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The Developing Person Through the Life Span, 8e by Kathleen Stassen Berger. Chapter 12- Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development. PowerPoint Slides developed by Martin Wolfger and Michael James Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington Reviewed by Raquel Henry Lone Star College, Kingwood.
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The Developing Person Through the Life Span, 8eby Kathleen Stassen Berger Chapter 12- Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development PowerPoint Slidesdeveloped by Martin Wolfger and Michael James Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington Reviewed by Raquel Henry Lone Star College, Kingwood
Building on Theory Piaget and School-Age Children • Concrete operational thought-the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions. • Classification- things can be organized into groups (or categories or classes) according to some characteristic they share. • Transitive inference- the ability to figure out (infer) the unspoken link (transfer) between one fact and another.
Building on Theory • Seriation -The idea that things can be arranged in a series. • crucial for understanding the number sequence. • The research does not confirm a sudden shift between preoperational and concrete operational thought. • School-age children can use mental categories and subcategories more flexibly, inductively, and simultaneously than younger children.
Building on Theory Vygotsky and School-Age Children • Vygotsky regarded instruction as essential. • Children are "apprentices in learning" as they play with each other, watch television, eat dinner with their families, and engage in other daily interactions. • Language is integral as a mediator, a vehicle for understanding and learning.
International Contexts Vygotsky believed that cultures teach • Brazilian peddlers are skilled in math even though they have not been schooled • children’s understanding of arithmetic depends on context • culture affects the methods of learning
Building on Theory Information Processing • Like computers people take in information and then: −seek specific units of information −analyze the information −express their conclusions • The brain’s gradual growth confirms the information-processing perspective. • Requires memory
Memory • Sensory memory-Incoming stimulus information is stored for a split second to allow it to be processed. (Also called the sensory register.) • Working memory-Current, conscious mental activity occurs. (Also called short-term memory.) • Long-term memory-Virtually limitless amounts of information can be stored indefinitely.
Building on Theory • Working memory improves steadily and significantly every year from age 4 to 15 years. • The capacity of long-term memory is virtually limitless by the end of middle childhood. • Memory storage (how much information is deposited in the brain) expands over childhood, but more important is retrieval (how readily stored material can be brought into working memory).
Information Processing • Metacognition-"Thinking about thinking"; the ability to evaluate a cognitive task in order to determine how best to accomplish it, and then to monitor and adjust one’s performance on that task. • Knowledge base- a body of knowledge in a certain area that makes it easier to master new information in that area
Building on Theory • Control processes -Mechanisms (selective attention, emotional regulation) that combine memory, processing speed, and knowledge to regulate the analysis and flow of information within the system.
Language • By age 6, children know most of the basic vocabulary and grammar of their first language, and many speak a second or even a third language. • Some school-age children learn as many as 20 new words a day and apply grammar rules they did not use before.
Adjusting Vocabulary to the Context • Pragmatics-the practical use of language that includes the ability to adjust language communication according to audience and context. • This advances quite a bit in middle childhood. • Shy children who are good at pragmatics cope better with social pressures of school than those who are not as adept.
Adjusting Vocabulary to the Context • The school-age child can switch from one manner of speaking, or language code, to another. • Each code differs in tone, pronunciation, gesture, sentence length, idiom, grammar, and vocabulary. • Sometimes people switch from the formal code (used in academic contexts) to the informal code (used with friends). • Many children use a third code in text messaging, with numbers (411), abbreviations (LOL), and emoticons (@).
Differences in Language Learning Family poverty • Research shows a strong correlation between academic achievement and socioeconomic status − language exposure − adult expectations − macrosystem resources
Teaching and Learning Differences by nation: • literacy & math are valued everywhere • curriculum varies by nation & community • evident in results of tests, subjects taught & power of parents, teachers, etc. • Hidden curriculum-The implicit rules and priorities that influence the academic curriculum and every other aspect of learning in school
Teaching and Learning Learning a Second Language • Immersion - all subjects are taught in the child’s second language • Bilingual schooling-Subjects are taught in the child’s original and second languages • ESL- children who do not speak English are taught together in an intensive class to learn basic English so they can be mainstreamed later
Teaching and Learning • Religious education: in some nations, public schools teach religion; in others, it is only in private schools • International testing: about 50 nations −PIRLS: every 5 years, reading ability −TIMSS: science and math achievement
In the United States • U.S. children tend not to do well on international tests • No Child Left Behind Act (2001): a U.S. law intended to increase accountability in education by having states qualify for federal money based on standardized tests
In the United States NAEP: an ongoing, nationally representative measure of U.S. children’s achievement in reading, math, etc.
Reading Wars, Math Wars, and Cognitive Theory • Phonics approach - Teaching reading by first teaching the sounds of each letter and letter combinations. • Whole-language approach - Teaching reading by encouraging early use of all language skills-talking, listening, reading, and writing
Reading Wars, Math Wars, and Cognitive Theory • Historically, math was taught by rote; children memorized number facts, such as multiplication tables, and filled page after page of workbooks. • In reaction to this approach, many educators, inspired by Piaget and Vygotsky, sought to make math instruction more active and engaging- less a matter of memorization than of discovery.
Who Determines Educational Practice? • Charter schools - funded and licensed by states or districts and private sponsors, run as a public school but has its own standards. • Voucher - allows parents to choose the school for the child (private or public) with all or part of the cost being paid by the local government