Unit 3 - Middle and Late Childhood Flashcards
How does body growth and change in middle/late childhood differ from early childhood and adolescents?
Early childhood and adolescence are both periods of rapid growth
Middle and late childhood are periods of slow and consistent growth
Describe brain volume in middle and late childhood
brain is about 95% of adult brain volume and stabilizes by the end of late childhood (11 years old)
What brain structure develops significantly in middle/late childhood and what developments in executive function result?
prefrontal cortex development which leads to increased attention, increased reasoning (logical thinking), and increased cognitive control (processing and behavior adapt depending on goals)
3 brain changes that occur during middle/late childhood
1) thickening of cerebral cortex - improvement in language and executive function
2) synaptic pruning continues to occur - getting rid of unused neural connections to increase efficiency
3) brain connectivity improves
Describe the association between language development and cortical thickening.
Thickening in frontal and temporal lobes: Broca’s and Wernicke’s Area leads to improved vocab organization, larger vocabulary, understanding of complex grammar, and metalinguistic awareness
Broca’s Area
responsible for speech expression, written language, and processing and comprehending language
Wernicke’s Area
responsible for understanding speech sounds and receptive language
Gross motor functioning during middle and late childhood
-becomes smoother and more coordinated
-greater interest in physical activity
Fine motor functioning during middle and late childhood
-become more precise and refined due to myelination
-improved writing, fine motor crafts, and instrument playing
What characterizes Piaget’s concrete operational state of development? Define concrete operations
age 7-11
perform concrete tasks and reason logically
concrete operations - operations applied to real objects
Reciprocity
Even though things appear different they are still the same
ex: cups can be tall and short
Identity
things can have multiple characteristics
ex: cup is tall and skinny
What are the 3 major cognitive milestones that occur during middle and late childhood?
reversibility - understand that things that have changed can return to it’s original state
seriation - ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension like length
transitivity - ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions
What is working memory?
ability to hold info in mind and manipulate it to make decision, create language, and solve problems
How does working memory change during middle and late childhood and what functions does it?
WM develops slowly across middle and late childhood
WM facilitates advances in language development, math achievement, problem solving, and reasoning
Define strategies
deliberate mental activities that improve processing of info and facilitate learning and remembering
How can adults encourage the development of strategies?
-have children elaborate on what they learned
-encourage children to engage in mental imagery
-remember material by understanding it rather than memorize it
-repeat learning with variations on instructional info and link early and often
-embed memory relevant language when instructing children
Define metacognition and why it is important
thinking about thinking
-improves during middle/late childhood
-facilitates critical, independent, and creative thinking and learning
Examples of metacognition
-knowing when to use strategies
-deciding how much time to spend on tasks
-track errors and adjust approach
-knowledge of one’s own memory
How do children in middle/late childhood understand and describe themselves?
-Greater focus on below the surface characteristics such as helpful, smart, nice.
-Reference social groups in self-descriptions (popularity)
-Start comparing self to others
What is social comparison?
means for evaluating skills, knowledge, and personal qualities by comparing with peers
How does social media usage influence children’s social comparisons and self esteem?
social media causes people to engage in more social comparison, which undermines happiness, especially for kids
impacts self concept and self esteem
Describe positive and negative outcomes associated with social media use
+ connectedness, support, shared interests, entertainment
- use to evaluate likeability, popularity, cyberbullying, and comparison
What two major changes in how children understand others that occurs in middle/late childhood?
Increased perspective taking facilitated by…
cognitive inhibition - can control own thoughts to take other’s POV
cognitive flexibility - ability to see one situation in multiple ways
