies...that people progressed in their moral reasoning (ethical behavior) through a series of stages He believed that there were six identifiable stages which could be more generally classified into three levels

Level I: Preconventional Morality  Level I: Typical of most children under the age of nine – behavior tends to be selfish in nature  Stage 1:  Moral values reside in external events (bad acts)  The child is responsive to rules and evaluative labels, but views them in terms of pleasant or unpleasant consequences of actions, or in terms of the physical power of those who impose the rules  Very selfish – may do things just to stay out of trouble  Obedience and punishment orientation or to gain concrete rewards  Stage 2:  Basically the same as in stage one as bottom line is to satisfy one’s own needs but occasionally others as well

Level II: Conventional Morality  Level II: By early adolescence, moral values reside in performing the right role, in maintaining the conventional order and expectancies of others as a value in its own right – uphold laws and social order  Stage 3: Good-boy/good-girl orientation  Orientation to approval, to pleasing and helping others  Conformity to stereotypical images of majority or natural role behavior  Action is evaluated in terms of intentions  Stage 4: Authority and social-order-maintaining orientation  Orientation to "doing duty" and to showing respect for authority and maintaining the given social order for its own sake

Level III: Postconventional Morality  Level III: Abstract reasoning that not everyone develops…  Stage 5:  Morality is defined in terms of institutionalized rules that have a rational basis  Society vs. Individual (any conflict favors society)  Stage 6:  The standards conformed to are internal, and action- decisions are based on an inner process of thought and judgment concerning right and wrong  Social laws are very important but conscience is what dictates behavior – not what others might think  Society vs. Individual (any conflict favors individual)

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 1  A woman was near death from a unique kind of cancer. There is a drug that might save her. The drug costs $4,000 per dosage. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000. He asked the doctor scientist who discovered the drug for a discount or let him pay later. But the doctor scientist refused.  Should Heinz break into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 2  Heinz broke into the laboratory and stole the drug. The next day, the newspapers reported the break- in and theft. Brown, a police officer and a friend of Heinz remembered seeing Heinz last evening, behaving suspiciously near the laboratory. Later that night, he saw Heinz running away from the laboratory.  Should Brown report what he saw? Why or why not?

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 3  Officer Brown reported what he saw. Heinz was arrested and brought to court. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison. Heinz was found guilty.  Should the judge sentence Heinz to prison? Why or why not?

Dilemma II: The case of the promised rock concert…  Scene 1: Judy is a 16-year-old girl. Her mother promised her that she could go to a special rock concert coming to their town if she saved up from baby-sitting and lunch money to buy a ticket to the concert. Judy managed to save up the fifteen dollars (the ticket cost) plus another twenty dollars and proudly told her mother she had enough saved to have a “good time at the concert”. Her mother said great, this shows what you can do when you put your mind to it. But later that same evening her mother read a front page article on the dangers of the upcoming concert…how there would be a “bad element” present doing drugs. It was also mentioned that tattoos and piercings would be taking place as well. She called Judy and Judy’s 17 year-old sister in for a “family meeting” and for nearly an hour lectured on the evils of drugs, sex, and rock and roll. She told Judy that she had to spend the money on new clothes for school instead.  What Kohlberg stage is Judy’s mother at??? Why??

Dilemma II: The case of the promised rock concert…  Scene 2: The next day Judy screamed at her mother calling her a liar that should never be trusted The strong-willed Judy later decided to go to the concert anyway. That Saturday she told her mother she was forgiven that she was spending the day with a friend going shopping. In reality, Judy and her friend went to the performance and had a great time A week passed without her mother finding out. In confidence, Judy then told her older sister, Louise, that she had gone to the concert and had lied to her mother about it. Louise wonders whether to tell their mother what Judy did.  What Kohlberg stage is Judy at??? Why???  If Judy’s sister was at the top level what would her actions be??? Why??? Portions of previous slides taken from:

Kolhberg’s Critics  Kohlberg’s basic scheme has been replicated, but his ideas have been widely criticized  Three Major Criticisms flawed research methods hierarchy biased in favor of Western elite moral development of women ignored

Kolhberg’s Critics  Criticism 1: Methodology: To avoid Kohlberg’s cumbersome methodology, James Rest devised Defining Issues Test (DTI)— a questionnaire that measures moral thinking by asking people to read various dilemmas and then rank 12 statements as possible resolutions for each statement - DIT confirms validity of Kohlberg’s three levels

 Criticism 2: Cultural Differences - research suggests that in non-Western cultures, preeminent values are different from western ones, making it harder for non-Westerners to score at Kolberg’s preconventional level - research suggests that Kohlberg’s hierarchy may underestimate reasoning capacity of some school- age children in some cultures Kolhberg’s Critics

 Criticism 3: Gender Issues  Carol Gilligan (1982) females develop more of a morality of care—a reluctance to judge right and wrong in absolute terms because they are socialized to be nurturant, compassionate, nonjudgmental males develop more of a morality of justice—a tendency to emphasize justice over compassion, judging right and wrong in absolute terms

Overall Limitations to Kohlberg’s Theory  Cross-Cultural Studies Levels 1 and 2 appear universal; Level 3 does not Moral judgments in some cultures do not fit into Kohlberg’s stages  Gender and Morality Men concerned with the abstract, impersonal concept of justice Females concerned with protecting enduring caring relationships and fulfilling human needs

 Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories in relation to moral development both recognize ages 7 to 11 are time for moral growth children eager to develop moral values in stages (Kohlberg, inspired by Piaget) or in response to cultural norms (Vygotsky and Gilligan) Information Processing

 Information Processing Theory - processes by which the mind  analyses  stores  retrieves  Mind is like a computer - capacity can be upgraded with development

 Sensory memory aka sensory register— stores incoming stimulus for split second then sends it on sensations become perceptions  Working (short-term) memory—where your current, conscious mental activity occurs  Long-term memory—stores information for minutes, hours, days, months, years Memory

 Older children are quicker thinkers than younger children  Thinking speed continues to increase throughout adolescence  Automatization helps free up thoughts for speed of processing Speed of Processing

 Knowledge base—broad body of knowledge in a particular subject area that makes it easier to master new learning in that area  Connections between bits of information improve as the knowledge base expands Knowledge Base

 Control processes—regulate the analysis and flow of information within the system helped by maturation of prefrontal cortex Control Processes

 Selective attention—ability to concentrate on relevant information and disregard distractions  Memory and thought depend on this ability - focusing on what needs to be remembered  Improved control emotional regulation shows it Selective Attention

 “Thinking about one’s thoughts”  Older children approach cognitive tasks more strategically and analytically Metacognition

The Pragmatics of Language  Pragmatics—using language fluently in many types of situations; from play through school years, distinguished by logic memory ability to make connections between one bit of knowledge and another

Teaching and Learning  Worldwide, many ideological debates swirl around the content and practice of elementary education  A review of practices in 5 cultures found discrepancy between “expressed claim and observed reality”

Which Curriculum?  Intended curriculum—content political and educational leaders decide to endorse  Implemented curriculum—what teachers and school administrators actually offer  Attained curriculum—what students actually learn

 Hidden curriculum—unspoken and often unrecognized lessons children learn in school organization and schedule arise from hidden curriculum  e.g., classroom size Which Curriculum?

 Phonics  Whole language  “Reading Wars”—clashes over these two methods of teaching children to read The Reading Wars

 Phonics approach—teaching reading by requiring children to learn the sounds of each letter before they begin to decipher simple words Phonics Versus Whole Language

 Whole-language approach—teaching reading by encouraging children to develop all their language skills— talking and listening, reading and writing—all with the goal of communication Phonics Versus Whole Language

The Socioeconomic Divide  Language development, reading attainment correlate with socioeconomic status the lower the family income, the less developed a child’s vocabulary and grammar  Crucial factor seems to be actual exposure to language (children exposed to language at home will have larger vocabularies)  vocabulary size the best predictor of school achievement and overall intelligence

 Math and science are key areas in which children should be ready for the challenges of the future gains in U.S. have faded  Traditionally taught through rote learning children came to hate math taught this way The Math Wars

 New curriculum developed that teaches concepts, problem solving, estimating, and probability this approach may be working  proportion of 4th graders who were “proficient” doubled (26%) The Math Wars

 Technology is another area of controversy Specifically, computers digital divide—gap between rich and poor in computer access students in U. S. twice as likely to use computers in math and science than students in other nations... but our math and science scores relatively low

 Learning a 2nd language best time to be taught it is in middle childhood Bilingual Education

 Total immersion—approach that teaches a second language in which instruction occurs entirely in that language and the learner’s language is not used at all Various Approaches

 Success or failure in 2nd language learning seems to lie in the attitude of teachers parents the larger community  Additive bilingualism—both languages valued and used  Semilingual—neither language learned well Attitudes and Achievement