Life Span Development

The School Years:Cognitive Development – Chapter 12

Psychosocial Development – Chapter 13

July 15, 2004Class #11

Building on Piaget and Vygotsky

Concrete Operational Thought Piaget’s 3rd stage children reason logically about the things

and events that they perceive Vygotsky did not believe the child was a

socially isolated learner instruction by others is crucial

Logical Principles

Classification Identity Reversibility Reciprocity

Classifying Objects, Ideas, and People Classification—process of organizing things

into groups according to some shared property Children have an understanding categories can

be any of the following: hierarchical overlapping separate

Children that can categorize can analyze problems, derive correct solutions, and ask follow-up questions

Logical Principles

Identity, Reversibility, and Reciprocity identity—the idea that certain characteristics of

an object remain the same even if other characteristics change

reversibility—the idea that sometimes an object that has been changed can be returned to its original state by reversing the process by which it was changed

Reciprocity occurs when 2 things change in opposite ways in order to balance each other out; e.g., conservation experiment with liquid

Logical Principles

Identity, Reversibility, and Reciprocity all three concepts are relevant to mathematical

processes these concepts can be (but are not always)

applied to everyday social encounters

Logical Principles

Logic and Culture Piaget’s ideas still remain logical

research shows that sometimes older children may make mistakes when applying new logic

Vygotsky’s premise is that, added to Piaget’s ideas, the social cultural context of learning is important

Most research in U.S. and England but in Brazil, research has shown that street

children who do not attend school can still think in complex ways, and that a special relationship exists between thinking and experience

Focus is on Kohlberg’s theory built on Piaget’s theory and research, theory

describes moral developmental stages

Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg(1927-1987)

Lawrence Kohlberg was, for many years, a professor at Harvard University

He became famous for his work there beginning in the early 1970s

He started as a developmental psychologist and then moved to the field of moral education

Adolescents and Morality:Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning

Kohlberg believed...and was able to demonstrate through studies...that people progressed in their moral reasoning (ethical behavior) through a series of stages He believed that there were six identifiable stages

which could be more generally classified into three levels

Level I: Preconventional Morality

Level I: Typical of most children under the age of nine – behavior tends to

be selfish in nature Stage 1:

Moral values reside in external events (bad acts) The child is responsive to rules and evaluative labels, but

views them in terms of pleasant or unpleasant consequences of actions, or in terms of the physical power of those who impose the rules

Very selfish – may do things just to stay out of trouble Obedience and punishment orientation or to gain concrete

rewards Stage 2:

Basically the same as in stage one as bottom line is to satisfy one’s own needs but occasionally others as well

Level II: Conventional Morality

Level II: By early adolescence, moral values reside in performing the right

role, in maintaining the conventional order and expectancies of others as a value in its own right – uphold laws and social order

Stage 3: Good-boy/good-girl orientation Orientation to approval, to pleasing and helping others Conformity to stereotypical images of majority or natural

role behavior Action is evaluated in terms of intentions

Stage 4: Authority and social-order-maintaining orientation

Orientation to "doing duty" and to showing respect for authority and maintaining the given social order for its own sake

Level III: Postconventional Morality

Level III: Abstract reasoning that not everyone develops…

Stage 5: Morality is defined in terms of institutionalized rules that

have a rational basis Society vs. Individual (any conflict favors society)

Stage 6: The standards conformed to are internal, and action-

decisions are based on an inner process of thought and judgment concerning right and wrong

Social laws are very important but conscience is what dictates behavior – not what others might think

Society vs. Individual (any conflict favors individual)

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 1

A woman was near death from a unique kind of cancer. There is a drug that might save her. The drug costs $4,000 per dosage. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000. He asked the doctor scientist who discovered the drug for a discount or let him pay later. But the doctor scientist refused.

Should Heinz break into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 2

Heinz broke into the laboratory and stole the drug. The next day, the newspapers reported the break-in and theft. Brown, a police officer and a friend of Heinz remembered seeing Heinz last evening, behaving suspiciously near the laboratory. Later that night, he saw Heinz running away from the laboratory.

Should Brown report what he saw? Why or why not?

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 3

Officer Brown reported what he saw. Heinz was arrested and brought to court. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison. Heinz was found guilty.

Should the judge sentence Heinz to prison? Why or why not?

Dilemma II: The case of the promised rock concert…

Scene 1: Judy is a 16-year-old girl. Her mother promised her that she could go to a

special rock concert coming to their town if she saved up from baby-sitting and lunch money to buy a ticket to the concert.

Judy managed to save up the fifteen dollars (the ticket cost) plus another twenty dollars and proudly told her mother she had enough saved to have a “good time at the concert”. Her mother said great, this shows what you can do when you put your mind to it.

But later that same evening her mother read a front page article on the dangers of the upcoming concert…how there would be a “bad element” present doing drugs. It was also mentioned that tattoos and piercings would be taking place as well.

She called Judy and Judy’s 17 year-old sister in for a “family meeting” and for nearly an hour lectured on the evils of drugs, sex, and rock and roll.

She told Judy that she had to spend the money on new clothes for school instead.

What Kohlberg stage is Judy’s mother at??? Why??

Dilemma II: The case of the promised rock concert…

Scene 2: The next day Judy screamed at her mother calling her a liar that

should never be trusted The strong-willed Judy later decided to go to the concert anyway. That Saturday she told her mother she was forgiven that she was

spending the day with a friend going shopping. In reality, Judy and her friend went to the performance and had a

great time A week passed without her mother finding out. In confidence, Judy then told her older sister, Louise, that she had

gone to the concert and had lied to her mother about it. Louise wonders whether to tell their mother what Judy did.

What Kohlberg stage is Judy at??? Why??? If Judy’s sister was at the top level what would her actions be???

Why???

Portions of previous slides taken from: http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/kohlberg.dilemmas.html

Kolhberg’s Critics Kohlberg’s basic scheme has been

replicated, but his ideas have been widely criticized

Three Major Criticisms flawed research methods

hierarchy biased in favor of Western elite

moral development of women ignored

Kolhberg’s Critics

Criticism 1: Methodology: To avoid Kohlberg’s cumbersome methodology, James Rest devised Defining Issues Test (DTI)— a questionnaire that measures moral thinking by asking people to read various dilemmas and then rank 12 statements as possible resolutions for each statement - DIT confirms validity of Kohlberg’s three levels

Criticism 2: Cultural Differences- research suggests that in non-Western cultures,

preeminent values are different from western ones, making it harder for non-Westerners to score at Kolberg’s preconventional level

- research suggests that Kohlberg’s hierarchy may underestimate reasoning capacity of some school-age children in some cultures

Kolhberg’s Critics

Kolhberg’s Critics

Criticism 3: Gender Issues Carol Gilligan (1982)

females develop more of a morality of care—a reluctance to judge right and wrong in absolute terms because they are socialized to be nurturant, compassionate, nonjudgmental

males develop more of a morality of justice—a tendency to emphasize justice over compassion, judging right and wrong in absolute terms

Overall Limitations to Kohlberg’s Theory

Cross-Cultural Studies Levels 1 and 2 appear universal; Level 3 does

not Moral judgments in some cultures do not fit into

Kohlberg’s stages Gender and Morality

Men concerned with the abstract, impersonal concept of justice

Females concerned with protecting enduring caring relationships and fulfilling human needs

Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories in relation to moral development both recognize ages 7 to 11 are time for moral

growth children eager to develop moral values in

stages (Kohlberg, inspired by Piaget) or in response to cultural norms (Vygotsky and

Gilligan)

Information Processing

Information Processing

Information Processing Theory- processes by which the mind

analyses stores retrieves

Mind is like a computer- capacity can be upgraded with development

Sensory memory aka sensory register—stores incoming stimulus for split second then sends it on sensations become perceptions

Working (short-term) memory—where your current, conscious mental activity occurs

Long-term memory—stores information for minutes, hours, days, months, years

Memory

Older children are quicker thinkers than younger children

Thinking speed continues to increase throughout adolescence

Automatization helps free up thoughts for speed of processing

Speed of Processing

Knowledge base—broad body of knowledge in a particular subject area that makes it easier to master new learning in that area

Connections between bits of information improve as the knowledge base expands

Knowledge Base

Control processes—regulate the analysis and flow of information within the system helped by maturation of prefrontal cortex

Control Processes

Selective attention—ability to concentrate on relevant information and disregard distractions

Memory and thought depend on this ability- focusing on what needs to be remembered

Improved control emotional regulation shows it

Selective Attention

“Thinking about one’s thoughts” Older children approach cognitive tasks

more strategically and analytically

Metacognition

The Pragmatics of Language

Pragmatics—using language fluently in many types of situations; from play through school years, distinguished by logic memory ability to make connections between one bit of

knowledge and another

Teaching and Learning

Worldwide, many ideological debates swirl around the content and practice of elementary education

A review of practices in 5 cultures found discrepancy between “expressed claim and

observed reality”

Which Curriculum?

Intended curriculum—content political and educational leaders decide to endorse

Implemented curriculum—what teachers and school administrators actually offer

Attained curriculum—what students actually learn

Hidden curriculum—unspoken and often unrecognized lessons children learn in school organization and schedule arise from hidden

curriculum e.g., classroom size

Which Curriculum?

Phonics Whole language “Reading Wars”—clashes over these two

methods of teaching children to read

The Reading Wars

Phonics approach—teaching reading by requiring children to learn the sounds of each letter before they begin to decipher simple words

Phonics Versus Whole Language

Whole-language approach—teaching reading by encouraging children to develop all their language skills— talking and listening, reading and writing—all with the goal of communication

Phonics Versus Whole Language

The Socioeconomic Divide Language development, reading attainment

correlate with socioeconomic status the lower the family income, the less developed

a child’s vocabulary and grammar Crucial factor seems to be actual exposure to

language (children exposed to language at home will have larger vocabularies)

vocabulary size the best predictor of school achievement and overall intelligence

Math and science are key areas in which children should be ready for the challenges of the future gains in U.S. have faded

Traditionally taught through rote learning children came to hate math taught this way

The Math Wars

New curriculum developed that teaches concepts, problem solving, estimating, and

probability

this approach may be working proportion of 4th graders who were “proficient”

doubled (26%)

The Math Wars

The Math Wars

Technology is another area of controversy Specifically, computers

digital divide—gap between rich and poor in computer access

students in U. S. twice as likely to use computers in math and science than students in other nations . . . but our math and science scores relatively low

Learning a 2nd language best time to be taught it is in middle childhood

Bilingual Education

Total immersion—approach that teaches a second language in which instruction occurs entirely in that language and the learner’s language is not used at all

Various Approaches

Success or failure in 2nd language learning seems to lie in the attitude of teachers parents the larger community

Additive bilingualism—both languages valued and used

Semilingual—neither language learned well

Attitudes and Achievement