Module 23: Expected Development in Middle and Late Childhood

Question 1

Information Processing in Middle and Late Childhood

Answer 1

Faster and more efficient information processing and an increased ability to ignore distractions

Question 2

Gray Matter

Answer 2

+ The overall volume of gray matter (linked with IQ) increases pre-puberty and declines post-puberty
+ Decline is due to loss in the density of gray matter

Question 3

When does gray matter volume peak for girls?

Answer 3

Gray matter volume peaks 1 to 2 years earlier in girls than boys

Question 4

What is the loss in density of gray matter balanced by?

Answer 4

The loss in density of gray matter with age is balanced by another change – a steady increase in white matter

Question 5

Motor Skills

Answer 5

+ Motor Skills continue to improve in middle childhood
+ Children play games during recess which usually involves socialization

Question 6

What do boys and girls like to play in their middle/late childhood?

Answer 6

Boys typically play physically (running), whereas girls loves games that involves verbal expression or counting out loud (jump rope, hopscotch)

Question 7

Rough-And-Tumble Play

Answer 7

wrestling, kicking, tumbling, grappling, and chasing, accompanied by laughing and screaming

Question 8

What do 6-9 year olds need?

Answer 8

6-9 year olds need more flexible rules, shorter instruction time, and more free time to practice than older children

Question 9

What are older children able to do that younger children?

Answer 9

Older children are able to process instruction and learn team strategies

Question 10

Body Image

Answer 10

Body Image (how one believes one looks) becomes important early in middle childhood, especially for girls, which could lead to eating disorders during adolescence (may be influenced by playing unrealistic dolls such as barbie)

Question 11

What Piagetian stage do children enter at 7 years of age?

Answer 11

At about 7 years of age, children enter the stage of Concrete Operations according to Jean Piaget

Question 12

Concerete Operations

Answer 12

Children can now think logically because they can take multiple aspects of situations into account. However, their thinking is still limited to real situations in the here and now

Question 13

What do children have a better understanding of at middle and late childhood?

Answer 13

✓ Spatial concepts
✓ Causality
✓ Categorization
✓ Inductive and Deductive reasoning
✓ Conservation
✓ Numbers

Question 14

Spatial concepts

Answer 14

allows to interpret maps and navigate environment

Question 15

Causality

Answer 15

makes judgement about cause and effects

Question 16

What are the different types of categorization?

Answer 16

1. Seriation
2. Transitive Inferences/Transivity
3. Class Inclusion

Question 17

Seriation

Answer 17

arranging objects in a series according to one or more dimensions

Question 18

Transitive Inferences/Transivity

Answer 18

e.g. A < B < C

Question 19

Class Inclusion

Answer 19

ability to see the relationship between a whole and its parts, and to understand categories within a whole

Question 20

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 20

involves making observations about particular members of a class of people, animals, objects, or events, and then
drawing conclusions about the class as a whole

Question 21

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 21

starts with a general statement about a class and applies it to particular members of the class

Question 22

What kind of reasoning do children use in the concrete operations stage according to Piaget?

Answer 22

Piaget believed that children in the concrete operations stage only used inductive reasoning

Question 23

What are the different types of Conservation?

Answer 23

1. Principle of Identity
2. Principle of Reversibility
3. Decenter

Question 24

Principle of Identity

Answer 24

still same object even though it has different appearance

Question 25

Principle of Reversibility

Answer 25

can picture what would happen if he tried to roll back the clay of snake

Question 26

Decenter

Answer 26

ability to look at more than one aspect of the two objects at once

Question 27

Numbers

Answer 27

+ Children use increasingly precise verbs, simile and metaphor
+ Rarely use passive voice
+ Understanding of rules of syntax becomes more sophisticated with age
+ Sentence structure continue to become more elaborate

Question 28

Use of Numbers/Grammar by Boys

Answer 28

Boys tend to use more controlling statements, negative interruptions, and competitive statements

Question 29

Use of Numbers/Grammar by Girls

Answer 29

Girls phrase their remarks in a more tentative, conciliatory way and are more polite and cooperative

Question 30

Self-Efficacy

Answer 30

an individual’s belief that they can execute behaviors necessary to attain specific performance

Question 31

What can increase self-efficacy?

Answer 31

Doing well in school increases self-efficacy

Question 32

Who tends to better in school amongst biological sexes?

Answer 32

Girls tend to do better in school than boys

Question 33

What kind of children are most likely to tend to do poorly in school?

Answer 33

Children who are disliked by their peers tend to do poorly in school

Question 34

What do many educators believe to benefit students?

Answer 34

Many educators argue that smaller classes benefit students