1. Chapter 12 Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development

2. Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?
Don’t try the “Yes, but” defense with a 5-year old. If you did it, you’re guilty, even if it was an accident.
Memorizing the alphabet requires that children keep 26 chunks of information in mind at once.

3. Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?
An IQ is a score on a test.
Two children can answer exactly the same items on an intelligence test correctly, yet one can be above average in intelligence and the other below average.

4. Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?
Highly intelligent children are creative.
Adopted children are more similar in intelligence to their adopted parents than to their biological parents.

5. Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development Truth or Fiction?
Bilingual children encounter more academic problems than children who speak only one language.

6. Piaget’s Concrete- Operational Stage

7. What Is Meant by the Stage of Concrete Operations?
Beginnings of adult logic, involves tangible not abstract ideas
Characterized by
Reversibility and flexibility
Less egocentric
Decentration

8. What Is Meant by the Stage of Concrete Operations?
Demonstrate understanding of conservation
Object can have several properties or dimensions
Child can decenter and focus on more than one dimension
Conservation of mass develops first

9. What Is Meant by the Stage of Concrete Operations?
Demonstrate understanding of transitivity
If A exceeds B in some property
B exceeds C,
then A must also exceed C
Assess transitivity through seriation tasks
Requires decentration to focus on more than one dimension
Demonstrate an understanding of class inclusion

10. Figure 12.2 A Grid for Demonstrating the Development of Seriation
Figure A Girl Demonstrating the Development of Seriation. To classify 49 leaves, children must be able to focus on two dimensions at once: size and lightness. They must also recognize that if quantity A exceeds quantity B, and quantity B exceeds quantity C, then quantity A must also exceed quantity C. This relationship is called the principle of transitivity.
Figure 12.2 A Grid for Demonstrating the Development of Seriation

11. Lessons in Observation: Piaget’s Concrete-Operational Stage
What is conservation?
Why is the ability to conserve an important milestone in cognitive development, according to Piaget?
Describe the conservation tasks and discuss the performance of the children depicted in the video.
Are their responses typical of children in the concrete operational stage? Why or why not?
Cite specific reasons given by children in the video when they are asked to explain “why” they thought the amount of liquid or play dough had changed or not changed.
[insert video: Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage (ConcreteOperationalStage.mov)]

12. Lessons in Observation: Piaget’s Concrete-Operational Stage
Do these responses illustrate changes in the reasoning abilities of concrete operational children as described by Piaget?
Include the following Piagetian concepts in your discussion: conservation, decentration, and reversibility
Do the children in the video use logical or intuitive approaches to solving problems?

13. Lessons in Observation: Piaget’s Concrete-Operational Stage
Are children in Piaget’s concrete operational stage likely to be able to use their reasoning skills on problems and ideas that they have not experienced directly? Why or why not?

14. Can We Apply Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Educational Practices?
Learning involves active discovery
Find stimulating materials instead of imposing knowledge
Instruction geared to student’s level
Consider the level of cognitive development
Encourage development of perspective taking

15. Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory
Piaget tended to underestimate children’s abilities
Horizontal decalage
Ability to master different tasks within same stage
Cognitive development may be more continuous

16. Moral Development
The Child as Juror

17. How Does Piaget View the Development of Moral Reasoning?
Two stages of moral development
Moral Realism – ‘objective morality’
Emerges at about age 5
Behavior is correct when to conforms to authority or rules
Rules are absolutes
Punishment is inevitable
Immanent justice or automatic retribution
Do not excuse accidental behavior

18. How Does Piaget View the Development of Moral Reasoning?
Two stages of moral development
Autonomous Morality
Emerges between ages of 9 and 11
Social rules are arbitrary agreements that can be changed
Circumstances can require breaking rules
Consider the intentions of the wrongdoer
Develops as a result of cooperative peer relationships

19. What Is Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development?
Preconventional level
Obedience and punishment
Instrumental orientation
Conventional level
Good-boy/good-girl orientation
Law-and-order orientation
Postconventional level
Contractual, legalistic orientation
Universal ethical principles orientation

20. Information-Processing
Learning, Remembering,
Problem Solving

21. What Is the Difference Between Piaget’s View of Cognitive Development and the Information Processing Approach?
Information Processing
Compares children to functions of a computer
Key elements
Selective attention
Ability to focus attention and screen out distractions
Capacity for storage and retrieval of information
Strategies for processing information

22. Figure 12.3 Development of the Ability to Ignore Distractions
Figure Development of the Ability to Ignore Distractions. Strutt and his colleagues demonstrated how the ability to ignore distraction develops during middle childhood. The effect of irrelevant dimensions on sorting speed was determined by subtracting the speed of the sort in the no-irrelevant-dimension condition from the speed of the other two conditions. As shown here, irrelevant information interfered with sorting ability for all age groups, but older children were less affected than younger ones. (Source: Strutt et al., 1975).
Figure 12.3 Development of the Ability to Ignore Distractions

23. What Is Meant by the Term Memory?
Storage and retrieval of information
Sensory Memory
Short-term or working memory
Auditory encoding
Capacity 7 chunks of information achieved by adolescence
Typical 5- or 6-year old – works on two chunks of information at a time
Cognitive strategies used to promote memory
Rote learning

24. Figure 12.4 The Structure of Memory
Figure The Structure of Memory. Many psychologists divide memory into three processes or “structures.” Sensory information enters the registers of sensory memory, where memory traces are held briefly before decaying. If we attend to the information, much of it is transferred to working memory (also called short-term memory), where it may decay or be displaced if it is not transferred to long-term memory. We usually use rehearsal (repetition) or elaborative strategies to transfer memories to long-term memory. Once in long-term memory, memories may be retrieved through appropriate search strategies. But if information is organized poorly or we cannot find cues to retrieve it, it may be “lost” for all practical purposes.
Figure 12.4 The Structure of Memory

25. How Much Information Can be Stored in Long-Term Memory?
No known limit of information
Moving information to long-term memory
Rehearsal
Elaborative strategy
Semantic encoding
Organization in long-term memory
Recall memory is improved by categorization

26. What Do Children Understand About the Functioning of Their Cognitive Processes and Their Memory?
Metacognition
Knowledge and control of cognitive abilities
Metamemory
Children’s awareness of the functioning of their memory
As children develop they utilize more strategies for memory

27. Children’s Eyewitness Testimony
A Closer Look
Children’s Eyewitness Testimony

28. Intellectual Development, Creativity, and Achievement

29. What Is Intelligence? Achievement Intelligence
What a child has learned
Specific content area
Intelligence
Child’s underlying learning ability
Cognitive basis for academic achievement

30. Theories of Intelligence

31. What Are “Factor Theories” of Intelligence?
Behaviors we consider intelligent have a common factor
Spearman g or “general intelligence”
Broad reasoning and problem solving
s or “specific capacities”
Individual abilities
Thurstone – 9 specific factors or primary mental abilities

32. Figure 12.5 Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Figure Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. Robert Sternberg views intelligence as three-pronged – as having analytical, creative, and practical aspects.
Figure 12.5 Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

33. Figure 12.6 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Figure Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence. Howard Gardner argues that there are many intelligences, not just one, including bodily talents as expressed through dancing or gymnastics. Each “intelligence” is presumed to have its neurological base in a different part of the brain. Each is an inborn talent that must be developed through educational experiences if it is to be expressed.
Figure 12.6 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

34. Emotional Intelligence
A Closer Look
Emotional Intelligence

35. Measurement of Intellectual Development
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (SBIS)
Assumes intelligence increases with age
Older child must answer more items to obtain comparable score to younger child (mental age)
IQ = mental age divided by chronological age x 100
2-year-olds to adults

36. Measurement of Intellectual Development
Wechsler Scales
Groups questions into subtests that measure different intellectual tasks
Compares performance on one type of task with another
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI)
Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC)
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS)

37. Figure 12.7 Performance Items on a Intelligence Test
Figure Performance Items on an Intelligence Test. This figure shows a number of items that resemble those found on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales that are used with children.
Figure 12.7 Performance Items on a Intelligence Test

38. The Testing Controversy
IQ test scores
Should not be sole criteria for placement
Accurately measure skills necessary in today’s high tech work
Culture-bias versus culture-free
Bias for African American and lower social class
Cattell’s Culture-Fair Intelligence Test
Culture-free tests have not been successful
Disadvantaged children consistently score lower
Do not predict academic success

39. Figure 12.9 Sample Items from Catell’s Culture-Fair Intelligence Test
Figure Sample Items from Cattell’s Culture-Fair Intelligence Test. Culture-fair tests attempt to exclude items that discriminate on the basis of cultural background rather than intelligence.
Figure 12.9 Sample Items from Catell’s Culture-Fair Intelligence Test

40. How Does Intelligence Develop?
Advances in middle childhood
Symbolize experiences and manipulate symbols
Vocabulary development
Increase logical and complex thought
Two major spurts
Entry to school
Approaching puberty

41. Figure Five Patterns of Change in IQ Scores for Children in the Fels Longitudinal Study. In the Fels Longitudinal Study, IQ scores remained stable between the ages of 2½ and 17 for only one of five groups – group number 1. (Source: McCall et al., 1973).
Figure Five Patterns of Change in IQ Scores for Children in the Fels Longitudinal Study

42. What Are the Socioeconomic and Ethnic Differences in Intelligence?
Increased predictive power but consistent individual differences
Lower class US children score lower than more affluent
Most ethnic minority groups score lower than European American
Asian Americans outscore European Americans

43. Developing in a World of Diversity
Socioeconomic and Ethnic Differences in IQ

44. Differences in Intelligence
Mental Retardation
Significant limitations
Intellectual functioning (IQ scores of 70 to 75), and
Adaptive behavior
Causes of mental retardation
Biological
Cultural-familial retardation
Giftedness
Outstanding abilities and high performance
In specific academic area
Leadership, arts, or bodily talents

45. What Is Creativity? Ability to do things novel and useful (Sternberg)
Solve problems without expected solutions
Creative children
Take chances,
Refuse to accept limitations,
Appreciate art and music

46. What Is the Relationship Between Creativity and Intelligence?
Moderate relationship between intelligence scores and creativity
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory includes creative intelligence
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences include creative areas
Explanation for lack of relationship
Intelligence testing requires convergent thinking
Creative thinking requires divergent thinking

47. What Are the Roles of Nature and Nurture on the Development of Intelligence?
Genetic Influences
Measured through kinship and adoption studies
More closely related – more similar IQ scores
Heritability – about 45 to 60%
Environmental Influences
Same studies consider
Situational factors that effect IQ testing
Exploring ability to rebound from early deprivation
Effects of positive early environments

48. Figure Findings of Studies of the Relationship Between IQ Scores and Heredity. The data are a composite of studies summarized in Science magazine (Bouchard et al., 1990). By and large, correlations grow stronger for persons who are more closely related. Persons reared together or living together have more similar IQ scores than persons reared or living apart. Such findings support both genetic and environmental hypotheses of the origins of intelligence.
Figure Findings of Studies of the Relationship Between IQ Scores and Heredity

49. Language Development and Literacy

50. How Does Language Develop in Middle Childhood?
Vocabulary and Grammar
Vocabulary expands
Recognize words with multiple meanings
Articulation and complex grammar improves
Tag questions
Correct use and comprehension of passive sentences
Use connectives
Direct object – indirect object constructions

51. What Cognitive Skills Are Used in Reading?
Reading demands perceptual, cognitive and linguistic processes
Integrate visual and auditory information
Able to make basic visual discriminations
Reading to preschool children – prepares them for reading

52. Methods of Teaching Reading
Word-recognition method
Associate visual stimuli with sound of spoken word
Acquired by rote learning
Phonetic method
Associate letters with sounds they indicate – sound out words
Most children utilize both methods
Word-recognition for basic sight vocabulary
Phonetic method for decoding new words

53. The Diversity of Children’s Linguistic Experience in the United States
Ebonics and Bilingualism

54. What is Ebonics? Black English
Spoken by segments of African-American community
Consistent grammatical rules allow for complex thought
Differs primarily in use of verbs
Accepts use of double negatives

55. What Does the Research Reveal About the Advantages and Disadvantages of Bilingualism?
Bilingual children have more cognitive flexibility
Aware of different cultures – broadens perspectives
Learning a second language increases expertise in first language