Dev. Psych. - Chp. 11

Attention

• becomes more…

  • selective - deliberately attend only to relevant aspects of a task

  • flexible - flexibly adapt attention to situation

  • planful - evaluate a sequence of steps in advance

Bilingual Children & Metalinguistic Awareness

• ESL by immersion (English + course content) - INFERIOR

• dual-language learning or 2-way immersion - SUPERIOR

• Code Switch (borrow words from a diff. lang. in the current lang. you’re speaking) - not a problem

• Cog. gains of being multi-lingual outside of language are debated

Cognitive Self-Regulation

• process (under development) involves…

  • monitoring progress toward a goal

  • checking outcomes

  • redirecting unsuccessful efforts

• parents & teachers can foster by scaffolding

  • pointing out important task features

  • suggesting strategies & explaining their effectiveness

• skills promote a sense of academic self-efficacy

Conservation

understand that something can change how it looks while still being the same amount

Constructivist Approach to Education

kids actively construct learning via experience

• reciprocal teaching - small groups, take turns leading dialogues

• communities of learners - teachers guide process, all participate in problems

*focus is active engagement from kids & teachers

Convergent vs. Divergent Thinking – what is the difference

1. convergent = structured & logical

2. divergent = creative & free-flowing

Decentration

can focus on more than 1 thing
*ex.) understand that the amount of liquid stayed the same b/c it just moved to a different sized class

Dyslexia

= difficulty in matching letters to sounds & w/ word recognition/spelling despite adequate instruction/intelligence/intact sensory abilities.

*most common learning disability

Goal Structures

1. cooperative = kids work together to achieve shared goal

2. competitive = kids success depends on outperforming others

3. individualistic = kids achievement is based on their own progress

Kinesthetic Sense

= body’s ability to perceive its own movement, action, position, & weight w/o your eyes

Language Overview

• vocab. increase fourfold

• understand double meanings

• appreciate riddles & puns

• use lang. pragmatically

• able to evaluate different b/t what is said & meant

  • BUT slight changes in intonation make this difficult - can’t use v well

Language Learning & Reading

reading methods:

• whole lang. (good)

  • immersing in real, meaningful lang. experiences

• phonics (good)

  • start synthetically (one letter) then analytically (letter blends)

  • sound them out to figure them out

• balanced (bad)

*moved from learning to read to reading to learn

Recall vs Recognition

1. recall = generate a memory of something encountered before w/o seeing it again

2. recognition = ability to identify a previously encountered thing

Teachers Overview

boys vs. girls:

• underrate girl’s math performance compared to boys
  *gender-stereotyped expectations encourage stereotyped behavior

instruction vs. constructivist:

• teacher-centered = teacher is primary authority (use direct instruction with passive students)

• constructivist = teacher allowing students to be active in the topic

Educational Transitions (grades/schools)

adjustment & behavior in the first-grade influences teachers’ & kid’s perceptions of themselves/academic performance

transitions need:

• to be positive

• as few as possible

• maintain social relationships

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

3 main kinds of intelligence

1. Analytical = metacognition, problem solving

2. Creative = divergent thinking

3. Practical/Applied = street smarts/common sense

*IQ test only measure analytical intelligence

Gardener’s Multi-Intelligence Theory

proposes 8+ independent kinds of intelligence

3 we test for:

1. linguistic

2. logico-mathematical

3. spatial

*each person has a unique pattern of intellectual strengths & weaknesses

Autonomous Morality

• see need for agreement on rules & consequences for violations

• must obey rules

• right & wrong exist outside punishment

Concrete Stage of Cog. Dev. (Piaget)

• understand…

  • classification (flower problem)

  • transitive interference (if A is bigger than B AND B is bigger than C THEN A is bigger than C)

  • seriation (put things in order)

  • class inclusion

  • conservation (understand that something can change how it looks while still being the same amount)

Information Processing

• kids determine what info. is important & choose strategies to retain this info. more effectively

• involves…

  • executive function

  • working memory

  • metamemory

  • memory strategies

Executive Function

• improves now

• gains in planning, strategic thinking, & self-monitoring

• influenced by heredity & environment

Working Memory Capacity

• benefits from increased efficiency of thinking

• can be increased through direct training

• deficient in kids w/ persistent learning difficulties in reading/math

Metamemory

understanding memory & using strategies to improve it

Memory Strategies

• elaboration

• rehearsal

• organization

• combining several strategies → most effective

• organization & elaboration combine items into meaningful chunks → improves memory

Meta-Cognition

= think abt thinking

Giftedness

• exceptional intellectual strength

• using measure by high IQ & talent

  • utilize creativity measured by divergent thinking

  • must be nurtured

*approaches: enrichment & acceleration

Special Education & Inclusion

• kids need the least restrictive environment that meets their educational needs

• partial inclusion

  • sometimes in reg. class & sometimes in special class

  • use resources rooms

• full inclusion

  • always in reg. classes

  • foster prosocial behavior

• achievement gains depend on severity of disability & support services available

Distributive Justice

= how to divide goods fairly

• kids understand the need to balance competing claims & coordinate merit, need, & equality

• culture influences kid’s ideas on this

Morality Overview

• Kohlberg: moral reasoning reflects cog. dev.

• now: considering intentions & context of social convention & moral behaviors

• guilt can motivate moral behavior, guided by the “golden rule”

• shame is different → extreme cases involve depression, anger, hopelessness, & withdrawal

Distinguishing Moral & Conventional Rules

• through social interaction learn:

  • moral rules = do NOT change (ex. murder is wrong)

  • social convention = CAN change (ex. taking all hats off inside)