Chapter 7 - Middle Childhood: Body and Mind Flashcards
Middle Childhood
Period between early childhood and early adolescence, approximately from ages 6 to 11
How many inches or more do children grow in middle childhood?
2 or more inches
There are fewer ______ ______ or _______ during middle childhood than at any other period of time.
fatal diseases; accidents
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Person’s weight in kg divided by the square of their height in meters
Childhood Overweight
In a child, having a BMI above the 85th percentile, according to the US CDC’s 1980 standards for children of a given age
Childhood Obesity
In a child, having a BMI above the 95th percentile, according to the US CDC’s 1980 standards for children of a given age
What percent of 6 to 9 year olds are obese?
18%
What percent of 6 to 11 year olds are overweight?
32.6%
How many genes affect weight?
Over 200
2 copies of what allele increases your likelihood of becoming obese and developing diabetes?
FTO allele
Pester Power
Middle childhood ability to get adults to do what they want
Asthma
A chronic disease of the respiratory system in which inflammation narrows the airways from the nose and mouth to the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing.
Signs & Symptoms: wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing
What percent of US children ages 5 to 9 have asthma?
10%
Hygiene Hypothesis
The immune system needs to tangle with microbes when we’re young, otherwise we have weak immunity.
Concrete Operational Thought
Piaget’s term for the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions
Classification
The logical principle that things can be organized into groups (or categories or classes) according to some characteristic they have in common
Seriation
The understanding that things can be arranged in a logical series
High scoring children have 3 sources of cognitive stimulation. What are they?
- their families
- preschool programs
- first grade
During middle childhood, various parts of the brain connect to enable…
logic, reading, writing, and social decisions
Reaction Time
The time it takes to respond to a stimulus, either physically or cognitively.
Quickest during early adolescence.
Selective Attention
The ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others.
Improves at age 7.
Sensory Memory (AKA Sensory Register)
The component of the information-processing system in which incoming stimulus information is stored for a split second to allow it to be processed
Working Memory
Component of the information-processing system in which current conscious mental activity occurs
- formerly called “short term memory”
Long Term Memory
Component of the information-processing system in which virtually limitless amounts of information can be stored indefinitely.
What are the memory capabilities of a child under 2?
Infants remember actions and routines that involve them. Memory is implicit, triggered by sights and sounds.
What are the memory capabilities of a child from 2 to 5?
Words are now used to retrieve and encode memories.
Explicit memory begins, although children don’t yet use memory strategies.
Children remember things by rote without truly understanding them.
What are the memory capabilities of a child from 5 to 7?
Children realize that some things should be remembered, and they begin to use simple strategies, primarily rehearsal.
With enough repetition, automatization occurs.
What are the memory capabilities of a child from 7 to 9?
Children use new strategies if they’re taught them.
Children use visual clues and auditory hints, evidence of brain functions called the visual-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop.
Children new benefit from the organizations of things to be remembered.
What are the memory capabilities of a child from 9 to 11?
Memory becomes more adaptive and strategic as children become able to learn various memory techniques from teachers and other children.
They can organize material themselves, developing their own memory aids.
Knowledge Base
A body of knowledge in a particular area that makes it easier to master new information in that area. Facilitated by past experience, current opportunity, and personal motivation.
Control Processes (AKA Executive Processes)
Mechanisms (selective attention, metacognition, and emotional regulation) that combine memory, processing sped, and knowledge to regulate the analysis and flow of information within the information-processing system.
Metacognition
“Thinking about thinking,” or 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
Pragmatics
Practice use of language that includes the ability to adjust language communication according to audience and context.
Immersion
Strategy in which instruction in all school subjects occurs in the second (usually majority) language that a child is learning
Bilingual Schooling
Strategy in which school subjects are taught in both the learner’s original language and the second (majority) language
ESL (English as Second Language)
Approach to teaching English in which all children who don’t speak English are placed together in an intensive course to learn basic English so that they can be educated in the same classroom as native English speakers
Hidden Curriculum
The unofficial, unstated, or implicit rules and priorities that influence the academic curriculum and every other aspect of learning in a school.
Trends in Math and Science Study (TIMSS)
International assessment of the math and science skills of 4th and 8th graders.
Although the TIMSS is very useful, different countries’ scores aren’t always comparable because sample selection, test administration, and content validity are hard to keep uniform.
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
Inaugurated in 2001, a planned five year cycle of international trend studies in the reading ability of fourth graders.
Which sex scores higher in verbal skills on the PIRLS?
Girls
Gender Similarities Hypothesis
Males and females are similar in cognition with “trivial exceptions”
Girls have higher grades overall in _________________, but achievement dips in _______, especially in math
middle childhood; puberty
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
US law enacted in 2001 that was intended to increase accountability in education by requiring states to qualify for federal education funding by administering standardized tests to measure school achievement.
National Assessment of Education (NAEP)
An ongoing and nationally representative measure of US children’s achievements in reading, math, and other subjects over time.
Nicknamed the “nations’s report card”
Charter School
Public school with its own set of standards that is funded and licensed by the state or local district in which it’s located
Private School
School funded by parents and sponsoring institutions. Such schools have control over admissions, hiring, and specifics of curriculum, although some regulations apply/
Parochial School
Nonpublic schools organized by a religious group. The curriculum, discipline, and many instructors reflect the beliefs of the religious body, which often provides substantial financial support
Voucher
A monetary commitment by the government to pay for the education of a child. Vouchers vary from place to place, not only in amount and availability, but in restrictions as to who gets them and what school accepts them. Typically, the voucher goes to whatever school the child attends.
Homeschooling
Education in which the child is taught at home, usually by the parents, instead of attending any school, public or private
Aptitude
The potential to master a specific skill or learn a certain body of knowledge
IQ (Intelligence Quotient) Test:
Test designed to measure intellectual aptitude, or ability to learn in school.
100 = average
Mental Age / Chronological Age x 100 = IQ
Achievement Test
Measure of mastery or proficiency in reading, math, writing, science, or some other subject
Flynn Effect
Average IQ scores of nations have risen substantially over the years
Multiple Intelligences
The idea that human intelligence is comprised of a varied set of abilities rather than single, all-encompassing one.
Sternberg said there were 3 intelligences; Gardner said there were 7 (and added 2 more)
Comorbid
Refers to the presence of 2 or more disease conditions at the same time in the same person
Multifinality
Basic principle of developmental psychopathology that holds that one cause can have multiple manifestations
Equifinality
Basic principle of developmental psychopathology that holds that one symptom can have many causes
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)
Condition in which a person not only has great difficulty concentrating for more than a few moments but also is inattentive, impulsive, and overactive.
How many more boys than girls are affected by ADHD?
Twices as many
