Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

1. Cognitive Developmentin Middle Childhood • Child Development • Dennis Karpowitz

2. PiagetConcrete Operations • Conservation • Classification • Seriation • Spatial Reasoning.

3. Concrete Operations Cont. • Limitations of concrete operations thought • The horizontal decalage • Order of learning conservation • The familiar first • Recent research on concrete operations • Culture and variation • Schooling • Central conceptual structures.

4. Information Processing • Increase in information-processing capacity • Gains in inhibition • Shut out the unimportant more easily & quickly • Attention • ADHD • Interest • TV & video games vs. school.

5. Memory Strategy Stages • Production deficiencies – Preschoolers can’t • Control deficiencies • Young elementary school children fail to control • Utilization deficiencies • 6 year olds apply strategies consistently but performance lags • Effective strategy • Mid-elementary school years • Use strategies consistently • Improved performance.

6. Information Processing Cont. • Memory strategies are the deliberate mental activities we use to store and retain information • Memory Strategies • Rehearsal • Organization • Elaboration

7. Info. Processing Cont. • Knowledge base, improves memory strategies • Culture • What does the culture emphasize? • School-Age child’s theory of mind • Improved ability to reflect • Knowledge of capacities & strategies.

8. Information Processing Cont. • Cognitive Self-Regulation • Checking outcomes • Redirecting unsuccessful efforts • Not well developed, need for instruction • Applications for Information Processing • Reading • Mathematics.

9. Intelligence - IQ • IQ = Mental Age / Chronological Age * 100 • Becomes Stable @ 6 • Group administered tests • IQ vs. Achievement – both use norms • Individual Admin. Tests • Stanford Binet • Wechsler Scales • Predicts academic success • Culture.

10. Wechsler Scales, e.g. WPPSI • Verbal Abilities • 1) Information, 2) Vocabulary, 3) Arithmetic4) Similarities, 5) Comprehension, 6) Sentences • Performance • 1) Animal House, 2) Picture Completion3) Mazes, 4) Geometric Design, 5) Blockdesign, 6) Animal House Retest.

11. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory • Componential subtheory • Information Processing Skills • Experiential subtheory • Novel situations • Contextual subtheory • Adaptation to every-day life

12. Other Theories of Intelligence • Gardner’s 7 Types of Intelligence (talents): • Linguistic, logico-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal • Guilford’s Structure of the Intellect Model • Contents (5), Products (6), Operations (6) • 180 different types of intelligence.

13. Explaining Individual& Group Differences • Ethnicity - 15 points • SES - 9 points • 50% Genetics • 50% Environment • Genetic AlterationShould we alter genes to make everyone a genius?.

14. Language Development • Vocabulary: 40,000 words by 6th grade • Grammar • Pragmatics improve • Adapting conversation to needs of listeners • Phrase things to get their way • Difference between what people say & mean • Topic focused formula in narratives • Bilingualism.

15. Children’s Learning in School • Class size • Traditional vs. Open Classrooms • Zone of Proximal Development, Vygotsky.

16. Reciprocal Teaching • Asking questions • Summarizing • Clarifying • Predicting upcoming content • KEEP study

17. Schools Cont. • Teacher-Pupil interaction • Self-fulfilling prophecies • Grouping practices • Homogeneity • Heterogeneity - Peer Tutoring • Computer Assisted Instruction • E-mail • The World Wide Web • Pros and cons of the internet.

18. Special Needs Childrenin the Classroom • Least Restrictive Environment • Mainstreaming • Full inclusion • Retardation – 1.5% • Learning Disabilities – 5-10%dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia • Physical problems • Behavioral and emotional problems.

19. Schools Cont. • Gifted children • How well are we doing at educating children? • Extremes of excellence and dysfunction • Functional Illiteracy..