1. The School Years: Cognitive Development Slides prepared by Kate Byerwalter, Ph.D., Grand Rapids Community College The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence by Kathleen Stassen Berger Chapter 12 Seventh Edition

2. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 A Prime Time for Learning Children in the school years are inquisitive and eager to learn new skills. PHOTODISC

3. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Piaget’s Third Stage Concrete operational thought is the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions. Children in this stage become more systematic, objective, and scientific thinkers–but only about tangible, visible things.

4. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Logical Principles Classification: organization into groups according to common property  Example: Show 5 collies and 2 poodles. Ask, “Are there more collies or dogs?”  Kids in middle childhood know that collies are a subcategory of “dogs.”

5. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Essence and Change Identity: certain characteristics of an object remain the same even if other characteristics change Examples: frozen water is still water; a butterfly was once a caterpillar; liquid in smaller glass is the same liquid

6. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Essence and Change (cont.) Reversibility: reversing the process by which something was changed brings the original conditions Example: if 5 + 9 = 14, then 14 – 9 must equal 5! Also, imagine pouring H 2 O back in conservation task.

7. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Essence and Change (cont.) Reciprocity is the principle that things may change in opposite ways, and thus balance each other out. Example: A child states that the decreased height in the shorter is balanced out by its increased width.

8. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Practical Applications The logical principles of concrete operational thought make learning easier and more fun. Example: Children enjoy classifying cities, states, nations, etc., or knowing that a tadpole turns into a frog (identity).

9. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Logic and Culture Lev Vygotsky believed that culture shapes cognition more than Piaget believed.

10. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Logic and Culture: An Example Brazilian street children calculate complex computations not learned in school (see text p. 361) VICTOR RUIZ CABLLERO / AP/ WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

11. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Moral Development Develops along with cognitive advances Is shaped by culture and social influences Middle childhood is a key time for learning moral lessons

12. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Kohlberg presented moral dilemmas and scored responses as:  Preconventional: rewards and punishment  Conventional: emphasis on social rules  Postconventional: moral principles “beyond” societal standards Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

13. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12

15. Evaluating Kohlberg’s Theory Moral reasoning does seem to advance with advances in cognitive development. Most children are preconventional before age 8, and conventional by age 9 years.

16. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Criticisms of Kohlberg He may have underestimated the potential of school-age children. His research was done on Western males. It may be better to address practical issues such as feeding the poor (vs. hypothetical dilemmas).

17. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Morality and Gender Carol Gilligan believed that females are more likely to develop a morality of care, in which nurturance and compassion are more important than a morality of justice, which emphasizes absolute judgments of right and wrong.

18. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Was Gilligan right? Research has found NO clear gender distinction regarding morality of care or justice (boys and girls are equally likely to use each). APICHART WEERAWONG / AP PHOTO

19. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Information Processing Analyzes how the mind analyzes, stores, and retrieves information. Cognition becomes more efficient in middle childhood. RUBBERBALL PRODUCTIONS

20. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Sensory register: registers incoming stimuli for a split second Working memory (short term): where current, conscious mental activity occurs Long-term memory = stores information for minutes, hours, days, months, years  Unlimited capacity (!) The Three “Parts” of Memory

21. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Speed of Processing Speed of processing increases during middle childhood. This allows a child to process more thoughts quickly, retain more thoughts in memory, and simultaneously process two different thoughts.

22. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Automatization Certain skills become automatic during middle childhood (e.g., reading, writing). This increases intellectual capacity and speed of processing.

23. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Make it Real: Learning a Subject Do you find it easier to learn new material in your major field of interest than in a brand new subject? Why do think that is?

24. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Knowledge Base Knowledge base: a body of knowledge in an area that makes it easier to master new learning Interest, motivation, and practice determine the size of the knowledge base.  Example: child chess experts, Pokémon experts

25. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Knowledge of Pokémon and Wildlife

26. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Control Processes Control processes regulate the analysis of information within the information processing system, and increase during middle childhood. Examples: selective attention, retrieval strategies, metacognition

27. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Selective attention: the ability to screen out irrelevant distractions and concentrate on a task Metacognition: the ability to evaluate a task and determine how to accomplish it Improvements in Control Processes

28. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Language: New Vocabulary School-age kids learn up to 20 new words a day. They understand metaphors and various uses of words.  Examples: egg, “walking on eggshells,” “last one is a rotten egg,” egg salad, etc.

29. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Two “Codes” of Language Formal Code: used in school and other “formal” situations  Extensive vocabulary  Complex syntax  Lengthy sentences

30. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Informal code: language used with friends  Fewer words, simpler syntax  Gestures and intonation convey meaning  Vital for social acceptance Two “Codes” of Language (cont.)

31. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Code Switching: A Life Saver Kids in middle childhood learn that certain words and phrases are okay with friends (informal code), but NOT with teachers, pastors, or other adults. Failure to learn this could result in punishment for calling the teacher “dude”!

32. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Socioeconomics and Language Lower-income children tend to have smaller vocabularies, simpler grammar, and more difficulty in reading. Two key explanations for this:  Exposure to language  Parental expectations towards education

33. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 A Hopeful Study A study of low-income children demonstrated that exposure to language was a key predictor of language development. Real world application: TALK with kids!

34. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12

35. Tones and Tricks By 10 years of age, children learn to understand the nuances of language (tone, sarcasm, puns). Example: 10 year olds recognized that saying “I lost my stickers” in a happy voice is strange.

36. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12

37. Make it Real: Education If you could design the ideal educational environment, what would it look like? Be specific. Think about class size, curriculum, sports, scheduling, etc.

38. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Teaching and Learning The curriculum for school-age children varies. Some possibilities include: reading, writing, math, arts, physical education, oral expression, religion. Funding for education also varies greatly.

39. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 The Hidden Curriculum The hidden curriculum is the unofficial, unstated rules that influence learning. Examples: discipline strategies, teacher salaries, class size, testing, schedules, emphasis on sports, segregation by ethnicity, physical condition of the school

40. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 International Tests International comparisons of achievement have found that the United States is not among the top scoring developed nations.

41. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12

42. Education in Japan Harold Stevenson (U of M) documented key aspects that help Japanese students:  Strong parental involvement  Teachers paid well, given time to prepare  Longer school days  Effort is highly valued

43. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Education in Japan Unfortunately, the strong emphasis on education has caused a phobia of school for too many Japanese children. The government is now working towards a more “relaxed education.”

44. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Make it Real: The No Child Left Behind Act This Act requires yearly testing and a certain level of achievement in order for schools to receive federal funding. Were you affected by this Act? Do you think it is a good idea? Why or why not?

45. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 The No Child Left Behind Act The Act is controversial. Some questions include:  What about the arts and physical education?  Does it punish schools that need funding the most?  Should graduation (or not) depend on a test?  What about special needs students?

46. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 The Reading Wars Phonics approach: teaching reading by first teaching the sounds of each letter Whole-language: teaching reading by early use of all language skills–talking, listening, reading, and writing BOTH approaches are valuable

47. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Quiz: Which approach is this?

48. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 The Math Wars Math is an often feared subject, but one of utmost importance. New curriculum discourages rote learning, emphasizing problem solving, and understanding of concepts. The focus is on the thought process, not just the final answer.

49. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Class Size Research on the relationship between class size and academic achievement has yielded mixed results. Confounding factors include the types of students in the study, the qualifications of teachers, and suitable classrooms.

50. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Bilingual Education About 4 million U.S. children are English-language learners (ELL). JOHN O’BRIAN / CANADA IN STOCK, INC.

51. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Bilingual Education (cont.) Middle childhood is an ideal time to teach a second language. However, there is considerable debate about when and how to teach a second language.

52. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Types of 2 nd Language Programs Total immersion: all instruction in second language Reverse immersion: instruction of basic subjects in first language, then second language is taught Bilingual education: instruction in both languages

53. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Types of 2 nd Language Programs (cont.) Heritage language classes: after school classes to connect with native culture English as a second language (ESL): exclusive English for a few months, in preparation for “regular” classes

54. Berger: The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th Edition, Chapter 12 Which type is best? Research in Canada found the total immersion approach to be very successful. However, there is no one right answer. The goal is to help immigrant children preserve their culture, while learning the new language.