9 10 middle late childhood

Body Growth and Change Body Growth and Change: Growth averages 2–3 inches per year Weight gain averages 5–7 lbs. each year Muscle mass and strength gradually increase; baby fat decreases Ossification of bones Boys have a greater number of muscle cells and are typically stronger than girls ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Body Growth and Change The Brain: Brain volume stabilizes Significant changes in structures and regions occur, especially in the prefrontal cortex Improved attention, reasoning, and cognitive control Increases in cortical thickness Activation of some brain areas increase while others decrease Shift from larger areas to smaller, more focal areas Due to synaptic pruning ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Body Growth and Change Motor Development: Gross motor skills become smoother and more coordinated Boys usually outperform girls on gross motor skills Improvement of fine motor skills during middle and late childhood Increased myelination of the central nervous system Girls usually outperform boys on fine motor skills ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Exercise Exercise plays an important role in children’s growth and development Percentage of children involved in daily P.E. programs in schools decreased from 80% (1969) to 20% (1999) Television watching is linked with low activity and obesity in children

Health, Illness, and Disease Middle and late childhood is usually a time of excellent health Injuries are the leading cause of death during middle and late childhood Motor vehicle accidents are most common cause of severe injury Cancer is the 2 nd leading cause of death in children 5–14 years old Most common child cancer is leukemia Many elementary-school children already possess risk factors for cardiovascular disease ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Health, Illness, and Disease Overweight Children: Being overweight as a child is a risk factor for being obese as an adult Girls are more likely than boys to be overweight Changes in diet and total caloric intake may be one reason for increasing obesity rates Raises risks for many medical and psychological problems Pulmonary problems, diabetes, high blood pressure Low self-esteem, depression, exclusion from peer groups

Learning Disabilities Definition of learning disability includes three components: Minimum IQ level Significant difficulty in a school-related area Exclusion of severe emotional disorders, second-language background, sensory disabilities, and/or specific neurological deficits Boys are identified three times more frequently than girls Most common form involves reading (i.e., dyslexia) ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Disabilities Educational Issues: 1975: laws passed requiring all public schools to serve disabled children Law requires disability students to receive: IEP (Individualized Education Plan): written statement that is specifically tailored for the disabled student LRE (Least Restrictive Environment): a setting that is as similar as possible to that of non-disabled children Inclusion: educating a child with special education needs in the regular classroom

Learning Disabilities Possible Causes: Genetics (many tend to run in families) Environmental influences Problems in integrating information from multiple brain regions Difficulties in brain structures and functions Intervention: Improving reading ability through intensive instruction ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Disabilities ADHD Characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity Number of children diagnosed has increased substantially Possible Causes: Genetics Brain damage during prenatal or postnatal development Cigarette and alcohol exposure during prenatal development Later peak for cerebral cortex thickening

Learning Disabilities ADHD Treatment: Stimulant medication (Ritalin or Adderall) is helpful Combination of medication and behavior management seems to work best Exercise may reduce ADHD symptoms Critics argue that physicians are too quick to prescribe medications

Learning Disabilities Autism Spectrum Disorders 1 million American children Ranging from severe autistic disorder milder Asperger syndrome Detected as early as 1-3 years of age Boys 4x likely to have the disorder IQ range from MR to average and above average intelligence

Cognitive Changes Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage: Ages 7 to 11 Children can perform concrete operations and reason logically Reasoning can only be applied to specific, concrete examples Ability to classify things into different sets and consider their interrelationships Transitivity: the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions Seriation: the ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Memory Memory: long-term memory increases with age during middle and late childhood Experts have acquired extensive knowledge about a particular content area Influences how they organize, represent, and interpret information Affects ability to remember, reason, and solve problems Older children usually have more expertise about a subject than younger children do

Thinking Critical Thinking: thinking reflectively and productively, and evaluating evidence Few schools really teach critical thinking Creative Thinking: the ability to think in novel and unusual ways, and to come up with unique solutions to problems Convergent thinking: produces one correct answer Divergent thinking: produces many different answers to the same question ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Intelligence Intelligence: problem-solving skills and the ability to learn from and adapt to life’s everyday experiences Individual Differences: stable, consistent ways in which people are different from each other Intelligence Tests: Binet Tests: designed to identify children with difficulty learning in school Mental age (MA): an individual’s level of mental development relative to others Intelligence quotient (IQ): a person’s mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100 Stanford-Binet Tests: revised version of the Binet test Scores approximate a normal distribution—a bell-shaped curve Wechsler Scales: give scores on several composite indices Three versions for different age groups ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Intelligence Types of Intelligence: Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: intelligence comes in three forms: Analytical intelligence: ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast Creative intelligence: ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine Practical intelligence: ability to use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice

Intelligence Types of Intelligence (continued): Gardner’s Eight Frames of Mind: Verbal: ability to think in words and use language to express meaning Mathematical: ability to carry out mathematical operations Spatial: ability to think three-dimensionally Musical: sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone Interpersonal: ability to understand and interact effectively with others Intrapersonal: ability to understand oneself Naturalist: ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and human-made systems Bodily-Kinesthetic: ability to manipulate objects and be physically adept

Intelligence Controversies and issues in intelligence: Heredity and genetics versus environment (increasingly higher scores suggest role of education) Flynn effect Bell curve: U.S. is developing large underclass of intellectually deprived Racial and cultural bias Classifying types of mental retardation ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences in IQ Scores Environmental Influences: Communication of parents Schooling Flynn Effect: rapidly increasing IQ test scores around the world Increasing levels of education attained by more people Explosion of available information Interventions designed to help children at risk for impoverished intelligence ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences in IQ Scores Group Differences: On average, African American schoolchildren score 10 to 15 points lower on IQ tests than White American schoolchildren Gap has begun to narrow as African Americans have gained social, economic, and educational opportunities Culture-Fair Tests: tests that are intended to be free of cultural bias Items that are familiar to children from all backgrounds Nonverbal intelligence tests ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences in IQ Scores Extremes of Intelligence: Mental Retardation: a condition of limited mental ability in which an individual has a low IQ (typically below 70) and has difficulty adapting to everyday life Can be mild, moderate, severe or profound Mildly retarded makes up 85% of MR population Can have an organic cause, or it can be social and cultural in origin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Self Development of Self Understanding During middle and late childhood: Defining one’s “self” shifts to using internal characteristics or personality traits. Children recognize social aspects of the self Social comparison increases Understanding Others Children show an increase in perspective taking Especially important for the development of prosocial or antisocial attitudes and behavior Children become increasingly skeptical of others’ claims ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Self Self Esteem: global evaluations of the self Self Concept: domain-specific evaluations of the self Beliefs about self esteem do not always match reality Most studies about self esteem are correlation (cannot determine causation) Children with high self esteem Do not seem to perform better in school Have greater initiative (can be positive or negative) Are prone to both prosocial and antisocial actions ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Self Four Ways to Improve Self Esteem Identify causes of low self esteem Provide emotional support and social approval Help child achieve Help child cope Self Efficacy: belief that one can master a situation and produce favorable outcomes Students with low self efficacy often avoid challenging activities ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Self Self Regulation: Increased capacity for self-regulation in middle and late childhood Linked to development advances in the prefrontal cortex Industry vs. Inferiority (Erickson) Industry : children become interested in how things work Inferiority : parents who see their children’s efforts as mischief may encourage inferiority School is very important in the development of a sense of industry ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional Development Developmental Changes Include: Improved emotional understanding Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation Increased awareness of the events leading to emotional reactions Ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions Use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings A capacity for genuine empathy ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional Development Coping with Stress: Older children utilize more coping strategies Coping with stressful events: Reassure children Allow children to retell events Encourage children to talk about feelings Protect children from re-exposure Help children make sense of what happened ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Moral Development Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory: Extended Piaget’s basic theory Proposed 6 universal states of moral development Developed stages based on interviews using moral dilemmas Before age 9, most children use level 1 Most adolescents reason at stage 3 By early adulthood, a few use postconventional reasoning Research on Kohlberg’s Theory: Stage 1 and 2 use decrease with age No 10 year olds (but 62% of 32 year olds) use level 4 Stage 5 did not appear until age 20 to 22 Stage 6 reasoning is very rare ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Moral Development Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory Kohlberg’s theory may reflect a gender bias (Carol Gilligan) Kohlberg promotes a justice perspective Gilligan argues for a caring perspective Gilligan and colleagues found that women consistently interpret moral dilemmas differently than men Experts now believe there is no evidence to support Gilligan’s claim ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender Gender Stereotypes – broad categories that reflect general impressions and beliefs about males and females Children’s gender stereotyping increase from preschool through fifth grade Boys stereotypes tend to be more rigid than girls Gender Similarities and Differences Differences are averages There is considerable overlap between the sexes Differences may be biological, sociocultural, or both ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender Physical Development Women have about twice as much body fat as men; men are about 10% taller than women Women have a longer life expectancy and are less likely to develop physical or mental disorders Hormonal Differences Female brains are smaller but have more folds Part of hypothalamus responsible for sexual behavior is larger in males Corpus callosum is larger in females Area of parietal lobe that aids visuospatial skills is larger in males Areas of brain involved in emotional expression show more activity in females ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender Cognitive Development Men tend to have better math and visuospatial skills, but difference are small Females tend to perform better than males on reading and writings tasks ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender Socioemotional Development Aggression: Boys are more physically aggressive than girls Girls show as much verbal aggression as boys Girls engage in relational aggression more often than physical aggression Emotion: Girls admit to feeling sadness, shame, and guilt; boys tend to deny that they experience these emotions Males show less emotional self-regulation Prosocial Behavior : Females engage in more prosocial behavior than males ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender Gender Role Classification Masculinity and femininity used to be described as a continuum This view challenged by the concept of androgyny (presence of positive masculine and feminine traits in the same person) Androgynous individuals are more flexible, competent, and mentally healthy Desirability depends on context ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Peers Positive relationships with peers are especially important in middle and late childhood Developmental Changes: Reciprocity becomes increasingly important in peer interchanges during elementary school Size of peer group increases Peer interaction is less closely supervised by adults Children’s preference for same-sex peer groups increases until about age 12 ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Peers Popular Children : Give out reinforcements Listen carefully; maintain open lines of communication with peers Are happy Control their negative emotions At like themselves Show enthusiasm and concern for others Are self confident without being conceited ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Peers Neglected Children : Engage in low rates of peer interaction Often described as shy Rejected Children : Often have more serious social adjustment problems than neglected children Often find that rejection increases aggressive behavior over time More impulsive More emotionally reactive Fewer social skills ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Bullying Boys and younger middle school students are most likely to be affected Child victims often tend to: Be lonely and have difficulty making friends Be anxious, socially withdrawn, aggressive Child bullies often tend to: Have low grades in school Use alcohol and/or tobacco Outcomes of bullying: More likely to experience depression and attempt suicide More health problems (headaches, dizziness, sleep problems, anxiety) ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Friends Children’s friendships are typically characterized by similarity Six functions: Companionship Stimulation Physical support Ego support Social comparison Affection and intimacy Developmental advantages occur when children have socially skilled and supportive friends ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Schools Contemporary Approaches: Constructivist Approach : learner-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of individuals actively constructing their own knowledge and understanding Emphasis on collaboration and active learning Direct-Instruction Approach: structured, teacher-centered approach Teacher direction and control High teacher expectations for students’ progress Maximum time spent by students on academic tasks Efforts by teacher to keep negative affect to a minimum Combination of both approaches may be best ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Schools Accountability: Government and U.S. public are demanding increased accountability from schools Spread of state-mandated tests Many states have identified objectives for students No Child Left Behind Legislation (2002): Advocates argue that testing will: Improve student performance Encourage teachers to spend more time teaching the subjects that are tested Raise expectations for students Identify poorly performing schools, teachers, and administrators Improve confidence in schools ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Schools No Child Left Behind Legislation (2002): Critics argue that : Using a single test as the sole indicator of students’ progress presents a very narrow view of students’ skills Test do not measure creativity, motivation, persistence, flexible thinking, social skills Teachers spend too much class time “teaching to the test” Gifted students are neglected in favor of raising the achievement level of children who are not doing well Each state is allowed to set their own standard for passing tests ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Schools Minority and low-SES students face more barriers to learning: Parents may not set high educational standards Parents may not know how to help children with schoolwork Students may not have resources to pay for educational materials and expenses Students often live in high-risk neighborhoods Most low-SES area schools tend to have: Students with lower test scores, lower graduation rates, and lower college-attendance rates Young teachers with less experience Curriculum that encourages rote learning Old and undesirable buildings Fewer resources ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Schools Ethnicity in Schools : Almost one-third of all African American and Latino students attend schools in the 47 largest city school districts in the U.S., compared with only 5 percent of all White and 22 percent of all Asian-American students Many inner-city schools are still segregated, grossly underfunded, and do not provide adequate learning opportunities Segregation is still a problem outside of inner cities ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Schools African American and Latino students are less likely than White or Asian American students to be in college prep programs, and are more likely to be in remedial or special education programs Asian American students take more advanced math and science courses than any other group African American students are twice as likely as Latinos, Native Americans, or Whites to be suspended from school Some experts believe that teachers accept a low level of performance from children of color ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

9 10 middle late childhood

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