JOHN

Essential understandings

SOCIOEMOTIONAL

PHYSICAL

COGNITIVE

Self-Understanding, changes in emotion and relation toward the family and peers

Cognitive operational, process of memory and intelligence

Changes in height, functions of the brain and motor development

Physical Changes and Health

Changes of children's bodies and motor development during middle and late childhood.

Gain greater control of the bodies.

Regular Exercise

During this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects. A child's entire experience at the earliest period of this stage occurs through basic reflexes, senses, and motor responses.

At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people. They also often struggle with understanding the idea of constancy.

CONCRETE OPERATIONAL

-Ages: 7 to 11 Years

-During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events

-They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example

-Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete

-Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle

During this stage, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

FORMAL OPERATIONAL

-Ages: 12 and Up

-At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems

-Abstract thought emerges

-Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning

-Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information

The last stage, involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas.

 At this point, people become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more scientifically about the world around them.

Information-processing states that limitations are based on a child’s functional short-term memory capacity which is linked to age.

Information Processing, proposes that as the brain increases in size, children will be able to hold more items in their short-term memory.  This means that short-term memory capacity is largely based on age, for example a two-year-old can hold two items in their short term memory, a five-year-old about four items, a seven-year-old about five items, and so on, with adolescents holding about seven items.  Children can only hold on to so much information at one time, and limitations increase the younger the child is. 

Intelligence is the ability to think, to learn from experience, to solve problems, and to adapt to new situations.

Stanford-Binet This test was developed to identify children who had serious intellectual difficulties -- such that they would not succeed in the public school system and who should not be placed in the same classes with other students. This test measured things that were necessary for school success such as understanding and using language, computational skills, memory, and the ability to follow instructions.

Individual responses in four content areas - Verbal reasoning Quantitative reasoning Abstract/visual reasoning Short-term memory.

Multiple (Howard Gardner)- Gardner thinks there are eight types of intelligence. He believes each of us have all of the eight types of intelligence to varying degrees. These multiple intelligences are related to how an individual prefers to learn and process information.

1.) Verbal Skills 2.) Mathematical skills 3.) Spatial Skills 4.) Bodily-Kinetics skills 5.) Musical skills 6.) Interpersonal Skills 7.) Intrapersonal skills 8.) Naturalistic Skills.

Triarchic Theory (Robert Sternberg)- Intelligence comes in three forms.

1.) Analytical intelligence: The ability to acquire and store information; to retain or retrieve information; to transfer information; to plan, make decisions, and solve problems; and to translate thoughts into performance

2.) Creative intelligence: The ability to solve new problems quickly; the ability to learn how to solve familiar problems in an automatic way so the mind is free to handle other problems that require insight and creativity

3.) Practical intelligence: The ability to get out of trouble; The ability to get along with other people.

Intelligence through adolescence:

There is a strong relationship between IQ scores obtained at ages 6, 8, and 9 and IQ scores obtained at 10.

There is still a strong relationship between IQ scores obtained in preadolescent years and those obtained at age 18.

However, individual intelligence scores can fluctuate dramatically over childhood and adolescence

Factors Influencing Intelligence:

A.) The Child’s Influence:

1.) Genetics -Boys and girls tend to be equivalent in most aspects of intelligence. The average IQ scores of boys and girls is virtually identical. The extremes (both low and high ends) are over- represented by boy

2.) Genotype–Environment Interaction -Girls as a group: Tend to be stronger in verbal fluency, in writing, in perceptual speed (starting as early as the toddler years)

3.) Gender-Boys as a group: Tend to be stronger in visual-spatial processing, in science, and in mathematical problem solving (starting as early as age 3)

B.) The Immediate Environment’s Influence

1.) Family Environment

2.) School Environment-Attending school makes children smarter.

C.) The Society’s Influence

1.) Poverty-The more years children spend in poverty, the lower their IQs tend to be. Children from lower- and working-class homes average 10-15 points below their middle class age mates on IQ tests.

2.)Race/Ethnicity- Overall, differences in IQ scores of children from different racial and ethnic groups describe children’s performance ONLY in the environments in which the children live. These findings do not indicate potential, nor do they tell us what these children would do if they live someplace else. The current group differences in IQ are due to environmental differences, as discrimination and inequality decrease - IQ differences decrease.

• During middle and late childhood, changes occur in the way children’s mental vocabulary is organized.

• In this stage, the increase in children’s vocabulary continues from an average of 14,000 words at the age of 6 to about 40,000 words at the age of 11.

• Logical reasoning and analytical skills improve to help them understand constructions like the use of comparatives and subjectives. Knowledge in syntax and pragmatics also increases.

• All of these advancements are accompanied by the development of the metalinguistic awareness. This is their knowledge about language and allows them not to just speak but also understand the words and define them.

• The whole-language approach is the approach to reading which teaches children to read by using strategies that show how language is a system of parts that work together to create meaning. Reading materials for this type of approach should be whole and meaningful, where the context of what they are reading is used to guess at the meaning of the words.

• The phonics approach on the other hand, is the approach where the student is taught the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that each makes. Individual letter sounds are used to form more complex words, and letter recognition is the important first step in this approach.

• This refers to the teaching of academic content in two languages: one native and one second language.

• It is thought that immigrant children need only one year of bilingual education yet most immigrant children take just about 3-5 years to develop speaking proficiency and 7 years for reading proficiency. Their socioeconomic background also plays a factor in their ability to learn English.

• Research supports bilingual education because of two things: (1) children cannot learn a subject if it is taught in a language they do not understand and (2) when both languages are integrated in the classroom, the children have less difficulty in learning the second language and actively participate more.

Bilingual education

THE SELF

During middle and late childhood:

-Describe themselves in terms of psychological characteristic and traits

-Children recognize social aspects of the self

-Social comparison increases

Understanding others

-Perspective taking: Ability to assume other people’s perspectives and understand their thoughts and feelings

-Children become skeptical of others’ claims

• Self-esteem: Global evaluations of the self, self worth, self image

• Self-concept: Domain-specific evaluations of the self

• Children with high self-esteem:

1. Do not necessarily perform better in school

2. Have greater initiative (positive or negative)

• Self-efficacy: belief that one can master a situation and produce favorable outcomes

• Self-regulation : deliberate efforts to manage one’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts

• Improved emotional understanding

• Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation

• Increased awareness of the events leading to emotional reactions

• Gender stereotypes - Broad categories reflecting our impressions or

beliefs about males and females. Generally considered to be

pervasive.

• Gender similarities and differences - Differences are average, overlap,

and attributable to biological and sociocultural factors.

• Physical similarities and differences - Females are more immune to

infection because of higher levels of estrogen, have more elastic blood

vessels. Males grow 10 percent higher and stronger. Brain shows

emotional and physical expression more active in females.

• Socioemotional similarities and differences - One researcher believes

that boys and girls grow up in different worlds of talk (i.e., boys games

have winners and losers and boast, whereas girls play in small groups

and tend to develop friends) - girls are more relationship-oriented.

• Gender controversy - Although many would see no

differences, science tells us that indeed there are

differences.

• Gender-role classification - There are specific expectations

for girls and boys; this is changing to an androgynous

world where there is an equal presence of female and male

characteristics. Some argue that we should not teach

androgyny, but rather gender-role transcendence, where

an individual’s competence should be conceptualized on a

person basis: and that gender needs to be considered in

context, especially in countries where male or female role

is completely predesigned (e.g. Muslim countries).

PARENTS AS MANAGERS

-Mothers are more likely than fathers to engage in a managerial role in parenting.

-Parents monitor the children's behavior, social initiator and arranger.

ATTACHMENT

- Attachment become more sophisticated.

- Secure attachment is associated with lower level of internalized symptoms, anxiety and depression.

- Secure attachment was linked to a higher level of children's emotion regulations and less difficulty in identifying emotions.

STEPFAMILIES

Three common types of stepfamily structure

1. Stepfather

2. Stepmother

3. Blended or complex family

- Children often have better relationship with their custodial parents than with stepparents.

- Children show more adjustment problems that children in non-divorced family.

As children move through middle and late childhood, the size of their peers group increases, and peer interaction is less closely supervised by adults. Until about 12 years of age, children’s preference for same-sex peer groups increases.

PEER STATUS

• Popular

- nominated as a best friend and rarely disliked by their peers

• Average

- receive an average number of both positive and negative nominations from their peers

• Neglected

- infrequently nominated as a best friend but are not disliked by their peers

• Rejected

– infrequently nominated as someones best friend, actively disliked by their peers

• Controversial

– frequently nominated both as someones best friend and as being disliked

SOCIAL COGNITIVE

Children’s social cognition about their peers become increasingly important for understanding peer relationship in middle and late childhood.

FRIENDS

• Friends can provide cognitive and emotional resources from childhood through old age. Friends can foster self – esteem and a sense of well being

• Children’s friendship can serve six function which are Companionship, stimulation, physical support, ego support, social comparison, affection and intimacy.

BULLYING

Significant numbers of children are bullied and this can result in short and long term negative effects for both the victims and bullies.

Contemporary approaches to student learning

• Constructivist approach

-Learner centered approach .Teacher should not attempt to simply pour information into children’s minds rather children should be encouraged to explore their world, discover knowledge, reflect and think critically with careful monitoring and meaningful guidance from the teacher.

• Direct instruction approach

– Structures, teacher-centered approach that is characterized by teacher direction and control. Maximizing student learning time.

SOCIOECONOMIC, ETHNICITY AND CULTURAL

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS

Children who have living in poverty face problems that present barriers to their learning compare to children who have privileged and more access in educational materials and experiences such as books, trips to museums and zoos.

ETHNICITY

Many schools continue to be racially segregated, are grossly underfunded and do not provide adequate opportunities for children to learn effectively.

CULTURAL

- Every child in every culture have different ways on managing their academic tasks. Some children are more achievement oriented than children in other countries but are less achievement oriented than many children in other countries.