Invitation to the Life Spanby Kathleen Stassen Berger

Chapter 7- Middle Childhood Body and Mind

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A Healthy TimeMiddle Childhood• Time of relative health, steady, but less rapid growth

than in early childhood

Weight problems• Many 7- to 11-year-olds eat too much, exercise too

little, and become overweight or obese as a result.• Body mass index (BMI)- The ratio of weight to

height• Overweight- In a child, having a BMI above the 85th

percentile. (Adults: BMI of 25 to 29)• Obesity- In a child, having a BMI above the 95th

percentile. (Adults: BMI of 30 or more)

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A Healthy Time

Physical Activity• Better overall health• Less obesity• Appreciation of cooperation and fair play• Improved problem-solving and social skills• Physical activity also may increase injuries and

stress, reinforce prejudices, and increase stress by changing hormone levels.

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Theories About Cognition

Piaget: Children age 7-11 Piaget’s emphasis is on the child’s discovery

• Concrete operational thought: when they are able to apply logic in situations that deal with visible, tangible things

• Classification- The logical principle that things can be organized into groups (or categories or classes) according to some characteristic they have in common.

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Theories About Cognition

Vygotsky and School Age ChildrenVygotsky regarded instruction as essential

• Zone of proximal development: Child still needs guidance through almost-understood ideas and abilities

• Children are "apprentices in learning" as they play with each other, watch television, eat dinner with their families, and engage in other daily interactions.

• Language is integral as a mediator, a vehicle for understanding and learning.

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Theories About Cognition

Information-processing theory: theory that compares human thinking processes, of encoding, storing and retrieval of information

•Sensory memory: Information preserved in original sensory form for a brief time (about a fraction of a second) •Working memory or Short Term Memory: Limited duration- holds unrehearsed information 10-30 seconds and limited capacity 7 +/- 2 items •Long-term memory: limitless amounts of information can be stored indefinitely

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Theories About CognitionAttention

• Selective attention: The ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others.

• Automatization: A process in which repetition of a sequence of thoughts and actions makes the sequence routine, so that it no longer requires conscious thought.

• Reaction time: The time it takes to respond to a stimulus, either physically (with a reflexive movement such as an eye blink) or cognitively (with a thought).

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Theories About CognitionMetacognition:• "Thinking about thinking“• Ability to evaluate a cognitive task• Then determine how best to accomplish,

monitor and adjust performance on that task

Metamemory:• The ability to understand how memory works in

order to use it well. • Metamemory is an essential element of

metacognition.

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Learning in SchoolLearning Language: A good time to learn a second language is in middle childhood.

•English-language learner (ELL): A child who is learning English as a second language.

•Bilingual education: teachers teach children in both their native language and English

•English as a Second Language: must master the basics of English before joining regular classes

•Immersion: taught exclusively in the language not spoken at home

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Learning in SchoolThe Reading Wars• Phonics approach: first teaching the sounds of

each letter and of various letter combinations• Whole-language approach: encouraging early use

of all language skills-talking and listening, reading and writing.

The Math Wars• Historically, math was taught by memorization

(facts, tables and workbooks)• Inspired especially by Piaget and Vygotsky, many

educators made math instruction more of a discovery (active and engaging)

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Measuring the Mind

• Achievement test: are designed to measure what has been learned

• Aptitude test: are designed to measure learning potential

• IQ test: test designed to measure intellectual aptitude, or ability to learn in school. – Most common aptitude test – Originally defined as mental age divided by

chronological age, times 100--hence the term intelligence quotient, or IQ

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Measuring the MindMeasuring Aptitude• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC): An IQ test

designed for school-age children to assess many areas (vocabulary, general knowledge, memory, and spatial comprehension)

• Flynn effect - The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations.

• No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act: Law enacted in 2001 to increase accountability by requiring states to qualify for federal educational funding by administering standardized tests to measure school achievement

• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): An ongoing and nationally representative measure of U.S. children’s achievement in various subjects; nicknamed "the nation’s report card.“ 12

Measuring the Mind• Mental retardation: Literally, slow, or late, thinking

– Score below 70 on an IQ test – Behind their peers in the ability to meet the basic

requirements of daily life • Children with special needs: Children who, because of

a physical or mental disability, require extra help in order to learn.

• Learning disability: marked delay in a particular area of learning, not caused by an apparent physical or mental disability

• Dyslexia: Unusual difficulty with reading; thought to be the result of some neurological underdevelopment.

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Measuring the Mind

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Measuring the MindDevelopmental Psychopathology:1. Abnormality is normal.

2. Disability changes year by year

3. Adulthood may be better or worse than childhood.

4. Diagnosis depends on the social context. • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders (DSM-IV-TR): – recognizes that each child’s cultural frame of reference

needs to be understood before any disorder can be diagnosed.

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Measuring the MindAttention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): great difficulty concentrating or staying still for more than a few moments. (inattentive, impulsive, and overactive)

Comorbidity: presence of two or more unrelated disease conditions at the same time in the same person.

Autistic spectrum disorder: Any of several disorders characterized by impaired communication, inadequate social skills, and unusual patterns of play.•Autism: developmental disorder marked by an inability to relate to other people normally, extreme self-absorption, and an inability to acquire normal speech.•Asperger syndrome (also called “high-functioning” Autism): person has impaired social interaction, extreme attention to details, but high levels of intelligence in some areas.

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