Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood & Adolescents

what period of cognitive development is associated with middle childhood?

concrete operational period

concrete operational period

perform true operations (mental acts)

- can perform coordinated mental actions

- BUT still very concrete

* middle childhood/elementary age (7-11 years old)

concrete operation

mental actions are directed toward concrete objects

- when given concrete materials to 6-7 year old, they can manipulate it mentally

- it's concrete because it's about real world. observable, tangible objects

what can kids do in the concrete operational period that they couldn't do before (when they were preoperational)?

children are able to transform mathematical functions

--> if 4 + 8 = 12, then transformation, 12 - 4 = 8 is also doable

(numbers are concrete material: can operate in the mind)

1. physical world is now predictable

2. thinking is more organized and flexible

(only on concrete material)

two-sided thinking

can think about objects from more than one perspective

- can hold two things in mind simultaneously

what do concrete operational kids lack in their thinking?

1. formal operations

2. hypothetical (abstract) reasoning

3. exhaustive thinking

formal operations

mature thought processes (stage 4)

- the kind of thinking needed to solve problems systematically

- involves hypothetical (abstract) reasoning and exhaustive thinking

hypothetical (abstract) thinking

generating and testing hypotheses, understanding abstract situations

transitivity tasks

test hypothetical (abstract) thinking

"A>B; B>C: A__C?"

"Shannon is taller than Jean; Jean is taller than Lexi: who's taller Shannon or Lexi?"

exhaustive thinking

mental operations in which all possible solutions are considered

sandwich problem

tests exhaustive thinking

"how many types of sandwiches can be made from these ingredients?"

understanding conservation... after child passes conservation task, then ask "how do you know that?"

3 categories of responses

1. logical necessity

2. compensation

3. mental reversing

logical necessity

quantity must remain the same, despite changes in appearance

- can reflect how they got that answer

compensation

change in one dimension compensated by change in another

- "it looks like more but one glass is just thinner"

mental reversing

reverse and replay mental representations

- "you just poured the same amount in the thinner glass"