Unit 6

Question 1

Describe what great strides are made in middle childhoods’ physical, cognitive, social and emotional development

Answer 1

Middle childhood is relatively tranquil. The body has not shifted into neutral; physical growth continues, but at a more steady pace than in the preschool years. In the same period, children’s gross and fine motor skills develop substantially over the course of the school years. (definition of gross and fine motor skills: gross motor skills is in muscle coordination and fine motor skills: are messages reaching muscles more rapidly and control tem better).Next, cognitive, social and emotional development at this stage, Children who ;have a better diet and are more involved with their peers, show more positive emotion, and have less anxiety than children with less adequate nutrition. Although poor diet clearly leads to physical, social, and cognitive difficulties, in some cases over nutrition—the intake of too many calories—leads to problems of its own, in particular childhood obesity.

Question 2

Analyze Feldman and Landry discuss the milestones of normative development in these areas, such as Piaget’s concrete operational stage and Erikson’s industry-versus-inferiority stage, and their argument in the differences.

Answer 2

• Piaget’s, concrete operational stage : Concrete operational thought applies logic. The use of cognitive and logical processes to answer, no longer judging solely by appearance; they can consider multiple aspects of a situation, an ability known as decentring (the ability to take multiple aspects of a situation into account). Once, concrete operations take hold, children make several cognitive leaps, such as the concept of reversibility—the notion that alteration to a object can be reversed such as a ball of clay squeezed into a long, thin rope cam become a ball again. Concrete operational thinking also permits children to grasp such concepts as the relationship between time and speed. Despite these advances, children’s thinking still has one critical limitation. They remain tied to concrete, physical reality. Furthermore, they cannot understand truly abstract of hypothetical questions, or ones involving formal logic, such as concepts like free will or determination. Versus, Erickson’s, industry-versus-inferiority stage is characterized (p.222)

Question 3

Describe Gilligan’s critique of Kohlberg’s study of moral development in girls and boys in which girls’ moral judgment was typically scored at a lower level than boys’.

Answer 3

• Kohlberg’s, Sequence of Moral Reasoning, has three stages of development the preconventional morality, Conventional morality,(P.226) and Postconventional morality. At the Postconventional level, Right and Wrong (Values) are now defined by principles such as “The greater good” and “the betterment of society” and may be in direct conflict with both the individual’s self-interest and local laws. Kohlberg’s theory has also been criticized because it is based solely on observations of Western Cultures. Therefore, the nature of morality may differ in diverse cultures. The flaw in Kohlberg’s theory is the difficulty it has explaining girl’s moral judgments. This result has led to an alternative account of moral development for girls.
• According to Gilligan, boys view morality primarily in terms or broad principled such as justice or fairness, while girls see it in terms of responsibility toward individuals and willingness to sacrifice themselves to help specific individuals within to context of particular relationships. Compassion for individuals, then, is a greater factor in moral behaviour for woman than it is for men. Gilligan’s moral view has three stages. The first stage is called “orientation toward individual survival.” The second stage, termed “Goodness as self-sacrifice.” Finally the third stage, “Morality of nonviolence,” in which woman decide that hurting anyone is immoral—including themselves, According to Gilligan, is the most sophisticated level of moral reasoning.

Question 4

This is a good topic to use to review the nature vs. nurture debate that we have discussed in several previous units

Answer 4

The different ways boys and girls are raised in society. and how middle children are judge by what they wear, how they look, who they hang around with and what the mass media says they should be.

Question 5

Describes, Anderson’s chapter on Childhood and Youth” (pp. 65–83) Aboriginal approaches to middle childhood, another counterpoint to dominant Western norms

Answer 5

• Prior to residential schools. Aboriginal oral history and work were an important part of the childhood experience as it taught children self-discipline and self-reliance and how to be responsible to their community. Compared to Western societies approach of observing and imitating others and the world around them to obtain normal societal behaviours.
Both ways of child rearing makes sense on both accounts. I really think that they have been living in a dual cultural role for many years. It is amazing, how they can change from their traditional Aboriginal culture and then adapt right back into the Western society’s idea of identity. It shows just how resilient the Aboriginal peoples are. They can integrated from Aboriginal society that teaches that personal accomplishment depends on what you contribute to the community’s survival. Versus, western values that believes that personal accomplishment contributes to society, no matter what part you play in the community and your own family’s survival.