Module 25: Expected Development in Middle and Late Childhood Flashcards
Information Processing in Middle and Late Childhood
Faster and more efficient information processing and an increased ability to ignore distractions
Gray Matter
+ 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
When does gray matter volume peak for girls?
Gray matter volume peaks 1 to 2 years earlier in girls than boys
What is the loss in density of gray matter balanced by?
The loss in density of gray matter with age is balanced by another change – a steady increase in white matter
Motor Skills
+ Motor Skills continue to improve in middle childhood
+ Children play games during recess which usually involves socialization
What do boys and girls like to play in their middle/late childhood?
Boys typically play physically (running), whereas girls loves games that involves verbal expression or counting out loud (jump rope, hopscotch)
Rough-And-Tumble Play
wrestling, kicking, tumbling, grappling, and chasing, accompanied by laughing and screaming
What do 6-9 year olds need?
6-9 year olds need more flexible rules, shorter instruction time, and more free time to practice than older children
What are older children able to do that younger children?
Older children are able to process instruction and learn team strategies
Body Image
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)
What Piagetian stage do children enter at 7 years of age?
At about 7 years of age, children enter the stage of Concrete Operations according to Jean Piaget
Concerete Operations
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
What do children have a better understanding of at middle and late childhood?
✓ Spatial concepts
✓ Causality
✓ Categorization
✓ Inductive and Deductive reasoning
✓ Conservation
✓ Numbers
Spatial concepts
allows to interpret maps and navigate environment
Causality
makes judgement about cause and effects
What are the different types of categorization?
- Seriation
- Transitive Inferences/Transivity
- Class Inclusion
Seriation
arranging objects in a series according to one or more dimensions
Transitive Inferences/Transivity
e.g. A < B < C
Class Inclusion
ability to see the relationship between a whole and its parts, and to understand categories within a whole
Inductive Reasoning
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
Deductive Reasoning
starts with a general statement about a class and applies it to particular members of the class
What kind of reasoning do children use in the concrete operations stage according to Piaget?
Piaget believed that children in the concrete operations stage only used inductive reasoning
What are the different types of Conservation?
- Principle of Identity
- Principle of Reversibility
- Decenter
Principle of Identity
still same object even though it has different appearance
Principle of Reversibility
can picture what would happen if he tried to roll back the clay of snake
Decenter
ability to look at more than one aspect of the two objects at once
Numbers
+ 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
Use of Numbers/Grammar by Boys
Boys tend to use more controlling statements, negative interruptions, and competitive statements
Use of Numbers/Grammar by Girls
Girls phrase their remarks in a more tentative, conciliatory way and are more polite and cooperative
Self-Efficacy
an individual’s belief that they can execute behaviors necessary to attain specific performance
What can increase self-efficacy?
Doing well in school increases self-efficacy
Who tends to better in school amongst biological sexes?
Girls tend to do better in school than boys
What kind of children are most likely to tend to do poorly in school?
Children who are disliked by their peers tend to do poorly in school
What do many educators believe to benefit students?
Many educators argue that smaller classes benefit students
