ch 7: physical and cognitive dev. in middle childhood Flashcards
differences in physical growth between girls and boys in middle chidhood
they are basically the same at the begining, but at the end the girls are usually larger than the boys
development of motor skills at middle childhood
- they are becoming more dexterous and stronger
- they are getting better at typing and writing and other fine motor skills
gender differences in motor skills
- girls are usually better at fine motor skills, and ones that depend on flexibility and balance
- boys are better at motor skills that require strength
benifits of physical fitness in middle childhood
- promotes growth of muscles and bones
- increases flexibility
- promotes good balance and posture
- helps maintain healthy weight
- improves fitness
what do kids need in terms of physical health
- healthy balanced diet
- at least 1hr of moderate-vigorous activity per day
- vigorous activity at least 3 times a week
benefits of participating in sports
- improve motor skills
- enhance self esteem
- help kids learn initiative
- teach kids teamwork
- use strategic planning and cognitive skills
the dissadvantages to sports being arranged by adults
- there may be too much stress on winning, and not enough on skill development
- adults may control too much and not leave room for kids to lead
- they make it more like work and less like play
how much sleep do kids in middle childhood need?
- about 10hr at the begining
- but closer to 8hr at the middle of the stage
- it really varies from kid to kid
piagets idea of middle childhood
she thinks that now they are passing the preoperational stage and are moving onto the concrete operational stage
piaget: concrete operational stage
- here there is a decline of egocentrism
- they see that appearances can be decieving
- the use mental operations: cognitive actions that can be performed on objects and ideas
working memory
a small amount of things can be stored briefly
-this is where your current thoughts are taking place
long-term memory
permanent storehouse for memories that has unlimited capacity
memory strategies: rehearsal
remembering by repitition
memory strategies: organization
structuring information to be remembered so that related info is placed together (so grouping bits of info so that it is easier to remember)
memory strategies: elaboration
embellishing information to be remembered to make it more memorable
metacognition
metacognitive knowledge is the knowledge and awareness of cognitive processes
-including metamemory: the understanding of memory and strategies (memory is falliable, and some ways or memorizing things are easier for others)
psychometrician
a psychologist that measures stuff like intellegence and personality
- they usually give many tests and look for patterns
- if many tests are highly correlated with one another they may represent a single trait or ability
spearman and intellegence
he found high correlations among many tests and suggested a general intellegece (aka: g)
thurstone and thurstone
they said that there were 7 clusters of correlated intelligence tests
- perceptual speed
- word comprehension
- word fluency
- space
- number
- memory
- induction
john carroll and intelligence
he says that you need a combination of things
- a general intelligence that influences others
- second level of more specific abilities
- 3rd level that lists specific skills attached to each ability
howard gardner and intelligence
says that there is no overarching “g”, and says instead that there are distinct intelligences
what was howard gardner’s theory based on?
- research in child development
- studies of brain damaged people
- studies of really talented people
howard gardner: what makes a distinct intelligence
- unique developmental history
- regulation by distinct areas of the brain
- special cases of talented individuals
howard gardner: emotional intelligence
this is the ability to use ones own and others emotions effectly for solving problems and living happily
-this one was proposed by researchers that were inspired by gardner
robert sterberg and intelligence
he considers intelligence in terms of solving problems and achieving goals, he suggests 3 interacting abilities
-this is the theory of successful intelligence
robert sternberg: 3 types of interacting abilities
1: analytic ability: analysing problems and generating different solutions
2. creative ability: dealing adaptively with unique situations and problems
3. practical ability: know what will actually work in the situation
robert sternberg: important things that were considered
- education is most effective when tailored to the kid’s strengths
- goals vary from one context to the next so intelligent behaviour does as well
binet and simon
they developed a test that would tell them which kids would learn well in school and which kids would find it difficult
mental age (in intelligence testing)
this is a measure of a kid’s performance corresponding to the age of most people with that intelligence
the stanford-binet
lewis terman revised the test that binet and simon made (the binet-simon) and applied a new scorign method
-this introduced the intelligence quotient (IQ): mathematical representation of how a person scores on an intelligence test in relations to people of the same age
what are IQ tests good at predicting?
- school sucess
- prestige of job
- amount of success for people in scientific fields
- job performance anywhere
what is the impact of heredity on intelligence?
- quite a bit
- adopted kids’ intelligence is more like their biological parents
impact of environment on intelligence?
- there is a correlation IQ and sleep
- if the home is more organized and has appropriate toys there is higher IQ
- IQ increases across generations
the impact of social class on IQ
-if the social class is lower the intelligence is generally lower
genetics and IQ
there is evidence that genetics effect individual IQ, but not whole groups (ethnicities)
culture fair intelligence tests
these are tests devised using items common to many cultures
differences in the ways that kids from different SES, and cultures answer IQ tests
kids from cultures that encourage collaboration, and discourage individual excellence do poorly
-kids from low SES are wary about some questions because of an unfamiliar person asking them
stereotype threat: IQ tests
a belief about a group of people that affects how we interpret new information
-the threat is that if you know about your own stereotypes it may lead to the self fulfilling prophecy and performance consistent with the stereotype
things to keep in mind when interpreting test scores
- tests assess successful adaption to a particular environment
- your ability can be influenced by interventions
- group differenced do not negate individual differenced within each group
physical growth of middle childhood
- the average is about 5-7cm per year
- gains over 3kg per year
- more of the growth is in the legs
- they need more calories at this point in life
what is necessary for exceptional talent
- love of what you are doing and the desire to master it
- instruction fr. an early age and from really good teacher
- support from parents
correcting stereotypes about gifted kids
- they are actually more mature than their friends
- have fewer emotional problems
- they are usually very satisfied with their overall life
convergent thinking
using info to arive at one standard and correct answer (good for IQ tests)
divergent thinking
thinking in novel and unusual directions (better for being creative)
intellectual impairment
this is what you should be saying instead of mental retardation
-it is when the level of intellectual functioning is low
4 risk factors for having a kid with intellectual dissability
- biomedical factors including chromosomal dissorders, malnutrition, and traumatic brain injury
- social factors, such as poverty and impaired parent-child interactions
- behavioural factors such as: child neglect or domestic abuse
- educational factors: impaired parenting and inadequate special education services
what kids would be condidered ones with intellectual dissabilities?
-everything from people who need constant care and attention, to people that go to school and become employed
learning dissability
when a kid with a normal IQ has difficulty learning at least one academic subject (reading, math, ect)
developmental dyslexia (define, and what would benefit kids with it)
this is when you have difficulty distinguishing sounds in written and oral language
-kids would benefit from: training in phonological awareness, and explicit training in letter-sound connections
impaired reading comprehension (and what kids with this would benefit from)
involves difficulty understanding what is read, despite being able to read difficult words
-thye would benefit from: extensive instruction in vocabulary and other language skill that dont involve reading
mathematical learning dissability
involves:
- difficulties counting
- using inefficient methods for computing solutions
- poor sense of numbers
- cant retrieve math facts from memory very well
3 major symptoms of ADHD
overactivity
inattention
impulsivity
common myths of ADHD
- it is caused by allergies, tv, sugar, or poor home life
- kids grow out of it
- healthy kids are misdiagnosed with it
does treatment of adhd in childhood negate problems in later life
no, it is a chronic ongoing condition
reading: word recognition
the process of identifying a unique pattern of letters
reading: comprehension
the process of extracting meaning from a sequence of words
development of reading comprehension
once kids can recognize words, reading comprehension progress with gradual improvement with exposure (same as speech comprehension)
things that contribute to improvements in comprehension
- kids become more skilled at recognizing words, which means that thier memory can focus on the comprehension
- kids are aquiring more general knowledge of life
- with experience they use reading strategies that work for them
- with experience they also get better at monitoring how much they are comprehending
comprehension: gough and tunmer
reading comprehension=word decoding+language comprehension
writing: knowledge telling strategy
writing stuff down as soon as it is retrieved from memory (common with young writers)
writing: knowledge transforming strategy
deciding what info is best to add and hwo to best organize it to make the point (seen near the end of elementary school)
what do the mechanics of writing have to do with content
kids are focusing on spelling and punctuation so it takes away from what they are deciding to write, as skills in the mechanics of writing increase so does the composing
math skills in elementary school
addition and subtraction is often done using fingers
- by grade 1-2 kids are counting mentally
- by age 8-9 kids have many addition and subtraction facts memorized
canadian students in comparison to other countries
canada is placed 6th best out of 65 countries
charactaristics of schools where kids are very successful
-staff and students understand that academic excellence is the main goal
-the school is safe and nurturing
-parents are involved
-the progress of students, teachers, and programs is monitored
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what do some teachers do to make teaching most effective
- manage the classroom in a way that most of the time is focused on giving instruction
- take responsibility for the students’ learning
- emphasize mastery of things
- teach actively
- pace things well
- value tutoring
- teach kids ways to monitor their own learning
amount of time per day that is taught in french in french immersion
- 100% in kindergarten
- 75-80% in grade 1-6
- 50-80% in grade 7-12
bialystok, majumder, and martin on second language education
- bilingual kids have an advantage in word and syntactic awareness
- there is no consistent effect on phonological awareness
- french immersion students’ oral french is better than written
