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Middle childhood
-Period between ages 6 to 11
– Average child gains about 2 inches and 5 pounds per year.
– Health related to adult instruction and regular medical care.
Benefits of physical activity
• Contribute to physical, emotional, and mental health
• Cooperation, self-control, emotional regulation from team sport participation
Body and mind
– Physical activity cut in some schools; might cause less learning.
– Brains benefit from exercise.
Fine motor skill development
Continue to mature
– Aid in school achievement
– Promote executive functioning
• Selective attention
• Participation in music, art, and drama
Health problems: Childhood obesity
In 2016, 18% of
U.S. 6- to 11- year-olds were obese.
– Psychological and social poor outcomes
– Long-term effects: underlying cause of most serious adult diseases
What affects children’s weight?
– Internal: Genes; microbiome
– External: Social context; cultural patterns
– Child pester power
Prevention; dynamic-systems approach
Individual differences, parenting practices, school lunches, fast-food restaurants, advertising, community norms
Concrete operational thought
Piaget's term for the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions
Classification
Logical principle that things can be organized into groups (or categories or classes) according to some characteristic they have in common
Seriation
Things can be arranged in a series. Seriation is crucial for understanding the number sequence and logical series
Vygotsky and mentors
Middle childhood time for much learning
Role of instruction
Teachers and other mentors work in the
zone of proximal development.
– Culture affects how
children learn.
Memory
– Memory process, from input to storage to retrieval, is affected by both maturation (Piaget) and experience (Vygotsky).
– Working memory
– Retrieval
Language
– Every aspect of language advances each year from age 6 to 11.
Vocabulary
• By age 6, every part of speech is used
– Metaphors, jokes, and puns are comprehended.
– Pragmatics mastery allows children to change style of
speech (linguistic codes), depending on audience.
Speaking two languages
– 1 in 4 US school children has a home language that is not English.
– Neurological changes
Socioeconomic status (SES)
Language may be crucial factor between academic
achievement and SES
Children from low-SES families
smaller vocabulary, simpler grammar, shorter sentences
• Language heard early on enhances child language
development.
– Educational level of parents
– Family routine and stability
The curriculum
92 percent of the 6- to -11-year-olds are in school
– Variation abound in the United States, not only from state to state but also from school district to school district, and school to school.
• U.S. primary education is controlled and funded by each state or district.
Hidden curriculum
– Unofficial, unstated, or implicit patterns within a school that influence what children learn; not formally prescribed, but instructive to children.
– Relevance of education
– School climate
Children requiring particular educational strategies
– Obvious physical disabilities: 1 percent
– Neurologically atypical: 10 to 20 percent
– Comorbidity
Four general principles
– Abnormality is normal.
– Disability changes year by year.
– Plasticity and compensation are part of human nature.
– Diagnosis and treatment reflect the social context
Multiple intelligences: Gardner
– Seven intelligences: linguistic, logical mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential
– Eighth (naturalistic) and ninth (spiritual/existential) added later
– Each associated with a region of the brain
On education: Gardner
– Schools often are too narrow, teaching only some aspects of intelligence and thus stunting children’s learning.
– Schools, cultures, and families dampen or expand particular intelligences.
linguistic
The ability to use language to understand and express complex ideas
Logical-mathematical
The ability to think analytically, solve problems, and understand abstract concepts
musical
Often singing or drumming to themselves. Usually quite aware of sounds others may miss. Often discriminating listeners.
Spatial
Think in images and pictures. May be fascinated with mazes or jigsaw puzzles, or spend free time drawing, building things or daydreaming.
Bodily-kinesthetic
Process knowledge through bodily sensations. Often athletic, dancers or good at crafts such as sewing or woodworking
Interpersonal
Leaders among their peers, who are good at communicating and who seem to understand others' feelings and motives.
Intrapersonal
May be shy, but are very aware of their own feelings and are self motivated.
naturalistic
the ability to differentiate between living things and other natural features
existential
The ability to ask philosophical questions about the meaning of life
Three disorders that affect learning
– Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
– Specific learning disorder
– Autism spectrum disorder (ASD
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD)
• Inattention, impulsive, and active
• Symptoms start before age 12
• 8% of 4- to 11-year-olds, and 14% of 12- to 17-year-olds
• May be overuse of medication
• Often gender differences in main symptoms
– Boys: hyperactivity (ADHD)
– Girls: inattentiveness (ADD)
Specific learning disorder
– Marked deficit in a particular area of learning that is not caused by an apparent physical disability or by an unusually stressful home environment
– Often comorbid with other
disorder/s
– Multisensory approach
needed
• Dyslexia
• Dyscalculia
• Dysgraphia
Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)
– Developmental disorder marked by difficulty with social communication and interaction and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities
• Impaired social interaction
• Cause and treatment disputed
• Not caused by “refrigerator mothers” or vaccinations
Hypotheses about increases of autism
• Environment
• Prenatal influences
• Diagnosis increased, not ASD
• Expanded DSM-5 categories
1975 Education of All Handicapped Children Act
– Inclusion class; general classroom (least restrictive environment—LRE)
– Appropriate aids and services
Special Education Other Strategies
– Response to intervention (RTI)
– Individual education plans (IEP)
Gifted and talented
High-IQ, unusually talented, and unusually creative
children may require special education.
• Needs of unusually gifted children not covered by U.S. federal laws.
• Each state selects and implements own system.
• Controversy about which system to use