John W. Santrock

1. Children 12 Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood John W. Santrock

2. Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood • What Is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood? • What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? • How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? • What Changes in Language Development Occur in Middle and Late Childhood? • What Characterizes Children’s Achievement?

3. What Is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood? Concrete Operational Thought • Ability to classify or divide things into different sets or subsets and to consider their interrelationships • Ability to do reversible mental actions on real, concrete objects • Ability to focus on more than single property of an object

4. What Is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood? Concrete Operational Thought • Seriation: ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension • Transitivity: the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions

5. Classification: An Important Ability in Concrete Operational Thought A family tree of 4 generations; a preoperational child has trouble classifying the members Fig. 12.1

6. What Is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood? Evaluating Piaget’s Theory Contributions • Founded children’s cognitive development • View of children as active, constructive thinkers • Inventive ways to discover how children act and adapt • Criticisms • Cognitive abilities can emerge earlier or later • Stages not unitary structures of thought • Some can be trained to reason at higher stage • Culture and education exert stronger influence

7. What Is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood? Neo-Piagetians • Argue Piaget got some things right • Reinterpret information-processing perspective • More emphasis on attention and memory • Important to consider children’s strategies

8. What Is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood? Piaget and Education • Take constructivist approach • Facilitate rather than direct learning • Consider child’s knowledge and level of thinking • Use ongoing assessment • Promote student’s intellectual health • Turn classroom into setting of exploration and discovery

9. What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Memory • Long-term memory • Relatively permanent; has huge capacity • Increases with age • Depends on strategies learned

10. What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Memory • Knowledge and Expertise • Experts • Superior knowledge and recall • Knowledge influences organization, representation, interpretation of information • Ability to remember, reason, solve problems

11. What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Memory • Strategiesor control processes • Deliberate mental activities for processing information • Mental imagery used by young children • Elaboration used by older children • Fuzzy trace theory: • Verbatim memory trace: precise details • Gist: central idea of information

12. What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Thinking • Critical thinking: reflective, productive, and evaluating • Grasping deeper meaning of ideas • Keeping an open mind • Deciding for oneself

13. What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Thinking • Creative thinking • Ability to think in novel or unusual ways • Different from intelligence • Convergent thinking– intelligence reflected on conventional tests; produce one correct answer • Divergent thinking– creativity; produce many answers for one question

14. Brainstorming Provide stimulating environments Don’t overcontrol Encourage internal motivation Introduce children to creative people What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Strategies for Creative Thinking

15. What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Thinking • Scientific thinking • Often aims to identify causal relations • Preadolescents have greater difficulty separating prior theories from evidence • More influenced by happenstance events than by overall pattern of occurrences

16. What Is the Nature of Children’s Information Processing? Thinking • Metacognition • Cognition about cognition • Most focus on metamemory • Children ages 5 to 6 • Familiar, related items easier to remember • Gist of a story is easier to remember • Focus on knowledge about strategies • Effective planning aids problem solving

17. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Intelligence and Its Assessment • Intelligence • Problem-solving skills and ability to learn • Individual differences exist • Stable, consistent ways • Most research, testing focus here

18. MA CA X100 IQ How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? The Binet Tests • Mental age (MA): measure of an individual’s level of mental development • Intelligence quotient (IQ) • Normal distribution

19. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Intelligence and Its Assessment • Response areas in Stanford-Binet • Verbal ability and problem-solving skills • Ability to learn from and adapt to experiences of everyday life • Can only be measured indirectly • Focus is on individual differences

20. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? The Normal Curve and Stanford-Binet IQ Scores

21. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Intelligence and Its Assessment • The Wechsler Scales • Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence III – (WISC-III) • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – IV Integrated (WISC-IV integrated) • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III)

22. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Intelligence and Its Assessment • The Wechsler Scales • Provide overall IQ • Yield verbal and performance IQs • 6 verbal subscales • 5 performance subscales • Patterns of strengths and weaknesses shown

23. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Types of Intelligence Two-factortheory Spearman’s theory that individuals have both general intelligence, g, and specific intelligences Multiple-factortheory Thurstone’s theory that intelligence consists of seven primary mental abilities: verbal comprehension, number ability, word fluency, spatial visualization, associative memory, reasoning, perceptual speed

24. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Types of Intelligence • Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory • Three main types of intelligence • Analytical • Creative • Practical • High analytic ability favored in conventional schools; creative students don’t conform

25. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Types of Intelligence • Verbal • Mathematical • Spatial • Bodily-Kinesthetic Gardner’sEight Frames of Mind • Musical • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal • Naturalist

26. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Types of Intelligence • Evaluating multiple-intelligence views • Stimulated educators to think more about children’s competencies • Motivated new educational program development and assessment • Some critics say views go too far • Controversy exists: multiple vs. general

27. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Types of Intelligence • Culture and Intelligence • Conceptual differences among cultures • Eastern: intelligence enables successful social role engagement • Western: intelligence is reasoning and thinking • Other cultures blur Eastern and Western distinctions

28. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Interpreting Differences in IQ scores • Influence of genetics • Comparison of identical and fraternal twins • Identical twin comparisons: reared together and apart • Adoption studies • Effects of environmental change • Heritability: variance due to genetics • Controversial; not without flaws

29. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Interpreting Differences in IQ scores • Environmental influences • Parental income and communication styles • Schooling, teachers, and peers • Global effects of education on amount of knowledge one now possesses • Flynn Effect: IQ scores increasing rapidly • Emphasis on prevention, not remedial

30. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Interpreting Differences in IQ scores • Group Differences • US: African American and Latino – average scores lower than whites • Gap is narrowing • Social, economical, educational gains for disadvantaged • Adoption into advantaged families • Stereotype threat and biased tests may affect IQ test performance

31. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Interpreting Differences in IQ scores • Creating Culture-Fair Tests • Tests free of cultural bias • Two types devised • Items known in all SES and ethnic backgrounds • No verbal questions • Difficulty in creating • Time limits may create bias • Language differences • Individual differences within groups

32. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Interpreting Differences in IQ scores • Using Intelligence Tests • Avoid stereotyping and expectations • IQ is not sole indicator of competence • Use caution in interpreting overall IQ scores

33. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Extremes of Intelligence • Mental Retardation • Condition of limited mental ability • Several IQ classifications • Causes • Organic: genetic or brain disorder • Cultural-familial: no causal evidence found

34. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Extremes of Intelligence IQ Classifications of Mental Retardation

35. How Can Children’s Intelligence Be Described? Extremes of Intelligence • Giftedness • Above-average intelligence (IQ over 130) and superior talent for something • Precocity • March to their own drummer • Passion to master

36. What Changes in Language Development Occur in Middle and Late Childhood? Vocabulary, Grammar, and Metalinguistic Awareness • Reading and writing skills are important • Learn to use in more complex ways • Mental vocabulary organization changes • Improved reasoning and analytic skills • Metalinguistic awareness • Allows children to think about their language • Use language in culturally appropriate ways

37. What Changes in Language Development Occur in Middle and Late Childhood? Reading Whole-language approach Instruction should parallel children’s natural language learning; reading materials should be whole and meaningful Basic-skills- and-phonetics approach Stresses phonetics and basic rules for translating symbols into sounds; early reading instruction should involve simplified materials

38. What Changes in Language Development Occur in Middle and Late Childhood? Bilingualism and Second Language Learning • Bilingualism • Ability to speak two languages • Learning 2nd language easier for children • Child’s ability to pronounce 2nd language with correct accent decreases with age • Bilingualism has positive effect on children’s cognitive development • Bilingual education is controversial

39. What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? • Achievement motivation • Desire to accomplish something • Gain mastery over our world • Explore the unknown with enthusiasm and curiosity • Achieve heights of success

40. What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? • Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation • Extrinsic motivation • External incentives: rewards and punishments • Intrinsic motivation • Internal factors: self-determination, curiosity, challenge, and effort

41. Mastery motivation: Task oriented; focus on learning strategies and process of achievement Two responses to challenges Helpless orientation Attribute difficulty to lack of ability Performance orientation Focus only on winning What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? Mastery Motivation and Mindset

42. Mindset Cognitive view person develops of self Two mindsets Fixed – qualities cannot change; similar to helpless orientation Growth – qualities can change and improve; similar to mastery orientation What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? Mastery Motivation and Mindset

43. What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? Self-Efficacy • Belief that one can master situation and produce favorable outcomes • Linked to effort and persistency • Critical factor in achievement • Linked to intrinsic motivation

44. What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? Goal-Setting, Planning, and Self-Regulation • Self-efficacy and achievement improve when individuals set goals that are • Specific • Proximal • Challenging • Long-term and short-term are needed

45. What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? Social Relationships and Contexts • Relationships affect achievement • Parents • Childrearing practices affect achievement • Positive parenting has best results • Provided activities and resources • Peers • Teachers

46. What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? Social Relationships and Contexts • Ethnicity • Diversity that exists among ethnic minority children is evidenced in achievement • Must distinguish difference from deficiency • SES often overlooked • SES is better predictor of achievement • May affect motivation • Quality of schools makes a difference

47. What Characterizes Children’s Achievement? Social Relationships and Contexts • Culture • U.S. students perform badly in math and science tests • Gap widens with age • Asian teachers spend more time on math • U.S. parents have lower math expectations

48. Children 12 The End