PSYC 2021 Phys + Cog Dev Middle Childhood (Final Exam)

physical growth in middle childhood

continues at a slow pace. girls are shorter and lighter than boys until age 9.

• lower part of body grows the fastest.

after age [ ] , girls accumulate fat at a____ rate

eight

the shortest children are found in

south america, asia, pacific islands, and africa

the tallest children are found in

australia, north and central europe, canada, US, and africa

hereditary factor of body growth

evolutionary adaptations to particular climates

environmental factor of body growth

availability or scarcity of food, control of infectious diseases.

secular trend in physical growth

systematic change from one generation to the next in body size and in the timing of the attainment of growth milestones.

secular gain in height and weight

• appears in the first 2 years of industrialized nations

• expands in childhood and early adolescence

• declines as a mature body size is reached

height gains

______ over the past 150 years have been stabilized.

weight gain

improves nutrition and health, faster rate of physical development in today’s children.

skeletal growth in middle childhood

bones lengthen and broaden. ligaments not fully attached to bones (flexible).

• by 6-12, all baby teeth are replaced by permanent teeth.

malocclusion

unaligned teeth. occurs in one-third of school aged children.

white matter

rises steadily, especially in the prefrontal cortex, parietal lobes, and corpus callosum.

grey matter

peaks in middle childhood, declines due to synaptic pruning.

gains in basic gross-motor capacities

• flexibility

• balance

• agility

• force

advances in fine-motor skills

• writing

• drawing

concrete operational stage

7 to 11 years. thinking is more logical, flexible, and organized.

conservation

understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance.

classification

the ability to group objects based on shared characteristics.

decentration

ability to focus on several aspects of a problem.

reversibility

thinking through a series of steps and then returning to the starting point.

classification inclusion problem

between ages 7 and 10, children pass Piaget’s ______.

seriation

ability to order items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight.

transitive inference

ability to arrange items in a series mentally.

cognitive maps

mental representation of spaces. ability to locate landmarks on maps improves.

spatial reasoning

the ability to think about objects in three dimensions and manipulate them in your mind (e.g., visualizing shapes, their position, and their movements)

scale

10-12 year olds increasingly grasp ____.

limitations of concrete operational thought

children’s mental operations work poorly with abstract ideas and are most effective when working w/ concrete info

IQ

at around age 6, ___ becomes more stable and predicts school performance and educational attainment.

current IQ tests

provide an overall score representing general intelligence and separate scores measuring specific mental abilities.

• does not measure all aspects of intelligence

factor analysis

used to identify abilities measured by intelligence tests by finding patterns in scores.

group administered tests

• allow testing of large groups

• requires little training to administer

• useful for instructional planning

individually administered tests

• demand training and experience to give well

• provide insight into whether a test score accurately reflects a child’s abilities

• used to identify intelligent children and children w/ learning problems.

stanford-binet intelligence scales

age 2 to adulthood. measures five intellectual factors: general knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, working memory, and basic information processing.

wechsler intelligence scale for children-V

ages 6-16. measures four broad intellectual factors: verbal reasoning, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.

wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence–revised

intelligence test used for younger children.

triarchic theory of successful intelligence

sternberg. includes three intelligence types: analytical, creative, and practical.

analytical intelligence

intelligence of information processing

creative intelligence

intelligence of generating useful solutions to new problems

practical intelligence

intelligence of adapting to, shaping, or selecting environments.

successful intelligence (sternburg)

a balance of analytical, creative, and practical intelligence to achieve success in life.

gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences

asserts that each intelligence has a unique neurological basis. 8 intelligences. linguistic, mathematical, musical, spatial, kinaesthetic, naturalist, inter/intrapersonal.

differences in IQ

• academic achievement, education, occupation, certain populations are more advantaged over others.

• nature vs. nurture (twin studies, adoption studies)

genetic makeup

about half of the differences in IQ among children can be traced to their _______.

cultural influences of IQ differences

• test bias

• low-income students score lower bc of fewer learning opportunities.

• language and communication styles don’t always match classrooms

flynn effect

describes how IQs have increased steadily from one generation to the next. increases is common internationally.

societal modernization

contributes to greater participation by each successive generation in cognitively stimulating leisure activities. amount of IQ increase depends on the extent of this.

stereotype threat

fear of being judged on the basis of a negative stereotype. can trigger anxiety that interferes with performance.

dynamic assessment

a form of testing in which an adult introduces purposeful teaching into the testing situation. consistent w/ vygotsky’s zone of pronominal development and scaffolding.

metalinguistic awareness

the ability to consciously think and reflect on the nature of language, its structure, and its use. develops in middle childhood.

vocabulary development in middle childhood

• vocab increases (due to reading)

• children grasp double meanings (eg. riddles)

• mastery of grammatical constructions improves

english speaking children

________ use the passive voice more frequently.

bilingual development

• children engage in code switching

• sensitive period for second-language development

• high degree of bilingualism = higher cognitive gain

bilingual education

may proceed in the form of two-way immersion, full immersion, or partial immersion.

traditional classroom

the teacher is the sole authority.

constructivist classroom

children are active agents who reflect on and coordinate their own thoughts rather than absorbing those of others. 

social-constructivist classroom

children jointly construct understandings with teachers and peers

reciprocal teaching

groups question, summarize, clarify, and predict in cooperative dialogues

communities of learners

adult and child contributors define and resolve problems.

signs of high-quality education in elementary school

• setting is divided into rich activity centers

• curriculum helps children achieve standards

• daily activities encourage cooperative learning

• teachers forge relationships w/ parents

• regular evaluations

educational self-fulfilling prophecies

children may adopt teachers positive or negative views and start to live up to them.

• teacher expectations have a greater impact on low-achieving students

academic stereotypes

_______ about ethnic minority students have self-fulfilling effects on their behaviour. children may respond with intense anxiety and reduced motivation.

collaborative learning

small groups work toward common goals. classmates consider other’s ideas and challenge one another.

heterogenous learning

can reduce achievement differences between SES groups and ethnic minority and majority students. focus on diversity and inclusion within groups.

screen media use

interactive use is associated with academic progress (eg. word processing, programming, searching the web)

• video games also have cognitive benefits

• girls + low SES students need increased opportunities to benefit

learning disabilities

great difficulty with one or more aspects of learning, usually reading.

inclusive classrooms

learning-disabled children learn alongside typical students.

• includes mild-intellectual students sometimes

• some students experience full inclusion

• inclusion can foster prosocial behaviour

• some students do not benefit from inclusion

gifted

displaying exceptional intellectual strengths

creativity

producing work that is original yet appropriate.

divergent thinking

generation of multiple possibilities when faced with a task or problem.

convergent thinking

arriving at a single correct answer; emphasized on intelligence tests.

gifted programs

only a few are fully funded. if not sufficiently challenged, gifted students may lose their drive to excel.

general attainments in concrete operational stage

• conservation

• classification

• spatial reasoning

continuum of aquisition

children master concrete operational tasks step by step.