1. Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood
Chapter 9 from page 299

2. Final Exam
Final exam will be Wednesday, December 7
8AM-11AM

3. Piaget’s Theory: The Concrete Operational Stage
Extends from about age 7 to 11 years
Marks a major turning point in cognitive development
Thought s much more logical, flexible, and organized than it was at earlier ages

4. Concrete Operational Thought: Conservation
The ability to pass conservation tasks provides clear evidence of operations
Operations – mental actions that obey logical rules
Children at this stage are capable of decentration
Decentration – the ability to focus on several aspects of a problem at once and relate them to one another
Ex. Recognizing that when 1 of 2 identical glasses of water is poured into a shorter wider container, that the amounts are still the same because even though it is now shorter, the width of the container makes up for the loss in hight
They also demonstrate reversibility
Reversibility – the ability to go through a series of steps in a problem and then mentally reverse them and return to the starting point

5. Concrete Operational Thought: Classification
Between ages 7 and 10 children pass Piaget’s class inclusion problem
This indicates greater awareness of classification hierarchies
They can focus on relations between a general category and two specific categories at the same time
That is, on three relationships at once
Ex. Children can now understand that there are more “flowers” than “yellow flowers” because both blue and yellow flowers fall under the category of “flowers”

6. Concrete Operational Thought: Seriation
Seriation – the ability to order items along a quantitative dimension, such as length, weight, or height
To test for seriation, Piaget asked children to arrange sticks of different lengths from shortest to longest
Older preschoolers can put the stick in a row, but they do so haphazardly, making many errors
But, 6-7 year olds create the series efficiently, moving in an orderly sequence from the smallest stick, to the next largest, and so on
Concrete operational children are also capable of transitive inferences
Transitive inference – the ability to seriate mentally
This requires children to integrate multiple relationships at once
Ex. Piaget showed children parings of sticks of different colors
From observing that stick A is longer than stick B and that stick B is longer than stick C, children must infer that stick A is also longer than stick C

7. Concrete Operational Thought: Spatial Reasoning
School-age children’s understanding of space is more accurate than that of preschoolers
Evident from children’s cognitive maps – mental representations of familiar large-scale spaces, such as their neighborhood
Drawing a map of a large-scale space requires considerable perspective-taking skill because the entire space cannot be seen at once, children must infer its overall layout by relating its separate parts
Around ages 8-10, children’s maps become better organized, showing landmarks along an organized route of travel
At the same time children become bale to give clear, well-organized instructions for getting from one place to another by using a “mental walk” strategy
“Mental walk” strategy – imagining another person’s movements along a route
By the end of middle childhood, children form an overall view of a large-scale space

8. Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought
Children at the concrete operational stage think in an organized, logical fashion only when dealing with concrete information that they can perceive directly
Their mental operations work poorly with abstract ideas that are not apparent in the real world
Ex. When shown the pairs of different size sticks, children are able to infer that stick A was longer than stick C, but they have considerable difficulty with a hypothetical version of the problem: “Susan is taller than Sally, and Sally is taller than Mary. Who is the tallest?”
Children are not able to solve this problem until ages 11-12
School-age children master Piaget’s concrete operational tasks step by step
They work out the logic of each problem separately instead of coming up with general logical principles that they can apply globally
Ex. Children usually grasp conservation of number first, followed by conservation of length, liquid, and mass, and then weight
Rather than learning a general “conservation” principle, they figure out the logic of each problem individually

9. Follow-Up Research on Concrete Operational Thought
According to Piaget, brain development combined with experience should lead children everywhere to reach the concrete operational stage at about the same time
But, recent evidence indicates that specific cultural and educational practices have much to do with children’s mastery of Piagetian tasks
Information-processing research helps explain the gradual mastery of logical concepts in middle childhood

10. Follow-Up Research: The Impact of Culture and Schooling
In tribal and village societies, where children rarely attend school, even the most basic conservation tasks are often delayed until age 11 or later
This suggests that taking part in relevant everyday activities (like sorting your crayons by color or pouring your own glass of juice) helps children master conservation and other Piagetian problems
Specifically, the experience of going to school seems to promote master of Piagetian tasks
Based on the differences between cultures, some researchers have concluded that the forms of logic required by Piagetian tasks do not emerge spontaneously
Rather, they are heavily influenced by training, context, and cultural conditions

11. Follow-Up Research: Information Processing View
Some neo-Piagetian theorists argue that the development of operational thinking can best be understood in terms of gains in information-processing speed rather than a sudden shift to a new stage
With practice, cognitive schemes demand less attention and become more automatic
This frees up space in working memory so children can focus on combining old schemes and generating new ones
Ex. A child who sees water poured from one glass to another recognizes that the height of the liquid changes
As this understanding becomes routine, the child notices that the width of the water also changes
Soon children coordinate these observations, and develop conservation of liquid
As this logical idea becomes well-practiced, the child transfers it to more demanding situations
Once the schemes of a Piagetian stage are sufficiently automatic, enough working memory is available to integrate them into an improved representation
Allowing children to acquire central conceptual structures – broadly applicable principles that result in increasingly complex, systematic reasoning

12. Evaluation of the Concrete Operational Stage
Disagreement continues over whether children’s cognitive development occurs as continuous improvement in logical skills or as discontinuous restructuring of children’s thinking, as Piaget’s stage idea assumes
Many researchers think that both types of change may be involved
In the school years, children apply logical schemes to many more tasks
In the process, their thought seems to undergo qualitative change, toward a comprehensive grasp of the underlying principles of logical thought
A blend of Piagetian and information-processing ideas holds the greatest promise for understanding cognitive development in middle childhood

13. Information Processing Perspective
Focuses on separate aspects of thinking rather than overall cognitive change
Attention and memory, which underlie every act of cognition are central concerns in middle childhood
Advances in metacognition and opportunities for self-regulation aid in development
Researchers believe that brain development contributes to basic changes in information processing that facilitate divers aspect of thinking
Increases in information-processing speed and capacity – time needed to process information on a wide variety of cognitive tasks declines rapidly between ages 6-12
Suggests a biologically based gain in speed of thinking, possibly due to myelination and synaptic pruning in the brain
Faster thinkers can hold on to and operate on more information in working memory
Gains in inhibition – the ability to control internal and external distracting stimuli improves
Strides in inhibition occur in middle childhood possibly due to further development of the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex
Inhibition can prevent an individuals mind from straying to irrelevant thoughts, which supports many information-processing skills by preserving space in working memory for the task at hand

14. Information-Processing: Attention
In middle childhood, attention becomes more selective, adaptable, and planful
Between ages 6-10, children become better at deliberately attending to just those aspects of a situation that are relevant to their goals
Researchers study this by introducing irrelevant stimuli into a task and seeing how well children attend to its central elements
Older children can flexibly adapt their attention to task requirements
When asked to sort cards with pictures that vary in both color and shape, children age 5 and older can switch their basis of sorting from color to shape when asked to do so
Planning improves greatly in middle childhood
School-age children scan detailed pictures and written materials for similarities and differences more thoroughly than preschoolers
On tasks with many parts, the make decisions about what to do first and what to do next in an orderly fashion
Some children have great difficult paying attention
Learning and behavior problems sometimes can be attributed to attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

15. Information-Processing: Memory Strategies
Memory strategies are deliberate mental activities we use to store and retain information
Rehearsal – involves repeating information to oneself
First memory strategy, appears in the early grade school years
Ex. Repeating each state’s capitol over and over again
Organization – grouping together related items
Second strategy to appear, increases recall dramatically
Ex. Remembering all state capitols in a specific region of the country
Elaboration – creating a relation between two or more items that re not members of the same category
Appears by the end of middle childhood, is highly effective techniques and requires considerable effort and space in working memory
Ex. If two words on a list to be remembered are “fish” and “pipe,” a child might generate the verbal statement or mental image “the fish is smoking a pipe.”
Gains in organization and elaboration permit older children to combine items into more meaningful chunks, allowing them to retain more information and further expand working memory
Additionally, when children link a new item to information they already know, they can retrieve it easily by thinking of associated items

16. The Knowledge Base and Memory Performance
During middle childhood, children’s long-term knowledge base grows larger and is organized into increasingly elaborate, hierarchically structured networks
Knowing more about a topic makes new information more meaningful and familiar so it is easier to store and retrieve
In one study, children were 4th graders were classified as either experts or novices in knowledge of soccer and then gave both groups lists of soccer and nonsoccer items to learn
Kids in the expert group remembered far more items on the soccer lists, but not on the nonsoccer list, than kids in the novice groups
During recall, experts’ listing of items was better organized, indicated by clustering of items into categories
This better organization at retrieval suggests that highly knowledgeable children organize information in their area of expertise with little or no effort
Academically unsuccessful children fail to make use of previously stored information to clarify new material
By the end of the school years, extensive knowledge and use of memory strategies support one another

17. Culture, Schooling, and Memory Strategies
Memory strategies are usually used to remember information for its own sake
On many other occasions, memory occurs as a natural byproduct of participation in daily activities
People in non-Western cultures who lack formal schooling do not use or benefit from instruction in memory strategies because they see no practical reason to use these techniques
Tasks that require children to recall isolated bits of information, which are common in classrooms, strongly motivate use of memory strategies
In fact, Western children get so much practice doing this that they do not refine techniques relying on cues available in everyday life, such as spatial location and arrangement of objects
Ex. Guatemalan Mayan 9 year olds do better than their North American agemates when asked to remember the placement of 40 familiar objects in a play scene
North American children often rehearse object names when it would be more effective to keep track of spatial relations
The development of memory strategies, then, is not just a product of a more competent information-processing system
It also depends on task demands and cultural circumstances

18. The School-Age Child’s Theory of Mind
Theory of mind (metacognition) – set of ideas about mental activities – becomes more elaborate and refined during middle childhood
Unlike preschoolers, who view the mind as a passive container of information, older children regard it as an active, constructive agent that selects and transforms information
They have a much better understanding of cognitive processes and the impact of psychological factors on performance
Ex. They know that doing well on a task depends on focusing attention, concentrating, and exerting effort
School-age children realize that people can extend their knowledge not only directly but also by making mental inferences
An understanding that enables knowledge of false belief to expand, bringing a greater understanding of others’ perspectives
They are better able to pinpoint the reasons that another person arrived at a certain belief
Experiences that foster awareness of mental activities, such as teachers asking children to pay attention, also contribute to children’s more reflective, process- oriented view of mind

19. Cognitive Self-Regulation
School-age children are not yet good at cognitive self-regulation
Cognitive self-regulation – the process of continuously monitoring progress toward a goal, checking outcomes, and redirecting unsuccessful efforts
Ex. A child may know that she should group items when memorizing and that she should reread a complicated paragraph to make sure she understands, but she probably doesn’t do this all the time
Because monitoring learning outcomes is cognitively demanding, it develops gradually
By adolescence, self-regulation is a strong predictor of academic success
Parents and teachers can foster self-regulation
Particularly by explaining eh effectiveness of strategies
Children who acquire effective self-regulatory skills develop a sense of academic self-efficacy
Academic self-efficacy – confidence in their own abilities
Negative messages from parents and teachers can undermine children’s academic self-esteem and self-regulatory skills

20. Applications of Information Processing to Academic Learning
Fundamental discoveries about the development of information processing have been applied to children’s learning of reading and mathematics
Researchers are identifying the cognitive ingredients of skilled performance, tracing their development, and pinpointing differences in cognitive skills between good and poor readers
They hope to design teaching methods that will improve children’s learning

21. Applications of Information Processing: Reading
Reading taxes all aspect of our information-processing systems, making use of many skills at once
We must perceive single letters and letter combinations, translate them into speech sounds, recognize the visual appearance of many common words, hold chunks of text in working memory while interpreting their meaning, and combine the meanings of various parts of a text passage into an understandable whole
Because reading is so demanding, most or all of these skills must be done automatically
If one or more are poorly developed, they will compete for space in our limited working memories, and reading performance will decline

22. Applications of Information Processing: Reading
As children make the transition from emergent literacy to conventional reading, phonological awareness continues to facilitate their progress
Other information-processing activities also contribute
Gains in processing speed foster children’s rapid conversion of visual symbols into sounds
Visual scanning and discrimination are also important and improve with reading experience
Performing all these skill efficiently releases working memory for higher-level activities involved in comprehending the test’s meaning

23. Applications of Information Processing: Reading
Until recently, researcher were involved in an intense debate over the best way to teach beginning reading
Proponents of a whole-language approach, argued that reading should be taught in a way that parallels children’s natural language learning
From the beginning, children should be exposed to text in its complete form – stories, poems, letters, posters, and lists – so that they can appreciate the communicative function of written language
According to this view as long as reading is kept whole and meaningful, children will be motivated to discover the specific sills they need
Others favored a phonics approach, in which children were first coached on phonics – the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds
Only after mastering these skills should children get complex reading material
Many studies show that children learn best with a mixture of both approaches

24. Applications of Information Processing: Mathematics
Over the early elementary school years, children acquire basic math facts through a combination of frequent practice, experimentation with diverse computational procedures, reasoning about number concepts, and teaching that conveys effective strategies
Ex. When 1st graders realize that regardless of the order in which 2 sets of numbers are combined (ex. 2+6=8 and 6+2=8), they yield the same result, they more often start with the higher digit (6) and count up, which minimizes the work involved
Arguments over how to teach mathematics resemble those about reading, pitting drill in computing against “number sense” or understanding
Again a blend of both is most beneficial, encouraging students to apply strategies and making sure they understand why certain strategies work well are essential for solid mastery of basic math
Ex. Students greatly benefit when they realize that multiplication problems involving 2 (8 x 2) are equivalent to addition doubles (8+8)

25. Individual Differences in Mental Development
Around age 6, IQ becomes more stable than it was at earlier ages, and it correlates moderately will with academic achievement, typically around .50 to .60
Children with higher IQs are more likely when they grow up to attain higher levels of education and enter more prestigious occupations
Because IQ predicts school performance and educational attainment, it often enters into educational decisions
Do intelligence test accurately assess the school-age child’s ability to profit from academic instruction? = controversial issue

26. Defining and Measuring Intelligence
Virtually all intelligence tests provide an overall score (IQ) which represents general intelligence, or reasoning ability, and an array of separate scores measuring specific mental abilities
But, intelligence is a collection of many capacities, not all of which are included on currently available tests
Test designers use a complicated statistical technique called factor analysis to identify various abilities that intelligence tests measure
Identifies which sets of test items cluster together, meaning that test- takers who do well on one item in a cluster tend to do well on the others
Distinct clusters are called factors, each of which represents an ability

27. Defining and Measuring Intelligence
Group-administered tests permit large numbers of pupils to be tested at once and are useful for instructional planning
Usually given to classrooms as a whole
Teachers need little training to administer them
Can identify children who require more extensive evaluation
Individually administered tests are used for more extensive evaluation of children
Require considerable training and experience to be given well
The examiner considers both the child’s answers and behavior and notes reactions such as attention to and interest in the tasks
These observations give insight into whether the test results accurately reflect the child’s abilities
Examples include the Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler, which are used to identify highly intelligent children and to diagnose children with learning problems

28. Defining and Measuring Intelligence
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, 5th Edition
For individuals from age 2 to adulthood
Assesses general intelligence and 5 intellectual factors: knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, working memory, and basic information processing (such as speed of analyzing information
Each factor includes both a verbal and a nonverbal mode of testing, yielding 10 subtests in all
The knowledge and quantitative reasoning factors emphasize culturally loaded, fact-oriented information, such as vocabulary and arithmetic problems
But the visual-spatial processing, working-memory, and basic information processing factors are assumed to be les culturally biased because they require little specific information

29. Defining and Measuring Intelligence
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV), 4th Edition
The 1st test to be standardized on children representing the total population of the U.S., including ethnic minorities
Widely used for 6-16 year olds
Measures general intelligence and 4 broad factors: verbal reasoning, perceptual (or visual-spatial) reasoning, working memory , and processing speed
Each factor is made up of 2 or 3 subtests, yielding 10 separate scores in all
Was designed to downplay culturally dependent knowledge, which is emphasized on only 1 factor, verbal reasoning
According to the test designers, the result is the most “culture-fair” intelligence test available

30. Recent Efforts to Define Intelligence
Some researchers combine the mental testing approach with the information-processing approach
Believe that once we identify the processing skills that separate those who test well from those who test poorly, we well know more about how to intervene to improve performance
They conduct componential analyses of children’s mental test scores
To look for relationships between components of information processing, such as basic working-memory capacity and children’s scores
Ex. Measures of basic working-memory such as digit span, correlate highly with mental test scores
Major problem with the componential approach: it regards intelligence as entirely due to causes within the child
Disregarding cultural and situational factors that are known to affect children’s thinking

31. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Successful Intelligence
Triarchic theory of successful intelligence expands the componential approach into a comprehensive theory that regards intelligence as a product of both inner and outer forces
Identifies 3 broad, interacting intelligences:
Analytical intelligence – information processing skills
Creative intelligence – capacity to solve novel problems
Practical intelligence – application of intellectual skills in everyday situations
Intelligent behavior involves balancing all three intelligences to achieve success in life according to one’s personal goals and the requirements of one’s cultural community

32. Triarchic Theory: Analytical Intelligence
Consists of the information-processing components that underlie all intelligent acts:
Applying strategies, acquiring task-relevant and metacognitive knowledge, and engaging in self-regulation
However, on mental tests, processing skills are used in only a few of their potential ways, resulting in far too narrow view of intelligent behavior
Ex. Children in tribal and village societies do not necessarily perform well on measures of “school” knowledge but excel when processing information in out-of-school situations that most Westerners would find highly challenging

33. Triarchic Theory: Creative Intelligence
In any context, success depends not only on processing familiar information but also on generating useful solutions to new problems
People who are creative think more skillfully than others when faced with novelty
Given a new task, they apply their information-processing skills in exceptionally effective ways, rapidly making these skills automatic so that working memory is freed for more complex aspects of the situation
Consequently, they quickly move to high-level performance
Although all of us are capable of some creativity, only a few individuals excel at generating novel situations

34. Triarchic Theory: Practical Intelligence
Intelligence s a practical goal-oriented activity aimed at adapting to, shaping, or selecting environments
Intelligent people skillfully adapt their thinking to fit with both their desires and the demands of their everyday worlds
When they cannot adapt to a situation, they try to shape, or change, it to meet their needs
If they cannot shape it, they select new contexts that better match their skills, values, or goals
Practical intelligence reminds us that intelligent behavior is never culture-free
Children with certain life histories do well at the behavior required for success on intelligence tests and adapt easily to the testing conditions
Others, with different backgrounds, may misinterpret or reject the testing context
Yet such children often display sophisticated abilities in daily life
Ex. Telling stories, engaging in complex artistic activities, or interacting skillfully with other people

35. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Successful Intelligence
Triarchic theory highlights the complexity of intelligent behavior and the limitations of current intelligence tests in assessing that complexity
Out-of-school, practical forms of intelligence are vital for life success and help explain why cultures vary widely in the behaviors they regard as intelligent
Ex. Researchers asked ethnically divers parents to describe an intelligent 1st grader
Caucasian Americans mentioned cognitive traits
Ethnic minorities (Cambodian, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Mexican immigrants) identified noncognitive capacities: motivation, self-management, and social skills
According to Sternberg, mental tests can easily underestimate, and even overlook, the intellectual strengths of some children, especially ethnic minorities

36. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Theory of multiple intelligences defines intelligence in terms of distinct sets of processing operations that permit individuals to engage in a wide range of culturally valued activities
Dismisses the idea of general intelligence
Proposes at least 8 independent intelligences (listed in table 9.1, pg. 311 in text)
Gardner believes that each intelligence has a unique biological basis, a distinct course of development, and different expert, or “end-state,” performances
Also emphasized that a lengthy process of education is required to transform any raw potential into a mature social role
Cultural values and learning opportunities affect the extent to which a child’s intellectual strengths are realized and the ways they are expressed
However, Gardner’s list of abilities has yet to be firmly grounded in research and neurological evidence for the independence of these abilities is weak
Still, Gardner’s theory highlights abilities not measured by intelligence tests (such as interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences)

37. Explaining Individual and Group Differences in IQ
When we compare academic achievement, years of education, and occupational status, it quickly becomes clear that some sectors of the population are advantaged over others
In trying to explain these differences, researchers have compared the IQ scores of ethnic minorities and SES groups
African American children score, on average, IQ points below which American children, although the difference has been shrinking
Hispanic children fall midway between black and white children
The IQ gap between middle-SES and low-SES (about 9 points) accounts for some, but not all, of the ethnic differences
When black and white children are matched on parental education and income, the IQ gap is reduced by 1/3 – 1/2
In the 1970s, the IQ nature-nurture debated drastically escalated after the publication of a book stating that heredity is largely responsible for variations in intelligence

38. Nature Versus Nurture
Bases on evidence from kinship studies, which compare family members, especially twins, researchers estimate that about ½ of the differences in IQ among children is due to genetic makeup
However, because heritabilities risk overestimating genetic influences and underestimating environmental influences, disagreement continues over how large the role of heredity really is
Adoption studies offer a wider range of information
Findings consistently show that when young children are adopted into caring, stimulating homes, their Iqs rise substantially compared with the IQs of nonadopted children who remain in economically deprived families
2 adoption studies have found that African-American children adopted into well-off homes during the 1st year of life scored very high on intelligence test (mean IQs of , points above means for African-Americans living in poverty)
This indicates that poverty severely depresses the intelligence of large numbers of ethnic minorities

39. Cultural Influences
A controversial issue is whether or not ethnic differences in IQ are due to test bias
Experts disagree over whether intelligence tests are biased
Ethnic groups may not have equal opportunity to be exposed to information on the tests and the testing situation may impair the performance of some but not others
Some experts reject that the tests are biased, claiming that because IQ predicts academic achievement equally well for majority and minority children, IQ tests are fair to all groups
Others believe that lack of exposure to certain communication styles and knowledge, along with negative stereotypes about the test-taker’s ethnic group, can undermine children’s performance

40. Cultural Influences: Communication Styles
Ethnic minority families often foster unique language skills that do not match the expectations of most classrooms and testing situations
In one study, a researcher spent many hours observing in low-SES black homes in a southeastern U.S. city
Found that African-American parents rarely asked their children the knowledge training questions typical of middle-SES white parents and of tests and classrooms
Ex. “what color is it?” “What’s this story about?”
Instead, they asked only “real” questions, ones they themselves could not answer
Often these questions were analogies (“What’s that look like to you?”) or story-starter questions (“Did ya hear Miss Sally this morning? What did she tell you?”), these types of questions call for elaborate responses about everyday evens and have no “right” answer
These experiences lead low-SES children to develop complex verbal sills at home
As a result, children may learn to communicate emotional and social concerns more than facts and may be confused by the “objective” questions found on tests

41. Cultural Influences: Test Content
Many researchers argue the IQ scores are affected by specific information acquired as part of a majority-culture upbringing
Consistent with this view, low-SES children often miss vocabulary words on mental tests that have alternative meanings in their cultural community
Ex. Interpreting the word frame as “physique” of an individual rather than a type of border or something that holds a picture
Toys such as blocks and video games increase children’s success on spatial tasks, however, low-SES minority children often grow up in more “people-oriented” than “object-oriented” homes and may lack the toys that promote certain intellectual skills
Also, just the amount of time a child spends in school predicts IQ
Thus, exposure to the factual knowledge and ways of thinking valued in classrooms has a sizable impact on children’s intelligence test performance

42. Cultural Influences: Stereotypes
Stereotype threat – the fear of being judged on the basis of a negative stereotype
Can trigger anxiety that interferes with test performance
Researchers gave African-American, Hispanic-American, and Caucasian-American year olds verbal tasks
Some children were told that the tasks were “not a test” and others were told they were “a test of how good children are at school problems”
Among children who were aware of ethnic stereotypes, African American and Hispanic American children performed far worse in the “test” condition than in the “not a test” condition
In contrast, Caucasian American children performed similarly in both conditions
Over middle childhood, children (especially those from stigmatized groups) become increasingly conscious of ethnic stereotypes
By junior high school, many low-SES minority students start to say that doing well in school is not important to them
Self-protective disengagement, parked by stereotype threat, may be responsible
This weakening of motivation can have serious, long-term consequences

43. Reducing Cultural Bias in Testing
Many experts acknowledge that IQ scores can underestimate the intelligence of culturally different children
There is special concern about incorrectly labeling minority children as slow learners, after which they are placed in remedial classes which provide a less stimulating environment
Culturally relevant testing procedures enhance minority children’s test performance
Dynamic assessment – a innovative testing approach which is consistent with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, the adult introduces purposeful teaching into the testing situation to see what the child can attain with social support
Children’s receptivity to teaching and capacity to transfer what they have learned to novel problems contribute substantially to gains in test performance

44. Reducing Cultural Bias in Testing
But rather than adapting testing to support ethnic minority children’s learning needs, North American education is placing greater emphasis on traditional test scores
With the advent of the high-stakes testing movement that requires satisfactory test performance for progress through school
This emphasis on standardized testing has narrowed the focus of instruction (only teaching what’s on the test) and may widen SES and ethnic differences in educational attainment
Testing remains important to aid educational decisions, but intelligence tests need to be interpreted with sensitivity to cultural influences on performance

45. Language Development
Vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics continue to develop in middle childhood
Although less obviously than at earlier ages
Additionally, school-age children’s attitude toward language under goes a fundamental shift
They develop language awareness
Schooling contributes greatly to these language competencies
Reflecting on language is extremely common during reading instruction
Fluent reading is major new source of language learning

46. Vocabulary
In the elementary school years, children learn about 20 new words a day, and vocabulary increases fourfold
Children continue to benefit from conversation with more expert speakers, especially when their partners use complex words and explain them
Reading contributes enormously to vocabulary growth
Children who engage in as little as 21 mins of independent reading per day are exposed to nearly 2 million words per year
School-age children think about and use words more precisely than preschoolers
Ex. In addition to the verb fall, they also use topple, tumble, and plummet
As school-age children learn to grasp the double meanings of some words, they develop an understanding of metaphors and of riddles and puns
Ex. “the refrigerator keeps food cool.” and “what a cool shirt!”
Ex. “sharp as a tack” and “spilling the beans”

47. Grammar
Mastery of complex grammatical constructions improves in middle childhood
Ex. English-speaking children use the passive voice more frequently, and they more often extend it from an abbreviated form (“It broke.”) into full statements (“The glass was broken by Mary.”)
During middle childhood children also develop an advanced understanding of infinitive phrases
Ex. The difference between “John is eager to please.” and “John is easy to please.”
Appreciation of subtle grammatical distinctions is supported by an improved ability to analyze and reflect on language

48. Pragmatics
Improvements in pragmatics (the communicative side of language) occur as children’s conversational strategies become more refined
Children’s narratives increase in organization, detail, and expressiveness
A typical 4-5 year old’s narrative states what happened
Ex. “Went to the lake. We fished and waited. Paul caught a huge catfish.”
6-7 year olds include orienting information (time, place, and participants) and many connective that lend coherence to the story (“next,” “then,” “so,” “finally”)
Gradually narratives lengthen into a classic form in which events not only build to a high point, but also resolve
Ex. “After Paul reeled in the catfish, Dad cleaned and cooked it. Then we at it all up!”
Evaluative comments rise dramatically, becoming common by age 8-9
Ex. “The catfish tasted great. Paul was so proud!”
Because children pick up the narrative styles of significant adults in their lives, their narrative forms vary widely across cultures
Practice in relating personal stories (ex. In families who regularly eat meals together) promotes gains in language and literacy development

49. Learning Two Languages at a Time
Many children are bilingual, learning 2 or more languages in childhood
An estimated 15% of American children (6 million) speak a language other than English at home

50. Bilingual Development
Children can become bilingual by acquiring 2 languages at the same time in early childhood or learning a 2nd language after mastering the 1st
Children who learn both languages in infancy and early childhood attain early language milestone according to a typical timetable
When school-age children acquire a 2nd language after they already speak the 1st, they generally take 5-7 years to attain speaking and writing skills on par with those of native-speaking agemates
Sensitive period for 2nd language learning: to achieve full proficiency in a 2nd language, mastery must begin sometime in childhood
Children who are fluent in 2 languages do better than other on tests of selective attention, analytical reasoning, and concept formation

51. Bilingual Education
The advantages of bilingualism provide strong justification for bilingual education programs in schools
In Canada, about 7% of elementary school students participate in language immersion programs (in which English-speaking children are taught entirely in French) and become proficient in both French and English
In the U.S., disagreement exists over how best to educate ethnic minority children with limited English proficiency
Some believe that time spent communicating in the child’s native tongue detracts from English language achievement, which is crucial for success at school and work
Others are committed to developing minority children’s native language while fostering mastery of English
This approach prevents inadequate proficiency in both languages, which is believed to lead to high rates of school failure and dropout among low-SES Hispanic children
Currently, U.S. public opinion and educational practice favor English-only instruction
However, when both languages are integrated into the curriculum, minority children are more involved in learning and acquire the 2nd language more easily

52. Learning in School
Schools are vital forces in children’s cognitive development
How do school exert such a powerful influence?
Research looking at schools as complex social systems provides important insights
Class size
Educational philosophies
Teacher-student relationships
Larger cultural context

53. Class Size Smaller class sizes are most beneficial
Teachers spend less time disciplining and more time teaching and giving individual attention
Children who learn in smaller groups show better concentration, higher-quality class participation, and more favorable attitudes toward school
In one study, more than 6,000 Tennessee kindergartners were randomly assigned to 3 class types, in which they remained until 3rd grade
Small – students
Regular – students
Regular with a teacher plus a full-time teacher’s aide
Results
Small-class students (especially ethnic minority children) scored higher in reading and math achievement each year
Placing teacher’s aides in regular-size classes had NO impact
Being in small classes from kindergarten through 3rd grade predicted substantially higher achievement from 4th-9th grades, even after children had returned to regular- size classes
Smaller class size also predicted greater likelihood of graduating from high school

54. Educational Philosophies
Each teacher brings an educational philosophy to the classroom, which plays a major role in children’s learning
2 philosophies have received the most research attention
Traditional vs. Constructivist
They differ in what children are taught, the way they are believed to learn, and how their progress is evaluated

55. Traditional Versus Constructivist
Traditional – teachers are the sole authority for knowledge, rules, and decision making and does most of the talking
Students are relatively passive – listening, responding when called on, and completing teacher-assigned tasks
Students progress is evaluated by how well they keep pace with a uniform set of standards for their grade
Constructivist – encourages students to construct their own knowledge
Many are grounded in Piaget’s theory, that views children as active agents who reflect on and coordinate their own thoughts rather than absorbing those of others
Constructivist classrooms provide richly equipped learning centers and allow small groups and individuals to engage in problem solving
Students are evaluated in terms of their progress in relation to their own prior development

56. Traditional Versus Constructivist
In the U.S., the pendulum has swung back and forth between traditional and constructivist views
Older elementary school children in traditional classrooms score slightly higher in achievement tests
But, constructivist classrooms are associated with many benefits such as gains in critical thinking, academic motivation, social and moral maturity, and positive attitudes toward school
In preschool and kindergarten, teacher-directed instruction undermines academic motivation and achievement, especially in low-SES children

57. New Philosophical Directions
New approaches are grounded in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
Capitalize on the rich social context of the classroom to spur children’s learning
Social-constructivist classrooms
Children participate in a wide range of challenging activities with teachers and peers, with whom they jointly construct understandings
As children acquire knowledge and strategies from working together, they become competent, contributing members of their classroom and advance in cognitive and social development

58. New Philosophical Directions
Important themes in social-constructivist classrooms include:
Teachers and children are partners in learning
A classroom rich in both teacher-child and child-child collaboration transfers culturally valued ways of thinking to children
Children experience many types of symbolic communication in meaningful activities
As children master reading, writing, and mathematics, they become aware of their culture’s communication systems, reflect on their own thinking, and bring communication and thoughts under voluntary control
Teaching is adapted to each child’s zone of proximal development
Assistance that both responds to current understandings and encourages children to take the next step helps ensure that each child makes the best progress possible
According to Vygotsky, more expert peers can spur children’s learning
Evidence confirms that this approach is effective in the context of cooperative learning – in which small group s of classmates work toward common goals

59. Teacher-Student Interaction
In classrooms where teachers are caring, helpful, and stimulating, children make gains in motivation, achievement, and positive peer relations
But, too many U.S. teachers emphasize repetitive drill over higher-level thinking, such as grappling with ideas and applying knowledge to new situations
Teachers don’t treat all students the same
Well-behaved, high-achieving students typically get more encouragement and praise
Unruly students have more conflicts with teachers and are criticized more
Unfortunately, once a teachers’ attitudes toward students are established, they can become more extreme than is warranted by students’ behavior
Can lead to an educational self-fulfilling prophecy in which children start to live up to their teachers’ positive or negative views of them
This effect is especially strong when teachers emphasize competition and publicly compare children, regularly favoring the best students
Inaccurate views held by teachers affect low achievers more than high achievers
When a teacher is critical, high achievers can fall back on their history of success
Low-achieving students’ sensitivity to self-fulfilling prophecies can be beneficial when teachers believe in them, but, biased teacher judgments are usually slanted in a negative direction

60. Grouping Practices
In many schools, students are assigned to homogeneous groups of classes in which children of similar ability levels are taught together (ex. Reading groups)
This can be a strong source of self-fulfilling prophecies
Low-group students, who as early as 1st grade are more likely to be low-SES, minority, and male, get more drills on basic facts and skills, engage in less discussion, and progress at a slower pace
Gradually, they decline in self-esteem and motivation
Not surprisingly, homogeneous grouping widens the gap between high and low achievers
Partly because of these findings, some schools have increased the heterogeneity of classrooms by combining 2 or 3 adjacent grades
In these multigrade classrooms, academic achievement, self-esteem, and attitudes toward school are usually more favorable than in single-grade classrooms
Maybe multigrade grouping decreases competition and promotes cooperative learning, which also fosters these positive outcomes

61. Teaching Children with Special Needs
So, we’ve seen that effective teachers flexibly adjust their teaching strategies to accommodate students with a wide range of characteristics
These adjustments are especially challenging and the very low (children with learning difficulties) and very high (gifted children) ends of the distribution

62. Children with Learning Difficulties
U.S. legislation mandates that schools place children who require special supports for learning into the “least restrictive” (meaning as close to normal as possible) environments that meet their educational needs
Inclusive classrooms – students with learning difficulties are placed in regular classrooms for all or part of the school day
This practice is designed to prepare them for participation in society and to combat prejudices against individuals with disabilities
Largely as the result of parental pressures, and increasing number of students experience full inclusion – full-time placement in regular classrooms
Some students in inclusive classrooms have mild mental retardation: their IQs fall between 55-70, and they also show problems in adaptive behavior, or skills in everyday living
But, the largest number have learning disabilities – great difficulty with one or more aspects of learning, usually reading
As a result, their achievement is considerably behind what would be expected on the basis of their IQ

63. Children with Learning Difficulties
Although some students in inclusive classroom situations benefit academically, many do not
Achievement gains depend on both the severity of the disability and the support services available
Furthermore, children with disabilities are often rejected by regular-classroom peers
Often these children do best when they receive instruction in a resource room for part of the day and regular classroom for the remainder
In the resource room, a special education teacher works with students on an individual and small-group basis
Then, depending on their progress, children join regular classmates for different subjects and amounts of time
Special steps must be taken to promote peer relations in inclusive classrooms
Cooperative learning and peer-tutoring experiences, in which classmates and teachers work together with children with learning difficulties, often lead to friendly interaction, improved peer acceptance, and achievement gains

64. Gifted Children
Gifted children display exceptional intellectual strengths, including creativity and talent as well as high IQ
1 or 2 students in every grade have IQ scores above 130, the standard definition of giftedness based on intelligence test performance
High-IQ children have keen memories and exceptional capacity to solve challenging academic problems
Yet recognition that intelligence tests do not sample the entire range of human mental skills has led to an expanded conception of giftedness

65. Gifted Children: Creativity and Talent
Creativity is the ability to produce work that is original yet appropriate
Something others have not thought of that is useful in some way
Children with high potential for creativity can be designated as gifted
Tests of creative capacity tap divergent thinking – the generation of multiple and unusual possibilities when faced with a task or problem
Divergent thinking contrasts convergent thinking – involves arriving at a single correct answer and is emphasized on intelligence tests
Because highly creative children (like children with high IQs) are often better at some tasks than at others, a variety of tests of divergent thinking are available
Verbal measures might ask children to name uses for common objects
Figural measures might as them to create drawings based on a particular theme
“real-world-problem” measures require students to suggest solutions to everyday problems
Responses can be scored for the number of ideas generated and their originality
But, critics of these measures point out that they are poor predictors of creative accomplishment in everyday life because they only tap one of the complex cognitive contributions to creativity
Also involved are defining new and important problems, evaluating divergent ideas, choosing the most promising, and calling on relevant knowledge to understand and solve problems

66. Gifted Children: Creativity and Talent
To understand why people usually demonstrate creativity on only one or a few related areas, consider this:
Even individuals designated as gifted by virtue of high IQ often show uneven ability across academic subjects
This is partly why definitions of giftedness have been extended to include talent – outstanding performance in a specific field
Talents usually appear in early childhood, but talents must be nurtured
Parents should be warm and sensitive, provide a stimulating home life, are devoted to developing their child’s abilities , and provide models of hard work
These parents are reasonably demanding but not driving or overambitious and arrange for caring teachers while the child is young and more rigorous master teachers as the talent develops
Many gifted children are socially isolated, partly because their highly driven, nonconforming, and independent styles leave them out of step with their peers and partly because they enjoy solitude
Still, gifted children desire gratifying peer relationships and some (more often girls than boys) try to become better liked by hiding their abilities
Although many talented youths become experts in their fields, few become highly creative, because rapidly mastering an existing field requires different skills than innovating in the field

67. Educating the Gifted
Debate about the effectiveness of school programs for the gifted typically focuses on factors irrelevant to giftedness
Whether to provide enrichment in regular classrooms, pull children out for special instruction (the most common practice), or advance brighter students to a higher grade
Overall, the extent to which programs foster creativity and talent depends on opportunities to acquire relevant skills
Meaningful activities, each tapping a specific intelligence or set of intelligences, serve as contexts for assessing strengths and weaknesses and, on that basis, teaching new knowledge and original thinking
Ex. Linguistic intelligence might be fostered through storytelling or playwriting
Ex. Spatial intelligence through drawing, sculpting, or taking apart and reassembling objects
Ex. Kinesthetic intelligence through dance, acting, or pantomime
Although evidence is still needed on how effectively these programs nurture children’s talents, the have been successful in highlighting the strengths of some students who had previously been overlooked
Especially talented low-SES and minority children

68. How Well Educated Are North American Children?
Many factors, both within and outside schools, affect children’s learning (societal values, school resources, quality of teaching, and parental encouragement)
Nowhere are these multiple influences more apparent than when schooling is examined in a cross-cultural perspective
U.S. students fare poorly when their achievement is compared to that of children in other industrialized nations
Studies of reading, mathematics, and science achievement
Internationally: Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are consistently at the top
Among Western nations: Canada, Finland, Netherlands, and Switzerland are in the top tear
Students in the U.S. usually perform at he international average and sometimes below it
Why?
Compared with students in the top-achieving nations, many more U.S. students report studying by memorizing rather than by relating information to previously acquired knowledge
Achievement also varies much more among U.S. schools, reflecting an uneven distribution of quality of education

69. How Well Educated Are North American Children?
To clarify the factors that support high achievement, research has been conducted on learning environments in Asian nations
Emphasis on effort – where as North American parents and teachers tend to regard natural ability as key to academic success, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese parents and teachers believe that all children can succeed academically with enough effort
Parents devote many more hours to helping children with homework, and children (due to the collectivist values) typically view striving to achieve as a moral obligation to their family and community
High quality education for all – ability grouping is absent from Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese elementary schools; all students receive the same nationally mandated, high-quality education, delivered by teachers who are better paid than in the U.S.
Lessons are well-organized and presented in ways that capture children’s attention, and also encourage high-level thinking
Further, Japanese elementary school teachers are 3 times as likely as U.S. teachers to work outside class with students who need extra help
More time devoted to instruction – in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, the school year is more than 50 days longer than in the U.S.; and on a day-to-day basis, Asian teachers devote much more time to academic pursuits but still allow time for recess and field trips
Overall, families, schools, and the larger society must work together to upgrade U.S. education