1. The Development of Children, Seventh Edition
Cynthia Lightfoot,
Michael Cole,
and Sheila R. Cole
Chapter 11:
Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

2. Chapter Overview Physical and Motor Development
Concrete-Operational Development
Information-Processing Approaches
The Role of Social and Cultural Contexts
Individual Differences in Cognitive Development
Reconsidering the Cognitive Changes in Middle Childhood

3. Beginning of Middle Childhood
New expectations
Increases:
Physical capacities
Cognitive abilities
“social intelligence”

4. I. Physical and Motor Development
Increases
Size
Strength

5. Physical and Motor Development
Increases
Muscle mass
Fat tissue

6. Height and Weight Influences Genetic factors Environmental factors
For example, childhood obesity

7. Six Cs Developmental Ecological Model
Kristen Harrison and her Colleagues
Cell
Child
Clan
Community
Country
Culture

8. Motor Development
Strength
Agility
Balance
Role of Practice

9. Gender Differences Boys Girls Cultural Conceptions
Motor abilities requiring power or force
Greater muscle mass
Girls
Fine motor skills
Gross motor skills that combine balance and foot movement
Cultural Conceptions

10. Brain Development Brain changes underlying cognitive development
Myelination
Synaptic pruning
Change in brain activity patterns
Increase in synchronization of electrical activity in different brain areas
EEG coherence

11. Brain Development

12. I. Apply – Connect – Discuss
Discuss some of the ways that physical activity affects physical and psychological development of girls and boys during middle childhood.
In your discussion, consider how the effects are similar for boys and girls, how they may differ, and the extent to which culture may contribute to any gender differences you identify.

13. II. Concrete-Operational Development
Piaget
Concrete Operations
Coordinated mental actions that fit into a logical system in a way that creates greater unity of thinking.

15. Concrete Operations Children’s behaviors become more Organized
Flexible
Predictable

16. Concrete Operational Thinking
Change in abilities
Conservation
Classification
Planning
Metacognition

17. Conservation Conservation
Piaget’s term for the understanding that some properties of an object or substance remain the same even when its appearance is altered in some way.

18. Conservation Conservation of number
Recognizing the one-to-one correspondence between sets of objects of equal number.

19. Conservation Conservation of volume
Understanding that the amount of liquid in a container remains the same despite being poured into a differently shaped container.

20. Classification
Relationship between a superordinate class and its subclasses
Relation of inclusion
Categorizing objects according to multiple criteria

21. Planning
Forming mental representations of actions needed to achieve a goal

22. Metacognition Metacognition
The ability to think one’s own thought processes.

23. Concrete Operations
Limitations
Abstract reasoning

24. II. Apply – Connect – Discuss
Explain how Piaget’s fundamental concepts of decentration and objectivity are apparent in the ability of children who are at the concrete-operational stage to solve conservation and classification tasks.

25. III. Information-Processing Approaches
Reasons for cognitive changes
Increased memory capacity
Increased attention
Rapid and efficient mental operations
Acquisition of new mental strategies

26. The Role of Memory
Three factors bring about characteristic memory changes:
Increased speed and capacity of working memory
Expanded knowledge base
Improved memory strategies

27. Working Memory Capacity Increases Speed Increases Memory span
Time to repeat a series decreases
Results in increase in memory capacity

28. Memory strategies
Rehearsal
Organizational strategies
Elaboration

29. Thinking about Memory Metamemory Examples
The ability to think about one’s memory processes.
A form of metacognition
Examples
Awareness of memory limitations
Connection with use of memory strategies

30. Increased Control of Attention
Regulating attention
Staying focused
Ignoring distractions

31. Executive Function
Aspects of cognition associated with supervising and controlling lower-level cognitive processes. (similar to self-reguation)
Include an example

32. III. Apply – Connect – Discuss
Many people believe that a really good memory involves the ability to store a lot of information for considerable periods of time.
Good memory, however, is not just about the quantity of information stored overtime, but also about how the information is organized.

33. Apply – Connect – Discuss
In what specific ways does it seem that children’s memories may be organized differently in middle childhood than in early childhood?

34. IV. The Role of Social and Cultural Contexts
Cultural Variations in:
Acquisition of Conservation
Use of Memory Strategies
Planning

35. The Universality of Conservation
Traditional, nonindustrial cultures
Lag behind industrialized countries
Require training
Fewer differences using native language

36. This Figure is no longer in 7th ed.

37. Memory Strategies Effects of schooling
Use of organizational strategies
Clustering
Unschooled children performed well when objects presentation was meaningful, as opposed to random

38. Planning Cultural Values Navajo versus European American
Careful planning vs. speed
Insert Figure 11.20

39. IV. Apply – Connect – Discuss
In what ways does Michael Cole’s study of Liberian children suggest that culture contributes both to children’s knowledge bases and to the type of memory strategies that children favor?

40. V. Individual Differences in Cognitive Development
Definitions of Intelligence
Anchored to cultural contexts
Is there a clear meaning?
Cultural Variations
Social competence
Cognitive competence

41. Measuring Intelligence
Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon
Cognitive Competence
“Mental age”
Intelligence Quotient (IQ score)
Comparing children of the same age

42. IQ Score The ratio of mental age to chronological age IQ = (MA/CA)/100
average IQ normalized to 100

43. Persistent Questions about Intelligence
Is intelligence a general characteristic or are there specific kinds of intelligence?
Are differences among individuals and among groups in performance on IQ tests the result of genetic or environmental factors?
To what extent might IQ tests be culturally biased?

44. The Nature of Intelligence
General Intelligence
Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
Analytic
Creative
Practical

46. Population Differences
Innatist Hypothesis of Intelligence
Intelligence is innate, and immune to training
Environmental Hypothesis of Intelligence
Intelligence is specific and heavily dependent on experience

47. Environmental Hypothesis
Flynn Effect
The steady increase over the past 100 years in IQ test performance.

48. IQ Tests as Culturally Biased
Culturally specific
IQ tests are rooted in schooled society
Cultures differ in modes of representation
No satisfactory “culture-free” intelligence test yet.

49. V. Apply – Connect – Discuss
IQ tests were first developed in order to identify children who needed special education.
Today, the use of IQ tests in making decisions to place children on different “academic ability tracks” is hotly debated.

50. Apply – Connect – Discuss
Using concepts and research evidence presented in this section, describe the pros and cons of IQ testing and ability tracking in schools.

51. VI. Reconsidering the Cognitive Changes in Middle Childhood
New powers of thought and action
More systematic
More broadly applied
More cross-cultural work is needed