Chapter 9 from page 299 Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Chapter 9 from page 299

Cognitive Development in Middle ChildhoodSlide2

Final Exam

Final exam will be Wednesday, December 7

8AM-11AMSlide3

Piaget’s Theory: The Concrete Operational Stage

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 agesSlide4

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 pointSlide5

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”Slide6

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 CSlide7

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 spaceSlide8

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 Slide9

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 childhoodSlide10

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 Slide11

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 Slide12

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 childhoodSlide13

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 cortexInhibition 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 handSlide14

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)Slide15

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 itemsSlide16

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 4

th

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 anotherSlide17

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 Slide18

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 Slide19

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 Slide20

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 learningSlide21

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 declineSlide22

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 Slide23

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 Slide24

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 1

st

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)Slide25

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 issueSlide26

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 Slide27

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 problemsSlide28

Defining and Measuring Intelligence

The Stanford-

Binet

Intelligence Scales, 5

th

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 Slide29

Defining and Measuring Intelligence

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV), 4

th

Edition

The 1

st

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 Slide30

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 Slide31

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 Slide32

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 Slide33

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 Slide34

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-freeChildren 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 contextYet such children often display sophisticated abilities in daily lifeEx. Telling stories, engaging in complex artistic activities, or interacting skillfully with other people Slide35

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 1

st

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 Slide36

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)Slide37

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, 12-13 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 intelligenceSlide38

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 1

st year of life scored very high on intelligence test (mean IQs of 110-117, 20-30 points above means for African-Americans living in poverty)

This indicates that poverty severely depresses the intelligence of large numbers of ethnic minoritiesSlide39

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 Slide40

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 testsSlide41

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 Slide42

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 6-10 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 Slide43

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 Slide44

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 Slide45

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 learningSlide46

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”Slide47

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 Slide48

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 8-9Ex. “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 developmentSlide49

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 Slide50

Bilingual Development

Children can become bilingual by acquiring 2 languages at the same time in early childhood or learning a 2

nd

language after mastering the 1

st

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 2

nd

language after they already speak the 1

st

, 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 childhoodChildren who are fluent in 2 languages do better than other on tests of selective attention, analytical reasoning, and concept formation Slide51

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 2

nd

language more easily Slide52

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 contextSlide53

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 3

rd

grade

Small – 13-17 students

Regular – 22-25 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 impactBeing in small classes from kindergarten through 3

rd 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 Slide54

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 Slide55

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 developmentSlide56

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 childrenSlide57

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 Slide58

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 Slide59

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

C

an 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 successLow-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 directionSlide60

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 1

st

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 gradesIn 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 Slide61

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 distributionSlide62

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 readingAs a result, their achievement is considerably behind what would be expected on the basis of their IQSlide63

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 gainsSlide64

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 Slide65

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 Slide66

Gifted Children: Creativity and Talent

To understand why people usually demonstrate creativity on only one or a

f

ew 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 fieldSlide67

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 childrenSlide68

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 Slide69

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