Middle Childhood Cognitive Development

Define these concepts & give examples of skills children demonstrate in the concrete operational stage when tested [Conservation, Seriation, Class inclusion, Transitive Inference (for concrete tasks)]

• Concrete Operational Stage 7-11

  • Piaget proposed that children first understand certain aspects of scientific logical thinking in middle childhood.

    • Do better on conservation tasks because they can decenter 

      • Take into consideration two different dimensions of an object

• Concrete Operational Thought: Major Achievements in this stage 

  • Conservation 

    • Understanding that certain characteristics of objects remain the same even when their outward appearances changes 

    • Class inclusion (hierarchical classification)

  • Seriation

    • Ability to order items along a quantitative dimension such as length or weight 

      • Here the child compares the length of each stick to the other sticks and putting them in order of length 

      • Piaget ex: 

        • Can you put these sticks in order from shortest to longest 

  • Hierarchical Classification

    • Organization into groups according to common property 

    • Piagetian Class Inclusion Problem: Are there more yellow flowers or flowers

      • Ex: 4 blue flowers and 12 yellow flowers 

  • Transitivity & Transitive Inference

    • Ability to “seriate mentally” - to reason about the relations (“greater than” or “less than”) between items in a serial ordering 

      • For example, knowing that stick A is longer than stick B, that B is longer than C, and whether A is longer than C 

      • Helps children quickly solve seriation tasks 

    • Ex: 

      • John is taller than Jim. 

      • Jim is taller than David. 

      • Who is taller, John or David?

What are the skills necessary for conservation?

• What skills are necessary for conservation 

  • Decentration 

    • The ability to focus on several aspects of a problem at once and relate them, rather than centering on just one 

    • Example: a tall, narrow container does not necessarily contain more water than a short, wide container - it could be the same 

  • Reversibility 

    • Logical principle - reversing the process by which something was changed brings back the original conditions 

    • Example: 

      • If… 5+9=14

      • Then… 14-9=?

    • Also, imagine pouring H2O back in conservation task 

    • If you ask an 8 yo boy, “Do you have a brother?” he may agree. If you then ask, “Does your brother have a brother?” He will reply, “yes.” Why?

What are some limitations of concrete operational thought?

• Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought & Evaluation of Piaget

  • Mental operations work best with objects that are concrete 

    • Problems with abstract ideas 

      • Ex: “If Anna is taller than Bella, and Bella is taller than Cara, who is the tallest?”

        A concrete operational child may struggle because:

        • They cannot see Anna, Bella, and Cara.

        • The relationships are abstract rather than tied to physical objects.

  • Information-Processing view suggests more a continuum of acquisition

    • Master concrete operational tasks gradually

What are the domains of intelligence that IQ tests such as the WISC assess?

• Wescher Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) 6-16 yo 

  • Assesses general intelligence (overall IQ)

  • Includes verbal and performance subtests 

    • Verbal comprehension 

    • Perceptual (visual spatial reading) 

    • Fluid reasoning 

    • Working memory 

    • Processing speed 

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition 2+yo 

  • Overall IQ, and verbal and nonverbal subtests 

  • 5 factors (scales): 

    • General knowledge 

    • Quantitative reasoning 

    • Visual-spatial processing 

    • Working memory 

    • Basic information processing

What is the definition of learning disability and IDEA?

• Definition of Learning Disability: 

  • General term that describes specific kinds of learning problems 

  • Average or above average IQ but difficulties in reading, writing, listening, speaking, or math 

  • 7.5% of children (some estimates 5-15% or higher in the U.S.)

  • Educational Implications: 

    • Differences in how brain processes information 

    • May not be diagnosed until school age 

    • Special educational services (usually still mainstream classroom) 

• IDEA (2004) 

  • Federal law regulating special education 

• Law Requires:

  • Access to free appropriate public education for students aged 3-21

  • Least restrictive environment 

    • Mainstreaming 

    • Inclusive classrooms 

• Multidisciplinary Team Evaluation & IEP

  • Current functioning levels, instructional goals, placement and services 

• 13 specific categories 

What skills do gifted and talented children exhibit?

• Gifted and Talented Children 

  • Gifted 

    • Exceptional intellectual strength 

    • Usually measured by high IQ (>130 on IQ test)

  • Talented 

    • Outstanding performance in a specific field 

    • Measured by divergent thinking and creativity

What is Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences?

• Gardner said that intelligence is not just one general ability. Instead, people have many different kinds of intelligences, each responsible for different skills and culturally valued activities. He proposed at least eight separate types of intelligence.

  • Linguistic 

  • Logico-mathematical 

  • Musical 

  • Spatial 

  • Bodily-kinesthetic 

  • Naturalist 

  • Interpersonal 

  • Intrapersonal

  • Gardner Quote:

    • It's not how smart you are, it's how smart you are!

What is Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence?

• Golemans Emotional intelligence 

  • Emotional-IQ “EQ”

    • How we process and adapt to emotional information

    • Control impulses, self-motivation, empathy and social competence in interpersonal relationships 

Define “grit”– how does it contribute to children’s learning and future success?

• “Grit” (Duckworth 2007)

  • TED Talk Notes 

    • One character that arose from their studies showed that grit was a big reason for people's success, or if they made it through difficult challenges and ended up being successful in what they did 

    • Grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate even when comparing a bunch of different characteristics of the children like family income, etc.

    • Growth mindset can build grit 

    • Can you predict school success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you think…

  • The term was coined by Angela Duckworth 

  • Consistency of interests 

    • Keeping goals, focusing ideas, interests 

  • Perseverance of Effort 

    • Achieving longer term goals, finish what you begin, hard worker

  • Above and beyond IQ

    • Predicts higher educational attainment 

    • Fewer career changes 

    • Higher GPA’s elite university, despite lower SAT scores 

• Ex: “Grit” Perseverance and Passion for long-term Goals 

  • Scripps National Spelling Bee Study

    • Higher the grit the farther round the child reached in the competition

      • Grit was more of a deciding factor of going further in the competition than Self-control and IQ