Middle Childhood Physical Development Chapter 8

Physical activity and factors influencing

Less than 25% of children between 6 and 17 get the recommended
60 minutes of physical activity per day (CDC, 2017).
• Physical Activity Options
• School – gym and recess
• Neighborhood play and safety concerns
• Sports teams

Brain Development (6-12 yrs)

Prefrontal cortex, myelination, corpus callosum = a super interconnected brain
• Reduction in reaction time – time it takes to respond to a stimulus
• Selective attention – ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others
• Automatization – repetition of a sequence of thought and actions until it no longer requires
conscious thought

ADHD – causes, symptoms, treatment

-No know cause but likely genetic or environmental

-difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and restlessness

-Medication, therapy and lifestyle changes

Specific Learning Disorders

• Using/learning academic skills
• Problems with reading
• Problems with writing
• Problems with math

Concrete Operational Thought

ability to reason (practical, productive, sequential thinking).

Information processing theory

Executive functioning
 Cognitive flexibility
 Selective attention
 Inhibitory control
 Planning
 Semantic memory
 Metamemory

The Hidden Curriculum

unofficial, unstated, rules and priorities that influence learning in schools

Standardized tests – results of, uses for, controversies

Standardized tests provide a numerical score to assess a student's performance against a predetermined set of standards, often used to compare students across different schools and districts; however, they are highly controversial due to concerns about their accuracy in measuring true learning, potential bias against certain demographics

Phonics v. whole language approach

phonics focuses on teaching the sounds of letters and how to combine them to decode words, the whole language approach emphasizes learning words as whole units, relying heavily on context and visual cues to decipher meaning

Ability grouping

a teaching method that organizes students into groups based on their abilities or potential