Middle Childhood Development

Cognitive Development
The cognitive domain includes language development and

reasoning abilities. Middle-aged children will gradually increase in logical reasoning using concrete examples and greater memory capacity. The affective domain includes their personalities, emotional development, and selfesteem. Children will develop more confidence through the participation in academic, athletic, or artistic activities. They will also develop more emotional attachments to family members and others as they develop a deeper sense of who they are to become and what can be achieved if they work hard.
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Cognitive Development Piaget and Education

Children are active learners who construct their own

theories about how the world operates. Children learn by doing. Teaching should be through showing rather than telling. Piaget encourages the use of concrete objects for teaching (blocks, rods, seeds)

Preoperational
(2 to 5-7 years)
Rigid and static Irreversible Focused on the here & now One dimension Egocentric Focused on perceptual evidence Intuitive

Concrete
(5-7 to 12 years)
Flexible Reversible Not limited to the here and now Multidimensional Less egocentric The use of logical inferences Cause and effect relationships
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CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE

Characterized by the

active, and appropriate use of logic. Children at this stage can easily solve conservation problemslogic used over appearance. (for example whether the amount of liquid stays the same although poured into different shaped containers)

Information Processing Memory

Encoding

Recorded in memory (Keyboard) Saved in memory (on hard drive) Brought into awareness (on screen)

Storage

Retrieved

Information Processing in Middle Childhood

Children become increasingly able to handle information because their

memories improve. MEMORY is the process by which information is initially encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding is the process by which information is initially recorded in a form usable to memory. The information must be stored, or placed and maintained in the memory system. Information must be retrieved, located and brought into awareness. During middle childhood, short-term memory capacity improves significantly. META-MEMORY, an understanding about the processes that underlie memory emerge and improve during middle childhood. Children use control strategies, conscious, intentionally used tactics to improve cognitive functioning. Children can be trained to use control strategies and improve memory.

Language Development
School-age children may have difficulty decoding

sentences when the meaning depends on intonation, or tone of voice. Children become more competent in their use of pragmatics, the rules governing the use of language to communicate in a social context. Language helps children control their behavior. One of the most significant developments in middle childhood is the increase in METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS, an understanding of one's own use of language.
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Language Development
Vocabulary continues to increase during the school years. School-age children's mastery of grammar improves. Children's understanding of syntax,the rules that indicate how words and phrases can be combined to form sentences, grows during childhood. Certain phonemes,units of sound, remain troublesome (j, v, h, zh).
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Vygotsky
Classrooms are seen as places where children

should have the opportunity to try new activities. Children should focus on activities that involve interaction with others.
Cooperative learning children benefit from the insight

of others Reciprocal teaching students are taught to skim a passage, raise questions, summarize it, and predict what will happen next

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Definitions of Intelligence
1-Psychometric Approach IQ tests focuses on how people perform on standardized tests which are designed to measure skills and knowledge you have already learned. 2-Cognitive Approach Intelligence comes in different ways and one test cant measure it all.

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The Cognitive Approach Robert Sternberg

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The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Language
Logical-mathematical Spatial relations Bodily-kinesthetic Musical Interpersonal Intrapersonal

7 intelligences +2 Naturalistic Existential

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Emotional Intelligence

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Fluid Intelligence The ability to deal with new problems and situations Examples: categorizing items, remembering a set of numbers

Crystallized Intelligence The store of information, skills, and strategies that people have acquired through education and prior experience, and through their previous use of fluid intelligence. Examples: solving a puzzle, solution for mystery
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Intrapersonal Intelligence
Learning and Thinking at School Teaching facts or concepts Giving directions for a particular lesson Stating general rules of behavior Correcting, disciplining, and praising children Miscellaneous activities

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The physical development domain includes the biological and physiological development, the refinement of perceptual and motor skills, and the adolescent's physical health. Children will undergo rapid growth spurts and gain weight as well as improve in athletic abilities. Puberty will occur at varied ages, but the average is eleven-yearsold for girls and thirteen-years-old for boys.
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Physical Development
Growth is now slower and steadier. They grow 2 to 3 inches a year. 9 10-year-olds: beginning of growth spurt for girls 11-year-olds: beginning of growth spurt for boys Girls are slightly shorter and lighter until 9. 11year-olds: girls are generally taller and heavier Growth is influenced by activity level, exercise, nutrition, gender, and genetic factors
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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Skeletal and Muscular average weight increase: 5 to 7 pounds a year. average height increase: 2 to 3 inches a year muscle mass increases as baby fat decreases, the legs become longer, and the body trunk becomes slimmer. strength gradually increases due to heredity and exercise, doubling their strength, during these years. Because of a greater number of muscle cells boys are usually stronger than girls.

Motor Development
Gross Motor Skills
Around age 5, locomotive skills such as running,

jumping and hopping are well in place. They develop interest in sports mastery of large muscle movements.

Fine Motor Skills

Develop rapidly during preschool years and

continue to improve
dealing with dexterity.
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 Boys will usually out perform girls in

gross motor skills, whereas girls typically perform better than boys in fine motor skills. As children get older they become more aware of their bodies, and more able to control their physical movements. Children are able to keep their attention longer, and have less distracting body movement.

Nutrition
Children in North America receive good

nutrition so most height and weight differences among children are due to genetically determined factors. Children in poorer areas of cities in Calcuta, Hong Kong, and Rio de Janeiro are smaller than their counter parts in affluent areas of the same cities
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Proper Nutrition Positive Personality Trait

More positive emotion Less anxiety More moderate activity level More eager to explore new environment Showing more persistence in frustrating situations Being more alert More energy levels Higher levels of self-confidence.
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Obesity
Is defined as body weight that is more than 20% above the average for a person of a given height and weight. 10% of children are obese. 70% of children who are obese at ages 10 to 13 will continue to be seriously overweight as adults. Obesity can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, and other medical problems

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Causes for Obesity

Genetic Factors: a child with one obese parent has a 40% chance of becoming obese, and the proportion leaps to 80% if both parents are obese. Environmental Factors: The proportion of obesity has risen 54% since the 1960. Television viewing Lack of exercise Parental encouragement
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Psychosocial development includes understanding themselves, moral and ethical development, and maintaining relationships with others. School-age kids will begin to understand how to reciprocate relationships and deepen their friendships. They will also begin seeking fairness in family, school, and peer communities. Children live in the real world and all four of these domains develop at the same time not separately in their neat little categories.

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Middle Childhood
Personality and Sociocultural Development

Personality Development in an Expanding Social World

Social Knowledge and Reasoning Peer Relationships Family Influences in Middle Childhood

Personality Development in an Expanding Social World

Three perspectives on middle childhood
Social-learning Psychodynamic

Cognitive-developmental

The development of the self is among the most important task of this period Self-concept is a central component of self

Three Major Perspectives on Middle Childhood

Personality Development
Self-concept
Children form increasingly stable pictures of themselves, and self-concept becomes more realistic They begin to attribute specific traits to themselves

They start to compare themselves specifically with others

Personality Development
Industry versus inferiority Eriksons stage of middle childhood
When children succeed in school they incorporate a sense of industry into their selfimage Children who dont achieve mastery may perceive themselves to be inferior Their success in this stage lays the groundwork for their self-esteem

Personality Development
Self-esteem: childrens positive or negative evaluation of themselves Significant correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement & achievement in other activities Positive self-esteem is linked to being viewed positively by family, peers, and others Praise is good, but not if it is unrealistic

Excessive praise can lead to distorted perceptions of right and wrong and make children too egocentric

Social Knowledge and Reasoning

Children move from Piagets preoperational stage to the concrete operational stage Central to development is:
development of social cognition development of morality

Development of Social Cognition

Social cognition is a person's knowledge and understanding of the social world. It includes:

Social inference: guesses and assumptions about what another person is thinking or feeling Social responsibility: ones obligations to family, friends, and people in authority

Social regulation: adhering to the customs and conventions that govern social interaction

Aspects of Social Cognition

Development of Morality
Moralitya sense of what is right and wrong and of fairness and justice Stage Theories
Piagets moral realism versus moral relativism
Kohlbergs preconventional, conventional, and postconventional reasoning

Moral Development
Kohlberg presented children of different ages with moral dilemmas A persons level of moral reasoning assessed by evaluating reasoning behind response Critics say that moral behavior is not as orderly and predictable as Kohlberg suggested and that his emphasis on justice shows a male bias

Kohlbergs Six Stages of Moral Development

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Good emotional self-regulation

(have developed skills) Perspective taking: the capacity to imagine what other people may be thinking and feeling

The Peer Group

Culture of children: The particular habits, styles, and

values that reflect the set of rules and rituals that characterize children as distinct from adult society.
Fashion

Language
Peer culture

Friendship
School-age children value personal friendship more than peer acceptance.
Gender differences
Girls talk more and share secrets. Boys play more active games.

Friendships lead to psychosocial growth and provide a buffer against psychopathology.

Friendship
Older children: Demand more of their friends Change friends less often Become more upset when a friendship ends Find it harder to make new friends Seek friends who share their interests and values

Friendship
Avoidance of opposite sex becomes very pronounced during middle childhood
Childrens friendships are almost entirely sex-

segregated
When sexes interact it is called border work, is often romantic, and helps emphasize clear boundaries between sexes

Boys and Friendship

Larger networks of friends than girls do
Tend to play in groups

Strict DOMINANCE HIERARCHY

Differences in status within the group are usually

pronounced, with an acknowledged leader and a hierarchy of members. Members of higher status can safely question/oppose lower ranking members Limiting aggression among group members Attempt to maintain and improve status in hierarchy Restrictive play (play interrupted when status challenged)

Girls and Friendships

Focus on one or two best friends of relatively equal status Conflicts solved by compromise, ignoring situation, or giving in; goal is to maintain equalstatus relationships, with no dominance hierarchy. Can be confrontational with other girls not their friends Language is less confrontational and direct than boys. Indirect forms of verbs (Lets go to the

movies or Would you want to trade books with me?

Family Influences in Middle Childhood

Parent-Child Relationships
Family continues to be the most important socializing force
Effective parenting in middle childhood involves effective monitoring of childrens activities and behaviors, so as to promote self-regulated behavior Children adjust better when parents and children share responsibilities for regulating behavior (coregulation)

Divorce
Both children and parents may show psychological maladjustment for 6 months to a few years following divorce. Children may experience anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, or phobias. By the age of 10, children feel the pressure to choose sides and experience some divided loyalty. In some cases, the divorce produces a more positive effect since the children are no longer subject to the high conflict that existed in the intact relationship.