The Developing Person Through the Life Span

1. The Developing Person Through the Life Span Middle Childhood: Cognitive Development

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. Memory

9. 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).

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Adjusting Vocabulary to the Context • Pragmatics -the practical use of language that includes the ability to adjust language communication according to audience and context. Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics concerned with the use of language in social contexts and the ways in which people produce and comprehend meanings through language. • 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.

14. Adjusting Vocabulary to the ContextPragmatics • 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 (@).

15. Differences in Language Learning Family poverty • Research shows a strong correlation between academic achievement and socioeconomic status − language exposure − adult expectations − macrosystem resources

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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: Progress in International Reading Literacy Study - every 5 years, reading ability − TIMSS: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study - science and math achievement

19. 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

20. In the United States NAEP: an ongoing, nationally representative measure of U.S. children’s achievement in reading, math, etc.

21. Reading Wars • 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 • Which approach wins the debate then? Phonics or whole language? The majority of experts now contend that neither approach by itself is effective all the time but that both approaches possess merit. What does succeed then, many experts say, is a carefully designed reading program that employs part whole language approach and part phonics, and takes into account each student's learning style and demonstrated strengths and weaknesses.

22. 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.

23. 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 Although Texas has had charter schools since the mid-90s, it doesn't have a single private school choice program. No Vouchers for low-income kids. No tax-credit scholarships for students in failing district schools.

24. The End